Blah, so much for a even two game series against the Cubs up in Milwaukee. First off the crowd is 99% cubs fans, so the Astros were already at a disadvantage, and then add in the fact that the team is so tired, it is no wonder why they struggled in both of the games.

In the two games, the Astros only had one hit. Yeah, they were no hit my Carlos Zambrano on Sunday night, but I figured they would have a good shot on Monday. However, Ted Lilly gave up one hit in seven innings of action as the Astros struggled once again at the plate. One hit simply won’t get it done against the Cubs.

Brian Moehler took the loss as he was charged with six hits and five runs. Moehler gave up two home runs as well in the game. Chris Sampson also gave up a home run in the game and was charged with one run. Just another bad day for the Astros pitchers.

Now the Astros find themselves 2.5 games behind the Brewers and Phillies in the wild card race. The Astros need to have a good series against the Florida Marlins before they play a weekend series against the Pirates.

Stay positive Astros fans, the teams needs some confidence and we have to give them some help.

Astros Blog

The Houston Astros got five shutout innings from Alberto Arias and went onto beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 on Monday night. It was a great start to the series for the Astros as the improved to 77-67 on the year.

The two runs that the Pirates did score came off of Wesley Wright in the sixth inning. He gave up rbi singles in the inning. Other then Wright’s two runs, the rest of the pitching staff pitched great. Doug Brocail, Chris Sampson, LaTroy Hawkins, and Jose Valverde all threw out of the bullpen after Wrigth was taken out. Valverde finished things up in the ninth inning for his 41st save of the season.

All three of the Astros runs came in the fifth inning when they were finally able to get to Pirates starting pitcher Ian Snell. Snell gave up a solo home run to Saccomanno and then Miguel Tejada and and Lance Berkman knocked in a run each with rbi singles.

The offense was lucky that the pitching staff threw the ball so well as they struggled against the Pirates pitchers. A win is a win however, and right now the the Astros need every win they can get.

Astros Blog

The Astros got on the board early and then scored a total of 6 runs in the game to beat the Nationals 6-4.

Wandy Rodriguez had a good start, giving up 4 runs over 5 and a third innings. He was cruising after giving up 2 early runs, but found trouble in the 6th leaving with the bases loaded.

Hunter Pence was the man of the night for the Astros though. He went 2-3 with 3 RBI’s, including a 2-run homer. Lance Berkman also contributed with a two run double in the fifth, his 30th double of the year. Carlos Lee continued his hot streak by going 3-5 and raised his average to .299. It’s good to see him ripping the ball.

Chris Sampson and Geoff Geary came in and pitched two and two thirds of scoreless innings until Jose Valverde came in to pitch a perfect ninth inning for his 24th save.

All in all it was a good game tonight, especially since it follwed an extremely poor outing last night.

Well the Astros pulled one out against the Pirates tonight after disappointing losses in the first two games of the series.

Before the game the Astros activated Kazuo Matsui from the disable list by designating Chad Reinke, who was only called up for barely a day.

Now on to the game…The night started off great with a three-run homerun from Geoff Blum, who was starting at shortstop to give Miguel Tejada a day off. Brad Ausmus provided an RBI single later in the first to make it 4-0 after the first.

Brian Moehler had a decent start, giving up 4 runs over 6 innings. Pitching through the 6th inning gave the Astros exactly what they needed. The Astros rewarded Moehler with 2 runs in the top of the 7th on a Hunter Pence groundout and a Kazuo Matsui double. This proved enough to give Moehler the victory, as he moves to  5-4 on the season.

Chris Sampson had another strong showing out of the bullpen, pitching two scoreless innings to get it to Jose Valverde for the save.

Another good sign from the game is Michael Bourn went 2-5. If he can start hitting with some consistency, this offense could really pick it up. When this team hits, there is no doubt we can contend. With our pitching. though, we need the offense to be rolling all the time, which is hard to expect.

Some other news is that Oscar Villareal does not want to accept his assignment to AAA Round Rock. The Astros have until Friday to either release or trade him. We’ll see what Ed Wade will do about that.

Everyone say a prayer to the basball gods that someone sends us an ace for our rotation…

The Houston Astros ran into a buzz saw in the name of Hiroki Kuroda on Wednesday night as Kuroda pitched seven scoreless innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Astros 4-1.  The Astros just couldn’t get anything going against Kuroda.  When they did score a run in the bottom of the ninth inning it was a little too late to make a difference.

Cliff Lee hit a solo home run in the ninth inning for the Astros only run.  There really isn’t anything else to blog about on the offense.

Runelvys Hernandez dropped to 0-2 on the season after pitching five innings and giving up six hits and four runs.  Hernandez struck out four batters but gave up a two run home run as well.  Dave Borkowski pitched two scoreless innings while Tim Byrdak and Chris Sampson both pitched one scoreless inning each.

The Astros will need to win on Thursday to salvage a split in the series with the Dodgers.

Astros Blog

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.

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!

Astros Blog

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

Hunter Pence hit a grand slam in the fourth inning that barely got over the wall as the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs by the score of 4-0 to even their three game series at 1-1.  It was nice to see the Astros beat the Cubs, but I still would have like to see some more runs scored in the game.

Pence’s four rbi’s were all the Astros ended up needing in the game.  It would have still been nice to see more runs put up on the scoreboard however.  The Astros just don’t seem to have that “knockout” punch that other teams do.

Chris Sampson did pick up the win after pitcher 7 2/3 innings and giving up seven hits and two runs.  Sampson did give up a two run home run to Aramis Ramirez but other then that he was pretty good as he picked up his third win of the season.

Doug Brocail pitched 1 1/3 innings before turning things over to Jose Valverde to pick up his 13th save of the season.

The Astros will try for the series win tomorrow as they face the Astros once again.  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.

Are you a Astros fan that enjoys reading Astros message boards and blogs?  Well we just might a little work for you if you are interested.  Astros homeplate is currently looking for someone that would be interested blogging on the site and writing game recaps once the games are over.  If this sounds like fun, click the contact us link at the top of the site and send us an email letting us know.  Astros Blog