The Houston Astros. This organization has fallen on hard times in recent years with various losing seasons, the departure of star players such as Roy Oswalt & Lance Berkman, ownership issues, getting the boot from the National League and the recent rumors of a name change. All this spells nothing but frustration for Astros fans and I truly feel bad for them. With all that said, I hope that people don’t forget that it wasn’t all that long ago that the team was in the World Series (2005) and things were looking quite bright for them.
I have always liked the Astros and admit that I was pulling hard for them in 2005 as I wanted Jeff Bagwell to get a ring before he retired. It was quite apparent that he was at the end of his career. Bagwell’s bad shoulder made him a mere shell of the player that he once was, which was sad to see. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed with how the World Series played out in 2005.
Well, 2012 marks 50 years since Houston entered the Major Leagues as the Colt 45s back in 1962. I hope that the celebrating of this organization doesn’t go unnoticed by Baseball fans due to the team’s recent issues. I’m sure it will though as most Baseball fans are clueless idiots who do not appreciate the game as a whole as they usually only focus on their own favorite team(s).
In any case, this 30 Teams. 30 posts installment is for the Astros and their 50 years of Major League Baseball. May Houston’s luck turn in some capacity in the near future.
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Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio: Great players who I watched play the game from my childhood and into adulthood. If there’s one positive side to Bagwell getting denied entry to Cooperstown this year it would be that it opens up the possibility of him going in with Biggio next year.
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September 26th, 1981. Nolan Ryan tosses no-hitter #5 against Dodgers. I don’t care what anyone says, I love those old Astros uniforms. I’m just a sucker for any team who has unique color schemes and is not afraid to step outside of the box in regards to their uniforms. I guess this frame of mind explains why I dig the new Marlins logo and colors so much.
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Adam Everett and Lance Berkman celebrate after the Astros won the 2005 NLCS by beating the Cardinals 4 games to 2. This Astros team came back after being 15 games below .500 at one point during the season to be the NL champs.
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If you have paid any attention to Baseball in the last 10 years then you should know this image from Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS which features Chris Burke hitting his now famous game winning home run in the bottom of the 18th inning off of Joey Devine of the Braves. The game lasted almost 6 hours and still stands as being the longest playoff game in MLB history. I think it’s safe to say that for these heroics, Chris Burke will never have to buy himself a drink in the city of Houston for the rest of his life.
I remember this day quite well: I watched the majority of the game at my house and as the game dragged on I became hungry and decided to get food. I turned on the radio in my car and listened to those extra innings while I drove to get a late lunch. The taqueria I chose to eat at had the game on TV so I watched even more there. After eating I got in my car and turned on the radio again…only to just miss the homerun call. Bummer.
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September 25th, 1986. Mike Scott tosses a no-hitter against the Giants to clinch the NL West. 1986 was an amazing year for Scott and on top of this amazing no-hit performance he also won the NL Cy Young, was an All-Star, won MVP of the NLCS, and won the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year award.
Something that caught my eye while doing some reading on Scott is that I had NO idea that he wasn’t a life-long Astro. Scott was drafted by the Mets and played with them from 1979 to 1982. This is interesting to me due to the fact that in the book “The Bad Guys Won!” by author Jeff Pearlman, it’s made pretty clear that the Mets players did not like or respect Scott due to their beliefs that he was scuffing the ball in the 1986 NLCS. While the Astros lost the series, Scott still more then deserved the MVP award as he held the Mets to 1 run on 8 hits over 18 innings.
Posted in Baseball
Tags: 30 teams. 30 Posts., Adam Everett, baseball, Chris Burke, Craig Biggio, houston astros, houston colt 45s, jeff bagwell, Jeff Pearlman, Joey Devine, ken caminiti, Lance Berkman, Major League Baseball, Mike Scott, MLB, Negro League Baseball, negro leagues, pacific coast league, PCL, Roy Oswalt
ninety feet of perfection. 
