Editing Houston Astros (section)

===1980–1985: More rainbow, and seasons on the brink===
[[File:Jose Cruz Astros.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[José Cruz]] (1975–1987), his #25 was retired by Houston]]
[[Joe Morgan]] returned in 1980. The 1980 pitching staff was one of the best Houston ever had, with the fastball of Ryan, the knuckleball of [[Joe Niekro]] and the terrifying 6&nbsp;ft 8&nbsp;in frame of [[J. R. Richard]]. Teams felt lucky to face [[Ken Forsch]], who was a double-digit winner in the previous two seasons. Richard became the first Astros pitcher to start an All-Star game. Three days later, Richard was told to rest his arm after a medical examination and on July 30 he collapsed during a workout. He had suffered a stroke after a blood clot in the arm apparently moved to his neck and cut off blood flow to the brain. Surgery was done to save his life, but the Astros had lost their ace pitcher after a 10–4 start with a stingy 1.89 ERA. Richard attempted a comeback, but would never again pitch a big league game.<ref name="HOUdaily"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1980/08/18/now-everyone-believes-him-it-took-a-near-fatal-stroke-to-convince-doubters-that-houstons-jr-richard-wasnt-faking-when-he-complained-of-arm-troubles/ |work=CNN |title=Video |date=August 18, 1980 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417045503/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1123684/index.htm |archive-date=April 17, 2009 }}</ref>

After the loss of Richard and some offensive struggles, the Astros slipped to third place in the division behind the Dodgers and the Reds. They bounced back to first with a ten-game winning streak, but the Dodgers regained a two-game lead before arriving in Houston on September 9.  The Astros won the first two games of the series to tie the Dodgers for the division lead. The Astros went on to win a third game and take the lead- with three games against the Dodgers left.  The Dodgers swept the next series, forcing a one-game playoff the next day.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=3043946 |title=One-game playoff history – MLB – ESPN |publisher=[[ESPN]] |date=September 30, 2007 |access-date=November 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026023918/http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3043946 |archive-date=October 26, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Astros won the playoff game 7–1, and advanced to their first post-season.

The team would face the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] in the [[1980 National League Championship Series]]. The Phillies sent out [[Steve Carlton]] in game one of the NLCS.<ref name="HOUdaily"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/baseballs_best/mlb_bb_gamepage.jsp?story_page=bb_80nlcs_gm3_phihou |title=Baseball's Best &#124; MLB.com: Programming |publisher=Mlb.mlb.com |access-date=November 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026064554/http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/baseballs_best/mlb_bb_gamepage.jsp?story_page=bb_80nlcs_gm3_phihou |archive-date=October 26, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Phillies would win the opener after the Astros got out to a 1–0 third-inning lead. Ken Forsch pitched particularly strong fourth and fifth innings, but [[Greg Luzinski]] hit a sixth-inning two-run bomb to the 300 level seats of [[Veterans Stadium]]. The Phillies added an insurance run on the way to a 3–1 win.<ref name=AstrosDaily/>  Houston bounced back to win games two and three.  Game four went into extra innings, with the Phillies taking the lead and the win in the tenth inning. [[Pete Rose]] started a rally with a one-out single, then Luzinski doubled off the left-field wall and Rose bowled over catcher Bruce Bochy to score the go-ahead run.  The Phillies got an insurance run on the way to tying the series.<ref name=AstrosDaily/>

Rookie Phillies pitcher [[Marty Bystrom]] was sent out by Philadelphia manager [[Dallas Green (baseball)|Dallas Green]] to face veteran [[Nolan Ryan]] in Game Five. The rookie gave up a run in the first inning, then held the Astros at bay until the sixth inning. An Astros lead was lost when [[Bob Boone]] hit a two-out single in the second, but the Astros tied the game in the sixth with an [[Alan Ashby]] single scoring [[Denny Walling]]. Houston took a 5–2 lead in the seventh; however, the Phillies came back with five runs in the inning.  The Astros came back against [[Tug McGraw]] with four singles and two two-out runs. Now in extra innings, [[Garry Maddox]] doubled in [[Del Unser]] with one out to give the Phillies an 8–7 lead. The Astros failed to score in the bottom of the tenth.<ref name=AstrosDaily/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/baseballs_best/mlb_bb_gamepage.jsp?story_page=bb_80nlcs_gm5_phihou |title=Baseball's Best &#124; MLB.com: Programming |publisher=Mlb.mlb.com |access-date=November 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026064633/http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/baseballs_best/mlb_bb_gamepage.jsp?story_page=bb_80nlcs_gm5_phihou |archive-date=October 26, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Nolan Ryan in Atlanta close-up.jpg|thumb|Astros starting pitcher [[Nolan Ryan]] in 1983]]
A 1981 player strike ran between June 12 and August 10. Ultimately, the strike would help the Astros get into the playoffs. [[Nolan Ryan]] and [[Bob Knepper]] picked up steam in the second half of the season. Ryan threw his fifth no-hitter on September 26 and finished the season with a 1.69 ERA. Knepper finished with an ERA of 2.18.<ref name=AstrosDaily/> In the wake of the strike, Major League Baseball took the winners of each "half" season and set up a best-of-five divisional playoff.  The [[1981 Cincinnati Reds season|Reds]] won more games than any other team in the National League, but they won neither half of the strike-divided season.  The [[1981 Houston Astros season|Astros]] finished 61–49 overall, which would have been third in the division behind the Reds and the [[1981 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Dodgers]]. Advancing to the playoffs as winners of the second half, Houston beat Los Angeles in their first two playoff games at home, but the Dodgers took the next three in Los Angeles to advance to the [[1981 National League Championship Series|NLCS]].

By [[1982 Houston Astros season|1982]], only four players and three starting pitchers remained from the 1980 squad. The Astros were out of pennant contention by August and began rebuilding for the near future. [[Bill Virdon]] was fired as manager and replaced by original Colt .45 [[Bob Lillis]]. [[Don Sutton]] asked to be traded and was sent to the [[Milwaukee Brewers]] for cash and the team gained three new prospects, including [[Kevin Bass]].  Minor league player [[Bill Doran (second baseman)|Bill Doran]] was called up in September. The Astros finished fourth in the west, but new talent was starting to appear.<ref name=AstrosDaily/>

Before the [[1983 Houston Astros season|1983 season]], the Astros traded [[Danny Heep]] to the Mets for pitcher [[Mike Scott (baseball)|Mike Scott]], a 28-year-old who had struggled with New York. [[Art Howe]] sat out the 1983 season with an injury, forcing [[Phil Garner]] to third and [[Ray Knight]] to first. Doran took over at second, becoming the everyday second baseman for the next seven seasons.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/doranbi02.shtml |title=Bill Doran Statistics and History |website=Baseball-Reference.com |access-date=November 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201151426/http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/doranbi02.shtml |archive-date=February 1, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Astros finished third in the National League West.<ref name=AstrosDaily/>  The [[1984 Houston Astros season|1984 season]] started off badly when shortstop [[Dickie Thon]] was hit in the head by a pitch and was lost for the season.  In September, the Astros called up rookie [[Glenn Davis (baseball)|Glenn Davis]] after he posted impressive numbers in AAA. The Astros finished in second place.  In [[1985 Houston Astros season|1985]], [[Mike Scott (baseball)|Mike Scott]] learned a new pitch, the split-finger fastball. Scott, who was coming off of a 5–11 season, had found his new pitch and would become one of Houston's most celebrated hurlers. In June, Davis made the starting lineup at first base, adding power to the team. In September, [[Joe Niekro]] was traded to the Yankees for two minor league pitchers and lefty [[Jim Deshaies]]. The Astros finished in fourth place in 1985.<ref name=AstrosDaily/>