Larry Dierker

Another Bush Slips in the Polls

You Know, Because Almost Dying for the Team Would Generally Be Considered a Good Thing

Really, Shouldn't All Inappropriate Touching Be Reported to the Authorities?

Behind the Music: Craig Biggio

Craig Biggio to Announce His Retirement

For a Sucky Team, the Astros Sure Have Retired a Lot of Numbers

This One's for You, Milo Hamilton

So Long, Art Briles. Stay Away, Jack Pardee.

Steroids and Miguel Tejada: Sucks To Be Ed Wade Right Now

Spring Training: What a Glorious Place to Be, Unless Your Name Is Carlos Lee

The Five Best Broadcasters in the History of Houston Sports

A Houston Astros Mid-Season Progress Report

Astros Bring The Game To Acres Homes

Major League Baseball's Darrell MillerMajor League Baseball, the Astros, and Mayor Bill White unveiled plans today for the Houston Astros MLB Urban Youth Academy, which will be built on the north side of town in the Acres Homes community on Sylvester Turner Park.The academy will include a show field ... More >>

John Royal's Top 25 Random Baseball Facts

There's this new list craze going around Facebook in which you list 25 random things about yourself. And the geniuses at the Big League Stew baseball blog got hold of this and made it into a list of 25 Random Things About Yourself As It Relates to Baseball. Thus... 1. I am happiest in a baseball ... More >>

News Hostage

There's this new list craze going around Facebook in which you list 25 random things about yourself. And the geniuses at the Big League Stew baseball blog got hold of this and made it into a list of 25 Random Things About Yourself As It Relates to Baseball. Thus... 1. I am happiest in a baseball ... More >>

Stellar Cellar

Look out, Astros fans. Worst can be wonderful.

We'll Pay the Filing Fee...

NASA & Houston v. McLane, Dieker, and "Baseball Team"

John Royal's Top 25 Random Baseball Facts

There's this new list craze going around Facebook in which you list 25 random things about yourself. And the geniuses at the Big League Stew baseball blog got hold of this and made it into a list of 25 Random Things About Yourself As It Relates to Baseball. Thus... 1. I am happiest in a baseball ... More >>

The Best Houston Astros Home Grown and Acquired Rosters of All Time

So I was fooling around on the interwebs yesterday, and between the launch of the MLB Network, the naming today of the new class for the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the coming of spring training, I was in a bit of a baseball mood. And I came across this blog detailing the All-Time Rosters for variou ... More >>

Who's On Deck for the Houston Astros in 2008?

The Astros' post-Biggio era begins with a lot of unanswered questions, but the biggest one of all is: Just how bad are things going to get?

A Chat With Hannah Storm Of ESPN (And Houston)

Photo courtesy ESPNESPN has been charged for years with having an East Coast bias. ESPN's morning SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm somewhat agrees with that charge, though she says the charge doesn't apply to her show and says that to her, "it is a non-issue." And if she does have any bias, it's pro ... More >>

Fanboy Deluxe

Our Nightfly surrogate brushes with greatness

Best Color Commentator

Our Nightfly surrogate brushes with greatness

Astro Author

Larry Dierker remembers the decades he spent with the home team

Lay of the Land

Houston headed toward hard times: sports flops, floods and transit duds. If only city fathers could find a proven leader, an energy executive with a KEN-do attitude.

Doing All He Can

Bomb Osama, a KRIV reporter sings

Blind Faith

Luke and Rachel Watson have lost most of their sight. They eventually will lose all motor skills. Their parents are losing sleep -- do the adults tell their kids they're dying of Batten disease?

In For The Long Haul

Grandma will make it to her top-level seat in the same four hours it takes the team to play a game

Racism and Cecil Cooper

Photo by Aaron M. SprecherCecil CooperApparently I'm a racist. I didn't know I was racist, but it seems that because I think Cecil Cooper is an idiot I'm a racist. At least that what's Jose de Jesus Ortiz blogs over at Chron.com. But here's the catch, Ortiz is responding to people accusing him of ... More >>

Listen Up, People: The Top Ten Coaches In Houston History

​The Chron's Jerome Solomon has another of those endless lists we writers like to do, this one asking for input on the top 10 coaches in Houston college and pro sports history. And he helpfully provides us with some candidates for the list. So I thought I would help out and provide what I consider ... More >>

Oh, The Changes I'd Make To The Astros

Photo by Aaron M. SprecherIf Ed Wade were gone...​The Astros Fan Blogger at Chron.com had an interesting post  late last week.The gist of the post was that Drayton McLane had just fired Ed Wade and that he'd made the reader the general manager, then he wanted to know the first five things one ... More >>

Which Houston Team Has The Dumbest Front Office?

​Richard Justice actually had a decent blog post the other day. In it, he attempted to evaluate which of Houston's big three sports franchises was the smartest -- sorry Dynamo fans, he didn't include them because he says the team hasn't been here long enough, and I won't include them because I con ... More >>

Hey Astros: Call Frank Robinson, For Crying Out Loud

​Richard Justice is back on the Fire Cecil Cooper bandwagon, but this time, instead of Jeff Bagwell, he's back to urging Drayton McLane to hire third base coach Dave Clark. Clark has no major league managing experience, and he sucks as a third base coach. Yet this is the guy that Justice wants to ... More >>

The (Alleged) Tragedy Of How The Astros Are Treating Jose Cruz

​So Jose Cruz is no longer the first-base coach of the Houston Astros. Now can someone please tell me why everybody is so upset? Seriously, what's the big deal?The guy was the first-base coach. His job consisted of patting Lance Berkman on the ass and showing the pitchers where second base was loc ... More >>

With Drayton, Astros' Manager Search Is Sure To Suck

​For some reason, Astros fans appear to be more concerned about the transfer of Jose Cruz from one useless job to another useless job than they care about whether the team actually gets a decent manager. Believe it or not, the manager of a team is far more important to the team's success than Jose ... More >>

Aftermath: Jackson Browne Doesn't Do "Rehab Versions," Does Do "Free Bird" at Verizon

Photos by Jay Lee​ Aftermath is a child of the 70's, graduating from high school during our country's bicentennial year. The last half of that decade, our patron saint of teen angst was Jackson Browne - even in our punk-rock heyday, Jackson was our go-to guy when we really wanted to brood. His fir ... More >>

25 High And Low Points Of The Decade In Astro-Land

​Yesterday we looked at the decade's highlights and low points for the Texans. Here's a look at the Houston Astros.1. October 2005: The Astros drive past the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals in two memorable NL playoff series to make the first World Series in the history of the franchise.2. ... More >>

A (Somewhat Limited) List Of Reasons To Watch The Astros This Season

Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher​So I had a friend the other day asking me why he should bother with watching the Houston Astros this season. I went with the because-you-love-baseball answer, and he went the-Astros-aren't-baseball answer. And I've got to confess, looking at Brian McTaggart's proposed ... More >>

Astro Memories, Part Three: The Longest Night

​Apparently I didn't get the memo telling me that it's nostalgia week here at the Houston Press. So even though I'm a bit late, here's my favorite Astros memory.First, a few things. Lots of you think I hate the Astros. I don't hate the Astros. I hate what Drayton McLane has allowed them to be ... More >>

Remembering Jose Lima, Entertainer And Recording Artist

Jose Lima gave Astros fans another reason to be sad this year when the colorful, erratic, but always entertaining righthander died Sunday of an apparent heart attack in Southern California. Despite Lima's winning 21 games and making the NL All-Star team as an Astro in 1999, owner Drayton McLane see ... More >>

Lance Berkman & Roy O: Don't Retire Their Numbers, Drayton

JR Richard: Here's one number that should be retired​With the trades of Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman last week, the talk has started about whether the Astros should consider retiring their numbers once they retire. Now as much as I like to the honor the history of baseball and some of the great te ... More >>

Was Roy O The Best Pitcher In Astros History? No

Wasn't this guy, either​The talk of greatest Astros pitcher ever was part of the discussion when Roy Oswalt was traded last week. And it seemed that most of the Houston media were in agreement that Oswalt was, indeed, the greatest pitcher in Astros history. But as much of a Roy Oswalt fan as I am, ... More >>

Saturday Night: Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore At The Mucky Duck

Photos by Jason Wolter​Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore McGonigel's Mucky Duck August 4, 2010 Even with a cover charge, spending an evening with Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who have known each other for so long and written so many songs enshrined in the Texas-music pantheon, fee ... More >>

A Long Night Of The Harmonicas At Minute Maid Park

Photos by Groovehouse​ For more photos from Friday's Harmonica Night, see our slideshow here. Rocks Off spent a lot of time last week wondering what Minute Maid Park was going to sound like this past Friday. In cooperation with the Astros, the people behind last year's harmonica documentary ... More >>

Terry Collins: Former Astros Manager Might Be Back From The Dead

Terry Collins: Not really missed here in Houston​It's been more than 10 years since former Astros manager Terry Collins has headed up a team, but rumors are building that he may be getting a new gig, on a big stage. ESPN reports that Collins is a favorite to fill the New York Mets' coaching v ... More >>

Trattoria Il Mulino, the New Kid on the Block, Takes the Meatball Invitational by Surprise

Photos by GroovehouseThe winning meatball in all its glory. See more in our slideshow.​Although Trattoria Il Mulino might not have impressed in its initial opening days, the new restaurant more than made up for it at yesterday afternoon's Meatball Invitational at Damian's Cucina Italiana. The ... More >>

11 Modest Suggestions For Jim Crane

​After the Astros lose to the Chicago Cubs this afternoon, the 2011 MLB season will be one-thirds complete. And while it was expected the Astros would be bad, being the worst team in the National League was not expected -- an injury-depleted Minnesota Twins are the only thing keeping the Astr ... More >>

20 Things the Astros Can Do Now to Save the Season

And today's scapegoat is...​When you're the worst team in the major leagues, and when attendance is falling off, and when the only thing people want to talk about is you switching leagues so they can see the Yankees and Red Sox more often, then you're a team that has problems. Serious problem ... More >>

The Astros Curse: They Are The Damned

The Astros have been damned​The following is based on true facts, but names have been redacted to protect the innocent, and not so innocent... The Houston Astros are a bad baseball team this season. They're beyond bad. They're beyond awful. They're closing in on worst team in MLB history b ... More >>

20 Modest Fan Suggestions for Jim Crane

Hey Jim, while you're listening to fan suggestions, how about retiring J.R.'s jersey already?​The word from on-high came earlier this week when the Houston Astros announced that Jim Crane had heard the voice of the fans and thus would not be changing the team's name. It's nice that Crane paid ... More >>