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 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 lost today’s contest to the Cincinnati Reds 8-2. Looks like Berkman taking the road trip wasn’t enough to give the team their second W of the season.

From astros.mlb.com

Stros at the plate: “Brian Bogusevic had two hits. … Lance Berkman was 1-for-3 with a first-inning double. … Hunter Pence was 1-for-3 with a sixth-inning single. … Geoff Blum was 1-for-3. Jason Smith tripled in the eighth and scored on a two-run homer by Drew Sutton. ”

Stros on the mound: “Starter Jeff Fulchino was hit around and gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits over two innings. … Gilbert De La Vera pitched two scoreless innings with one walk. … Fernando Nieve gave up two runs, one earned, with one hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning.”

Sounds to me like Nieve and Paulino have eached pitched themselves right out of the picture.  Maybe Houston can trade Nieve?  Teams will probably just wait until he hits the waiver wire and then pick hiim up.

Today make a dozen losses in a row for Houston and fan blogger Chip Bailey from the Houston Chronicle is asking if a manager can lose their job in Spring Training. Really Chip? Gimme a break.

 De La Vara and Arias both pitched two scoreless innings which is good news.  We still have 3 weeks of Spring Training so everyone needs to chill out, especially you Chip.

Also, one thing I have taken from this Spring Training so far is that Houston has a nice core of talent coming up right now.  Not necessarily a large amount of players but a good group of quality players.  Two or three years from now these guys are going to be making impacts at the big league level.

Ken Davindoff of Baseball Insider judges each team in the majors on their offseason success.  He groups the teams into 4 categories: winners, winners with downside, losers with upside, and losers. Care to guess where the Astros rank?

If you said losers you are correct!

Davindorf: “Losers: 3. Houston: Despite some internal lobbying, GM Ed Wade wouldn’t even consider a one-year deal for Andy Pettitte”

Andy Pettitte? Really? That’s the reason why we are “losers”?  Would our rotation be that much more stable with another aging hurler?

I guess it was a short column and he couldn’t go in to detail.  If he could have I imagine he would have said that GM Ed Wade was handcuffed by the economic situation facing the Houston Astros instead of the whole Andy Pettitte bit.

Losers? Maybe.  We lost 2 key components to our second half push last season in IF/OF Ty Wigginton and SP Randy Wolf.  However, our pitching staff would still be considered suspect even with Wolf so I think the fact that we swapped Mike Hampton for Randy Wolf isn’t a big deal, as long as Mikey can stay healthy. He likes it!

And Ty? Well, you got me there.  Defensively he wasn’t real sharp but his missing bat is gonna hurt.  I think we start the season with a Blum Boone platoon (poet and didn’t know it) and, if Chris Johnson keeps up his Spring Training Numbers for the rest of March and continues to do well in AAA, he will be our 3rd baseman come June.  Maybe sooner.  Once this occurs, I think the Wiggy Wolf loss is gonna sting less.  Guess we will see.

Also, if Wade can have success with his Rule 5 draftees as he has in the past, Houston’s offseason could turn out better than people currently think.  Lou Palmisano and Gilbert De La Vara are both making a push to make the club out of Spring Training.  And if they can repeat Wesley Wright’s success of last season and make this club better, props to Ed Wade.

Of course, that is a lot of “ifs.”  As of now, Houston’s offseason looks unproductive, but the results of this season will be the true testimony to the clubs offseason moves.

Today’s game  against the Yankees ended with a 5-5 tie after the New York Yankees ran out of pitchers.

From astros.mlb.com

Astros at the plate: “Geoff Blum drove in Houston’s first run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, plating Lance Berkman. Matt Kata knocked a solo homer off Anthony Clagett in the fifth, and Chris Johnson drove in two more runs with a hit in the eighth. Brian Bogusevic knocked in the game-tying run with an infield hit later in the inning. ”

Astros on the mound: “Hampton was slated to throw three innings, but a high pitch count limited him to just two. Hampton yielded four runs on six hits, including an RBI triple by Cabrera that contributed to a three-run first. Jose Valverde struck out two in one inning, and Ortiz allowed one run over three frames.”

Astros Grapefruit League Record : 1-4-1

I’ve had the chance to watch a little Houston Baseball over the weekend and last week thanks to ESPN and the MLB Network.  Chris Johnson is a good looking prospect.  I think the kid contributes to the club sometime this year. 

In other news, Miguel Tejada has decided to pitch for the Japanese squad in the World Baseball Classic and Wandy Rodriguez has a rib-cage injury.  He is expected to miss two starts.

Pitchers and catchers officially report tomorrow, February the 14th.  It’s safe to say the off-season is over and Spring Training has begun.  Excitement is in the air.  Before taking a look at the Houston Astros going into Spring Training, let’s take a look at how they fared this off-season.

Ed Wade said on more than one occasion that the teams main objective for the off-season was to retain Randy Wolf, Doug Brocail, and LaTroy Hawkins. 

It was reported that the Astros made Randy Wolf an offer of $28.5 million and three years.  Before Wolf had time to make a decision Houston was forced to pull their offer from the table due to economic reasons.  Wolf has since been pursued by many MLB teams and landed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for $5 million. 

However, Wade was successful in retaining both Hawkins and Brocail who will both play a pivotal roles in the Astros bullpen, which is probably the strongest aspect of their team.

Once Drayton McLane put away his wallet the Astros priorities shifted.  The team was still looking to add a starting pitcher, especially with Wolf no longer an option.  But, for that to happen Wade was going to have to move some payroll through trades.  Ed Wade went into the winter meetings shopping Ty Wigginton and Miguel Tejada.  Wigginton garnered significant interest while teams showed virtually no interest in Tejada. 

Wade came away from the Winter Meetings with a catcher, Lou Palmisano, via the rule 5 draft, and both Wigginton and Tejada still in a Houston uniform.  Shortly after the Winter Meetings the Astros non-tendered Ty Wigginton, again for financial reasons and much to the dismay of Houston fans.  Wigginton has since signed a deal with the Baltimore Orioles, also known as Houston Astros American League team.  (see former Astros on Baltimore Orioles)

The biggest signing the club made this off-season was when they picked up Mike Hampton.  Hampton, a former Astro and Cy-Young winner, signed with the club for 1 year and $2 million dollars plus incentives. 

The rest of the off-season was peppered with minor league contracts, (including David Newhan and Russ Ortiz) and veteran signings (Aaron Boone and Jason Michaels).

Houston managed to avoid arbitration with all eligible candidates:

Jose Valverde signed for $8 million, Brandon Backe $1.55 million, Tim Byrdak $1 million, and Humberto Quintero for $610,000.  All for 1 year contracts.  The club also signed Wandy Rodriguez to a $2.6 Million dollar contract with incentives, as well as Geoff Geary for $1.7 million, both one year contracts.

After the dust settled the Astros are a very similar team to the team that hit the field last season.  Going into Spring Training they are without Wolf and Wigginton but they have added Mike Hampton whowill be key in Houston’s success this season if he can stay healthy.  Houston is also counting on a Geoff Blum/Aaron Boone platoon (or Georran Blooney as a few people have started to refer to the duo) to fill in for Wigginton.

The starting rotation is the most glaring issue for the club in that there are a lot of questions to be answered.  Can Hampton stay healthy?  Will Backe pitch better or will he give up the most dingers in MLB again?  Wandy Rodriguez had a pretty good season last year but he has to stay healthy and develop more consistency. (see Wandy’s home-road ERA the past two seasons.)  One thing the team and Houston’s fans can count on is Roy Oswalt.  Oswalt started off a little rough last season but finished strong.

The Houston Bullpen is possibly the best in the NL Central.  With Jose Valverde, or Papa Grande, anchoring and with Doug Brocail/LatroyHawkins as set-up men, the Houston Pen should fare well this season if they can stay healthy.  Chris Sampson is coming off of elbow surgery and is said to be pitching without pain for the first time since his original stint with the team.  Sampson came to life after being moved to the Houston pen last season.  Geoff Geary and the two left handed relievers Wesley Wright and Tim Byrdak give Cecil Cooper plenty of options coming out of the pen.

The Houston line-up will feature much of the same players as last season, except for Ty Wigginton.  Aside from Blum/Boone filling Wiggy’s spot, I would also look for Michael Bourn to hit lower in the line-up.  If Bourn does well and is moved up to the lead-off or two spot look for Miguel Tejada to drop a spot and Hunter Pence to drop in his spot, probably the 5-hole.

This is all before Spring Training even begins so who knows what will happen.  Houston didn’t have the most successful off-season but they managed to keep a team together and add a few pieces that will give them the chance to contend in a division that has somewhat weakened since last year. 

Spring Training ‘officialy’ begins for Houston tomorrow although Jose Valverde and Felipe Paulino threw bullpen sessions today and Brian Moehler, Doug Brocail, Humberto Quintero, Lou Palmisano, LaTroy Hawkins, Brandon Backe, Geoff Geary, and Chris Sampson all worked out.

I will be celebrating tomorrows holday (No, not Valentine’s Day) with a chili dog and a beer.  Thanks to baseball, all things are right again in the universe.

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 rallied on Thursday afternoon as they came from behind to beat the visiting San Francisco Giants by the score of 6-4. Lance Berkman clubbed a two run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning that broke a 4-4 tie and put the Astors up 6-4. Humberto Quintero then added another run on a single that made the score 7-4.

Darin Erstad had tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with a rbi single. Berkman finished the game with three rbi while Erstad and Geoff Blum both chipped in with one rbi each. It was nice to see more then one player contributing at the plate and that is exactly what the team has been doing during this winning streak.

Brian Moehler was the starting pitcher and he pitched into the sixth inning but was taken out after throwing 5 1/3 innings. Moehler allowed eight hits and four runs including one home run his outing as he received a no decision. LaTroy Hawkins earned the victory and is now 1-0 since coming to the Astros. Jose Valverde had no problems in the ninth inning as he recorded his 30th save of the season.

The Astros will now have a tough six game stretch as they play the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers. How do you think they will do over the next six games? I’m thinking 2-4.

Astros Baseball Blog

The Houston Astros played another bad game as they lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 8-7.  It was the third straight day that the Astros lost the Pirates and they were swept in the three game series.  Now that is a very dissapointing series when you get swept by the Pirates at home.

The Astros were able to knock out Pirates starting pitcher after only three innings but they just couldn’t take advantage of the Pirates bullpen.  Mark Loretta led the Astros at the plate with two rbi and then five others had one rbi each.  Kazuo Matsui, Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence, Brad Ausmus, and Geoff Blum all recorded one rbi in the game.

Brian Moehler started the game for the Astros and really sucked it up as he only lasted 2 1/3 innings.  Moehler gave up nine hits and six runs and got a no decision in the game.  Geoff Geary ended up taking the loss and is now 2-2 on the year after he gave up three hits and two runs in two innings of action.

So now the Astros will be off on Thursday before they start off weekend series with the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Brewers have been playing some great baseball, so the Astros are going to have to bring their “A” game if they want any chance at winning a game.

Astros Baseball Blog