By Knoxbanedoodle
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on May 11, 2001.

The recent explosion of little ball talk on the TZ got me thinking about patterns in the Astros offense over the past couple years. Admittedly, when I started looking into the numbers I did so with the aim of discovering that little balls pays off, that Weaver-ball is overrated and Dierker isn’t getting the most of his offensive tools by standing around and waiting for the three run bomb. Even in a stadium like Enron there is a definite need to occasionally be able to manufacture a run, and, going further, perhaps there is a radical new way to blend the two diametrically opposed styles of baseball into a cool new battle plan. Here’s what I found: Read the rest of this entry »

A little more than 10 years ago, 32-year-old Rickey Henderson was on top of the baseball world. Coming off an MVP season in 1990, Henderson, then with the Athletics, stole his 939th base on May 1, 1991, breaking Lou Brock’s career record. While Brock took 19 seasons and 1,245 attempts to set the mark, Henderson required slightly more than 12 seasons and 1,154 attempts to overtake it.

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By Michael N

Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on May 8, 2001.
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Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com.

Depending on when this gets posted, Jose Lima’s 2nd “last chance” of the year happens tonight or happened yesterday. Watching the Astros so far this season, I get the feeling that El Burro’s “last chances” are going to resemble KISS farewell concerts.  Like KISS, he’s flamboyant, he had limited success over an even more limited period of time, and none of them can sing. Read the rest of this entry »

How did they do?

The Astros streaked out of the gate 8-3 but went 4-9 the rest of the way. The differences between the two halves of the month, particularly on the mound, are stark:

Dates       R/G   ERA
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4/03-4/15  5.64  3.83
4/16-4/30  5.15  6.47

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