A group of Hornsby Chapter members traveled to Houston last weekend and watched the Astros win their first extra-inning game of the season.

After the Astros were walk-off winners for the first time all season the night before (4-3 over the Milwaukee Brewers), our group watched the Astros win 6-5 over the Brewers in a hard-fought 10 innings on Saturday, Aug. 11. Most of the group also attended the Sunday afternoon game, but the Astros lost 5-3 .

Most of us shared a rental van to travel to and from Houston, and Cy Morong entertained us with questions from a baseball trivia book that he had won at a chapter trivia contest. As often happens on road trips, we also took our fair number of detours into funny and odd conversations. For example, we discussed an All Animal Team (baseball players with names or nicknames of animals) and came up with a bunch, including Mike Trout, Kevin Bass, John Jay, Jim “Catfish” Hunter and numerous others.

Cy Morong also impressed us with an impromptu rendition of all World Series winners, in reverse order, from 2011 to 1903, in a matter of minutes.

In addition, during the weekend, Jan Larson, Ira Siegel, Cy Morong and Gilbert Martinez met with Marsha Franty of the Larry Dierker Chapter to brainstorm about the SABR Convention when it comes to Houston in 2014. She asked about our convention experiences through the years and sought our input on what Houston can offer during its convention.

Pictured in the photo above, (back row from left), are Tom Thayer, Steve Braccini, Ira Siegel, Cy Morong; (middle row from left) Dung Le (Tom's spouse), Annette Rothwell Braccini, Gilbert D. Martinez, Jan Larson and Connie Larson; and (front row) Scott Barzilla (Dierker Chapter member). Much thanks to Pat Hareski, a friend of the Larsons, for taking the photo.

This is the second year that a group of Hornsby Chapter members have traveled together for baseball (Click here to read about chapter members enjoying the "owner’s experience" at Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks, in 2011). Once again, we had a good time and hope to plan more of these in the future. Stay tuned!

Fifteen chapter members enjoyed barbeque and baseball talk at the midseason break on Thursday, July 12.

Despite quiz-maker Jim Baker’s best efforts, a few of us eked out a few correct answers in Baker’s “The Perfect Quiz,” which focused on the 22 perfect games in Major League Baseball history.

Bill Gilbert was the only one to reach double-digits in overall score with 10 total points. Ira Siegel was second with seven points. Try your hand in the ‘Contests’ tab above, or by clicking here.

This was the 68th consecutive month that the chapter has met. On the horizon are Mark McGwire’s 70 and Barry Bonds’ 73.

Next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23.

Sixteen chapter members and guests were treated to several impressive home runs on a pleasant summer evening Saturday, June 16, at the Dell Diamond.

The Oklahoma City RedHawks, the Houston Astros’ Triple-A affiliate, defeated the Round Rock Express, 8-5, in part, because of back-to-back home runs by Mike Hessman and Brad Snyder and another by Landon Powell. The Express made a charge in the ninth, scoring three runs before falling short. Brad Nelson and Julio Borbon contributed with home runs.

Former Detroit Tiger Armando Galarraga, who nearly threw a perfect game in 2010, pitched well enough for the RedHawks and notched his first win with the team. After stints with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Baltimore Orioles, Galarraga signed a minor league contract with the Astros in May.

The next Hornsby Chapter meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, July 12, at Iron Works BBQ in downtown Austin, and comes at the halfway point of the season. Discussions of the first half and predictions for the second half will surely be among the topics of discussion.

A group of eight Hornsby Chapter members gathered on a lovely evening at Iron Works BBQ in Austin on Tuesday, May 15.  Topics of discussion included early season surprising/disappointing teams, brief reviews of Dan Walsh's early season trip to Nationals Park and Jan Larson's recent trip to Chase Field, some rehashing of members' past experiences with ticket scalpers and a spirited discussion of BABIP.

The June meeting, scheduled for Saturday June 16, will include a pre-game meal at the Salt Lick BBQ followed by the Round Rock Express vs. Oklahoma City Redhawks game at the Dell Diamond.  Those interested will be given the opportunity to purchase advance tickets.  Details will be forthcoming.