The Houston Astros only had six hits in the game but they made sure that they all meant something as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 3-1.  Roy Oswalt pitched six innings and limited the Dodgers to only one run in the game and the offense did just enough to get the victory.

Oswalt gave up a rbi sac fly in the first inning to James Loney of the Dodgers but after that he settled down and when he had to he worked his way out of all the jams he got himself into.  Oswalt struck out nine batters over six innings of action.

Chris Sampson, Wesley Wright, and Jose Valverde all pitched in relief of Oswalt.  Valverde ended up picking up his 22nd save of the season.

Brad Ausmus led the Astros at the plate as he delivered in the fourth inning with a two run single.  Prior to Ausmus’s two run single, Mark Loretta had a rbi single in the fourth inning.  Lance Berkman hit his 22nd home run in the first inning when he took Eric Stults deep.

Astros will now try to go up 2-0 in the series on Tuesday night.  Astros Blog

** We should mention that Roy Oswalt left the game after six innings, but no reports have been released as to what kind of injury it is **  Let’s hope it isn’t to bad and he can make his next start.

Wandy Rodriguez threw a fabulous game on Thursday night as he pitched eight innings against the Texas Rangers and the Astros defeated the Rangers by the score of 7-2.  Rodriguez dominated the Rangers lineup as he only gave up five hits and one run while striking out nine batters and picking up the victory.  Rodriguez is now 3-3 on the season.

Oscar Villarreal gave up one run in the ninth inning as he wasn’t able to shut down the Rangers in the ninth inning.

Hunter Pence had a three run triple in the first inning to lead the Astros at the plate with three rbi.  David Newhan then had a two run double in the second inning as the Astros went up 5-0.  The Astros weren’t done scoring in the second inning as Newhan then scored on a infield single by Lance Berkman.  Carlos Lee then singled in Berkman for the final Astros run of the game.

The Astros have a huge series coming up against the Boston Red Sox starting on Friday.  I have a feeling the Astros will lose two of three games. What do you think Astros fans?

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The Houston Astros had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning but were not able to push across any runs and they lost to the Texas Rangers by the score of 3-2.  Miguel Tejada grounded out to end the game when the Astros had the bases loaded.  That was a tough way to lose a game, especially to the instate rivals.

Roy Oswalt took the loss for the Royals after pitching seven inning.  Oswalt gave up seven hits and all three runs.  The one hit that really hurt him was a two run home run by Max Ramirez in the fourth inning.  Chris Sampson did a good job as he pitched the final two innings and only gave up one hit while not allowing a run to score.

The Astros offense had ten hits in the game but they only scored two runs.  Both of those runs came in the second inning when Michael Bourn hit a two run home run.   You can look at one state in the box score and see why the Astros lost this game.  They left 20 runners on base.  When you leave 20 runners on base you don’t deserve to win in my opinion.

Wandy Rodriguez will battle Kevin Millwood and the Rangers on Thursday for the series win.  How do you think Wandy will throw?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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The Houston Astros were able to come away with a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.  It was a close game all game long so it was really nice to see the Astros come away with the victory and start the big series with the Rangers off with a win.

Lance Berkman had the big hit for the Astros as he connected on a two run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Those two runs were some nice insurance runs as the Rangers came right back and score two runs in the to of the ninth inning.  Ty Wigginton and Humberto Quintero had the other two rbi for the Astros at the plate.

Brian Moehler started the game for the Astros and pitched 6 1/3 innings as he gave up five hits and one run.  Moehler struck out five batters while walking only one in the game.  He improved to 4-3 on the season with the victory.

The bullpen did a good job up until the ninth inning when Jose Valverde gave up a two run home run that brought the Rangers to within one run.  Valverde was finally able to settle down and finish off the Rangers and pick up his 19th save of the season.

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The Houston Astros tried to come back and avoid the three game sweep but they were unable to and lost to the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 7-5.  It was the eighth straight loss for the Astros as they are really struggling at this point in the season and it doesn’t look like anything is going to turn around soon.

Shawn Chacon only lasted five innings on the night as he gave up eight hits and six earned runs.  Chacon had problems locating his pitches as he gave up four walks and two home runs in the game.  With the loss against the Orioles, Chacon is now 2-3 on the season.

Tim Byrdak threw the sixth and seventh inning and gave up one run in relief.  Oscar Villarreal was finally able to come in and pitch a scoreless inning in the eighth for the Astros.

Miguel Tejada and Hunter Pence both hit solo home runs in the game.  Tejada ended up leading the team with two rbi in the game.  Kaz Matsui, Lance Berkman, and Pence all chipped in with one rbi each.

The Astros will now travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays.  The Astros better bring their “A” game because the Rays just got done sweeping the red hot Chicago Cubs in a three game series.

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The Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles played ten inning on Wednesday night and it was the Orioles coming out on top.  The O’s pushed across the game winning run on a Kevin Millar single off of Jose Valverde in the tenth inning.  Valverde has now struggled a couple games in a row and he could really use a day off if you ask me.

The one run for the Astros came in the top of the seventh inning when Lance Berkman hit a solo home run.  However the Orioles answered right back with their own home run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Brian Moehler pitched 6 1/3 innings and only gave up five hits and one run.  It was a pretty good outing by Moehler besides the one pitch to Luke Scott that left the ballpark.  The Astros bullpen pitched well up until Valverde lost the game too.  Wesley Wright, Chris Sampson, and Doug Brocail all pitched before Valverde took the loss.

The Astros will now try to avoid the sweep as they will play the Orioles on Thursday.  Will the Astros come out and play like they are capable of?  I don’t think so as the Orioles are playing with a lot of momentum.  Leave us a comment and let us know what your thoughts are.

 Astros Blog

Recap: It was all about the long ball in Houston’s Wednesday night loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Astros hit a total of three home runs from players Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee and Ty Wiggington.

However, the Brewers managed to rough up Brandon Backe early and send him to his third strait loss. Backe has been hit extremely hard in his last three starts, going 0-3 with an 8.40 ERA. The Brewers combined for a total of 5 homeruns against the Astros struggling pitching. The Astros now lead the league in surrendering long balls to opposing teams.

Wednesday’s game also feature some fireworks when both Cecil Cooper and catcher Brad Ausmus were tossed from the game for arguing a series of very questionable calls from first base umpire Angel Campos.

Note: The Astros most recent call-up Reggie Abercrombie took advantage of his first time being inserted in the starting lineup going 2 for 4.

Next Up: It doesn’t get any easier for the Astros as they go up against Milwaukee’s ace Ben Sheets (6-1) in Thursday afternoon’s rubber match. The Astros will be sending Brian Moehler to the hill (3-2) to counter.

After dropping 9 of their last 11 on a road trip that saw everything from pitching to hitting crumble before their very eyes, the Astros returned to Minute Maid park Monday night and crushed the Brewers in a 6-1 victory.

To start things off Roy Oswalt slit the throat of his evil twin and walked onto the mound to produce a devastating 7 inning rout of the Milwaukee offense. Allowing only one run, ZERO walks, and 10 strikeouts the Wizard looked as in control as ever.

Lance Berkman also made his presence felt in Minute Maid as he came a double away from hitting for the cycle. In fact, 5 of the 6 runs scored Monday were by his hands. His two run homer in the 2nd brought home fellow All-Star candidate Miguel Tejada, and his bomb over the head of center fielder Mike Cameron rolled up into the wall of Tal’s Hill sending home 3 and nearly resulting in an inside the park Grand Slam.

Other solid offensive production came at the hands of Darin Erstad whose pinch hit drove in Michael Born who had gotten on base with an excellent bunt at the beginning of the inning. Afterwards, Kaz Matsui loaded the bases with a single into left field continuing a string of impressive performances at the plate.

Coming home is good, and if the Astros can sweep the Brewers as they did in their first series this season then the Yankees better look out come Friday.

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RECAP: Just a day after Astros closer Jose Valverde made a gutsy, nail-biting save, Doug Brocail got in on the dramatics. The Phillies loaded the bases with only one out in the top of the 9th inning, and defensive replacement Darin Erstad saved the day by catching a deep fly ball and making a spectacular throw to home to complete a game-ending double play, giving Houston a 4-3 win. Starter Brian Moehler pitched very well, allowing just two earned runs in his six innings of work. Reliever Tim Byrdak pitched another inning and a third of scoreless baseball, bringing his impressive streak up to 13 consecutive scoreless frames.

Michael Bourn served as an igniter, knocking a single and a double, stealing a base and scoring a run both times he got on. Lance Berkman failed to record a hit, but walked three times to help the team’s cause.  Carlos Lee stepped up and had the biggest night, going 2-for-4 and driving in three of Houston’s four runs. Houston’s other run came on Mark Loretta‘s pinch-hit RBI single, which turned out to be the winning run. Ty Wigginton continued to smoke the ball as well, chipping in with a single, a double and a walk.

THOUGHTS: The Astros are getting away with a lot of mistakes right now. Despite winning the games, they’ve been leaving too many runners on base. They’ll need to work on stringing hits together if they want to have a shot at taking the final game of the series against the dominant Cole Hamels.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carlos Lee; a single, a double, 3 RBIs and some impressive glove work.

ASTROS RECORD: 29-22 (.569)

RECAP: Brandon Backe got the call to start tonight’s game and didn’t disappoint the sellout crowd, tossing 7 and 1/3rd excellent innings to pick up his fourth win of the year. Backe dominated the powerful Phillies lineup, striking out six while walking only one. The one run he gave up came off a solo homer from Pat Burrell early in the game. Doug Brocail relieved Backe in the 8th inning, getting two key outs while working his way through the Phillies most dangerous hitters to hold Philadelphia scoreless that inning. Astros closer Jose Valverde entered the game in the 9th inning and, in a frightening moment, was struck on the side of his face by a liner off Pedro Feliz’s bat. Valverde was down for several minutes but stood up and, amazingly, stayed in to finish the game. He gave up two earned runs, one due to the liner he took to the face, but induced a fly ball to center to nail down the save, giving the Astros a hard-fought 4-3 win.

At the plate, Ty Wigginton had his second multi-hit game in a row, knocking a single and a double. J.R. Towels recorded his first hit of the series and later scored on a Michael Bourn single. Lance Berkman ripped a triple into the right-field corner and scored on a sac-fly off the bat of Carlos Lee. While Backe contributed at the plate with an infield single and a sacrifice bunt, the night’s biggest offensive star was Hunter Pence, who smacked a pair of homers, one to far right field and the second a titanic blast that banged off the facade over the Landry’s Crawford Boxes in left field.

THOUGHTS: The Astros combined stellar pitching with timely hits and aggressive base running to take this second game. Seeing Bourn and Towels both record clutch hits late in the game is a great sign, keep your eyes on them in the coming games.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brandon Backe; 7 & 1/3rd IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 hit at the plate.

ASTROS RECORD: 28-22 (.560)