2000 Houston Astros season

The 2000 Houston Astros season was the 39th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 36th as the Astros, 39th in the National League (NL), seventh in the NL Central division, and first at Enron Field, later christened as Minute Maid Park. The Astros entered the season as three-time defending NL Central champions with a 97–65 record in their final season at The Astrodome. However, their season ended in a 3-games-to-1 defeat by the Atlanta Braves in the 1999 National League Division Series (NLDS), also the NL pennant winners.

2000 Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Enron Field
City	Houston, Texas
Record	72–90 (.444)
Divisional place	4th
Owners	Drayton McLane, Jr.
General managers	Gerry Hunsicker
Managers	Larry Dierker
Television	KNWS-TV FSN Southwest (Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies, Bill Worrell)
Radio	KTRH (Milo Hamilton, Alan Ashby) KXYZ (Francisco Ernesto Ruiz, Alex Treviño)
← 1999 Seasons 2001 →

Pitcher Shane Reynolds represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game, his only career selection.

This Astros team established franchise records for both runs scored (938), and runs allowed (944). It was the first time they had exceeded 900 in either category.^[1] They also established an NL record by hitting 249 home runs, which stood until 2019, when it was eclipsed by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With a 72–90 finish in fourth place and 23 games behind the division-champion St. Louis Cardinals for the 2000 season, it ended eight consecutive seasons with a record of .500 or better, and seven consecutive winning seasons, both the longest runs in franchise history. Between 1992 and 2008, Houston's only other regular season record below .500 occurred in 2007.

Offseason

• December 13, 1999: Johan Santana was drafted from the Astros by the Florida Marlins in the 1999 rule 5 draft.^[2]
• January 6, 2000: Dwight Gooden was signed as a free agent by the Astros.^[3]

Regular season

Summary

The Astros hit five home runs on June 14 to power an 8–4 win over the Colorado Rockies, including back-to-back-to-back home runs from Moisés Alou, Richard Hidalgo and Tony Eusebio. It was Alou's second of the evening. Meanwhile, Jeff Bagwell also homered.

On August 14 in Philadelphia, Bagwell homered twice and tied a club record with seven runs batted in (RBI) in a 14–7 win, shared by Rafael Ramírez and Pete Incaviglia (1992). Alou also homered twice, and Hidalgo and Chris Truby also went deep for Houston, who matched the club record with six home runs. This was also the third time of the season the Astros had six home runs in one game.^[4]

Bagwell again homered twice on August 19 against the Milwaukee Brewers for the 299th and 300th of his career; the second home run broke an eighth-inning tie to give Houston a 10–8 win. He joined Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Robinson and Ted Williams as the fifth player in major league history to record 300 home runs, 1,000 RBI and 1,000 runs scored in his first ten seasons.^[5]

Bagwell scored 152 runs to lead the major leagues. It was the highest total in a season since Lou Gehrig in 1936,^[6] and his 295 runs scored from 1999–2000 set a National League two-season record.^[7]

Despite finishing 18 games below .500, the Astros set the all-time NL record for most home runs hit by one team in the regular season, with 249.^[8] The record was later broken by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019.

It was the Astros' first losing season and furthest behind first place they had finished since 1991.

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

NL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	95	67	.586	—	50‍–‍31	45‍–‍36
Cincinnati Reds	85	77	.525	10	43‍–‍38	42‍–‍39
Milwaukee Brewers	73	89	.451	22	42‍–‍39	31‍–‍50
Houston Astros	72	90	.444	23	39‍–‍42	33‍–‍48
Pittsburgh Pirates	69	93	.426	26	37‍–‍44	32‍–‍49
Chicago Cubs	65	97	.401	30	38‍–‍43	27‍–‍54

Record vs. opponents

2000 National League record v t e Source: NL Standings Head-to-Head
Team	AZ	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MIL	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Arizona	—	3–6	5–4	2–5	7–6	4–5	6–1	7–6	4–5	4–5	2–7	8–1	7–2	9–4	6–7	5–4	6–9
Atlanta	6–3	—	4–5	2–5	5–4	6–6	5–4	7–2	6–3	6–7	7–6	8–5	5–2	8–1	6–3	3–4	11–7
Chicago	4–5	5–4	—	4–8	4–5	1–6	5–7	3–6	6–7	4–5	2–5	6–3	3–9	3–5	4–5	3–10	8–7
Cincinnati	5–2	5–2	8–4	—	6–3	3–6	7–5	4–5	5–8–1	6–3	5–4	3–4	7–6	4–5	3–6	7–6	7–8
Colorado	6–7	4–5	5–4	3–6	—	4–5	5–4	4–9	4–5	7–2	3–6	6–3	7–2	7–6	6–7	5–3	6–6
Florida	5–4	6–6	6–1	6–3	5–4	—	3–5	2–7	3–4	7–6	6–6	9–4	5–4	2–7	3–6	3–6	8–9
Houston	1–6	4–5	7–5	5–7	4–5	5–3	—	3–6	7–6	4–5	2–5	5–4	10–3	2–7	1–8	6–6	6–9
Los Angeles	6–7	2–7	6–3	5–4	9–4	7–2	6–3	—	3–4	5–3	4–5	5–4	4–5	8–5	7–5	3–6	6–9
Milwaukee	5–4	3–6	7–6	8–5–1	5–4	4–3	6–7	4–3	—	4–5	2–7	2–5	7–5	2–7	3–6	5–7	6–9
Montreal	5–4	7–6	5–4	3–6	2–7	6–7	5–4	3–5	5–4	—	3–9	5–7	3–4	3–6	3–6	2–5	7–11
New York	7–2	6–7	5–2	4–5	6–3	6–6	5–2	5–4	7–2	9–3	—	6–7	7–2	3–6	3–5	6–3	9–9
Philadelphia	1–8	5–8	3–6	4–3	3–6	4–9	4–5	4–5	5–2	7–5	7–6	—	3–6	2–5	2–7	2–7	9–9
Pittsburgh	2–7	2–5	9–3	6–7	2–7	4–5	3–10	5–4	5–7	4–3	2–7	6–3	—	7–2	2–6	4–8	6–9
San Diego	4–9	1–8	5–3	5–4	6–7	7–2	7–2	5–8	7–2	6–3	6–3	5–2	2–7	—	5–7	0–9	5–10
San Francisco	7–6	3–6	5–4	6–3	7–6	6–3	8–1	5–7	6–3	6–3	5–3	7–2	6–2	7–5	—	5–4	8–7
St. Louis	4–5	4–3	10–3	6–7	3–5	6–3	6–6	6–3	7–5	5–2	3–6	7–2	8–4	9–0	4–5	—	7–8

Notable transactions

• March 31, 2000: Tony Mounce was released by the Astros.^[9]
• April 13, 2000: Dwight Gooden was purchased from the Astros by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.^[3]

Roster

2000 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers 51 José Cabrera 41 Octavio Dotel 50 Scott Elarton 60 Wayne Franklin 54 Jason Green 56 Kip Gross 19 Doug Henry 44 Chris Holt 42 José Lima 36 Scott Linebrink 36 Mike Maddux 59 Tony McKnight 38 Rusty Meacham 52 Wade Miller 46 Yorkis Pérez 45 Brian Powell 39 Jay Powell 37 Shane Reynolds 58 Joe Slusarski 16 Marc Valdes 13 Billy Wagner		Catchers  6 Paul Bako 56 Frank Charles 46 Raúl Chávez 20 Tony Eusebio 21 Mitch Meluskey Infielders  5 Jeff Bagwell  7 Craig Biggio 27 Tim Bogar 11 Ken Caminiti 10 Tripp Cromer  2 Morgan Ensberg  1 Keith Ginter  9 Russ Johnson 68 Julio Lugo 28 Bill Spiers 64 Chris Truby		Outfielders 18 Moisés Alou 29 Glen Barker 33 Lance Berkman 19 Roger Cedeño 15 Richard Hidalgo 23 Matt Mieske 31 Daryle Ward Other batters 23 Eddie Zosky		Manager 49 Larry Dierker Coaches 25 José Cruz (first base) 24 Mike Cubbage (third base)  8 Matt Galante (bench) 22 Tom McCraw (hitting) 48 Vern Ruhle (pitching) 30 John Tamargo (bullpen)

Game log

Regular season

Legend
	Astros win
	Astros loss
	Postponement
	Eliminated from playoff race
Bold	Astros team member

2000 regular season game log: 72–90 (Home: 39–42; Away: 33–48)[10]
April: 9–14 (Home: 3–9; Away: 6–5) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
May: 10–19 (Home: 7–6; Away: 3–13) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
June: 8–19 (Home: 3–9; Away: 5–10) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
July: 12–14 (Home: 5–6; Away: 7–8) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak — July 11 7:35 p.m. CDT 71st All-Star Game in Atlanta, GA
August: 16–12 (Home: 10–6; Away: 6–6) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
September: 16–12 (Home: 10–5; Away: 6–7) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak
October: 1–0 (Home: 1–0; Away: 0–0) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/ Streak

Detailed records

National League Opponent W L WP RS RA NL East Div Total NL Central Houston Astros Div Total NL West Div Total League Total American League League Total Season Total

Month Games Won Lost Win % RS RA April May June July August September October Total Games Won Lost Win % RS RA Home Away Total

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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	Mitch Meluskey	117	337	101	.300	14	69
1B	Jeff Bagwell	159	590	183	.310	47	132
2B	Craig Biggio	101	377	101	.268	8	35
SS	Tim Bogar	110	304	63	.207	7	33
3B	Chris Truby	78	258	67	.260	11	59
LF	Daryle Ward	119	264	68	.258	20	47
CF	Richard Hidalgo	153	558	175	.314	44	122
RF	Moisés Alou	126	454	161	.355	30	114

Other batters

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
Julio Lugo	116	420	119	.283	10	40
Bill Spiers	124	355	107	.301	3	43
Lance Berkman	114	353	105	.297	21	67
Roger Cedeño	74	259	73	.282	6	26
Tony Eusebio	74	218	61	.280	7	33
Ken Caminiti	59	208	63	.303	15	45
Matt Mieske	62	81	14	.173	1	5
Glen Barker	84	67	15	.224	2	6
Russ Johnson	26	45	8	.178	0	3
Raúl Chávez	14	43	11	.256	1	5
Keith Ginter	5	8	2	.250	1	3
Tripp Cromer	9	8	1	.125	0	0
Morgan Ensberg	4	7	2	.286	0	0
Frank Charles	4	7	3	.429	0	2
Eddie Zosky	4	4	0	.000	0	0
Paul Bako	1	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Chris Holt	34	207.0	8	16	5.35	136
José Lima	33	196.1	7	16	6.65	124
Scott Elarton	30	192.2	17	7	4.81	131
Shane Reynolds	22	131.0	7	8	5.22	93
Wade Miller	16	105.0	6	6	5.14	89
Tony McKnight	6	35.0	4	1	3.86	23
Dwight Gooden	1	4.0	0	0	9.00	1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Octavio Dotel	50	125.0	3	7	5.40	142
Brian Powell	9	31.1	2	1	5.74	14
Kip Gross	2	4.1	0	1	10.38	3

Dotel was team leader in saves with 16.

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Joe Slusarski	54	2	7	3	4.21	54
Marc Valdes	53	5	5	2	5.08	35
José Cabrera	52	2	3	2	5.92	41
Doug Henry	45	1	3	1	4.42	46
Yorkis Pérez	33	2	1	0	5.16	21
Jay Powell	29	1	1	0	5.67	16
Billy Wagner	28	2	4	6	6.18	28
Wayne Franklin	25	0	0	0	5.48	21
Mike Maddux	21	2	2	0	6.26	17
Jason Green	14	1	1	0	6.62	19
Scott Linebrink	8	0	0	0	4.66	6
Rusty Meacham	5	0	0	0	11.57	3
Tim Bogar	2	0	0	0	4.50	1

Awards and honors

NL records established

• Home runs, single season, team: The Astros led the National League in home runs with 249^[11]
• Runs, two-season span, individual: Jeff Bagwell (295)^[7]

Awards

• MLB All-Star Game—Reserve pitcher: Shane Reynolds
• NL Player of the Month—September: Richard Hidalgo
• NL Player of the Week^[12]
  • August 6: Scott Elarton
  • August 13: Jeff Bagwell
  • September 10: Richard Hidalgo

NL batting leaders

• Double plays grounded into: Moisés Alou (21)
• Runs scored: Jeff Bagwell (152—led MLB)

NL pitching leaders

• Earned runs allowed: José Lima (145—led MLB)
• Home runs allowed: José Lima (48—led MLB)

Minor league system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	New Orleans Zephyrs	Pacific Coast League	Tony Peña
AA	Round Rock Express	Texas League	Jackie Moore
A	Kissimmee Cobras	Florida State League	Manny Acta
A	Michigan Battle Cats	Midwest League	Al Pedrique
A-Short Season	Auburn Doubledays	New York–Penn League	John Massarelli
Rookie	Martinsville Astros	Appalachian League	Brad Wellman

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Round Rock, Michigan

Awards

• Houston Astros Minor League Player of the Year: Roy Oswalt, pitcher^[13]

See also

• Texas portal
• Baseball portal

• List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
• List of Major League Baseball franchise postseason streaks