It’s up to 70 something comments. I don’t think I’m the only one who has lost there identity with the Astros.

I’ve watched on TV, haven’t been to a game in 5 years.

I live north of Austin, so it takes around an extra hour to get to Minute Maid vs. Ballpark

I’m a guy that was never die-hard for the Astros, but wants to become die-hard with some team. I just don’t know if the Astros are that team.

It’s quite likely the Rangers may be the team for you. You mentioned liking Bidge and Bags and not caring about the team this year because you didn’t like any of the individual players in the line-up.

Well, the Rangers cater to that quite well. Their team can never seem to put the pieces together, but they have some of the most amazing star players grace their club.

Only the Rangers could have such a revolving door of talent that never produces. It started from their first manager on through Nolan and Pudge and Canseco and A-Rod and Tiexiera, and I’m sure Salty will be the latest victim to this trend.

The Rangers and Astros literally define the polar opposites of “the whole is the sum of its parts.” For the Rangers, the parts are larger than the whole. For the Astros, the whole is larger than the parts.

As a team, the Rangers consistently fade to black down the stretch, whereas the Astros seem to come back from the dead. I’ll never forget reading a local (Austin, Kirk Bohls) columnist in June of ‘05 castigating the Astros for being so bad and saying, "If they know what’s good for them, they’ll trade Clemens now and try to salvage this shambles of a season."

That has, and probably never will happen to the Rangers. Not in the near future, anyway. But you can rest assured, they’ll put together an amazing run in June or July, be one or two games behind the division lead, and then proceed to pull the football in August and September just like Lucy does to Charlie Brown.

So maybe the Rangers are for you. And you don’t even need to hear it from me on this topic. From LSB:

The Rangers are fun to root for at this point but they have also never paid off so root at your own peril. If you are impatient (and really I mean don’t have the patience of a priest) then you’re not going to enjoy rooting for them. Lots of heartbreak and sadness and I can’t shake this feeling that they’re going to win the first two games of the WS only to lose it and never get back there in my lifetime.

So, yeah, if you are getting frustrated with the AStros you probably aren’t going to do so well as a Rangers fan.

As for Bidge and Bags… Not a few of us around here were rooting for Bags to get pushed out the door as early as ’06 in order to make way for Burke or some other player of the future. No one player is bigger than the team.

that you should be allowed to swing the bat without playing a defensive position on the field, you are a Rangers fan… If you like watching those who make the most of their 3 at-bats every 5 days, like veteran Russ Ortiz did tonight, you are an Astros fan. Simple as that… Oh yeah, dont feel bad about jumping ship, Nolan Ryan did.

If you call yourself a FANatic, then it wouldn’t matter how they did. Sure you want them to win, but you still root for them anyway. If you’re just a fan of the sport, then feel free to bandwagon jump. Just think how happy the Blue Jays fans are! They finally have a reason to show up to the park now. And besides, how could you root against a team that kept Jose Cruz as a base coach. Let’s hear it one more time. JOSE CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZ!

As NocturnalMatt pointed out, the Rangers play designated-hitter-ball, and the Astros play baseball.

(Except during interleague, during which time MLB is dead to me.)

Honestly, I can cheer for both the Rangers and Astros, as they should never play each other. Except for the unlikely World Series matchup, in which case I’d go for the team that plays baseball.

Have you noticed that some Rangers games are on 42-2 (or somewhere on Time Warner) in Austin this season? It’s the ones that are on local DFW TV as opposed to Fox Sports Net. I’ve never had cable, so it is fun to see a game on TV every so often. I wish they had Astros too though.

with everyone here. I could not think of following another team. Heck, I sometimes find it boring to watch a baseball game the Stros aren’t playing. I have not found it too difficult to switch to this new era of Astros players, and I really like Pence and Bourn. Also, I lived in the Dallas area last year, and still managed to follow the Astros most of the time. Soon I will be moving even farther north, but I will stick with them just as much, if not more. And by the way, all Rangers fans are LOSERS!!! GOOOOOOOOO STROOOOOOOOOOS!!!!!!!!!