Oh, man was it an ugly road trip, 2-5 to be exact. But don't be so hard on them, they did face All-Star pitching in Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Greg Maddux and Carlos Zambrano, that's no walk in the park. But now it's time to put that in the past and focus on the now. Your Houston Astros return to Minute Maid Park tonight for their 2008 home opener. Things get kicked off today......

Nolan Ryan, Astros franchise icon and co-owner of two of the team's minor league franchises, today exited his personal services contract a year early to assume the team president position offered by the Texas Rangers. Ryan will oversee the daily operations of the floundering Arlington-based team, working with mercurial owner Tom Hicks. The fate of his owner's stake in the minor league affiliates is up for debate, but the assumption is that they will remain......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • A customer was fatally shot and a security guard wounded during a robbery at a Fiesta grocery store on Fulton St. • A Houston man was found dead in his apartment of multiple gun shot wounds on Walnut Bend Lane. Police speculate he had been dead for days. • One city work is dead and another is wounded after they were struck......

While most of the baseball world was focused yesterday on the races for the final playoff spots, including the Mets historic collapse in the NL East, as usual, Craig Biggio was just doing his job, just like he's done for the past 20 years. But for the first time in 20 years, Biggio won't be going back to work today. For those of us who grew up in Houston, Biggio is just as much a......

The Astros search for a replacement for Tim Purpura may be coming to an end. The baseball world is atwitter with reports that the new GM will be selected as soon as today. After interviewing eleven different candidates, owner Drayton McLane and team president/acting GM Tal Smith (pictured, on left) have narrowed the field and will be making an announcement some time this week. The leading candidate right now is Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro,......

In the wake of last week's firing of Tim Purpura, the Astros have a hole to fill in the General Manager's office. Team President Tal Smith (pictured, on left) is running the show for the time being, but a long-term replacement is required. Yesterday, owner Drayton McLane, Smith, and former vp Bob McClaren interviewed three candidates, and more interviews will take place before the end of the week. Let's take a look at the candidates......

The Astros made a decisive move today, firing manager Phil Garner and general manager Tim Purpura. Mired near the bottom of the NL Central all season, changes of some sort were necessary. Owner Drayton McLane stated that "a fresh start" was needed, and it's hard to argue with him. Bench coach Cecil Cooper will cover Garner's duties as manager, and Astros president Tal Smith will take over for Purpura. Cooper has been mentioned for the......

Astros management has signed one-year deals with the capricious Jason Lane for $1.05 million and infielder-extraordinaire Adam Everett for $2.8 million, leaving Morgan Ensberg the only remaining unsigned arbitration-eligible player. We like chanting "Let's go Mo!" when we attend games, so let's hope this one gets taken care of soon. OK, we've signed Jason Lane, but where will he play? It sounds like Luke Scott might run away with right field, potentially leaving Jason Lane......

The Ben Milam Hotel (Joseph Finger: 1925), located across from Minute Maid Park (and some may know that old place - Union Station), has been vacant for more than two decades and may soon be history. What's with all this speculation, you ask? Well, we recently witnessed the sneaky razing of its neighbor, the William Penn Hotel (which was, indeed, in much better condition), and now its windows are being removed and the interior is......

Newsday is reporting this afternoon that Roger Clemens has signed a one-year deal with the Astros that could be worth about $10.5 million depending on when he returns to the field. The 'Stros will reportedly pay the 43-year-old pitcher $3.5 million a month under the deal. If it works out, the contract will end months of speculation about whether Clemens would stay with the Astros, go to another team — the Yankees, Red Sox and......

From the 11 News Blog comes news in the "Will Roger Clemens still be an Astro?" story. Sorta. Channel 11 caught up with 'Stros owner Drayton McLane today and asked him what's up: He said preliminary discussions with [Clemens agents] Randy and Alan Hendricks have already taken place. McLane said he is confident Clemens will pitch again for the Astros. "I think he will," said McLane. "I really do." Clemens made $18 million with the......

Forbes has released its 2006 list of the world's richest people, and alas, Houstonist didn't make it. Again. But one more Houstonian did, bringing the total number of locals on the list to seven. The newest local addition is Tracy Krohn, founder and president of W&T Offshore, who is worth $1.5 billion. That means he could spent about $40,000 a day for the next 100 years — and with $40 million left over, he still......

OK, we admit it: We think we're going to become addicted to the Chronicle's TrialWatch blog, which gave a somewhat behind-the-scenes look at federal courthouse action surrounding jury selection in the Ken Lay/Jeff Skilling trial. How else would we have learned about these gems: • Lay arrived at the federal courthouse first, at about 8:30 a.m., and was reportedly mobbed by reporters as he crossed Smith Street. Skilling showed up a few minutes later and......

Things are changing in the Astros broadcast booth: Drayton McLane and team President Pam Gardner told veteran broadcaster Alan Ashby yesterday that he won't be returning for the 2006 season. Ashby, who played with the 'Stros for 11 years and has been in the booth with the team for eight years doing color, hoped to do play-by-play for road games next year, but instead, the team will go with a pair of rookies: The Astros......

Some Houstonians say pharmacists have refused to fill their prescriptions for Plan B, the super-strength birth-control pill Four suspects are in custody after an early morning police chase on the North Loop HPD Chief Harold Hurtt said a partnership between HPD and the ATF has made Houston's streets safer — at least a portion of them, anyway City Councilman Mark Goldberg suggested filing suit against owners of high-crime apartment complexes to make them install security......