The Astros are among the top clubs in the National League at getting runners on base. Their 13.84 baserunners per game trail only Colorado’s 14.41 and San Diego’s 14.11. With so many ducks on the pond, Astros sluggers have had ample chances to build their RBI totals.
By Breedlove
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on May 17, 2001.
With a fifth of the schedule complete and no real production from third base since the early weeks of the season, the Astros began to examine ways to solidify the starting eight. Despite his maturity, great attitude, and a healthy homerun binge to start the year, at .217/.289/.450 with an error every five starts, Chris Truby just was not getting it done. Read More
In The Baseball Book 1991, Bill James, examining the question of whether Nolan Ryan’s strikeout record would ever be broken, wrote, “Because more batters are using whip-handled bats, strikeout rates are still going up. They went down for several years, in the mid-seventies, but they’re going back up now, have been for several years.”
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 More
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.
By Michael N
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on May 8, 2001.
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