I felt like I was serving a court ordered punishment watching this game today.

Instead of posting a pitching line for the Houston hurlers I’m just gonna post this:

Albert Pujols 2-4, 2 HR, 7 RBI.

I want to puke.

Oswalt came out dealing and Houston looked like they were going to be in good shop when they had 2 runners on in each of the first 3 innings. However they couldn’t drive any runs across and missed out on all 3 opportunities.

After 4 Roy had given up only 1 run and the game was still in hand. However in the 5th Roy gave up another run and eventually had to face Albert Pujols with the bases loaded who, as Albert Pujols tends to do, went yard for the breakfast at Denny’s.

My mom txt’d me and called Cooper and idiot for pitching to Pujols. I don’t agree. Yes Pujols is a monster and the bases were juiced but he had his ace on the hill who had been dealing up until this inning. I pitch to the guy too.

Later Wright comes in and gives up 2 bloops for singles and has to face Pujols who hit his 2nd jack, for 3 runs and after that I gave up all hope for today’s game having any silver lining at all.

In the bottom of the 9th Blum singled and Bourn hit an RBI triple which is great for Michael who went 1-3 with a BB. Smith brought Bourn in with a sac fly to left giving Houston their only 2 runs of the game.

Cardinals win it 11-2.
Wainwright gets the win and Roy Oswalt starts the season with two losses.

Cripes…glad this one is over.

Brian Moehler was pulled after 1 2/3 innings and 7 earned runs.  Moehler didn’t get any breaks as the Cubs had at least 3 broken bat singles in the first.  Those days will happen.  Russ Ortiz came in and immediately gave up a 3 run shot to Ryan Theriot.  Although the line wont show it, Russ pitched well with 6 k’s in his first outing since 2007.

The story for tonight, other than Chicago scoring 4 runs in both the 1st and 2nd inning, was the bats for Houston.  Jeff Keppinger (J-Kepp!), Lance Berkman, Kazuo Matsui, and Hunter Pence all hit solo shots with Pudge Rodriguez hitting a 2 run shot as well to account for 5 home runs and all Houston runs tonight. 

Matsui 1-5, HR, RBI, R
Keppinger 2-5, HR, RBI, R
Berkman 1-4, HR, RBI, R, K
Lee 1-4, 2B (first hit for Lee)
Tejada 1-4, R
Pence 2-4, HR, 2B, R, RBI
Pudge 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, R
Bourn 1-4, K

Good News: Houston’s offense was looking better with the 5 home runs.  Russ Ortiz pitched well though he gave up 3 runs.  Carlos Lee got his first hit and Bourn continues to hit.  J-Kepp is proving to be a great pick up and seems as though he can do no wrong. Hunter Pence 2 homers in 2 games and is swinging the bat well. Michael Bourn will head to St. Louis with a 3 game hitting streak.

Bad News: Obvious here, Moehler only pitched 1 2/3 inning.  He didn’t pitch poorly but the Cubs were putting the ball and play and getting hits. It will be interesting to see how Moehler bounces back.

Pitching Lines:
Brian Moehler 1 2/3 IP, 8 hits, BB, K, HBP, 7 earned.
Russ Ortiz 3 IP, 4 hits, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 3 earned.
Chris Sampson 1 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 0 earned
Geoff Geary 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 K, 0 earned
Wesley Wright 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 K, 0 earned
Doug Brocail 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 earned.

Ted Lilly gives up 4 bombs and gets the win. (1-0)
Brian Moehler takes the loss. (0-1)

Houston is off tomorrow but will travel to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals Friday with Mike Hampton facing Joel Pineiro.

In a game that started with great pitching from Wandy Rodriguez and Ryan Dempster, the game was decided long after each player left the game.  Jeff Keppinger, J-Kepp!, hit a walk off single with the bases loaded in his first at bat to drive in Pudge Rodriguez.

Hunter Pence homered for his first hit of the game going 2-3.  Kazuo Matsui had a triple.

Matsui 1-3, 3B, SB, CS, BB
Rodriguez 1-4, BB, R, 3K
Berkman 1-4, BB, 2K
Lee 0-4, GIDP
Tejada 1-3, 2BB
Blum 2-4
Pence 2-3, BB, HR, RBI
Bourn 1-4, RBI
Michaels 0-1
Keppinger 1-1, RBI
Erstad 0-1, K

Great performance from Wandy Rodriguez:
6 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 4 K (3 were soriano), 3 BB
Samspon:
1 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 K, 0 BB
Hawkins:
1 IP, 2 hits, 1 HR, 1 earned run, 1 K, 0 BB
Valverde:
1 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 2 K, 0 BB
Byrdak:
2/3 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 2 K, 0 BB
Brocail:
1/3 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 K, 0 BB

Overall good performance for the Houston pitchers tonight aside from Hawkins dinger to Soriano who had been shut down by Wan-Rod.

Brocail gets the win.

Good News: Houston is back at .500 with good pitching and a walk off knock from Jeff Keppinger. Atta’boy J-Kepp! Tejada also is swinging the bat well this series.

Bad News: 3 K’s for Pudge and Lee is still o’fer on the season with two GIDP.

Houston wil play Chicago again tomorrow at 7:05 central to determine who takes the series.

Ted Lilly (0-0) V. Brian Moehler (0-0)

Cubs 4
Astros 2

Carlos Zambrano pitched just over 6 innings giving up only earned run and striking out 6.  Roy Oswalt went 7 innings and gave up 3 earned runs including a leadoff home run by Alfonso Soriano, his 50th lead off dinger, and another home run by Aramis Ramirez to lead off the 2nd inning.

Houston struggled at the plate logging 8 hits but none for extra bases.  Michael Bourn hit an infield single in 7th to score Miguel Tejada.  Hunter Pence hit a sac fly in the 9th that also scored Tejada, who scored both of the Astros runs.

Matsui 1-3, BB
Rodriguez 0-4, 2K
Berkman 1-2, 2BB
Lee 0-4, GIDP
Tejada 3-4, K, CS, 2 R
Blum 1-3, BB
Pence 0-3, RBI, GIDP, K
Bourn 2-4, K

Good news: Roy pitched pretty well and hopefully will probably settle down on the home run tip.  I doubt Roy is ever going to pitch a no-hitter in his career because he is such a strikeout/pitch to contact type power pitcher. Also, Bourn was 2-4.

Bad news: Pence, Lee, and Rodriguez did not look real good at the plate. I was surprised by how free swinging Pudge is.

Pitching Lines:
Roy Oswalt 7IP, 3 ER, 2 SO, 1BB (0-1)
Geoff Geary 2 IP, 1 ER, 2 SO, 1 BB

Houston takes on the Cubs again tomorrow at 7:05 with Wandy Rodriguez taking on Ryan Dempster.

Houston 0-1

Roy tossed 4 innings in his last start before the season opener, woohoo!, and Chris Johnson isn’t going out without a fight…even though, in reality, he doesn’t have a chance.

Stros at the plate: “Michael Bourn led off the third with a double, stole third and scored on a base hit by Kazuo Matsui. Darin Erstad knocked a solo homer in the sixth. Chris Johnson drove in a run with a triple in the seventh and scored on a Reggie Abercrombie sacrifice fly. ”

After looking at the box score for today’s game, it looks like Bourn was3-3 with a walk. If you are counting that is an OBP of awesomeness.  Keep it up Michael! J-Kepp was 0-2.

Stros on the bump: “Roy Oswalt pitched four innings in his final spring tuneup before Opening Day. He allowed one run on three hits with three strikeouts. Tim Byrdak followed with two innings, during which he allowed one run on three hits. ”

Jose Valverde, Doug Brocail, and Geoff Geary all tossed scoreless frames.

Houston Astros Grapefruit Leage record: 11-17-3

From more on the game visit astros.com

Bad day on the mound today for the Stros. From astros.com:

Stros at the plate: “Kazuo Matsui went 3-for-3 with a double, run scored and RBI and Hunter Pence went 1-for-3 with a double and RBI. Edwin Maysonet hit a solo home run to left field off right-hander Chad Durbin in the sixth inning.”

That’s two 3-3 days for Kaz in the past 3 games.  Maysonet showing some pop while vying for that back up infield position, making the decision even tougher for Coop. 

Stros on the bump: “Left-hander Mike Hampton allowed seven hits, seven runs, three walks and three home runs in five innings. He struck out three” From Brian McTaggart of the Houston Chronicle: “The Phillies hit four homers off the Astros, with Wesley Wright giving up four runs, a homer and two walks in one inning to raise his ERA to 3.60. Chris Sampson pitched two innings, allowing three hits and two unearned runs. ”

Tough day on the mound for Hampton and Houston but, those days are gonna happen, just ask Mike Hampton:

“”I’ll have one during the season, too, probably more than just one,” he said. “That’s just part of it. You try to minimize the damage as much as you can, but I made some good pitches at times and there were some times I left the ball over the plate and got hit.” ”

In Hampy’s defense, Coop says he got squeezed a little.

Houston’s Grapefruit League record: Astros 9-18-3

Houston got the bats out today and defeated the Phillies 6-5.

From the all-mighty astros.mlb.com:

Stros at the plate: “Miguel Tejada logged three hits, including a solo homer in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth. Geoff Blum’s RBI single off Ryan Madson in the sixth broke a 3-3 tie, and his double in the eighth gave Houston a three-run lead. Lance Berkman doubled in the sixth and scored on Tejada’s double. Hunter Pence logged three singles, marking back-to-back three-hit games.”

Tejada is playing like a free man.  Kazuo Matsui also had three knocks today.

Stros on the bump: “In his first outing since returning from the World Baseball Classic, Oswalt allowed 10 hits and three runs over six innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out six. LaTroy Hawkins (LaHawk!)pitched a scoreless seventh. ”

Roy said his main goal for todays outing was to throw around 100 pitches and he threw 96.  Roy should get one more start before opening day which is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!

Astros’ Grapefruit League Record: 8-16-3.  2 more wins for double digits baby.

Houston won todays contest against St. Louis 4-3.

Pudge Rodriguez went yard again today.  Hunter Pence and Jason Smith each went 3 for 4.  Michael Bourn walked twice, K’d once, and had the game winning RBI.

Russ Ortiz pitched well today going 5 innings and giving up 1 earned run while walking 2 ans striking out 4. Wesley Wright pitched a scoreless frame.

Make it six in a row for houston, pushing their Grapefruit wins to 7.

Houston blanked the Mets today while their offense produced 8 runs.  Here are the details from astros.mlb.com:

Stros at the plate: “Ivan Rodriguez hit his first spring homer, a solo shot in the fifth inning. The Astros scored six in that frame, with a timely contribution from Geoff Blum, who drove in three with a double. Michael Bourn singled and came all the way around to score on an error by Bobby Kielty.”

I-Rod goes yard and Blum is starting to show signs of life.  I could get used to this whole winning thing.  Hopefully come April it won’t be out of the ordinary.

Stros on the bump: “Wandy Rodriguez allowed two hits over four innings, walking two and striking out two. LaTroy Hawkins pitched one scoreless inning, as did Doug Brocail. ”

Glad to see Wandy, the rumored SP2, pitching and feeling well.

Houston’s Grapefruit League Record currently stands at 6-16-3.  Keep shooting for the double digits in the win column H-town!

Houston scored 10 runs today to out slug the Florida Fish 10-8.

From astros.mlb.com:

Stros at the plate: “Lance Berkman homered in the third and the fifth, driving in three runs. Michael Bourn drove in a run in the fifth with an RBI double. Miguel Tejada drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the seventh. ”

Good games today from both Berkman and Bourn.  Killer B’s anyone?

Stros on the mound: “Mike Hampton allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings, striking out four. Chad Paronto left the game after one-third of an inning with a right shoulder muscle strain, and Gilbert De La Vara yielded two runs over two-thirds of an inning. ”

Hampton got hit a little but looked good on the mound as he kept the ball down for the most part.  Sampson pitched a scoreless inning, keep up the good work Samp.

From chron.com:

Cooper on the bats: “Lance put some good swings up,” Cecil Cooper said. “Lance had some great swings today. Every at-bat was good swings. It was good to see that. Kaz had some good swings today. Tejada had some good swings. They all did. There were quite a few. It was nice to see J.R. swing the bat like that. Today was probably our best day swinging the bats.”

Cooper on the arms: “Hampton was very good, got his pitch count up to the high 80s, so that’s good,” Cooper said. “He pitched down. I liked the way he pitched today. Bud (Norris) I thought was very good. His fastball was exploding out of his hand today.”