ATTENDANCE MATTERS

How Astros historic benchmarks are in some ways being overshadowed

Astros Martin Maldonado, Dusty Baker, Yainer Diaz
It's time for some Astros number crunching. Composite Getty Image.

Let’s crunch some Astros numbers.

With five home games left in the regular season – and the American League West pennant still up for grabs – it’s practically guaranteed that the Astros will top 3 million attendance this season for only the fifth time in their history.

But unless the fire marshal looks the other way, the Astros will fall just short of breaking their all-time attendance mark of 3,087,872 fans set in 2004.

The other years that the Astros topped 3 million fans were 2007 (3,020,045), 2006 (3,022,763), and 2000 (3,056,139). The Astros moved into Minute Maid Park, capacity 41,000 fans, in 2000.

The Astros played their first three years as the Colt .45’s in steamy, mosquito-plagued, open-air Colt Stadium from 1962-65. The first MLB team in Texas wasn’t exactly an instant success. While Colt Stadium held 33,000 fans, the team drew an average crowd of only 11,274 its debut season. Attendance dipped below 10,000 per game the next two seasons before the Colt .45’s became the Astros and moved into the world’s first multipurpose domed stadium.

Despite the Astrodome holding 52,000 fans for baseball, the Astros never drew 3 million fans to the Dome for indoor baseball.

Proving that size doesn’t matter (thank goodness), the MLB team with the current largest-capacity stadium is the Oakland A’s. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum holds 56,782 fans. The MLB team with the smallest attendance this year … the Oakland A’s, averaging only 10,509 fans.

Crunch on: beating the dead horse that Yanier Diaz should be the Astros everyday catcher instead of Martin Maldonado.

Maldonado is batting .191. Diaz is batting .321 when he gets to play catcher. While objects may be closer than they appear and your mileage may vary, if Diaz had been behind the plate during games that Maldonado played, he would have swatted 46 more base hits than Maldonado managed.

With the American League West bunched up for first place, I’m sure Dusty Baker would trade his stubbornness for 46 additional hits (instead of outs) this season. Every inch counts in a pennant race and Diaz is a miles better hitter than Maldonado.

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The Texans will look to get back on track this Sunday against the Colts. Composite Getty Image.

C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans are looking for answers after their passing game couldn’t get going in a loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Houston’s passing attack had been a strength all season, and the Texans ranked fifth in yards passing per game through their first six games. But on Sunday at Lambeau Field, Stroud was limited to a career-low 86 yards in the 24-22 loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak.

Stroud was 10 of 21 and didn’t have a touchdown pass for the first time this season. The second-year player was under duress for much of the day and was sacked four times and hit seven other times.

“We have to go back to the drawing board and see what those issues were,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “As we watch the film, we’ll see what happened, starting for me the communication and just guys being on the details of the job.”

The Texans scored a season-high 41 points in a win over New England a week earlier in which Stroud threw a season-best three touchdown passes despite being without star receiver Nico Collins.

They were unable to replicate that success Sunday with Collins out for the second of at least four games after a hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve.

Stefon Diggs led the team with five receptions against the Packers, but they only amounted to 23 yards. Tank Dell, who the Texans expected to step up with Collins out, was targeted four times but didn’t have a catch.

Stroud discussed the importance of getting Dell more involved in the offense.

“We have to find a way to try and get him the rock early and often and then go from there,” he said. “It has to be a focus for us, not only just him, but the whole offense clicking early. That is really my job to get the ball out on time and to where it is supposed to go. So yeah, that definitely has to be fixed.”

Ryans spoke about his confidence is getting Dell going.

What's working

The Texans have forced seven turnovers combined in their last two games after they hadn’t caused any in their previous three games.

Houston scored 16 points off three turnovers Sunday. The Texans had two interceptions and recovered a fumble on a punt. In their win over the Patriots, they scored 17 points off a season-high four turnovers.

What needs help

The Texans won’t get to where they want to be this season if Stroud doesn’t get back on track. Before Sunday, last year’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year was averaging more than 262 yards passing a game, giving the team confidence that the problems in the passing game are fixable.

Ryans knows the line must give Stroud more time to throw and said the coaching staff will focus on improving in that area this week.

Stock up

RB Joe Mixon continued to shine Sunday in his second game back after missing three games with an ankle injury. Mixon, who is in his first season in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati, had 25 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns against Green Bay.

Mixon is confident the Texans will rebound this week if they quit making mistakes.

“Does it look I’m worried? I’m not worried at all,” he said. “Like I said, we got a ... good football team. At the end of the day, we are our own worst enemy.”

Stock down

Dell was unable to help Stroud get the passing game going. The second-year player had a solid rookie season with 709 yards receiving and seven touchdowns in 11 games before breaking his leg. But he hasn’t been able to build on that success this year and has just 194 yards receiving with one score in six games.

Injuries

LB Azeez Al-Shaair (knee), LB Henry To’oTo’o (concussion), CB Kamari Lassiter (shoulder) and S Jimmie Ward (groin) all missed Sunday’s game and it’s unclear if any of these starters can return this week.

Key number

3 — Safety Calen Bullock had his third interception Sunday to tie Dunta Robinson and Jumal Rolle for most interceptions by a rookie in franchise history through the first seven games. He leads NFL rookies in interceptions this season and is tied for third-most among all players.

Next steps

The AFC South-leading Texans (5-2) return to division play Sunday when they host the second-place Colts (4-3), who have won two in a row and four of five.

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