2007 Houston Astros season
| 2007 Houston Astros | |
|---|---|
| League | National League |
| Division | Central |
| Ballpark | Minute Maid Park |
| City | Houston, Texas |
| Record | 73–89 (.451) |
| Divisional place | 4th |
| Owners | Drayton McLane, Jr. |
| General managers | Tim Purpura Tal Smith Ed Wade |
| Managers | Phil Garner: 58–73 (.443) Cecil Cooper: 15–16 (.484) |
| Television | FSN Houston KNWS-TV (Ch. 51) Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies |
| Radio | KTRH Milo Hamilton, Brett Dolan, Dave Raymond KLAT (Spanish) |
| Stats | ESPN.com Baseball Reference |
The 2007 Houston Astros season was the 46th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 43rd as the Astros, 46th in the National League (NL), 15th in the NL Central division, and eighth at Minute Maid Park, the Astros entered the season as having finished in second place in the NL Central division with an 82–80 record and 1+1⁄2 games behind first place, a sixth consecutive winning season.
Houston began their season on April 2 while pitcher Roy Oswalt made his fifth consecutive Opening Day start. They hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates and were defeated, 4–2, in extra innings. The Astros' top selection in the June amateur draft was infielder Derek Dietrich, during the third round.
With a 5-for-5 performance on June 28, second baseman Craig Biggio achieved his 3,000th career hit. He became the 27th player in major league history to reach the milestone, the ninth major leaguer to assemble all 3,000 with the same team, and first Astro. Five days later, Biggio doubled to become the 25th major leaguer to attain 1,000 extra-base hits.
Outfielder Carlos Lee (third career selection) and Oswalt (second) represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game. On August 26, the club officially retired the jersey number 5 of the one Astros' core members of the Killer B's along with Biggio, former first baseman Jeff Bagwell.
The Astros dismissed manager Phil Garner and general manager Tim Purpura on August 27, 2007. Cecil Cooper was chosen to replace Garner on an interim basis, while Ed Wade replaced Purpura on September 20.
On September 30, Biggio made his final major league appearance as a player, having announced his retirement on July 24.
The Astros concluded the season with a 73–89 record, in fourth place and 12 games behind first place. It was the first time since 2000 that Astros had not finished in first or second place in their division, and just the second time since moving to the NL Central. It was also just the second time since 1993 that they had not achieved a winning record. This was also the Astros' first losing season since 2000.
Following the season, Biggio was recognized with the Roberto Clemente and Heart & Hustle Awards, Lee earned his second career Silver Slugger Award, and outfielder Hunter Pence was selected to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team.