Los Angeles Dodgers

42: The Brooklyn Museum

42 almost makes a flesh-and-blood man of its hero.

The Screwball Economics of Major League Baseball

As another season begins, MLB faces an unsustainable future - and you're picking up the tab.

Pro Football's Birthday: The Oh-So-Manly Hupmobile, A Star Named "Pudge" And Drafting Off Baseball's Heat

For an incredibly high-profile operation like the NFL, the league's beginnings are somewhat murky. A loose collection of teams, players, schedules and shifting alliances, the early days of the league bear almost no resemblance to the streamlined corporate machine that dominates the current sports l ... More >>

Jeff Luhnow Declares Independence From Carlos Lee

Jeff Luhnow traded Carlos Lee to the Los Angeles Dodgers last week. Lee dilly-dallied and whined about his taxes, so the Dodgers pulled out of the trade. It appeared that the Astros would thus be stuck with Lee for the rest of the season as the Dodgers were really, really, really desperate for anybo ... More >>

The Astros Traded Carlos Lee, They Just Couldn't Get Him to Leave

No matter what else might happen with the Houston Astros this season, the fans should realize one thing: General manager Jeff Luhnow is a genius. What other word can describe a man who not only was able to trade Carlos Lee to a contending team for a good, young pitching prospect, but was also willin ... More >>

In Which John Royal Predicts the Winner of the 2012 World Series

The major league baseball season officially started last week when the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners played two games in Tokyo. Most of the other teams open on Thursday, and the Astros get started on Friday when they host the Colorado Rockies. Thus, here are my predictions for this season. NATI ... More >>

The Astros Are Heading To The Promised Land -- The American League!

Say hello to Yankee Fan​As a major league sport, baseball has always done a fairly good job of keeping itself relevant throughout the calendar year. (Football is the king of year-round relevancy. Basketball is the court jester. Baseball lies somewhere in between.) November is normally a fun b ... More >>

Astros To The American League: The Logical Argument To Stop The Move

​Ever since the Peter Gammons tweet on Wednesday about the Astros sale to be approved in November as well as the Astros being moved to the American League, there's been a firestorm of anger and panic emitting from what few Astros fans remain. Yesterday, one group even started an internet peti ... 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 >>

Celebrating Women in Baseball While Forgetting Anita Martini

The Hall's Women in Baseball Exhibit ignores a very important woman.​While on the Houston Aeros beat a couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to travel to Binghamton, New York, for the Calder Cup Finals. There's not much to Binghamton, but about an hour and a half away, nestled amongst a beauti ... More >>

Starring Tim Russert: Five Awful, Mawkish Pieces of Father's Day Treacle

Heartwarming (the blurbs said so!!)​There are some good, honest, entertaining and trenchant books and songs out there done by people about their memories of Dad. On the other hand, there's a lot of crap. Cloyingly sentimental, predictable, tear-jerking crap. Five of the worst: 5. Tim Russer ... More >>

So You Want to Own a Baseball Team? Baseball Financing 101

​There are a lot of stories coming out about how the Astros are going to face a long climb to respectability. About how all of the team's problems can't be solved by spending money. About how we're just going to have to be patient while Jim Crane's baseball people rebuild the mess left behin ... More >>

Astros Finally Sold, Or So It Appears

​Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead. The Astros have, it appears, finally been sold. At least that's what Drayton McLane has told Mark Berman over at Fox 26. The papers are still being finalized, though it is hoped that the parties will sign off on the sale next week. McLane was not wil ... More >>

Ten Thousand Harmonicas Coming To Minute Maid Next Friday

Courtesy Pocket Full of SoulHarmonicas can multiply like cockroaches if you're not careful.​If you're going to try to break a world record by having 10,000 people play the same instrument at the same time, Rocks Off supposes the harmonica is a pretty good way to go, and a ballpark is a pretty ... 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 >>

Houston's Top Ten Sports Moments: Another View

The bosses came out their Top 10 Greatest Houston Sports Moments today, so I thought I would share mine.1. September 25, 1986: The magic number for the Houston Astros to clinch the NL West is one game. The Astros are playing a midweek day game against the San Francisco Giants, the team that just ... More >>

Game Time: Jose Lima, 1972-2010

"I was born for this, I love baseball, and remember guys, it's still Lima Time, and it's always Lima Time. You gotta believe that." -- Jose Lima, 2009 as a member of the Long Beach Armada in the independent Golden Baseball League Much like the man behind the movement, "Lima Time" is simultaneousl ... More >>

Roy Oswalt Bitching About No Run Support: The Astros Fun Season Continues

Roy-O, your ERA is doing more than enough talking for you​Today's big Houston Astros news comes by way of the Harris County Family Courts where sources are reporting that Astros ace, Roy Oswalt, has filed for divorce from the Houston Astros citing irreconcilable differences as the cause for the fa ... 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 >>

Inquiring Minds: Mexican Global Groovers and World Travelers Plastilina Mosh

​Plastilina Mosh has a new CD out, All U Need Is Mosh, on Nacional Records, and brings its international sound to Houston Thursday for a free concert with Venezuela's Los Amigos Invisibles. That's right, it's free - all it costs is a very worthwhile trip outside the Loop. Rocks Off hasn't picked u ... More >>

If You Love Roy Oswalt, Set Him Free

​Ed. Note: We mistakenly stated that Brian McTaggart was with the Houston Chronicle, which has now been corrected. We regret the error. If you were watching the Astros lose on Wednesday night, then you probably recall that at one point, Albert Pujols hit a soft groundball right up the middle ... More >>

The Astros, Hanging On Despite Themselves

The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and Thursday and Friday to get their record to 46-44. For a short time, the Astros were in a three-way tie for second place in the NL Central. And with the first-place St. Louis Cardinals coming in for three games starting tonight, there was a chan ... More >>

Astros Second-Half Preview: Now Comes The Hard Part

So the second half of the season gets underway for the Astros tonight, and the team has 74 games left to secure a playoff spot. Of course, the Astros are a surprising 44-44, and they're only three-and-a-half games behind the NL Central leading St. Louis Cardinals, and they're only five games behind ... More >>

This Season's MLB Predictions: The National League

With baseball season due to start next week, I thought I should put myself on the line and make some predictions. I made my American League predictions yesterday. Today I'm going to take a look at the National League, and on Monday, I'll take an in-depth look at the Astros as they prepare to open ... More >>

This Season's MLB Predictions: The National League

With baseball season due to start next week, I thought I should put myself on the line and make some predictions. I made my American League predictions yesterday. Today I'm going to take a look at the National League, and on Monday, I'll take an in-depth look at the Astros as they prepare to open ... 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 >>

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 >>

MLB Playoffs: Dodgers, Phillies, Rays and Red Sox

MLB Playoffs: Cubs Lose, Cubs Lose. Brewers Too.

Notes on the Baseball Playoffs

Notes on the Baseball Playoffs

Top Ten Astrodome Sports Moments

Astros-Giants: Don’t Get Your Hopes Up, People

Astros-Dodgers: Carlos Lee Homers, Houston Loses 4-1

Astros vs. L.A. Dodgers

Call in sick and enjoy an afternoon game

Astros-Dodgers: Extra Innings Not Enough

Astros-Dodgers: Speaking of Predictions, Guess Who Got Last Month Right

Savage Sports Fans and Mexican Overcrowding

Astros-Dodgers: All Hail Big Puma

Show Me the Money: Scott Boras Is My New Agent

Caught Between Ashley Judd and Nicole Kidman. And the Astros, Although They're Not Really in the Same League.

Bright Idea: Have Woody Williams Mentor Wandy Rodriguez.

Astros Lose, But There Was Something New

Two Men On. No Outs. Brad Lidge in the Game...

History with Bill Brown

An Accountability Moment

Not Bad for One of the Whitest Teams in Baseball

John Royal's MLB Predictions

Take Me Out...

...to the ball game. Lauding baseball-in-rock's finest moments.

Know Your Astros! Quiz