So much whining about something that wont change much. We will suck for atleast 4 more years. Lets see what this new owner can do. I mean if the Rangers can get to the WS 2x in a row after being abysmal for a long time in the AL so can we. Oh and no more Cardinals or Brewers to rape our faces.
It's not like it hasn't happened before. We're 1-8 against the Yankees. Ooooooo, exciting. Well, that one win (six shooter) was memorable, but not necessarily because it was the Yankees. Sorry, but I don't go to the ballpark to root for the other team.
You realize we've already seen that, right? You don't have to imagine it. Hell, beyond interleague regular season play, the Yankees opened up MMP, just as they opened up the Astrodome.
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastro...s-astros-move-to-al-violates-lease-agreement/ Local attorney says Astros’ move to AL violates lease agreement An impending Astros move to the American League could violate the team’s lease agreement with the Harris County Houston Sports Authority, according to a local attorney. Kevin W. Yankowsky, a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., outlined his findings from a review of the lease in a Tuesday letter to J. Kent Friedman, the Sports Authority’s chairman of the board. Yankowsky, an Astros fan since the 1970s, will make a presentation at the Dec. 1 Sports Authority Board of Directors meeting urging a strict enforcement of the Astros’ lease to play their home games at Minute Maid Park. The wording of the lease agreement, Yankowsky said, spells out that the Astros cannot play at Minute Maid as anything but a National League team without receiving prior consent from the Sports Authority. Jim Crane reached a $680 million agreement in May to purchase the Astros from Drayton McLane, who has owned the team since 1993. MLB owners are scheduled to vote on — and likely approve — the sale Thursday, with one of the provisos being Crane move the team to the AL effective in 2013. Crane is receiving a $70 million discount for moving the Astros, who have been members of the NL since 1962. “My position would be: (The Sports Authority) simply ought to refuse to renegotiate their lease,” Yankowsky said. “All they have to do is stand on their rights and let Major League Baseball know that come 2013 they intend to stand on their right. Then it’s up to baseball. “Baseball can either sue the Sports Authority or give in. The Sports Authority doesn’t have to sue anybody. They can sit back and say, ‘We’ve got a valid lease, and this is what it says, and we’re going to enforce it.’ ” (Don’t) play ball Citing provisions from a 2000 agreement that expires at the end of 2029, Yankowsky said the terms spell out that the home team — the Astros — be a National League franchise. Article 1, Section 1.1 of the lease states that all capitalized terms in the lease have meanings assigned in a glossary of defined terms. One of the key provisions, Yankowsky said, comes in Article 5, Section 5.1 defining “Permitted Uses” of Minute Maid as including “exhibition, presentation and broadcasting of Baseball Home Games and activities related thereto.” The Glossary of Defined Terms classifies “Baseball Home Games” as “any major league baseball game in which the Team as the host Team for its opponent (i.e. the Team takes the field in the first half of each inning and bats in the last half of each inning of such baseball game).” Team, as defined by the Glossary, is “the major league baseball team owned by the tenant pursuant to the rights granted to it as a National League franchise under the Franchise, currently named the Houston Astros Baseball Club.” Franchise, as defined in the lease, is “the Team issued by the National League.” “In the simplest form, what this means, in my judgment, is come opening day of 2013, the Sports Authority can refuse to let them play because it’s not a permitted use of the stadium,” Yankowsky said. “They can quite simply lock the doors and say, ‘No, it’s not a permitted use.’ The play of Major League Baseball games, by definition, are limited to games in which a National League team is the home team.” Short shrift to tradition Friedman called it “an interesting analysis” and said he has asked the Sports Authority attorneys to review the matter. “We’ll take a hard look at it,” Friedman said. “If there is a legitimate legal position to be taken by the Sports Authority that benefits the community, we ought to take it. If it’s a stretch or if it’s something that ultimately doesn’t benefit the community, then that’s not what we should be doing. But that’s easy to say. How to sort through all that remains to be seen.” Yankowsky decided to sort through the lease when it became clear MLB was going to mandate an Astros move to the AL regardless of the fans’ wishes. “It really just got to me that baseball was just going to railroad this thing through,” Yankowsky said. “If there wasn’t a passionate interest in the city that I could tell from the move, then great. So be it. But I’ve yet to speak to anybody who is in favor of this. “And the idea that baseball is just going to totally ignore a franchise with 50 years of National League tradition for the sake of its own realignment issue, particularly when there are so many other options that make such good sense, why pick on us? That just got under my skin.”
Yeah, we're at a disadvantage being in Texas and being locked in a division with these teams 2 time zones away...so come join us in that disadvantage, Houston. Great. http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastro...forward-to-astros-joining-rangers-in-al-west/ Ryan looks forward to Astros joining Rangers in AL West “I grew up an Astros fan,” Ryan said Wednesday, “but I understand the desire to balance out the two leagues. From our perspective, having them in our division, I like it, because it gives us another team in our time zone. “We’re at a disadvantage in our division that way because so many of our games start at 9 o’clock, and it hurts our TV ratings. I think that if both teams are competitive in a given year, it will create a good rivalry within the state. I think there’s a lot of pluses from our perspective.” Ryan said he isn’t certain how two 15-team leagues will work since it means having interleague play throughout the season. “I would think that as far as certain premium games we like to have at our place with the Yankees and Boston, it might cut into those things,” he said. “It’s going to bring some dynamics that we’re not for sure how those things work. I don’t know how they’ll work the schedule. It’ll be interesting to see how the approach is.” As for Drayton McLane, who has owned the Astros for 19 years, Ryan praised his ownership. “Drayton had a real passion for baseball and the Houston Astros,” Ryan said, “and I would expect there to be an adjustment period for him not being in that role. I don’t think anybody has more passion about what they were doing.”
zacharylevine Joined Chron in 2007. This is 2nd angriest I've seen Astros fanbase. Ike/no-hitter No. 1, not any trade. Suspect tomorrow may be new No. 1. I have a very bad feeling about what all of this may ultimately mean for the long term health of this franchise and its place here in the city. If you're a casual baseball fan, you may not understand just how different it is from sports where teams are divided by region. Literally...different rules...a different charter from the league itself...and baseball is the game most connected to its own past. We've had 50 years of investment in the NL; and now [poof] it's gone. Just gone. No more Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers...instead we trade those in for division rivals in Oakland, Seattle, Anaheim and Arlington. I can not begin to express how disappointed I am in that. Say what you want about Houston fans..but they've supported the hell out of the 'stros since we've moved to MMP. We've sold 3 million tickets 4 times since then...by contrast, even last year after having made the World Series, the Rangers have NEVER sold 3 million tickets. I would argue that part of that is the division they're in...the worst division in all of baseball in terms of average attendance. We're trading in ticket buying Cubs/Cards fans in our division for some of the most poorly followed and least cared about franchises in baseball - one could argue the A's are the least supported team in all of sports. There's a feeling here of being slapped in the face and the timing given the state of the team on the field is just awful. I'm afraid there will be a lot of people who will walk away...particuarly hardcore baseball fans who grew up around the distinctions between NL and AL and identify themselves solidly as NL fans. I think all these factors in combination have the potential to absolutely ruin this franchise going forward -- and I'm talking about something more than their record. http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/11/16/astros’-impending-move-to-al-not-a-hit-with-fans/ As Astros fans take their first looks over the 110-year-old divide between the two major leagues that long predates them and their ballclub, anger over what will likely be a historic switch Thursday to the American League has come to the forefront. “I have hatred in my heart for the Cardinals and Cubs, and in that hatred was comfort,” said James Yasko, founder of the fan blog Astros County. “Now that’s all gone so that there can be an extra playoff team and rolling interleague play — these hardly seem like worthwhile reasons.” From individual comments to the 76 percent of fans polled unscientifically, displeasure abounds over the Astros’ proposed move to the American League West, which will likely take place in 2013. The switch, which would even the two leagues at 15 teams apiece and all six divisions at five teams apiece, is expected to accompany the vote of Major League Baseball’s other 29 owners to transfer possession of the Astros from Drayton McLane to Jim Crane. Many fans are uncomfortable with the dissolution of what will be 51 years of National League ties, its familiar rivalries and style of play, eschewing the designated hitter rule that was introduced to American League baseball in 1973. One fan is even urging that the Harris County Houston Sports Authority enforce a Minute Maid Park lease provision that the tenant be a National League team. The league move was, according to a person familiar with the situation, a mandatory condition of the sale from McLane to Crane, originally set for $680 million in May and subjected to a $70 million discount in the eleventh hour before today’s vote. “There was no choice for Jim, there was no choice for Drayton and there was no choice for Houston,” the person said. “There was a point where Drayton and Jim realized that this wasn’t going to change.” With what was seen as Major League Baseball using its leverage against the Astros, some started asking questions. “You hate to take it personally, but when you’re from Houston, you wonder, ‘What did Houston do?’ ” said David Baldner, a Houston native and one-time Astrodome worker now living in Lubbock. “I couldn’t believe they were even considering putting the Astros in the AL.” “I’m saddened by the whole thing mainly because there’s nothing anyone can do,” said James Arnold of Houston, a native Texan who likened the transition to the current realignment in major college sports. Others were more blunt. “I lived (through) saying goodbye to the Oilers, and I can do the same with the Astros,” said Ron Bartosh of Houston. A similar theme comes from Kevin W. Yankowsky, a partner at Fulbright & Jaworsky L.L.P. He reviewed the Astros’ lease, which spells out that the home team is a National League franchise, and said the sports authority can simply lock the doors at Minute Maid. “They can sit back and say, ‘We’ve got a valid lease, and this is what it says, and we’re going to enforce it.’ ” The new ownership group could officially take over next week, though the Minute Maid doors couldn’t be locked until 2013, when the American League shift would take place. After putting the club on the market officially in November 2010, McLane found his exit in May when Crane’s group, at least three dozen investors deep, stepped up with $680 million in equity and loans. Questions about Crane’s background stalled the deal’s approval, and eventually that scrutiny gave way to motivation of evening the leagues, a topic long discussed but one that didn’t pick up until both labor and management saw it as a boon ahead of this fall’s collective bargaining negotiations. Asked about the demands of fans to keep the Astros in the National League for history’s sake, Major League Baseball’s official historian John Thorn countered on the wording: “It’s not history’s sake; it’s precedent’s sake,” said Thorn, who believes the Astros are the right team to move. “I think you can’t marry precedent. Change is good. Somebody’s going to have to move because we have a 14-16 imbalance that was identified as a problem more than 15 years ago. Owner intransigence delayed and delayed and delayed it, but I think Major League Baseball is convinced it has to happen.” Whether it is seen as the start of an era or the end of an era, that’s up to the fans. Staff writer Steve Campbell contributed to this report.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-1117-baseball-realignment-20111117,0,6145427.story Angels among clubs not thrilled with moving the Astros to AL West Reporting from Milwaukee — A national baseball writer tweeted Wednesday that "there is some opposition to [new Houston Owner Jim] Crane from American League West teams not wanting the Astros in the division." To which another writer in the work room at the general managers/owners meetings responded, "What's not to like? You get to play the Astros 18 times." When owners gather at the Pfister Hotel on Thursday, they are expected to approve Crane's $680-million purchase of the Astros from Drayton McLane. As part of that agreement, Houston will move from the National League Central to the American League West in 2013. The realignment will create three five-team divisions in each league and a more balanced schedule. Teams are expected to play 72 games — 18 each — against division opponents, 60 against teams in their league's other two divisions and 30 interleague games. It will also require interleague play throughout the season. The move would seem to benefit the Angels and other AL West teams to play 18 games a year against the Astros. Houston had a record of 56-106 last season, traded its best player, outfielder Hunter Pence, to Philadelphia and appears several years away from playoff contention. "I don't look at it that way," said Angels President John Carpino, who is filling in for Arte Moreno at the owners' meetings. "Every team goes through ups and downs, and in three or four years the Astros could look different. Carpino didn't say he's opposed to the Astros' move, but he is clearly lukewarm on the idea. The Astros are not a natural draw in Anaheim, and Carpino doesn't like having to travel two time zones away to play another division opponent. He also doesn't like the way interleague play will be sprinkled throughout the schedule, saying, "We could have our pitchers at risk because some series they're hitting, some they're not." Carpino preferred a more dramatic realignment that would put the Angels in a division with the Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco and Oakland. The Rangers and Astros, Carpino said, could share a division with Arizona, Colorado and Seattle. In the Northeast, Carpino would put the New York Yankees and New York Mets, Boston, Baltimore and Washington in a division. "If you're going to look at realignment, then why don't we really look at it?" Carpino said. "Let's look at natural rivalries and what makes geographical sense. Does throwing the Astros in the AL West solve the real issues except making two 15-team leagues?" Nolan Ryan, Texas Rangers president and chief executive, likes the move, for obvious reasons. "I like having them in our division because it gives us another team in our time zone," Ryan said. "We're disadvantaged that way, because so many of our games start at 9 p.m., and it hurts our TV ratings. And if both teams are competitive, I think it will create a good rivalry within the state." Billy Beane, general manager of the struggling Oakland Athletics, doesn't see much benefit to playing more games against Houston. The Astros have had three consecutive losing seasons, but reached the World Series in 2005. "That's very short sighted, because things could change," Beane said. "What's more a concern for us is how big and how competitive a franchise you are. Right now, everyone is bigger than us." Joe Torre, MLB's executive vice president of baseball operations, played and managed in both leagues. He believes moving from the NL to the AL is more difficult than an AL-to-NL move. "There's more offense in the AL, and you have to be ready," Torre said. "In the NL, you're basically pitching to seven hitters, because with the pitcher following the No. 8 hitter, most of the time you don't have to throw the No. 8 hitter a strike. In the AL, pitchers have to face nine guys." Carpino is struggling to get his arms around this realignment plan but acknowledged fans could embrace it. "It's not that we're opposed to it — we don't have all the particulars to cast judgment," Carpino said. "But if it's good for Angels fans and baseball, we're for it."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ht...016783076_astros_pending_move_to_al_west.html *It has always been my understanding that original Arizona owner Jerry Colangelo and original Tampa Bay owner Vince Naimoli signed agreements upon their entrance into baseball that they could be made to switch leagues without their approval after two years. I honestly don't know if that agreement is still in place -- I'm doing some digging. If so, I think a good argument could be made that Arizona would be a much more logical team to move to the AL West. Houston could have then switched to the NL West to even out the divisions, which presumably would have been more palatable because it would have left them in the National League. The Diamondbacks, however, have always been able to fend off all overtures to move them to the AL -- and there have been a few over the years.
Ok, if we're going to all interleague all the time then it's time to make a decision on the DH. Either all of these games need a DH or none of them do. Because there will be balanced leagues, there will be constant interleague play. As ridiculous as this sounds for Opening Day to baseball fans...it sounds even worse when you imagine a team playing for a division title during the last series of the season...against a team from an different league playing under different rules. Ummmm..that sucks. NL teams are at a significant disadvantage playing at AL teams without a DH on their roster...if the Cardinals (for example) have to take 2 of 3 to win the NL Central and finish on the road at Tampa Bay (for example) that's a huge inherent, structural disadvantage that affects outcome. If you're gonna balance the leagues...balance the rules. Get rid of the DH!
That's what makes this push to "balance the leagues" so retarted. They're NOT equal leagues, even if they have an equal # of teams. If they want to be equal, they need to change the rules. They should do this BEFORE uprooting life-long NL teams for a sake of a perceived "symmetry" that these same smart people felt was not possible or neccessary just 10 years ago.
Yeah, maybe. He's entered Bizzaro World territory. I was at that game that opened the Astrodome, and watched Mickey Mantle hit the first home home run in Astrodome history.
We were going to suck this coming season anyway...but we've turned the 50 year anniversary celebration of this franchise into a lame duck season. Holy crap.
