He ordered the roof at Minute Maid Park to be opened for games three and four of the 2005 World Series, pre-empting the authority held by the Astros.

The rookie gave up a run in the first inning, then held the Astros at bay until the sixth inning.

After being booed at the 2004 All-Star Game held in Houston, manager Jimy Williams was fired and replaced by Phil Garner, a star on the division-winning 1986 Astros.

* 1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens.

In the fifth and final game of the series, Ryan and the Astros held a 5 – 2 lead entering the 8th inning.

His 313 strikeouts in 1979 remains an Astros franchise record, and he held the team's record for career strikeouts ( 1, 493 ) until 1987.

Cooper held the team record for RBIs in a season with 126 until Prince Fielder broke that record on September 19, 2009 against the Houston Astros, who Cooper was managing at the time.

Five teams have collected three sacrifice flies in an inning: the Chicago White Sox ( fifth inning, July 1, 1962 against the Cleveland Indians ); the New York Yankees twice ( fourth inning, June 29, 2000 against the Detroit Tigers and third inning, August 19, 2000 against the Anaheim Angels ); the New York Mets ( second inning, June 24, 2005 against the Yankees ); and the Houston Astros ( seventh inning, June 26, 2005 against the Texas Rangers ).

Previously, because of a players ' strike in 1981, a split-season format forced a divisional playoff series, in which the Montreal Expos won the Eastern Division series over the Philadelphia Phillies three games to two while the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros three games to two in the Western Division.

The Astros lost the first game in St. Louis, but would win the next three games, with Roy Oswalt getting the win.

A trade with the White Sox, involving the same three Astros in exchange for Jon Garland, had been nixed a few days earlier when Buchholz reportedly failed a physical.

Clemens left for the Houston Astros in 2004, where he spent three seasons and won his seventh Cy Young Award.

However, the Astros lost all three of those starts by a 1 – 0 score in extra innings.

On October 9, 2005, Clemens made his first relief appearance since 1984, entering as a pinch hitter in the 15th, then pitching three innings to help the Astros defeat the Atlanta Braves in the longest postseason game in MLB history.

Following the 2011 season, Major League Baseball announced its plan to move the Houston Astros from the NL Central to the AL West for the 2013 season, resulting in both leagues having three divisions of five teams each and allowing all teams to have a more balanced schedule.

Over the next three seasons, he advanced through the Astros ' farm system, playing with the single-A Dubuque Packers in, then splitting the season between the double-A Columbus Astros and the triple-A Memphis Blues in, and finally with the triple-A Charleston Charlies in.

Nashville captured the league title by defeating the Astros three games to one.

The 5 – 1 Sounds victory was cut short of being a perfect game following three walks and a batter being hit by a pitch, advancing the runner home for the only Astros run of the game.

He pitched for three teams from to ( the Cleveland Indians from 1998 – 1999 and the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000 ) and was unconditionally released twice before signing a minor-league contract with the Yankees.

During his 19-year baseball career, he played from 1970 to 1988 for three different teams, playing primarily for the Astros.

Among Major League teams, the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies and Minnesota Twins have the most alternate uniforms, with three.

Minutes before the non-waiver trade deadline, on July 31, the Mariners traded Johnson to the Houston Astros for three minor leaguers, Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen, and John Halama.

During a 21-year baseball career, He pitched from 1984-2005 for three different National League teams, the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, and Houston Astros.

" Astros manager Hal Lanier said the combination of Hernandez at first and any one of three Mets pitchers — Ron Darling, Roger McDowell or Jesse Orosco — made bunting against the Mets " near impossible ," and Cubs manager Jim Frey said he wouldn't ask most pitchers to bunt against the Mets.

He played parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball for the Houston Astros ( 1997 ), Florida Marlins ( 1998 ) and Detroit Tigers ( 2002 ).

In Game 2 of the NLCS against the Astros, he had three hits, including a game-winning home run against Miceli, as the Cardinals won 6 – 4.

The Braves swept the Houston Astros in three games in the 1997 National League Division Series before losing to the eventual world champion Florida Marlins in the 1997 National League Championship Series.

The Astros subsequently were victims of a no-hitter by Carlos Zambrano and recorded a single hit in the following game.

Wood's signature performance was one-hitting the Houston Astros, a game in which he tied the major league record of 20 strikeouts in nine innings.

They led the Wild Card by 1. 5 games over San Francisco and Houston on September 25, and both of those teams lost that day, giving the Cubs a chance at increasing the lead to a commanding 2. 5 games with only eight games remaining in the season, but reliever LaTroy Hawkins blew a save to the Mets, and the Cubs lost the game in extra innings, a defeat that seemingly deflated the team, as they proceeded to drop 6 of their last 8 games as the Astros won the Wild Card.

On September 14, in a game moved to Miller Park due to Hurricane Ike, Zambrano pitched a no-hitter against the Astros, and six days later the team clinched by beating St. Louis at Wrigley.

The Marlins defeated the Houston Astros 12 – 8 in their inaugural Spring Training game.

After the starters exited, eleven relievers ( seven for the Mets and four for the Astros ) tried to end the game.

Wilson's no-hitter lit the Astros ' fire and six days later the team tied a major league record by turning seven double plays in a game.

Cedeno made his first All-Star game in 1972 and became the first Astros player in team history to hit for the cycle in August versus the Reds.

The Reds pulled ahead of the Astros by a game and a half.

Richard became the first Astros pitcher to start an All-Star game.

An Astros lead was lost when Bob Boone hit a two out single in the second, but the Astros tied the game in the sixth with an Alan Ashby single scoring Denny Walling.

Final Astros regular season game ( in the Astrodome ) on October 3, 1999

The Astros won the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, 3-1, with a game four that set postseason records for most innings ( 18 ), most players used by a single team ( 23 ), and longest game time ( 5 hours and 50 minutes ).

Though the Astros were poised to close out the series in Game Five in Houston, Brad Lidge gave up a monstrous two-out three-run home run to Albert Pujols, forcing the series to a sixth game in St. Louis, where the Astros clinched a World Series appearance.

A dramatic season end included wins in 10 of their last 12 games, but the Astros missed a playoff appearance when they lost the final game of the season to the Atlanta Braves.

He hit a grand slam in that night's game which broke a 3 – 3 tie and led to an Astros win.

But in his final game that year, playing against the Houston Astros ( led by manager Leo Durocher, who had once roomed with Babe Ruth ), he was unable to achieve this.

The NLCS game six win was sixteen innings long, the longest playoff game in history until the Braves and Astros went 18 innings in 2005.

The Astros scored an average of only 3. 5 runs per game in games in which he was the pitcher of record.