Solomon: Astros need changes but not to name

Crane: Auto focus grope.

If you want change, change the team colors, paint the grass at Minute Maid Park orange, and hire scantily clad cheerleaders to dance on top of the dugouts between innings. But don’t make some silly name change as a money-grabbing ploy to sell more jerseys and caps.

Astroworld is gone, the Astrodomain is now Reliant Park, and the Astrodome is a blight on the city skyline.

But the Astros are Houston’s team, and despite what idiot politicians who didn’t grant us a space shuttle say, Houston is Space City. You may have purchased the franchise, but Astros is the name that belongs to the baseball team in Space City.

From Aspromonte, Watson, Dierker and Wynn to Cedeno, Cruz, Richard and Ryan to Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman and Oswalt, MLB stars in Houston have been Astros.

Keep this up, and your team will be the team formerly known as the favorite baseball team of tens of thousands of Houstonians.

People aren’t embarrassed about being Astros fans because of the team name. They are embarrassed about being Astros fans because the team finished with the worst record in baseball.