Does anyone know where I can listen to Astros games online?

I'm not much help. Though if it comes down to it and you're unable to hear the game you could try ESPN GameCast.

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"...just because a clever person can complicate the discussion about the truth doesn't necessarily mean he or she is making any progress in finding it."

 

Funny you mentioned this. Now I'm upset. Feel free to send MLB and the Astros your thoughts. From today's Sports Business News:

http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com/todaysstories/mlbnetapr3.htm

Major League Baseball and the Plan to Charge for Internet Broadcasts:
A plan by Major League Baseball to charge listeners for Internet broadcasts of its games has WBAL radio in Baltimore
yelling foul and accusing baseball officials of commandeering its play-by-play signal, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun. Nor are expatriate fans happy about the plan, announced last week, which would require listeners who want to tune in to games over the Web to pay a minimum annual fee of $9.95.

Under the new subscription deal between baseball executives and Seattle-based RealNetworks, paying fans would have to visit one of two Web sites, www.mlb.com or www.real.com, in order to get the Web audiocasts, which are now carried free of charge by local radio stations such as WBAL. Baseball officials maintain that the deal is fair to both fans and team owners, who believe the game broadcasts are valuable content and shouldn't be given away. But station owners could be gearing up for a fight.

Jeff Beauchamp, vice president and station manager for WBAL radio, said he wants fans to know that despite Major League Baseball's intentions, www.WBAL.com still plans to offer the audiocasts for free on its Web site (http://wbal.com). "You're going to be able to listen to the Orioles on opening day on WBAL.com, come hell or high water," Beauchamp said in the Baltimore Sun report. "This latest deal is just another example of Major League Baseball not being able to get out of its own way when it comes to making decisions. In order for them to do what they're saying, it means they're going to just take our signal. They want us to just give it to them for nothing."

He added in the Baltimore Sun report, "This is baloney. We pay for play-by-play announcers and pay the production costs. If they want to go out and hire a play-by-play crew and put them in 30 Major League Baseball stadiums around the country, then I have no problem with it. But to just take our broadcasts isn't right."

Radio Webcasts, now offered by every major league club, broadcast over the Internet using streaming audio technology that delivers real-time digital sound. Internet broadcasts of baseball games have a small but diehard following of fans whose favorite teams are in other states and who can't get those games on the radio. Some local fans who use computers at their jobs also enjoy the convenience. For the past three seasons, any baseball fan with an Internet connection could tune in to a game in another city, state, or even from outside the country with a click of a mouse - at no charge. The deal signed last week will change that by charging for a season-pass ID number that fans will have to type in order to hear the game.

The plan was chiefly engineered by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, baseball's online arm, which was created last year after the organization's 30 franchise owners agreed to centralize their Internet operations. Jim Gallagher, a spokesman for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, said in the Baltimore Sun report the company "has tried to price what we feel is valuable content in a very affordable way. We're talking about pennies a game. For the price of less than a seat costs, you get all the games."

As for WBAL's concerns, Gallagher said he believes radio stations are being treated fairly and will get a wider audience under the terms of the new arrangement. "The local advertising will still be on our feeds, and there are costs associated with audio Webcasts that individual stations will no longer have to bear. We will," he declared in the Baltimore Sun report. "There is no impact on the teams, if anything they get the benefit of a significantly larger audience."

Gallagher said the $9.95 fee will give fans access to roughly 4,000 home and away audio feeds. They will also get a $10 gift certificate from baseball's online store. "We're looking at it that we're giving away the subscription for free, when you factor in the value of the coupon," he said in the Baltimore Sun report. "We've been highly sensitive to the pricing."

RealNetworks, which is paying close to $20 million in cash and services over three years for baseball's Webcast rights, has a different pricing plan for its subscription. The company is charging $4.95 per month for Webcasts of all baseball games, with a minimum commitment of six months - in other words, an upfront charge of $29.70.

Real justifies the extra expense by throwing in "synchronized statistics" during the Webcasts, which means fans can watch stats pop up in windows as the game is broadcast. The subscription includes a copy of the company's RealPlayer Plus software - which retails for $30, said David Brotherton, a RealNetworks spokesman. "The RealPlayer Plus is a higher-tier audio program than what you'd normally get, and we think it makes sense to package that and the subscription together," Brotherton said in the Baltimore Sun report. "We haven't heard much from sports fans complaining."

They're certainly complaining elsewhere. Dean Horvath, a 43-year-old information systems manager, is a transplanted Cleveland Indians fan who lives in Carroll County. He said he's enjoyed being able to tune in to Indians games with his computer, but he said he's disgusted with the ever-increasing cost of being a baseball fan. He wrote a letter last week to major league baseball expressing his displeasure.

"I expressed that I'm a busy guy and my team is 400 miles away. Now if I want real audio, I have to pay for that, too. It's pretty clear to me that they're picking the pockets of the out-of-town fans," says Horvath in the Baltimore Sun report. "I think they're going to be surprised [by] how little support they get for this."

Horvath conceded that the $9.95 fee that Major League Baseball is charging is nominal. But he said it symbolizes excess profiteering and the amounts fans are being charged for everything from tickets to sodas at the ballpark. "Enough is enough," he said. "It's a package of offensiveness and corporate arrogance. They're way out of touch with anything but making money. I think people are going to start staying away from baseball in droves."

Meanwhile, baseball officials have decided to pitch even more technological goodies to its fans - at extra cost. For a fee of $2 to $8 per month, fans can sign up for a service on Major League Baseball's Web site called the "Super Search" that will allow a subscriber to find video clips from any game. "Every single pitch of every single game will be available," said Carlos Montalvo, the vice president and chief marketing officer for Virage Inc., the San Mateo, Calif., company that is implementing the "Super Search" feature for the baseball Web site.

The feature will work using a search engine not unlike those used for the World Wide Web, except it will instantly scan a vast video archive that catalogs every single pitch thrown throughout the season. If subscribers want to see every time that Sammy Sosa has batted against left-handers after a game's seventh inning, the search will turn up every clip. "It's a watershed event for both baseball and the Web," Montalvo said of the search technology, which he unveiled last week at Mickey Mantle's Restaurant in New York City. It will be available nationwide May 1. "For the first time, a baseball viewer can personalize their experience," he declared. "This is going to personalize video on the Web." (source Baltimore Sun)

FYI: MLB Radio asks that you "E-Mail your questions and comments now.: radio@mlb.com
Website: http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/radio/mlb_radio_index.jsp?GXHC_gx_session_id_=dca455b628ad33c3

Other Contact info for MLB:
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Contact Allan H. (Bud) Selig at this address:

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
245 Park Ave., 31st floor
New York, NY 10167
(212) 931-7800

Contact MLB.com: Pitch your comments or suggestions regarding MLB.com to fanfeedback@website.mlb.com.

Astros: I couldn't find an e-mail or mailing address on their site. According to Yahoo.com:
Houston Astros Baseball Club
501 Crawford Street
Houston, TX 77002
(713) 799-9500

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Stay Cool...

 

Have you tried sportsterminal.com? They let you listen to any NBA game for free, but I haven't used it for baseball.

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I'm about to boldly go where many men have gone before.

 

I went to www.sportsterminal.com for all NBA games.

The alternative was paying for NBA League Audio Pass.

It's the samething. Sports Terminal is free. The NBA charges a fee.

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It looks like this year you will have to subscribe via real networks (www.real.com). I don't think you can get to it free anymore. I believe it is free this week. go to astros.mlb.com.

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