# 2006 Houston Astros season

The 2006 Houston Astros season was the 45th season for the Houston Astros. The 2006 Astros finished in second place in the National League Central with a record of 82–80, 1½ games behind the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, after losing 3–1 to the Braves at Atlanta on the final day of the season. As a result, they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

## Regular season
### Standings
#### National League Central

vteNL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 83 | 78 | .516 | — | 49‍–‍31 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Houston Astros | 82 | 80 | .506 | 1½ | 44‍–‍37 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 80 | 82 | .494 | 3½ | 42‍–‍39 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 75 | 87 | .463 | 8½ | 48‍–‍33 | 27‍–‍54 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 67 | 95 | .414 | 16½ | 43‍–‍38 | 24‍–‍57 |
| Chicago Cubs | 66 | 96 | .407 | 17½ | 36‍–‍45 | 30‍–‍51 |

#### Record vs. opponents

2006 National League recordvte Source: :
| Team | AZ | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL | FLA | HOU | LAD | MIL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | WSH | AL |
| Arizona | — | 6–1 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 12–7 | 2–4 | 4–5 | 8–10 | 3–3 | 1–6 | 1–5 | 5–1 | 9–10 | 8–11 | 4–3 | 1–5 | 4–11 |
| Atlanta | 1–6 | — | 6–1 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 11–8 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 3–3 | 7–2 | 3–4 | 4–2 | 10–8 | 5–10 |
| Chicago | 2–4 | 1–6 | — | 10–9 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 7–8 | 4–2 | 8–8 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 6–9 | 0–7 | 2–4 | 11–8 | 2–4 | 4–11 |
| Cincinnati | 2–4 | 3–4 | 9–10 | — | 5–1 | 4–2 | 10–5 | 0–6 | 9–10 | 3–4 | 2–4 | 9–7 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 9–6 | 5–1 | 6-9 |
| Colorado | 7–12 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 1–5 | — | 3–3 | 4–2 | 4–15 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 10–9 | 10–8 | 2–7 | 8–0 | 11–4 |
| Florida | 4–2 | 8–11 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 3–3 | — | 3–4 | 1–5 | 7–0 | 8–11 | 6–13 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 11–7 | 9–9 |
| Houston | 5–4 | 4–3 | 8–7 | 5–10 | 2–4 | 4-3 | — | 3–3 | 10–5 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 13–3 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 9–7 | 4–4 | 7–11 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 6–0 | 15–4 | 5–1 | 3–3 | — | 4–2 | 3–4 | 4–3 | 6–4 | 5–13 | 13–6 | 0–7 | 4–2 | 5–10 |
| Milwaukee | 3–3 | 4–2 | 8–8 | 10–9 | 4–2 | 0–7 | 5–10 | 2–4 | — | 3–3 | 5–1 | 7–9 | 4–3 | 6–3 | 7–9 | 1–5 | 6–9 |
| New York | 6–1 | 11–7 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 5–1 | 11–8 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 3–3 | — | 11–8 | 5–4 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 12–6 | 6–9 |
| Philadelphia | 5-1 | 11–7 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 13–6 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 1–5 | 8–11 | — | 3–3 | 2–4 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 9–10 | 5–13 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–5 | 3–3 | 9–6 | 7–9 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 3–13 | 4–6 | 9–7 | 4–5 | 3–3 | — | 1–5 | 6–1 | 6–9 | 3–3 | 3–12 |
| San Diego | 10–9 | 2–7 | 7–0 | 4–2 | 9–10 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 13–5 | 3–4 | 2–5 | 4–2 | 5–1 | — | 7–12 | 4–2 | 5–1 | 7–8 |
| San Francisco | 11–8 | 4–3 | 4–2 | 5–2 | 8–10 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 6–13 | 3–6 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 1–6 | 12–7 | — | 1–4 | 1–5 | 8–7 |
| St. Louis | 3–4 | 2–4 | 8–11 | 6–9 | 7–2 | 5-1 | 7–9 | 7–0 | 9–7 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 9–6 | 2–4 | 4–1 | — | 4–3 | 5–10 |
| Washington | 5–1 | 8–10 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 0–8 | 7-11 | 4–4 | 2–4 | 5–1 | 6–12 | 10–9 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 5–1 | 3–4 | — | 7–11 |

### Transactions

* March 30, 2006: Cody Ransom was purchased by the Houston Astros from the Seattle Mariners.
* July 12, 2006: Aubrey Huff was traded by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with cash to the Houston Astros for Ben Zobrist and Mitch Talbot (minors).

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging percentage
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | AVG | SLG |
| Craig Biggio | 145 | 548 | 79 | 135 | 33 | 0 | 21 | 62 | 3 | 40 | .246 | .422 |
| Lance Berkman | 152 | 536 | 95 | 169 | 29 | 0 | 45 | 136 | 3 | 98 | .315 | .621 |
| Willy Taveras | 149 | 529 | 83 | 147 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 30 | 33 | 34 | .278 | .338 |
| Adam Everett | 150 | 514 | 52 | 123 | 28 | 6 | 6 | 59 | 9 | 34 | .239 | .352 |
| Brad Ausmus | 139 | 439 | 37 | 101 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 39 | 3 | 45 | .230 | .285 |
| Preston Wilson | 102 | 390 | 40 | 105 | 22 | 2 | 9 | 55 | 6 | 22 | .269 | .405 |
| Morgan Ensberg | 127 | 387 | 67 | 91 | 17 | 1 | 23 | 58 | 1 | 101 | .235 | .463 |
| Mike Lamb | 126 | 381 | 70 | 117 | 22 | 3 | 12 | 45 | 2 | 35 | .307 | .475 |
| Chris Burke | 123 | 366 | 58 | 101 | 23 | 1 | 9 | 40 | 11 | 27 | .276 | .418 |
| Jason Lane | 112 | 288 | 44 | 58 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 45 | 1 | 49 | .201 | .392 |
| Aubrey Huff | 68 | 224 | 31 | 56 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 38 | 0 | 26 | .250 | .478 |
| Luke Scott | 65 | 214 | 31 | 72 | 19 | 6 | 10 | 37 | 2 | 30 | .336 | .621 |
| Eric Munson | 53 | 141 | 10 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 11 | .199 | .348 |
| Eric Bruntlett | 73 | 119 | 11 | 33 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 13 | .277 | .345 |
| Orlando Palmeiro | 103 | 119 | 12 | 30 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 6 | .252 | .319 |
| Humberto Quintero | 11 | 21 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .429 |
| J.R. House | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Charlton Jimerson | 17 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | .833 |
| Joe McEwing | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Héctor Giménez | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Pitcher Totals | 162 | 282 | 11 | 32 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 13 | .113 | .152 |
| Team Totals | 162 | 5521 | 735 | 1407 | 275 | 27 | 174 | 708 | 79 | 585 | .255 | .409 |
Source:

### Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Roy Oswalt | 15 | 8 | 2.98 | 33 | 32 | 0 | 220.2 | 220 | 76 | 73 | 38 | 166 |
| Andy Pettitte | 14 | 13 | 4.20 | 36 | 35 | 0 | 214.1 | 238 | 114 | 100 | 70 | 178 |
| Wandy Rodríguez | 9 | 10 | 5.64 | 30 | 24 | 0 | 135.2 | 154 | 96 | 85 | 63 | 98 |
| Roger Clemens | 7 | 6 | 2.30 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 113.1 | 89 | 34 | 29 | 29 | 102 |
| Taylor Buchholz | 6 | 10 | 5.89 | 22 | 19 | 0 | 113.0 | 107 | 80 | 74 | 34 | 77 |
| Fernando Nieve | 3 | 3 | 4.20 | 40 | 11 | 0 | 96.1 | 87 | 46 | 45 | 41 | 70 |
| Chad Qualls | 7 | 3 | 3.76 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 88.2 | 76 | 38 | 37 | 28 | 56 |
| Brad Lidge | 1 | 5 | 5.28 | 78 | 0 | 32 | 75.0 | 69 | 47 | 44 | 36 | 104 |
| Dan Wheeler | 3 | 5 | 2.52 | 75 | 0 | 9 | 71.1 | 58 | 22 | 20 | 24 | 68 |
| Dave Borkowski | 3 | 2 | 4.69 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 71.0 | 70 | 38 | 37 | 23 | 52 |
| Russ Springer | 1 | 1 | 3.47 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 59.2 | 46 | 23 | 23 | 16 | 46 |
| Trever Miller | 2 | 3 | 3.02 | 70 | 0 | 1 | 50.2 | 42 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 56 |
| Jason Hirsh | 3 | 4 | 6.04 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 44.2 | 48 | 32 | 30 | 22 | 29 |
| Brandon Backe | 3 | 2 | 3.77 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 43.0 | 43 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 19 |
| Chris Sampson | 2 | 1 | 2.12 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 34.0 | 25 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 15 |
| Mike Gallo | 1 | 2 | 6.06 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 16.1 | 28 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 7 |
| Matt Albers | 0 | 2 | 6.00 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 15.0 | 17 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 11 |
| Ezequiel Astacio | 2 | 0 | 11.12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Philip Barzilla | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 82 | 80 | 4.08 | 162 | 162 | 42 | 1468.2 | 1425 | 719 | 666 | 480 | 1160 |
Source:

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Round Rock Express | Pacific Coast League | Jackie Moore |
| AA | Corpus Christi Hooks | Texas League | Dave Clark |
| A | Salem Avalanche | Carolina League | Jim Pankovits |
| A | Lexington Legends | South Atlantic League | Jack Lind |
| A-Short Season | Tri-City ValleyCats | New York–Penn League | Gregg Langbehn |
| Rookie | Greeneville Astros | Appalachian League | Iván DeJesús |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Corpus Christi