What a great series for the Houston Astros as they swept the Chicago Cubs in a three game series at Wrigley Field. The Cubs had one their past 11 series and had been playing good baseball at home but the Astros took the wind right out of them from the get go and never looked back.

On Wednesday night, Randy Wolf tossed a complete game shutout as the Astros completed the three game sweep with a 4-0 victory. Wolf kept the Cubs hitters off balanced at the plate as he struck out eight batters and only walked two. Wolf is now 9-11 on the season after picking up the win.

Humberto Quintero got the Astros scoring started in the second inning with a rbi single that scored Hunter Pence. The big shot of the game came in the fifth inning when Ty Wigginton hit a two run home run off of Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster. David Newhan scored the Astros fourth run in the ninth inning when Michael Bourn was caught in a run down between first and second base and Newhan beat Ryan Theriot’s throw to homeplate.

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Carlos Lee hit a grand slam in the fifth inning off of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo and the Astros went onto defeat the Reds by the score of 6-2.  The Astros have now won the first two games of the three game series and will be going for the sweep on Wednesday.  The way they are playing compared to the Reds, I think they will get that sweep!

Besides Lee going deep for the grand slam in the fifth inning, Miguel Tejada had a solo home run in the third inning.  The first run for the Astros came in the second inning when Hunter Pence tripled to deep center and Lee scored.  Those three swings of the bat were all the Astros needed because the pitchers shut down the Reds for the most part.

Brian Moehler came within one out of recording a complete game but still got the win.  Moehler pitched great as he gave up two runs on seven hits.  Moehler now has a 6-4 record on the season.  Wesley Wright came in to record the final out and record his first save of the season.

Let’s sit back and watch the Astros on Wednesday as they go for the sweep!  Astros Baseball

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.

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An all-around great game for the Astros tonight.

Brian Moehler pitched an outstanding game. He went 7 innnings, giving up only 4 hits and one run, a solo-homerun to Jim Edmonds. He really had command of the strike zone last night, to bad he couldn’t get the win, he had to settle for the no-decision.

Carlos Lee hit a mammoth shot in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game. The Astros then got two straight hits, but could not muster another run in the inning to give Moehler the lead.

Geoff Geary came in and pitched two perfect innings to get it to the Astros in the bottom of the ninth. Miguel Tejada doubled off Howry to get the inning going. The next batter, Hunter Pence, followed with the walk-off double to seal the game.

It was great to see the Astros come out of the gate and beat the Cubs in this fashion. Hopefully it will swing a lot of momemtum our way. Who knows, maybe this is the start of our patented second half run.

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 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.

Wandy Rodriguez threw a fabulous game on Thursday night as he pitched eight innings against the Texas Rangers and the Astros defeated the Rangers by the score of 7-2.  Rodriguez dominated the Rangers lineup as he only gave up five hits and one run while striking out nine batters and picking up the victory.  Rodriguez is now 3-3 on the season.

Oscar Villarreal gave up one run in the ninth inning as he wasn’t able to shut down the Rangers in the ninth inning.

Hunter Pence had a three run triple in the first inning to lead the Astros at the plate with three rbi.  David Newhan then had a two run double in the second inning as the Astros went up 5-0.  The Astros weren’t done scoring in the second inning as Newhan then scored on a infield single by Lance Berkman.  Carlos Lee then singled in Berkman for the final Astros run of the game.

The Astros have a huge series coming up against the Boston Red Sox starting on Friday.  I have a feeling the Astros will lose two of three games. What do you think Astros fans?

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The Houston Astros tried to come back and avoid the three game sweep but they were unable to and lost to the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 7-5.  It was the eighth straight loss for the Astros as they are really struggling at this point in the season and it doesn’t look like anything is going to turn around soon.

Shawn Chacon only lasted five innings on the night as he gave up eight hits and six earned runs.  Chacon had problems locating his pitches as he gave up four walks and two home runs in the game.  With the loss against the Orioles, Chacon is now 2-3 on the season.

Tim Byrdak threw the sixth and seventh inning and gave up one run in relief.  Oscar Villarreal was finally able to come in and pitch a scoreless inning in the eighth for the Astros.

Miguel Tejada and Hunter Pence both hit solo home runs in the game.  Tejada ended up leading the team with two rbi in the game.  Kaz Matsui, Lance Berkman, and Pence all chipped in with one rbi each.

The Astros will now travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays.  The Astros better bring their “A” game because the Rays just got done sweeping the red hot Chicago Cubs in a three game series.

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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)