Sports
Astros finish outside of playoffs
Here’s a baseball first: A team moves into playoff contention with a spectacular second-half surge, only to have its momentum interrupted by a hurricane.
HOUSTON — Here’s a baseball first: A team moves into playoff contention with a spectacular second-half surge, only to have its momentum interrupted by a hurricane.
The Houston Astros won 14 of 15 games and had the best record in baseball after the All-Star break with three weeks left in the season. Then Ike struck Texas on Sept. 13, handing the Astros two unwanted days off and a pair of rescheduled games against the first-place Chicago Cubs — in Milwaukee, of all places.
With a pro-Chicago crowd cheering against them, the Astros were no-hit by Carlos Zambrano in the first game after the storm, the first of five straight losses. Houston won six of its last nine but couldn't recover in the playoff chase, finishing 3 games behind Milwaukee for the wild card.
“You can ask those ‘what if’ questions. What if we’d won 120 games?” said slugger Lance Berkman, who hit .312 with 29 homers and 106 RBIs. “The reality is, we didn’t do it. We’re a pretty good team. I think our record is about what you’d expect, if you look at this team with an open and honest assessment of what we have in here.”
The Astros finished 86-75, a 13-victory improvement from 2007. They went 42-24 in the second half and finished third in the NL Central — not bad, considering they were in last place July 8.
“Third place sounds a lot better than fourth,” said Houston manager Cecil Cooper, completing his first full season. “A lot of good things happened for us this year. We’ve just got to build on this for next year.”
The starting pitching was the question mark at the end of spring training, and six months later it’s the most glaring need for next year.
Roy Oswalt will again anchor the rotation in 2009. Like the Astros, Houston’s ace reversed a shaky start to finish 17-10. He won 11 of his last 13 decisions and set a franchise record with 32 1-3 scoreless innings between Aug. 27 and Sept. 11.
The Astros retired Craig Biggio’s No. 7 in August, then said goodbye to catcher Brad Ausmus, who wants to play closer to his San Diego home after 10 seasons in Houston.
- Sports
-
-
Cleburne downs Midlothian, 4-1
It’s not how you start, but how you finish.
-
UPDATE: Area baseball postponed because of rain
Area baseball games have been moved/postponed because of rain.
-
UPDATE: Cleburne baseball, softball teams win on Saturday
The Cleburne Yellow Jackets won their host tournament on Saturday with a 12-5 victory over Mansfield Legacy in the final.
-
Lady Jackets beat Meridian, 7-1
The Cleburne Lady Jackets snapped their losing streak on Saturday against Meridian with a 7-1 win.
-
Jackets compete in Granbury
Both Cleburne track teams competed in the Granbury meet on Friday.
-
UPDATE: Soccer scores/playoff matchups
Updated soccer scores and playoff information
-
Cleburne moves to tourney title game
The Cleburne Yellow Jackets continued to steamroll their way through their host tournament on Friday and Saturday.
-
Lady Jackets lose three in Fort Worth Southwest tournament
The Cleburne Lady Jacket softball team dropped three games in the Fort Worth Southwest tournament on Thursday to fall to 3-11-1 on the year.
-
Cleburne notches two victories
The Cleburne Yellow Jackets began their host tournament with two wins on Thursday over Fort Worth South Hills and Mansfield Legacy, and improved to 7-6 on the season.
-
BREAKING NEWS: Interrante wins NCAA national title in 100 meter butterfly
Henderson State University true freshman and Cleburne High School alumni Zach Interrante won the 2010 NCAA Division II national title in the 100 meter butterfly at the NCAA swimming finals on Thursday with a time of 48.08, just edging out Grand Valley State's Aaron Beebe (48.32).
- More Sports Headlines
-
