Houston Astros Baseball Team

This is turning into a special season for the Dodgers. Special the way their 91-loss season in 2005 was special. Or their 99-loss season in 1992. Just when you think their situation can't become any worse, it somehow does. The Dodgers descended to new depths Friday night at Dodger Stadium when they were beaten, 7-3, by the worst team in baseball. The Houston Astros had won only two of their previous 13 games and were 25-45 overall, but they battered Ted Lilly for six runs and eight hits in 51/3 innings.

The Houston Sports Assn., owners of the Houston Astros baseball team, announced today that it will consider selling the team. Speculation that John McMullen, majority owner of HSA, has been planning to sell has been circulating for more than a year, mostly because of McMullen's advancing age and the increasing value of the team over the last two years.

Roger Clemens stood before the home dugout Tuesday night, having answered a curtain call after three innings and 62 serviceable pitches. He tipped his cap to the opposing dugout, inquired into the health of a designated hitter he bruised above the right elbow with a fastball, waved to his wife and sisters in Suite 15, and bumped knuckles with his game-long teammates. He smiled and clenched his fist. Before long, he was through the door in the right-field fence, off to the next minor-league town.

A 23-year-old male spectator ran onto the field Friday night at County Stadium and attacked Houston Astro right fielder Bill Spiers during the Astros' 9-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Astros had taken the field to begin the bottom of the sixth inning when the fan jumped onto the field in the right-field corner and ran up behind an unsuspecting Spiers. The fan jumped on the back of Spiers, who was unable to shake him off.

In 1836, the year the Alamo fell, a couple of land speculators named John K. Allen and his brother Augustus figured that a low, flat, grassy stretch of land about 50 miles north of Galveston might amount to something more than a breeding ground for mosquitoes. They were right. The place turned out to be Houston, and after a ship channel was dredged to the Gulf of Mexico, it eventually grew to be the fourth-largest city in the United States.

Don Sutton, the 43-year-old Dodger pitcher whose career appears to be nearing retirement, said Tuesday night that he has inquired about the vacant assistant general manager's position with the Houston Astros and also has made calls to other major league clubs about future employment. In doing so, Sutton apparently has violated a major league rule stating that no team may have contact with a player under contract for any position.

Dick Wagner, president and general manager of the Houston Astros, said he will leave the team Oct. 23 but denied that his decision was related to problems with Manager Hal Lanier. "I would like to say that it's not Lanier vs. Wagner," he said. "The fact is I have a really hard time reading (owner) John McMullen. I felt it was the best thing to do." Wagner, who has been with the team for two years, reached a settlement with McMullen last week on the remaining year of his contract.

Al Campanis said African Americans may not have some of the necessities to be baseball managers, which is very painful to hear if you're African American. But imagine if you're Latino and you hear that the owner of the Houston Astros believes, or at least a couple of people say he believes, that you don't even have the necessities to be a baseball fan.

The way Chipper Jones sees it, the objective in the National League's championship series is to "go out, keep our mouth shut and play the game." Nice idea, but with Bobby Valentine involved, who's going to keep his mouth shut? Not Valentine, of course--and probably not Jones, try as he might.

Roger Clemens, carried into his third semi-retirement seven months ago by a sore back and a strained hamstring, returned Wednesday to the Houston Astros for his 23rd major league season. He is scheduled to pitch Tuesday at Class-A Lexington, beginning a sequence that would have him big-league ready for a June 22 start against the Minnesota Twins at Minute Maid Park. Clemens, who won 341 games, seven Cy Young Awards and an MVP award in his first 22 seasons, will be 44 in August.

Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, seven months into what appears to be another aborted retirement, is close to announcing his return and is expected to re-sign with the Houston Astros shortly. Clemens, who will be 44 in August, has spent many days recently running and lifting weights at Minute Maid Park in Houston, preparing as though his 23rd season was imminent.

And you thought your landlord made your life miserable? Chris Burke's landlord just about ended his season. When Burke made the Houston Astros this season, as a rookie, he needed somewhere to live. So he rented a town home from Geoff Blum, who had bought the place when he played here. Blum was back in town Tuesday, as a utility infielder for the Chicago White Sox.

EIGHTH INNING * White Sox: Brad Lidge pitching. Willie Harris, batting for Freddy Garcia, singled to left. Scott Podsednik sacrificed to the pitcher, second baseman covering. Carl Everett, batting for Tadahito Iguchi, grounded to second, Harris to third. Jermaine Dye singled to center, Harris scoring. Paul Konerko struck out. One run, two hits, one left. White Sox 1, Astros 0.

On a cool, breezy night, when the rest of America hardly watched, 1917 didn't seem so long ago. Or so meaningful. It's just a year, 1917. Some numbers on a lucky half-dollar in Jerry Reinsdorf's pocket. Another time, another place, somebody else's dark history. In an 11-1 postseason, the Chicago White Sox turned a franchise, and maybe the undeclared neighborhoods of a staunchly National League city, into something fresh and good.

After decades of suffering in a town where their team was the butt of jokes and long overshadowed by the beloved Chicago Cubs, thousands of White Sox fans filled the streets of south Chicago on a rainy Wednesday night and screamed with glee. "We won! It wasn't the Cubs, it was us!" Carla Johnson, 43, shrieked outside the United Center. "We're the winners! Finally!"

Deep in the heart of obscurity, the Houston Astros have put together a nice little club. They win, then they disappear. They hang another division championship banner, then the National League dispatches another team to the World Series. As a perennial contender, you can't beat the Astros. As a playoff opponent, everyone beats the Astros. Never has the team won a playoff series.

A potent lineup featuring Moises Alou and a revamped colony of Killer B's (Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman replacing Derek Bell) has helped rocket the Houston Astros back into their familiar position atop the National League Central. The Astros, who won three consecutive division titles before injuries took a toll last year, may be the league's best team approaching October.

In 1955, his team won the World Series. The Brooklyn Dodgers were champions, finally, and the kid rushed out the door of his fraternity house and handed out a cigar to anyone who wanted one. On the 50th anniversary of that championship, his team won again. The kid grew up to be the owner of the Chicago White Sox, and his players handed him a cigar. As he stood on the infield at Minute Maid Park, Jerry Reinsdorf was in baseball heaven.

WHITE SOX'S FREDDY GARCIA vs. ASTROS' BRANDON BACKE Minute Maid Park, Houston, 5:30 PDT TV -- Channel 11. Radio -- 710. Update -- Garcia was once traded for the guy who was supposed to get the Astros to their first World Series, one of three prospects sent to the Seattle in 1998 for Randy Johnson. Backe was once traded for Chicago infielder Geoff Blum. --BILL SHAIKIN