| 1991 Houston Astros | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | National League | |||
| Division | West | |||
| Ballpark | The Astrodome | |||
| City | Houston,Texas | |||
| Record | 65–97 (.401) | |||
| Divisional place | 6th | |||
| Owners | John McMullen | |||
| General managers | Bill Wood | |||
| Managers | Art Howe | |||
| Television | KTXH HSE | |||
| Radio | KPRC (AM) (Bill Brown,Milo Hamilton,Larry Dierker, Vince Controneo, Bill Worrell,Enos Cabell) KXYZ (Orlando Sánchez-Diago, Rolando Becerra) | |||
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The1991Houston Astros season was the30th season for theMajor League Baseball (MLB) franchise located inHouston,Texas, their 27th as the Astros, 30th in theNational League (NL), 23rd in theNL West division, and 27th at theAstrodome. The Astros entered the season with a 75–87record, in fourth place in the NL West and 16games behind thedivision- andWorld Series-championCincinnati Reds.
The season began for Houston on April 8 againstCincinnati atRiverfront Stadium, where they were defeated, 6–2. PitcherMike Scott made the fifth of five consecutiveOpening Day starts for the Astros. In theamateur draft, the Astros received fourfirst round picks—including pitcherJohn Burke at sixth overall—and three supplemental picks.
CatcherCraig Biggio and pitcherPete Harnisch represented the Astros at theMLB All-Star Game. It was the second career selection for Biggio, and the only career selection for Harnisch.
The Astros concluded the regular season with a 65–97 record, in last place and 29 games behind the NL West division-champion and NLpennant-winningAtlanta Braves, and worst record in the National League. At the time, the 97 losses tied the1965 and1975 clubs for the most in franchise history, and was surpassed by the2011 club.
In spite of the disappointing record, the 1991 season was a banner year overall for Houston rookies. First basemanJeff Bagwell won the NLRookie of the Year Award,[a] becoming the first Astro to win this award. Bagwell andAl Osuna (pitcher) were also recognized asThe Sporting News NL Rookies of the Year.[b] Additionally, four Astros were selected for the 1991Topps All-Star Rookie Team, including Bagwell, Osuna (left-handed pitcher),Andújar Cedeño (shortstop), andLuis Gonzalez (outfielder).
| 15 | Eric Yelding | SS |
| 12 | Steve Finley | CF |
| 7 | Craig Biggio | C |
| 26 | Luis Gonzalez | LF |
| 11 | Ken Caminiti | 3B |
| 5 | Jeff Bagwell[c] | 1B |
| 4 | Karl Rhodes | RF |
| 20 | Mark McLemore | 2B |
| 33 | Mike Scott | P |
| Venue: | Riverfront Stadium • CIN 6, | HOU 2 |
On April 15, Bagwell crushed his first major league home run,[5] which was as well-timed as could be, for both the player,batting .143, and the club. StartersJim Deshaies andJohn Smoltz of theAtlanta Braves remained in lockstep in a duel at 1–1 through seven innings atAtlanta–Fulton County Stadium. Smoltz' only blemish was a solo home run toCraig Biggio in the sixth inning. The score remained tied until the top of the ninth. With two out,Ken Caminiti singled offKent Mercker, who then served a two-run blast to Bagwell for his first major league homer. The Astrosbullpen ensured the lead stood, as fellow rookieAl Osuna (1–0) recorded two outs to earn his first win of the season andCurt Schilling induced the final two outs for the save (2).[6]
Inserted as apinch hitter on May 5,Jeff Bagwell pummeled a home run that reached the upper deck atThree Rivers Stadium, just the ninth hitter to do so. The blast, which tied the game, 4–4, covered a distance of 456 feet (139 m).[7]Steve Finley followed up by slugging a two-run bomb to provide the margin for a 6–4 Astros win.[8]
After surrendering three runs and the lead in the top-half of the ninthinning on June 6, the Astros rallied against theMontreal Expos to win, 9–8.Luis Gonzalez andKen Caminiti each hitrun batted in (RBI)-doubles to spark the walk-off comeback.[9]
On July 29,Ken Caminiti connected for his first careergrand slam offBryn Smith, during the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4–1 lead over theSt. Louis Cardinals.[10] The decisive event, the slam ensured the margin for victory with a 6–2 final score. Biggio collected four hits, while Finley legged out atriple and scored. Deshaies went the distance to pick up his fourth win.[11]
For the first and only time during the era in whichThe Sporting News recognized oneRookie of the Year each for one position player and one pitcher in the each league,[b] both NL awards went to Astros: Bagwell[12] and to left-handerAl Osuna.[13] Bagwell became the fourth rookie to win for positions players, followingJoe Morgan (1965),Greg Gross (1974), andJeffrey Leonard (1979). Meanhile, Osuna became the second Astros pitcher to win the award, followingTom Griffin in1969,[13] amounting to six total Astros who had wonThe Sporting News rookie award.
After four occasions prior to the 1991 seasons in whichThe Sporting News had recognized Astros players with their Rookie of the Year Award, Bagwell also became Houston's first-ever NLRookie of the Year Award, as voted by theBaseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).[14]
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Braves | 94 | 68 | .580 | — | 48–33 | 46–35 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 93 | 69 | .574 | 1 | 54–27 | 39–42 |
| San Diego Padres | 84 | 78 | .519 | 10 | 42–39 | 42–39 |
| San Francisco Giants | 75 | 87 | .463 | 19 | 43–38 | 32–49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 74 | 88 | .457 | 20 | 39–42 | 35–46 |
| Houston Astros | 65 | 97 | .401 | 29 | 37–44 | 28–53 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | |||||
| Atlanta | — | 6–6 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 9–3 | |||||
| Chicago | 6–6 | — | 4–8 | 9–3 | 2–10 | 10–7 | 11–6 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 10–8 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 7–11 | 8–4 | — | 9–9 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 2–10 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 4–8 | |||||
| Houston | 5–13 | 3–9 | 9–9 | — | 8–10 | 2–10 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 5–7 | |||||
| Los Angeles | 11–7 | 10–2 | 12–6 | 10–8 | — | 5–7 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 6–6 | |||||
| Montreal | 7–5 | 7–10 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 7–5 | — | 4–14 | 4–14 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–11 | |||||
| New York | 3–9 | 6–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 14–4 | — | 11–7 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 7–11 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 7-5 | 10–8 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 14–4 | 7–11 | — | 6–12 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 6–12 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 3–9 | 11–7 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 12–6 | — | 7–5 | 7–5 | 11–7 | |||||
| San Diego | 7–11 | 8–4 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 5–7 | — | 11–7 | 9–3 | |||||
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | — | 4–8 | |||||
| St. Louis | 3–9 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 8–4 | — | |||||
| 1991 Houston Astros | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders | Manager
Coaches
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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Craig Biggio | 149 | 546 | 161 | .295 | 4 | 46 |
| 1B | Jeff Bagwell | 156 | 554 | 163 | .294 | 15 | 82 |
| 2B | Casey Candaele | 151 | 461 | 121 | .262 | 4 | 50 |
| 3B | Ken Caminiti | 152 | 574 | 145 | .253 | 13 | 80 |
| SS | Eric Yelding | 78 | 276 | 67 | .243 | 1 | 20 |
| LF | Luis Gonzalez | 137 | 473 | 120 | .254 | 13 | 69 |
| CF | Steve Finley | 159 | 596 | 170 | .285 | 8 | 54 |
| RF | Tuffy Rhodes | 44 | 136 | 29 | .213 | 1 | 12 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andújar Cedeño | 67 | 251 | 61 | .243 | 9 | 36 |
| Rafael Ramírez | 101 | 233 | 55 | .236 | 1 | 20 |
| Gerald Young | 108 | 142 | 31 | .218 | 1 | 11 |
| Mark Davidson | 85 | 142 | 27 | .190 | 2 | 15 |
| Mike Simms | 49 | 123 | 25 | .203 | 3 | 16 |
| Eric Anthony | 39 | 118 | 18 | .153 | 1 | 7 |
| Andy Mota | 27 | 90 | 17 | .189 | 1 | 6 |
| Javier Ortiz | 47 | 83 | 23 | .277 | 1 | 5 |
| Kenny Lofton | 20 | 74 | 15 | .203 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Oberkfell | 53 | 70 | 16 | .229 | 0 | 14 |
| Mark McLemore | 21 | 61 | 9 | .148 | 0 | 2 |
| José Tolentino | 44 | 54 | 14 | .259 | 1 | 6 |
| Carl Nichols | 20 | 51 | 10 | .196 | 0 | 1 |
| Dave Rohde | 29 | 41 | 5 | .122 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Servais | 16 | 37 | 6 | .162 | 0 | 6 |
| Tony Eusebio | 10 | 19 | 2 | .105 | 0 | 0 |
| Gary Cooper | 9 | 16 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 2 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete Harnisch | 33 | 216.2 | 12 | 9 | 2.70 | 172 |
| Mark Portugal | 32 | 168.1 | 10 | 12 | 4.49 | 120 |
| Jim Deshaies | 28 | 161.0 | 5 | 12 | 4.98 | 98 |
| Jimmy Jones | 26 | 135.1 | 6 | 8 | 4.39 | 88 |
| Ryan Bowen | 14 | 71.2 | 6 | 4 | 5.15 | 49 |
| Chris Gardner | 5 | 24.2 | 1 | 2 | 4.01 | 12 |
| Jeff Juden | 4 | 18.0 | 0 | 2 | 6.00 | 11 |
| Brian Williams | 2 | 12.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.75 | 4 |
| Mike Scott | 2 | 7.0 | 0 | 2 | 12.86 | 3 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darryl Kile | 37 | 153.2 | 7 | 11 | 3.69 | 100 |
| Xavier Hernandez | 32 | 63.0 | 2 | 7 | 4.71 | 55 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Osuna | 71 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 3.42 | 68 |
| Curt Schilling | 56 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3.81 | 71 |
| Dwayne Henry | 52 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3.19 | 51 |
| Jim Corsi | 47 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.71 | 53 |
| Jim Clancy | 30 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2.78 | 33 |
| Mike Capel | 25 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3.03 | 23 |
| Rob Mallicoat | 24 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3.86 | 18 |
| Dean Wilkins | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11.25 | 4 |
| No. | Date | Astros batter | Venue | Inning | Pitcher | Opposing team | Box |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 29 | Ken Caminiti | Astrodome | 4₰ | Bryn Smith | St. Louis Cardinals | [11] |
| ₰—Tied score or took lead |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tucson
