We’ve been talking for two years about inviting all of you, who read all of us (the Houston Astros blogs) to come to Minute Maid Park and watch a game together. It’s finally happening…

Of course, it was Jayne from What the Heck, Bobby who finally got us all squared away. If we were waiting on me, it could be a while!

Here’s the scoop -

Saturday, May 4th at 6:10pm
Astros vs. Detroit Tigers
Section 134, rows 18 and above 

To hang with us, use THIS LINK to buy tickets and enter the promo code “WTHB” to get a couple of bucks knocked off your ticket. Make sure you sit in Section 134 in rows 18 or above (my ticket says 19, but since when do I sit in my assigned seat???).

Who’s in? Well, Jayne, Me, Greis, DeAnna and hopefully representation from Astros County, Crawfish Boxes, Climbing Tal’s Hill and more. As we get other confirmations, I’ll post it over there —–> in that sidebar item.

Hope to see you there!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

There was much ado about pitching last night; conversations on twitter and message boards, fan reaction at the ballpark. For years I’ve said, it’s about the pitching. Good defensive pitching can make a mediocre offense a little less important. But if a team has subpar pitching, it takes a whole heck of a lot of amazingly impressive offense to make up for the sins of the guys on the bump.

The Astros starters have been reliable, not outstanding, but definitely reliable. The first 5+ innings of baseball haven’t been the site of anything tragic. In fact, they’ve been pretty darn good. Even when they’ve struggled and seen inflated pitch counts, Astros starters have battled their way through. If you look at the ERA of starters, throwing as starters, you can’t complain – Lucas Harrell (1.50), Philip Humber (1.59), Bud Norris (3.18), Brad Peacock (4.15) – as a group, the starters have a 2.63 ERA. It’s a stat where the Astros are not, in fact, the worst in baseball. They rank 8/30 clubs in starting pitching ERAs so far. Not bad.

If any real criticism can be made after ONLY FIVE games – and let’s all remember it’s only been 5 measly games – it’s more about the fact that a starter should come in throw six innings, but the starting rotation in Houston has only Lucas Harrell as a member of the 6 inning club. Last night, Bud Norris got pretty darn close, but still didn’t clear that hurdle. Bear in mind this is after FIVE games…there are 157 more to go and we need those shoulders and elbows to remain intact, so SPs only going 5 1/3, 5 2/3 isn’t a “real” concern, but something to ponder.

The biggest problem with the starters unable to go a full six is the the Houston bullpen has been terrible. Several people commented via social media last night that the team’s bullpen was stretched and that’s why Porter left Bud Norris in during the sixth after a homer, an error by Ronny Cedeno, two fly ball outs, a walk and a hit. That’s not why Porter left him in.

“Bud did a tremendous job. To me, tonight, he grew up,” were manager Bo Porter‘s words. “He did what a number one starter should do.” Porter told Norris he had earned the right to earn the win, resulting in Norris throwing 122 pitches in 5 2/3. Perhaps not his most efficient start, but not devastating by a long run.

The problem? The bullpen. Their ERA so far this season? 6.62 Yep, folks, that’s the problem. So you can go on twitter and whine about how long the starters are lasting. You can moan and groan about whether Brett Wallace is getting hits or Chris Carter is striking out again (although I admit I have fun with that last one), but when the umpire yells, “Play ball!” it’s going to come down to the guys on the mound. If they can’t their job done, then no amount of offense will save your team.

Jason Castro hit a three run homer last night in the Astros 6-3 loss to Oakland. Not even close to being enough to make up for pitching that wasn’t defensive. Justin Maxwell and J.D. Martinez were both 2/4 last night. No matter how productive that offense is on any given day, poor pitching can give a game away. And the Astros’ bullpen has been giving a lot away. Where do they land in baseball? 26 /30, so not the bottom of the barrel, but not anywhere they’d want to be.

One more comment of note from Bo Porter since the strikeout count has been so high and noted both in historic and sarcastic context by everyone under the sun. Last night the Astros struck out only four times – that’s the lowest in a game so far (again ONLY  FIVE games). When asked his thoughts on the matter, Porter, being the guy we’ve all come to expect him to be, said, ”I couldn’t tell you how many it was yesterday or how many it was today. What I do know is that we lost the game.”

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

So, have you heard? Yu Darvish was one out away from throwing a perfect game against the Astros last night. One out away from making history (only 23 “perfect games” have ever been pitched in baseball history). Thank you Marwin Gonzalez for the hit, with two outs in the ninth, that saved the Astros from being on the wrong end of history again.

First, and foremost, I commend Darvish for pitching an outstanding game. It was pretty amazing to watch in person. Unfortunately, his outstanding performance is being overshadowed by a lot of national media focusing more on the mediocre Astros team that he beat.

Yes, National Media, we know this team isn’t great. In fact, yes, we all know that the possibility of a no-hitter being tossed this season is there and if it happens it seems that no one on Twitter would be surprised. I just hate that the state of the Astros has become the focus of last nights game and not the remarkable pitching from the visitors side. Regardless of how good or bad the Astros will or will not be, the tremendous job by Darvish should not be thrown aside with the morning garbage.

Now to the real drama…

I pledge allegiance to the Astros.

As a fan should I have been cheering for history?

According to many on Facebook and Twitter I should have put my Astros allegiance aside and hoped for the perfect game, because history trumps fandom, obviously. As a fan I’m very aware of how rare a perfect game is. In fact, I’d love to witness a perfect game one day, but only if it’s my team throwing it. Not once, in 9 innings, while sitting with friends at Minute Maid Park last night did I even contemplate cheering on Darvish to a perfect game.

I didn’t cheer on San Francisco Giant Matt Cain last season while watching his perfect game on television either. That’s just not me. I don’t want other teams to make history while playing my team and I will never in a million years root for it to happen. Especially not when the history that could be happening is happening in my “house.” History be damned!!

The Astros are sending Philip Humber to the mound in today’s early-bird game. Humber was the 21^st player in MLB history to pitch a perfect game while pitching for the Chicago White Sox in 2012. Could he have another perfect game in his blood?  Now that I would totally ROOT for!

What do you think? Would you put your team allegiance aside and hope for a history making game?

Greis Perez (AmazingGreis), pronounced Grace, is a lifelong Astros fan and contributor for Aerys Sports. You can email her at amazing_greis@yahoo.com, or follow her on Twitter, @AmazingGreis, where she’s considered a #BadFan and professes her undying love for Justin Timberlake and all things sparkly!

There are times in sports where you stop cheering for the win and start cheering for something else. Last night around the 7th inning, fully aware that the Rangers’ Yu Darvish was cruising through a perfect game, I stopped cheering for the win and began cheering for a hit. I just wanted the Houston Astros to not allow that piece of history to take place on that night, in that stadium, against this team.

The Astros have never been no hit in Houston…I didn’t want that to change last night.

There was a part of me that would have loved to say I was at a perfect game, but the Astros fan in me didn’t want anything close to that. There were too many zeros on that side of my scorebook. So I stopped cheering for a win, and prayed for a hit. Any hit would do. It didn’t need to be a home run or a double. It just needed to put an Astro, any Astro, on base.

My scorebook at the end of 8. That was a LOT of zeros.

When perfection is looming and some would say it was inevitable, you start to notice things in a bit of a different way. It was the bottom of the 8th when things started to seem surreal and I started taking note of the things around me. Here are a few of my observations as perfection loomed:

1. Yu is annoying:  No, I’m not annoyed by the man himself. The “YUUUUUU” cheer that the Rangers do at the end of each inning Darvish pitches sounds like they’re booing their own player. It gets annoying…really quickly. If I were Darvish, I’d hate it. Of course, if I were Darvish, I’d beg to play for the Astros, too.
2. Know your neighbor: In times of crisis at Minute Maid Park, you will make friends with anyone who happens to sit around you. For example, the guy in front of me wanted his photo taken with his kids with Yu in the background. I blanched until he said, “If I take the photo, I’m hoping it will jinx the no-no.” How can I NOT be friends with that guy?
3. Rangers fans think Minute Maid Park is a second “home field”: The fans from that city in the northern part of the state known for fake boobs, big hair and a 1970′s tv show are WAY too comfortable in Minute Maid Park. We need to work on that.
4. Memories aren’t enough: It’s the bottom of the 9th, one out and a perfect game is only two outs away is when you will realize there are a LOT of cellphones in this world, because every single one of them will be held in the air, set to video the next pitch just in case it’s something historical, because you certainly will not ever be able to find that clip in the morning.
5. Diamonds are smaller than you think: typically a baseball field feels huge to me, especially at Minute Maid Park, but last night it was the smallest ballpark in the world. When perfection is looming every player is in just the right spot to stop a ball, make a catch, thwart your team’s effort to break it up. The intensity with which players play defense behind a pitcher who is in that zone? Amazing. Imagine if all players played with that intensity during every at bat of every game!
6. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover: I spent 2 of his 3 at bats talking about how weird Marwin Gonzalez‘s stance and swing were and how he sort of arches his back and contorts in an odd way. Marwin – your swing is just fine. In fact, now I believe it to be a thing of beauty.
7. Perfect storms happen: It’s no coincidence in my mind that the skies in Houston began to open and the wind began howling moments before Marwin Gonalez’s at bat. It’s just further proof that God is a baseball fan.
8. Losing doesn’t always hurt the same: Losing 7-0 but not being on the wrong side of a perfect game hurts a lot less than losing 7-5 or 7-1 even. Sometimes, not making history is as important as making it.

Cover your ears before you watch this home video of Gonzalez’s hit – there’s a LOT of screaming!

Without going into too many details of the game, I’ll say this about the Astros play last night – the defense left a little to be desired (hello, Brett Wallace at third base) and there were some plays missed that should have been made, but Lucas Harrell looked good. I can’t complain about that guy’s performance last night.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be in that position again, where I’m at a game while perfection looms. Like any baseball fan, I think it would be fantastic to be in the stadium when it happens, but just not to my team and not in my house.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Please welcome DeAnna Williamson to the Tales From the Juicebox family. DeAnna is an avid Astros fan and can be found at Minute Maid Park for most home games. She lives in the Houston area with her two dogs, who are both Astros fans – whether they realize it or not!

As baseball season approaches and we’re making due with somewhat meaningless Spring Training games, I started to wonder why we love baseball so much.

Believe it or not, I have friends who don’t love baseball.  Sometimes I wonder why we continue to be friends but I suppose I have to have something to do in the off season. But these friends complain that baseball is boring…it’s too slow. They don’t understand the strategies and the intricacies and the heart it takes to win a ball game.

But sometimes it’s not about the base stealing, the home run hitting, and the perfect game throwing.  Sometimes it’s about what it takes just to keep going when things seem hopeless.  This made me reminisce about an Astros game I attended early last season.

The Astros defeated the Padres by a narrow margin of 1-0.  It was one of those classic pitcher’s duels that so many of us love.  For some, it’s not as exciting as bomb after bomb in a big hitting game but I love the nuances of the pitches, the finesse of the pitching and on a weekday night, I loved the fact that the game flew by in less than 2 hours.

Pitcher Lucas Harrell threw a complete game and in the 9th inning, when the bases suddenly loaded, you knew that he was tired; he had to be!  Standing there, in the crowd, I looked at my friend Lindsey and I said “This could end disastrously!”  We were nervous.  There were 2 outs and 3 men on base.  One good hit and this thing would get ugly, fast.

But I felt it.  Somehow, in that crowd of thousands, I actually felt Lucas Harrell dig deep and deliver the next three strikes.  It was an exciting win, especially as you’re biting your nails at the end.

On the drive home, I thought about those last few strikes Harrell threw.  He had been working for 9 innings, throwing pitch after pitch and then suddenly, that last inning got a little out of hand.  He had a decision to make; he could give up and allow the coach to bring in a reliever or he could find that strength inside himself to finish this game.

We all go through these moments in our life, don’t we?  We are in a situation where we can give up or we can dig deep and grab that “oomph” to propel you into your next moment.

Don’t we all wish we could do that?  I wonder sometimes where I might find strength.  It’s easy to get mired in our own pity.  For me, it helps to know that I’m not the only one who has ever walked down this road…whatever road that is.
I’m not the only one who has suffered fatigue, sadness, loss, hard times…

I’m not alone on this road because there is always either someone ahead of me or someone behind me.  And just because I find my way, doesn’t mean I won’t be on this road again.

So, what more can I do other than adjust my crotch, spit in the dirt, watch the runners at first and third, nod at the catcher’s signs, dig deep and pray for that one last strike.

This is why I love baseball.

The Houston Astros are poised to have a pretty horrible season. I have no reason to believe that the team, as it sits now, will win more than 60 games this year. Is that me being pretty negative? Maybe, but I think it’s me being pretty realistic. I’d love to say that the rebuild efforts were further along than that, but they’re not.

The good news is that the minor leagues look good. They’ve jumped in the rankings from the very bottom of the pack (30) to being a top 10 minor league system in a very short time. And we all know that to have a successful ball club, a minor league system jam-packed with talent is essential. So Jeff Luhnow’s plan seems to be moving forward and, dare I say, working.

In the meantime, those of us who mainly follow the big league team suffer a bit. So how will the Houston Astros keep our attention this year? Is a new Manager in Bo Porter enough? Is watching Jose Altuve enough? Is Carlos Pena enough? Nope. None of those things will get fans to put their butts in seats.

I’ve wondered if the dismal failure that is the spread of Comcast Sports Net would encourage attendance to games. “You can’t see it on tv, so see it live!” But at a dinner this weekend 2 out of 4 fans said they’d change cable providers to insure their ability to watch Houston baseball. For the record, I have AT&T Uverse and will not be switching. I”ll find another way and there’s always radio.

But if you’ve been following the announcements coming out of Minute Maid Park recently, you know that everything old is new again…and I don’t just mean the logo. The team’s recruiting former players for roles in the organization. Is this an attempt to draw us back? If a favorite of mine is working for the team, will I come to more games?

Who’s on the menu so far, you ask. We all know that Craig Biggio already has a role as a special assistant to the GM and I can only see his role increasing over time. Roger Clemens will be working with the pitching staff. He’ll be hands on starting at Spring Training and will likely spend the majority of his time working with minor leaguers.

Alan Ashby, who played with the Astros throughout the 1980′s as a catcher is back as a tv* guy. And Geoff Blum will join the television broadcast team and is expected to cover about 60 or so games to fill in when Bill Brown isn’t on air.

Morgan Ensberg and Adam Everett will return to the club in roles in the minor leagues. Ensberg will be a development specialist assigned to Class A Lancaster and Everett will be an infield instructor and will work with both the minor league teams and the major league club. Both of these guys were on the 2005 Astros World Series team.

So, is this a gimicky parade of boys from the past to get our attention, or are these legit hires? I’d argue that they are both. Every one of these guys is definitely qualified to do the job they’ve been hired to do and in some cases, Clemens in particular, I don’t think there’s anyone who could do it better. Adam Everett was a fantastic defensive player and we all know that the Astros could use some serious help in that regard – if you don’t know what I’m talking about – go watch THIS VIDEO. (By the way, Bo Porter gets a shoutout in that video as the Nats 3B coach).

I salute the Astros for reaching out to former players who have the talent to help coach the young staff. I think it’s a good move. And in a year where good moves are needed to appease fans who are angry about all the bad moves (Jim DeShaies, Dave Raymond, Brett Dolan – good talent lost needlessly). Will this be enough to get former fans to come back and buy tickets? Nah. It’s not enough. But it’s an interesting move and one I’ll be following to see how these new coaches pan out.

None of these guys will be in high profile positions and fans aren’t going to see them, hear about them, etc throughout the season, but there is a little flicker of something – dare I say “hope” – that players who played in Houston’s glory days are coming home to play a role in returning the team to the days of old.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

*Edited – my first draft went out before I had caffeine and I stated that Alan Ashby would be joining the radio team. That was incorrect. He will be joining the television team.

Photo courtesy of http://footer.mlblogs.com/

When Milo Hamilton was pushed out of the radio booth stepped away from the mic, many were sad, many were happy, but regardless of your opinion of the aging play by play baseball broadcaster, the future of Astros radio was still  in good hands, right? The voices of Dave Raymond and Brett Dolan had carried us through many dismal seasons. That will no longer be the case.

It was announced yesterday that Dolan and Raymond would not have their contracts renewed and the Houston Astros would begin a search for new radio talent for the 2013 season. One member of the new team is set, as Crawford Jones, the winner of the “You Make The Call” contest, will be doing pre and post game broadcasting for the Astros in 2013.

As for the Houston Astros thoughts on the subject? From Brian McTaggart’s article via MLB.com:

“We appreciate the work Brett and Dave have done for us over the past seven seasons, and wish them well,” Astros president and CEO George Postolos said in a statement. “We are excited to begin the search for the new radio broadcast team of the Astros, and look forward to finding a great talent to succeed Milo.”

I’m confused to say the least. There are many things in the Houston Astros organization that need to be fixed, but the radio broadcasting team was not one of them. Throughout the last few seasons of dismal play on the field and countless trades of fan favorite players (which were understandably needed to restock an empty farm system) the voices of Brett and Dave were often the only bright spots in a game.

I see no reason for this change and am shocked and saddened by it.

What’s next, Postolos? Will Bill Brown and Jim Deshaies still be with the team for 2013? Or do you plan on continuing to antagonize your dwindling fan base?

Will my contract as a fan be renewed? It seems you don’t really want me anymore. I accepted the move the AL. I accepted the bad baseball on the field. I accepted just about everything you’ve thrown at us. But now I put my foot down.

When your organization is in the throws of a complete overall, you HAVE to give your fans something to hold onto. So far, this organization isn’t offering anything. I consider myself a part of the Astros family and families don’t abandon each other, but families sure as hell do call each other out when they’re screwing up.

And you, Houston Astros, are screwing it all up.

This is the second very critical blog I’ve written in the last week and frankly, that saddens me. I think most of you know that I am as die hard of a fan as they come. I’ve defended almost every move of late (except that damn erector set of a sign in left field) and the fact that at every turn this club is forgetting the fans is pushing me to the edge.

It makes me wonder if the Houston Astros want us as fans. Are they trying to overhaul everything, including us? Maybe that’s the case. Because outside of that reasoning, I don’t understand why you would take away the security blanket of your scared and nervous child moments before they are forced into a new world.

What’s been done can now not be undone. At this point, all I can say is that Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond are excellent broadcasters. I enjoyed their time in Houston immensely and I will miss them. They are voices that make baseball fun no matter if your team is winning or losing. I have no doubt that wherever they land, fans will find them as knowledgeable and likable as we did here in Houston.

Good luck to you, Brett and Dave. You will be missed.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

12 year old girls will still have team to cheer for in Houston. So there’s that.

The Houston Astros 2012 season is over. Now what? Well, while players have all caught planes to wherever they call home, the fans sit wondering what will be left of the Astros they love when Spring Training 2013 rolls around.

There have been a LOT of changes in the last year, some easier to swallow than others (Hello, American League!).  I’ll miss reading Zachary Levine’s stories for the Houston Chronicle, and watching pitchers hit. I’ll miss knowing who is who on the field and in the dugout, I’ll miss the view out the windows in left field that is now blocked by the most hideous sign ever. I won’t miss Tal’s hill or Junction Jack. I won’t miss the train. So not all the changes are hard.

I have, to some degree, made my peace with the difficult changes, reminding the 12 year old girl inside of me that she doesn’t need to throw a tantrum, Houston still has a baseball team.

It’s not the baseball team of my childhood. Of course it hasn’t been THAT ball club for a while. I had a hard time with the move out of the Astrodome too. I remember thinking, “But the Astros should always play in the Astrodome. Isn’t that the whole point of the name?” Tears were shed when that era ended.

I remember touring what was then called “Enron Field at Union Station” while it was under construction. Somewhere in the piles of memorabilia there’s a photo of me in a hardhat standing next to a stake in the ground that says “HOMEPLATE”  spelled out in all capital letters in black sharpie. That was the day that the new ballpark won me over.

You see, I get sad to let the past go and move forward, but sometimes all it takes to help push in a new direction is a taste of the fun to come. This is the point at which I should tell you all the fun things to come, right?

I don’t expect that 2013 will be a whole lot of fun as an Astros fan. My hope is that when the club reveals the logo on November 2nd there’s a renewed interest in this team, but I fear the beating they’re bound to take in the AL West with a roster of kids who still need time is going to be brutal once again for fans.

So where’s that taste of the fun to come? It’s all currently in the minor leagues, developing, practicing, perfecting and dreaming of the day it can can come to the show. There’s a crop of young talent that the Astros organization hasn’t seen in over a decade working their butts off to come play on the field we call Minute Maid Park. Patience, Houston, that’s what we need.

So while we’re waiting for those kids to grow up a bit and be the ball players we need, I’m going to enjoy learning a new side of the game that I never gave much attention…you know, those folks over in the American League. We’ll see teams play in Houston that fans haven’t seen here before. I think that might even help the attendance numbers a bit. Nothing like a park full of Yankees fans to get the Astros fans riled up and cheering!

I’ll enjoy the changes that will be made to the ballpark in color and logo and improvements. I’ll get to know the quirks of a new crop of coaches and possibly players. I’ll learn a little more about the changes in strategy when your pitchers don’t pitch to pitchers. But most importantly, as Springtime comes around, I’ll go watch these guys in Kissimmee, I’ll buy new scorebooks, dust off my favorite vintage ball cap and  cheer on the Houston Nine. After all, there’s still baseball in Houston.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

fanatic [fuh-nat-ik] noun – a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal

With the Astros recent seasons of struggles, there have been some questions raised on the Internets about “true fans”. Most of the questions have been posted on Twitter by other fans, but they should still be addressed, because my “true fan” status is at stake here, yo!

You can love your team, and still admit they suck.

What makes you a “true fan” of a team? Is it your loyalty? Is it your tattoo? Is it your positivity? What about your negativity? Do you go to most of the home games? Do you travel to see your favorite team play on the road? Have you been cheering for the same team since you were 5?

In my mind “true fan” can be defined in countless numbers of ways and all of the above scenarios can realistically come in to play. A “true fan” lives and dies with their team, whether they’re winning or losing. You still go to games and follow their every move. A “true fan” is positive, but is also realistic and knows when his/her team isn’t good and can say it. Yes, it’s great to be positive about your team and to talk them up, but seriously when your team is the worst team in baseball it’s OK to be negative.

Confession time, I have been known to poke fun at the Houston Nine on Twitter quite often. I’ve said they look like little leaguers (they do at times), I’ve called out certain ballplayers for their strikeouts and lack of batting (I’m looking at you Jordan Schafer), and I joke about their fielding when errors are made. Seriously, they’re in the big leagues they shouldn’t be running into each other on the field, but all kidding aside I’m still at most every home game (I missed 10) and I still hope that they win, or play well, every night. Does my poking fun make me less of a fan? I don’t think so.

Another question that has been raised is what the proper etiquette should be if a player follows you, the fan, on Twitter. Twitter is an amazing social media tool that I think all ballplayers should be a part of. I think it’s an outstanding way to stay connected and to interact with fans. Ballplayers are big boys and they should be able to handle criticism and negativity. If they can’t, well they shouldn’t be on Twitter.

As fans I think it’s important to support your team in the good times and the bad. Obviously you want your team to win, but when they’re losing you don’t just give up and stop root root rooting. As fans I also think it’s important to support your fellow fan. Who are we to judge what makes someone a “good” fan or a “bad” fan. We’re all cheering for the same team and hoping that they do well and in the end that’s fan enough for me!

Greis Perez (AmazingGreis), pronounced Grace, is a lifelong Astros fan and contributor for Aerys Sports. You can email her at amazing_greis@yahoo.com, or follow her on Twitter, @AmazingGreis, where she’s considered a #BadFan and professes her undying love for Justin Timberlake and all things sparkly!

Late last night news broke that the Houston Astros had named a new Manager and it would be Bo Porter, third base coach of the Washington Nationals. Per a tweet from Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle, front office personnel flew to Philadelphia yesterday, where the Nationals were playing to formally offer Porter the job.

Once again the Astros front office had big news flying through the air as most of us slept. They made it official during a 10am press conference at Minute Maid Park this morning. During his statement GM, Jeff Luhnow, stated about Porter, “He is openminded. He is smart and he knows baseball.”

Porter, who has been with the Nationals since 2011, was not the guy many of us had in mind for this position, but it’s only fair we give him his shot. The powers that be in the Astros front office did a fine job this year of making deals, stocking a desolate farm system, and proving that they have a master plan for returning the Houston nine to the glory the team once knew.

I’ll continue to have faith until they prove to me I shouldn’t.

In the meantime, Bo Porter and the Nationals are in a race for a championship and Luhnow asked that we all respect that and let him finish the job he has ahead of him. Not that Bo Porter would pick up his phone for me, I would love to ask him a handful of questions.

But for now, we have this: Bo Porter is a 40 year old who lives in Houston during the offseason, so he’s a hometown boy, of sorts. He played football at the University of Iowa until he was drafted in the 40th round by the Chicago Cubs in the 1993 draft as an outfielder. He made his major league debut, with the Cubs, in 1999, but would end up going to Oakland in the Rule 5 Draft in 2000. He played for the A’s for only 1 season before being claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers, again, staying there only one season. He played the rest of his career in the minors in the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies systems until his career concluded.

Since leaving the playing field he’s done everything from hitting coach in the minors to third base coach in the majors. He’s been a managerial candidate for the Marlins and Pirates, but never got to grab the brass ring.

Fangraphs interviewed Porter back in July of this year, calling him a “Future Big League Manager.”  When asked what his managerial style would be, he said this -

“When people ask what kind of manager I’ll be, I always tell them, ‘Give me a roster and then I’ll tell you how I’m going to manage that ball club.’ You can say you’re going to be an aggressive manager and that we’re going to steal bases and hit-and-run, but if you have six guys in your lineup that can hit 25 home runs, it’s probably not a good idea to take too many chances of giving away outs. Conversely, if you have a team that doesn’t have a lot of power — but you do have guys who put the ball in play — you can put runners in motion.

“You want to take advantage of the ability that your players have. How you manage shouldn’t be etched in stone. You have to play to your strengths and at the same time you have to look at your opponent. If there are things the other team doesn’t do well, you want to put your players in a position to take advantage of that. A big part of this game is recognizing advantages, whether you do that with data or with your own eyes.”

As of yesterday, Porter’s wish came true. I’d say with one heck of a coaching opportunity ahead of him. Many would see the Houston Astros as the team they’d least like to lead, but I’d bet that Porter’s looking at it as the opportunity of a lifetime. He gets the chance to prove to the Marlins and the Pirates that they were wrong. That he can turn a team around.

Until he proves me wrong, I’ll give Mr. Porter the benefit of the doubt. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do with a team that has the lowest payroll and highest loss rate in the majors. A team that has too many minor leaguers taking the field each night. A team that has a developing farm system that’s talent is a few years out from the show. Yes, he has one heck of a challenge in front of him, but it’s one hell of an opportunity.

Welcome to Houston, Bo.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.