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 Houston Astros and Cincinnati Reds just finished up a three game series that saw the Astros take two out of three games. On Thursday in the rubber game, the Astros defeated the Reds by the score of 3-2. It was a good series win for the Astros who have about a month left in the season to improve on their 68-66 record.

Brad Backe earned the win after throwing 6 2/3 innings. Backe gave up six hits and two runs while picking up his ninth win of the season. The Astros bullpen did a great job to hold the Reds to the two runs that Backe gave up. Doug Brocail, LaTroy Hawkins, and Jose Valverde all threw out of the pen for the Astros. Valverde finished the game up and picked up his 35th save.

All three of the Astros runs in the game via the home run ball as they hit three solo shots off the Reds pitchers. Ty Wigginton got things started with his homerun in the first inning and then in the fifth it was Humberto Quintero’s turn to go deep. The third home run came from Wigginton in the sixth inning as he finished with two home runs and two rbi. Great day for Ty at the plate!

Astros Blog

Wow what a butt kicking the Houston Astros received from the New York Mets on Monday night. The Astros and Mets opened up a series in New York and it was the Mets kicking the Astros butt by the score of 9-1. Two homeruns from Carlos Delgado fueld the big game for the Mets as the Astros pitchers just didn’t have it going for them.

Three different Astros pitchers combined to give the nine runs. Starting pitcher Brian Moehler was tagged for six hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings. Moehler gave up the first home run to Delgado who hit a three run shot off of Moehler. Relief pitcher Wesley Wright pitched the next 1 2/3 innings and gave up two hits and three runs including the second three run home run to Delgado. Doug Brocail finished up the terrible pitching night for the team by giving up two more hits and runs in the eighth inning.

There isn’t a whole lot to blog about for the offense as they only scored one run in the game. In the top of the ninth inning, Ty Wigginton grounded out to first base and David Newhan scored.

Astros Baseball

The Houston Astros were unable to beat the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday and take two out of three games in the series as they lose 5-2 in Milwaukee. The Astros were right in the game until the seventh inning when they allowed the Brewers to score two runs and extend their lead.

Wandy Rodriguez ended up with the loss as he was charged with three hits and allowed three runs to score through 5 1/3 innings. Wandy had a problem with is location as he walked five batters in the game. Wesley Wright was charged with one run when he allowed a base runner on and then Doug Brocail gave up a two run home run to J.J. Hardy in the seventh inning.

Both of the Astros runs came in the fourth inning when Geoff Blum and Reggie Abercrombi had rbi singles.  It was pretty bad that the offense played as bad as they did. They should have scored more runs then two as the Brewers scored five runs on only four hits. Just one of those games I suppose.

Astros Baseball

The Houston Astros had their chances Monday night against C.C. Sabathia and the Milwaukee Brewers but they didn’t come up with the big hits like the Brewers did. The brew crew defeated the Astros 9-3 as Sabathia threw a complete game.

Randy Wolf tossed the first four innings of the game as was pulled after giving up five hits and six runs. Wolf struckout five batters and walked three others. It was not the outing that the Astros were counting on from Wolf that is for sure. The Astros bullpen also had trouble as Doug Brocail, Wesley Wright, Geoff Geary all gave up a run in relief.

Mark Loretta, Ty Wigginton, and Reggie Abercrombie all had rbi’s at the plate for the Astros. As a team however, they left 17 runners on base and struckout nine times. They had the bases loaded late in the game against Sabathia but was unable to come up with a big hit to score more then one run at a time.

All we can hope for now is a win on Tuesday.

Astros Baseball

The Houston Astros headed into the 9th inning with a 3-2 lead but closer Jose Valverde pitched terrible and was charged with six runs and the Astros lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 9-3.  That was not the way the Astros wanted to kick off the three game series with the Pirates.  WIth the loss, the Astros are now a dissappointing 46-53 on the season.

Valverde gave up two home runs and two run single in the ninth inning.  He was also charged with two more runs when Freddy Sanchez hit a three run inside the park home run off of Tim Byrdak.  It sucked that Valverde sucked it up so bad when the other pitchers didn’t throw the ball that badly.

Runelvys Hernandez pitched the first 5 1/3 innings in the game and got the no decision.  Hernandez gave up two runs on eight hits while walking two batters and striking out three others. Geoff Geary tossed 1 2/3 innings while Doug Brocail tossed an inning of relief.  Geary and Brocail both did not allow a run score as they threw the ball good.

Carlos Lee led the Astros at the plate as he had two rbi singles in the game.  Brad Ausmus also had a rbi double to contibute.  The Astros just didn’t get the big hit at the plate as they had plenty of base runners on in the game.  The Astros stranded 30 runners on base and struckout nine times.  That is just not getting the job done when you need to come up with a big hit.

Astros Blog

The Astros lost 4-3 tonight in a 6 hour game, which over 3 hours of it was waiting out the rain.

Brandon Backe had a strong start, allowing no runs over 4 innings before the rain started. In the top of the fourth Hunter Pence smashed a homer over the center field fence to go up 1-0. After coming back from a two and a half hour rain delay, Carlos Lee hit a 2-run homerun in the fifth inning. Unfortunately, since the long delay, Backe was unable to continue pitching. As far as offense, that is all the Astros would muster.

The Pirates got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Nate McLouth hit a homer off of Dave Borkowski. Then in the 8th inning Doug Brocail came in to try and get the hold, but could not finish the inning. He gave up a solo homerun to Adam LaRoche, and then lost the lead by giving up a bases loaded single to Nate McLouth. Jose Valverde had to come in the finish the inning. In the ninth inning the Astros couldn’t do anything to save the game when Miguel Tejada grounded out to the pitcher with Michael Bourn on second base.

It was tough loss to swallow for the Astros, as they had a lead the whole game and through all the rain delays. This team needs some sort of shakeup, because these kind of losses add up and take a toll on a team. I know winning makes a lot of people happy, but what happened to the happy-go-lucky Astros of May? They used to look like they enjoyed every minute of their job, but not anymore. Let’s hope Ed Wade can do something in the next couple of weeks to get this team going in the right direction.

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: 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)