Houston won todays contest against St. Louis 4-3.

Pudge Rodriguez went yard again today.  Hunter Pence and Jason Smith each went 3 for 4.  Michael Bourn walked twice, K’d once, and had the game winning RBI.

Russ Ortiz pitched well today going 5 innings and giving up 1 earned run while walking 2 ans striking out 4. Wesley Wright pitched a scoreless frame.

Make it six in a row for houston, pushing their Grapefruit wins to 7.

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.

The Houston Astros lost 7-4 to the Atlanta Braves today making today their tenth loss in a row putting their Grapefruit League record at 1-10-1.

Cecil Cooper isnt’t happy and who can blame him?

From Alyson’s Footnotes: “The lineup looked largely like the one projected for Opening day: Matsui, Bourn, Berkman, Lee, Pence, Boone…with one of the projected starting pitchers, Brian Moehler, on the mound. And still, the Astros just weren’t very good.

“This was veterans today,” Cooper said. “We didn’t hit, and we didn’t execute our pitches. I don’t have any answers about why this is happening, unless someone put the hex on us.”

Cooper concluded with, “this is bordering on ridiculous.”"

What can you be excited about if you are an Astros fan right now? Bullpen performance: Today Valverde, Brocail, and Byrdak all pitched a scoreless frame.  Woohoo…

Because of the clubs recent performance, Lance Berkman is going to be making a road trip for the next game tomorrow.  Maybe he’ll go 4-4 with 8 RBI and he’ll pitch 4 scoreless innings.

It’s only Spring Training and 10 wins in a row wouldn’t count either but you can understand the frustration of Cecil Cooper.

Your Houston Astros media round up for today:

Brian McTaggart of chron.com reports on Jason Castro and his experiences in big league camp so far.

Astros.com’s Alyson Footer, talks to hitting coach Sean Berry about what he expects from Hunter Pence in 2009.

Finally, Brian McTaggart checks in on some of the injured players and prospects in his Astros notes.

Jose de jesus Ortizof the Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Astros have renewed outfielder Hunter Pence’s contract for 09 for $450,000. 

It sounds like the front office is trying to work out a deal to pay Pence more and that the deal may be worked out by March 11th.  He definitely deserves more than that.

If Pence stays in the majors the whole year, which lord help us if he doesn’t, he will be eligible for arbitration in 2010.

Richard Justice wrote a great article on Houston Astros’ relief pitcher Wesley Wright.  Check it out here.

Also, ESPN’s Jason Grey has an article on Hunter Pence.  Check it out here.

A few links for some interesting columns of today:

Richard Justice looks at both sides of the Astros possibly signing Pudge Rodriguez.

Brian McTaggart gives his take on the risk of Roy Oswalt pitching in the World Baseball Classic.

Alyson Footer reports that Roy Oswalt will stand by Miguel Tejada.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz talks to Hunter Pence about the dangers of glass doors and the benefits of stickers on said glass doors.

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 blown out by the Florida Marlins on Wednesday night by the score of 14-2. This is a game that the Astros just need to forget about and start thinking about Thursday’s game. The Astros have now lost three games in a row as they are having trouble staying in the wild card race.

Brandon Backe was terrible on the mound as he only lasted 1 2/3 innings. Backe gave up six hits and five runs including two home runs in the game. Backe took the loss after getting shelled and is now 9-13. The bullpen wasn’t very good either as Jack Cassel gave up one run, Fernando Nieve three runs, and Dave Borkowski five runs. It was a bad night to be a Astros pitcher.

The only offense for the Astros on the night came from Hunter Pence. Pence hit two solo home runs in the game. I can’t really fault the offense to much however as the pitching staff put the offense in a huge hole.

Thursday’s game is pretty much a must win in my opinion. If the Astros lose Thursday’s game, I think you can pretty much pack things in.

Astros Blog

The Houston Astros got the best of the Pittsburgh Pirates once again as they beat them on Wednesday night. This time it was by the score of 7-4 as the Astros won for the third straight time in the four game series. The Astros continue to play some aswesome baseball as they try everything they can do to get into the playoffs.

Brian Moehler picked up the win for the Astros after tossing the first six innings of the game. Moehler gave up five hits and two runs as he improved his record to 11-6. Wesley Wright had some trouble in the game as he allowed two runs to score as well. Jose Valverde notched the save which was hit 42nd of the year.

Miguel Tejada had the big hit for the Astros when he hit a grand slam in the sixth inning. Tejada led the Cubs with four rbi. Hunter Pence finished with a two-run home run and two rbi in the game while Darin Erstad also added one rbi.

Astros will try to go for the sweep on Thursday. I think they will get it! Astros Blog