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)

The Houston Astros fell to the Chicago Cubs by the score of 7-2 on Monday night.  The loss put the Astros 3.5 games behind the Cubs in the division standings.

Brian Moehler pitched five innings while giving up seven hits and three runs to take the loss.  Moehler is now 1-1 on the season.  Tim Byrdak pitched a scoreless inning of relief after Moehler exited.  That is when the wheels came off for the Astros bullpen.  Fernando Nieve and Wesley Wright both gave up one run each before Dave Borkowski gave up two runs on a home run.

Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence each had a rbi in the game for the Astros.  Lee had a rbi single in the fourth inning while Pence had a rbi single in the fifth inning.  Other then that, the Astros struck out nine times in the game.

The Astros will need to have a better showing tomorrow unless they want to fall 4.5 games behind the Cubs.  Astros Blog

Lance Berkman connected for his 15th home run of the season in the ninth inning as the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants by the score of 8-7.  Berkman has been on fire all season long so far and once again he came up big for the Astros.

Berkman wasn’t the only Astros player that hit a home run however as Carlos Lee And Darin Erstad both hit home runs in the eighth inning.  Lee hit a solo home run while Ertstad’s was a three run shot.

Berkman and Erstad both finished the game with three rbi.  Mark Loretta and Lee both had one rbi as well for the Astros.

Tim Byrdak picked up the win as he pitched in relief.  Byrdak is now 2-0 on the season.  Jose Valverde pitched the bottom of the ninth inning to get his 11th save of the season.  Chris Sampson started the game for the Astros and pitched six innings while giving up ten hits and seven runs.  Luckily for him the Astros came back so he didn’t take the loss in the game.

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The Houston Astros lost to the San Francisco Giants by the score of 4-2 on Tuesday night.  It was Brad Backe who took the loss as he gave up four runs including a solo home run to the opposing teams pitcher.  Backe is now 2-5 on the season as he continues to struggle on the mound.

Carlos Lee provided both runs for the the Astros at the plate.  Lee singled in Miguel Tejada in the third inning and then he hit a solo home run in the eighth inning.  The Astros weren’t able to come up with a rally after the home run however.  Lance Berkman was cooled down a little bit as he went 1-3 in the game.

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The Houston Astros were going for the three game sweep against the Washington Nationals but they came up short on Thursday night.  The Nationals avoided the sweep as they beat the Astros 8-3.

Brandon Backe took the loss to drop to 2-4 on the season.  Backe pitched six innings and gave up six hits and four runs in the game.  Oscar Villarreal gave up three runs while Wesley Wright gave up another run.

Carlos Lee, Hunter Pence, and Ty Wigginton all had one rbi each for the Astros.  The Astros weren’t ablt to string together three or four hits in a row to have a big inning and that is why they lost the game in my opinion.  They just couldn’t come up with that big hit when they needed it as they left 21 runners on base.

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Once again Carlos Lee came up big for the Houston Astros as he singled in the game winning run for the Astros in the ninth inning as they beat the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Lee scored Kaz Matsui with a single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Astros the win.  Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt both had one RBI in the game as well.   Berkman has now got a hit in eight straigh at bats tying a Astros club record.

Jose Valverde ended up getting the win as he pitched the ninth inning.  Valverde is now 4-1 on the season.  Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt got a no decision after tossing seven innings of six hit baseball.  Oswalt allowed three runs in the game which all came off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman.  Zimmerman took him him deep for a two run home run and also had a RBI single in the game.

With the win, the Astros improved to 18-16 on the season.

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Carlos Lee had a two run double in the eighth inning to give the Houston Astros the lead and finished with three RBI while Lance Berkman went 5-5 with one RBI and the Astros defeated the Washington Nationals 6-5.

Without Lee’s and Berkman’s at bats, the Astros would have more the likely lost to the Nationals who whit three home runs off of Astros pitchers.  Hunter Pence also had one RBI to help out the Astros who improved to 17-16 on the season.

Starting pitcher Shawn Chacon pitched seven inning and gave up eight hits and four runs to get the no decision.  Chacon did give up home runs to Nick Johnson and Aaron Boone.  Doug Brocail ended up getting the win after pitching one inning and even giving up a home run to Austin Kearns.  Jose Valverde pitched the ninth inning to get his seventh save of the season.  The pitching staff got very lucky as all three home runs by the Nationals were solo home runs.  The came would have been much different if any runners would have been on base.

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The Houston Astros put up six quick runs on the Arizona Diamondbacks as they won 6-4 on Tuesday night.  It was a good thing they got to Diamondbacks starting pitcher Edgar Gonzalez early, because Max Scherzer then came in to make hia major league debut and struckout seven batters over 4.1 innings.

Geoff Blum had three RBI to lead the Astros at the plate.  Blum had a bases loaded double that cleared the bases in the third inning.  Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, and J.R. Towles all had one RBI each for the Astros as well.  Tejada’s and Lee’s RBI’s came in the first inning while Towles had a RBI double in the third inning.

Starting pitcher Jack Cassel pitched 4.2 innings to get the no decision.  Cassel didn’t have his best stuff as he gave up four hits and three runs in his four plus innings of action.  Doug Brocail ended up getting his first win of the season as he pitched in relief.  Jose Valverde recorded his fifth save of the season when he shut the door on the Diamondbacks in the ninth inning.

Great win for the Astros, as they beat a red hot Diamondbacks team.  Lets see if they can do it again on Wednesday.

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The Houston Astros gave up four runs in the eigth inning to let the San Diego Padres back in the game, but then they quickly came right back and got those four runs back and went onto beat the Padres 11-7 on Tuesday night.

Kaz Matsui had a single in the eigth inning that scored the go ahead runs as he finished with two RBI on the night.  Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, and Hunter Pence all had two RBI as well.  Darin Erstad, Carlos Lee, and Geoff Blum all had one RBI.  Blum and Pence both hit long balls for the Astros.

On the mound for the Astros, Jose Valverde picked up the win to improve his record to 3-1 on the season.  It was nice to see Valverde not blow a game!  Brandon Backe had started the game and pitched seven innings while giving up four hits and three earned runs.  Doug Brocail sucked it up as he gave up four hits and four earned runs while only recording one out in relief of Backe.

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The Houston Astros defeated the San Diego Padres by a score of 10-3 at home on Monday putting the Astros at 8-12 for the season.  Both teams have been struggling to get wins this year but the Astros came out on top in the end on Monday night.

Lance Berkman hit his fifth home run of the year when he went deep in the first inning on a three run shot.  Miguel Tejada hit a two run home run in the second inning and finished with three RBI.  Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee, and Geoff Blum all got a RBI as well.

Roy Oswalt was the opening pitcher for the Astros throwing for seven innings and allowed six hits, three runs, and two walks.  This win puts him at 2-3 for the year. The Astros brought in Tim Byrdak and Oscar Villarreal to pitch the last two innings of the game.

The Astros will go up against The Padres again tonight and then will go on the road to face the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

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