Houston Astros

By all accounts Brett Myers pitched a strong seven innings for the Astros during yesterday's disappointing loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Myers threw a quality start, pitching seven innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits, three walks and no strikeouts. However, a closer look at yesterday's box score, radar gun and pitch/FX data show that Myers' stuff may have regressed. 

According to the Associated Press, 36-year-old Nelson Figueroa has nailed down the fifth slot in the rotation for the 2011 Houston Astros to start the season.

He will take his spot behind Brett Myers, Wandy Rodriguez, J.A. Happ and Bud Norris. He found out today due to his last competitor, Jordan Lyles, being sent down to minor league camp along with six other players.

Spring Training is primarily used to get the players ready for the season as well as allow players to battle it out for any open spots in the lineup. The Astros roster was pretty much set before pitchers and catchers showed up so this was a good opportunity for management to evaluate some of it's young talent.

It is being reported in the Houston media that the Houston Astros have officially named right-handed pitcher Brett Myers as their Opening Day starter against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Myers came to the Astros via a one-year deal on January 8, 2010. After the 2009 World Series, he filed for free agency after the Phillies informed him that they would not be pursuing a new contract with him.

Houston Astros (2010 record: 76-86)

It doesn’t appear the 50th-anniversary season for the former Colt .45s will be much of a celebration.

The team played pretty well last year after dispatching longtime stars Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt, but I don’t believe there’s going to be a tremendous carry-over into the new season.

The 9 Innings Blog will be bringing you previews of every Major League Baseball team for the next 30 days. This is in accordance with our 30 teams in 30 days series. Today, we are bringing you the 2011 preview of the Houston Astros. The Astros are looking to bounce back from a less than stellar 2010.

The Astros finished up the 2010 season finishing 76-86 which was good for fourth place in the National League Central, finishing better than the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the first month of the season, the Astros were the worst team in baseball.  They garnered a bit of respect by finishing 33-27 down the stretch.

This is clearly a team rebuilding.  They traded their two most recognizable names, Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman, before the trade deadline.

By George Campbell

Astros skipper Brad Mills faced his former team, the Boston Red Sox, for the first of three scheduled 2011 spring training games on Tuesday. Even though his team lost 3-2, he was pleased with the effort his guys put forth in the game.

“I think we’ve played very well this year. I think you saw that today,” Mills said after the game.

Before spring training started, some people had guarded optimism about this team heading into 2011. After trading away top stars Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt, they had a record above .500 and were playing pretty good baseball down the stretch. They had four rookies in their starting lineup and rotation and if these young players continued to develop, the Astros would be competitive this season.

Now that the initial shock is over from the news that Jason Castro will be out for almost the entire 2011 season with a torn ACL, the Houston Astros need to go into damage control and figure out what they want to do with the catcher situation.

They could head into the season relying on their current catchers, Humberto Quintero and J.R. Towles, but they have hit a combined .221 in their major league careers.