Brad Mills has been the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox for the last half dozen years. Now, the 52-year-old has a team to call his own. The Houston Astros named Mills as their new manager on Tuesday.
The Astros first offered their manager spot to Manny Acta, however Acta decided to instead become the new manager of the Cleveland Indians. With Acta unavailable, Houston turned to Mills.
Although Mills hasn’t been a manager on the big league level, you has plenty of experience on the minor league level. He was a manager in the minor leagues with the Los Angeles …read more

Manny Acta was a wanted man. With the Houston Astros offering him their manager job, he turned down Houston and instead decided to become the next manager of the Cleveland Indians. Last season, Acta was fired as manager of the Washington Nationals after two and a half years on the job.
Considering that Acta had a record of 158-252 with the Nationals, it is somewhat surprising that he was such a hot name. But sources indicate that he was great in his job interviews and illustrated good vision for how he’ll direct teams to the promised land.
“I look forward to working …read more

For the third straight year, the Philadelphia Phillies have won the NL East. They clinched the division on Wednesday with a 10-3 win over the Houston Astros. After the game, the Phillies celebrated with a little help from adult beverages.
However, manager Charlie Manuel remain subdued. The manager of the reigning World Series champions has bigger goals in mind.
“I’ll celebrate,” said Manuel, “when we get to the big one.”
Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz all had two hits and Raul Ibanez hit his 34th home run of the season and finish the contest with three RBIs.
The news wasn’t all good …read more

The 2009 baseball season continues to get better and better for fans of the Texas Rangers. Not only is the team in the thick of the playoff race, they recently completed a trade for catcher Pudge Rodriguez — perhaps the most popular player in the history of the franchise.
Rodriguez, who had been starting for the Houston Astros, was acquired in a trade that for Matt Nevarez, a minor league pitching prospect. With the Astros, Rodriguez was hitting .251 with eight homers, 34 RBIs and 41 runs.
The Rangers became interested in Rodriguez after losing starting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to injury. …read more

The Houston Astros have been one of the hottest teams in the National League as of late. However, now they’ll need to remain hot with one of their best players headed to the disabled list.
Lance Berkman, arguably the best hitter on the team, will be placed on the disabled list due to a calf strain on his left leg.
The 33-year-old native of Texas is currently hitting .273 with 18 homers, 55 RBIs and 50 runs. He also has six steals and a .407 on-base percentage. With two more home runs, Berkman will have hit at least 20 homers for the …read more

Nelson Cruz usually isn’t the cleanup man for the Texas Rangers. On Saturday against the Houston Astros, he looked like a natural. The native of the Dominican Republic hit a pair of homers to help the Rangers beat their intrastate rivals by a final count of 6-3.
For the game, Cruz was 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBI. On the season, the 28-year-old outfielder is hitting .285 with 11 homers, 30 RBI and 22 runs. Despite his age, Cruz has never played more than 100 games in a season. In 31 games last season, Cruz hit .330 with seven homers …read more

Albert Pujols is making an early bid to lock up the 2009 National League MVP award. On Saturday, Pujols had two homers and seven RBIs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Houston Astros by a final score of 11-2.
Pujols’ first homer came in the fifth inning when he hit a grand slam. He then followed that up with a three-run homer in the seventh inning. Through six games, Pujols has a batting average of .429 with three homers and nine RBIs.
Adam Wainwright threw five innings in which he didn’t give up a run to get the win. Joe …read more

We have a new addition to the b5media Sports Channel — Inside the Ballpark with Hunter Pence.
This new blog features major league baseball player Hunter Pence of the Houston Astros. We are very excited about Hunter joining us on the b5media Sports Channel.
Hunter will personally pen a weekly blog post to detail the latest happenings in his life as an Astro. Additionally, this blog will be updated on a daily basis to keep everyone updated on Hunter and the Astros. Hunter is entering his second season for the Astros after completing a very successful rookie year. As a rookie, Hunter …read more