If you’d have asked me at the start of the 2012 season if the Houston Astros were social media savvy, I’d have said yes. Now, all these months later, they seem to have regressed. I can’t decide if there’s a rotating group of interns now responsible for the team’s facebook and twitter streams or if they just went and found a monkey who knew NOTHING about baseball and gave them the job.

I giggled but turned a blind eye to the post game headlines that ALWAYS listed the one highlight. Things like, “Scott Moore homers as the Astros barely lose 8-1 to the Pirates.” Yes, they were that stupid. But again, I chalked it up to a moronic intern that didn’t know any better.

Next came the promo for Legends weekend in which the Astros told us that Joe Niekro would join us for lunch….well, um…that’s nice and all, but since he’s been dead for six years, it may not be the pleasant Legends Luncheon you’re paying for, right?

Now today, it seems the baseball geniuses in the business offices of the Astros are at it again. Here’s the tweet the official @Astros account sent out just a bit ago regarding tonight’s lineup.

Yes, the #1 hitter is now called clean up according to the Astros. I. Can’t. Believe. It. For the record, I replied to the tweet and corrected them, saying that no, Justin Maxwell was batting cleanup. They still haven’t deleted the tweet or corrected themselves. It’s the three stooges show….

This organization is taking the bull by the horns on the baseball side and making some really smart decisions. Why is the business and marketing side completely falling apart? Have they let go of everyone with a brain for the business of baseball?

For the love of the baseball gods, can you PLEASE at least find an intern who knows something about baseball to run the social media posts? I can laugh at one mistake, even two, but the parade of errors makes this club MORE of a laughingstock than it was already considered.

Thanks. Because even though we’re loyal fans who still cheer for the worst team in baseball….we’re not morons.

***By the way, Happy Birthday to Alyson Footer who ran the Social Media of the Astros like a true professional. We definitely miss you.

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.

As we count down to the first home game of the season, there’s lots of new stuff to talk about at Minute Maid Park! There’s the new press box, the new ginormous video board that took the place of the old scoreboard and the new scoreboard over left field. I’ll be at the ballpark this weekend and can’t wait to take a peek around and see it all in action. I’ve been keeping abreast on the changes as the “Astros Insiders” have posted changes during the offseason – all via Social Media!

Social Media is still a newish term and although Facebook is commonplace for most, Twitter is still uncharted territory for many.

The Astros’ Alyson Footer is in charge of all things social media for the team and does a great job of posting updates, lineups, specials and lots more via Twitter. She’s even coordinated special “Social Media Nights” at games where the entire Budweiser Patio is filled with “Astros Tweeps”. It’s sort of like a Tweet Up at Minute Maid Park. You get dinner, a tshirt, a player makes an appearance and then she tweets trivia questions throughout the game and gives prizes to the first correct tweeter who is in attendance. There were 2 Social Media Nights during the 2010 season. There will be 8 as of now for the 2011 season with the first one being April 16th.

So how do you get in on all the fun happening at Minute Maid Park? It’s really all about Twitter! Here’s the Who’s Who on Twitter in the Houston Astros family!

First, the players who are tweeting-

@HunterPence9 – Hunter Pence

@hyphen18 – Ryan Rowland-Smith

@cjastros23 – Chris Johnson

@brianbogusevic – Brian Bogusevic

@brettwallace29 – Brett Wallace

@budnorris20 – Bud Norris

@jbourgeois1st – Jason Bourgeois

And the people who don’t swing a bat, but keep us informed -

@astrosblast – official Astros Twitter

@losastros – official Astros Twitter

@alysonfooter – Alyson Footer, Senior Director of Social Media for the Astros

@brianmctaggart – Brian McTaggart, MLB Beat Reporter for the Astros

@astrosradio – Brett Dolan, Radio Announcer

And if you’re not following me….@agirlinthesouth