2012 – Brad Mills is fired after watching the core he agreed to manage sold off beneath him. In just under three years, he compiled a 171-274 (.384) record. Tony DeFrancesco was brought up from AAA to serve as interim manager. The change did not bring immediate results as Houston lost to Arizona, 12-4, and completed the month on a 1-13 run.
The baseball owners unanimously approve the long-delayed sale of the Astros from Drayton McLane to Jim Crane. The deal was dependent on the new owner’s acceptance of the franchise being switched from the NL Central to the AL West in 2013, a move that reportedly lowered the sale price from $680 million to $615 million.
2011 – Brian Bogusevic belts a walk-off grand slam that stuns Chicago, 6-5, to snap a seven-game losing skid. Carlos Marmol is the victim. It’s just the second big league homer for Bogusevic, making Aneury Rodriguez a winning pitcher for the first time in his major league career.
Pirates starter Chris Jakubauskas, after just a dozen pitches into his first appearance of the year, is struck in the head by a vicious line drive off the bat of Houston’s Lance Berkman. The 31 year-old right-hander, who leaves the field on a stretcher in obvious distress, will be placed on the 15-day disabled list with a concussion and head contusion after being hospitalized overnight.
Cecil Cooper is replaced by Dave Clark, the team’s third base coach, as the manager of the slumping Astros. ‘Coop’, who had signed a contract extension to manage until the end of the 2010 season, piloted his club to a 171-170 record, including a disappointing 70-79 mark this season, during his two-year tenure in the Houston dugout.
Ivan Rodriguez catches the 2,227th game of his career, breaking Carlton Fisk’s record, in Houston’s 5 – 4, 10-inning loss to his former team, the Texas Rangers. For Texas, Omar Vizquel, the all-time leader for games played at shortstop, picks up his 2,677th hit, tying Luis Aparicio for most hits by a Venezuelan player.
2009 – After winning their first spring game of the year, the Astros fail to win their next 19 Grapefruit League contests until beating the Reds, 4-2, behind six shutout innings from Russ Ortiz. It comes the same day that the Astros sign catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez to a one-year deal. The 37-year-old Rodriguez is a 14-time All-Star with 13 Gold Gloves and fills a need as none of the other catchers in camp were hitting above .200 in spring action.
2008 – Carlos Lee picks up his league-leading 100th RBI and the 1,000th RBI of his career with a two-run double that defeats the Reds in ten innings, 9-5. Lee has four hits, including a solo homer. Kaz Matsui, Humberto Quintero and Hunter Pence also go deep. Chris Sampson gets the win with three innings of relief work. The next day, Lee’s season would end when he is plunked by Bronson Arroyo, breaking his pinkie finger.
August 3, 2008: Eddie Kunz, a 22 year old hard throwing right-hander, made his New York Mets debut against the Houston Astros. Kunz pitched a shutout inning. It would be one of only four MLB appearances he made during his short career. Kunz, the 2007 first round pick will finish his career with 2.2 innings pitched…
2008 – Hunter Pence breaks up a no-hit bid in Los Angeles with a single after two outs in the seventh. The bats wake up and clobber the Dodgers with an 8-5 thrashing. Houston wins their eighth game in their last nine while climbing within 1-1/2 games of the division lead.