From astros.mlb.com:

“The Astros announced Thursday that they have sent Minor Leaguer Drew Sutton to the Cincinnati Reds to complete the trade that brought Jeff Keppinger to Houston near the end of Spring Training.

Sutton, 25, will report to the Louisville, the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate. He was hitting .267 (4-for-15) over his first five games with Triple-A Round Rock. The utilityman had a breakout season last year at Double-A, hitting .315 for Corpus Christi with 20 home runs and 20 steals, all while playing a variety of positions.

Sutton was Corpus Christi’s Most Valuable Player and was a Texas League All-Star in 2008. He led the Astros organization in a host of offensive categories, including batting average, hits, runs, walks, doubles and extra-base hits. He was originally drafted by the Astros in the 14th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft.”

Sutton? I was really hoping it would be someone else. Bummer.

Hopefully we can hold on to Kepp and get more out of him than just this season.

The Chubs…err Cubs, won the series with Houston 2 games to 1.

Runs Scored:
Chicago 17
Houston 11

This is how Houston ended up in playoff contention last year while being outscored by their opponents. They win the close low scoring games and lose big on occasion, ala’ when they face the Texas Rangers or when Brian Moehler gives up 8 runs in two innings.

Hits:
Chicago 31
Houston 18

Chicago definitely out hit Houston but if you take away Moehler’s 10 hits in two innings the margin of difference is a little closer, but alas, those hits count.

Quality Starts:
Chicago 2
Houston 2

The difference was in the third game when Houston lost the slug fest.

Bullpen Runs Allowed:
Chicago 2
Houston 4

Defense:
Chicago 1 Error, E6.
Houston 2 Errors, both E6. Tejada did have some nice defensive plays however.

Chicago nearly out performed Houston in all areas deservedly giving them the series win.

Series MVP: This is tough. Hunter Pence hit two home runs, Lance Berkman, Miguel Tejada and Michael Bourn were all consistent as well. Our bullpen also pitched well and you can not forget Wandy Rodriguez.

However, my pick goes to Jeff Keppinger. He won game two in his first at bat and singled and homered in his 2nd and 3rd at bat as an Astro. Welcome to the team J-Kepp.

Series let down: Carlos Lee. 1 for 12 with two GIDP. I don’t expect Carlos to be the series let down too often.

Series Record: (0-1)
Team Record: (1-2)

Place in the division: Tied for last with Cinci. 1 game back of 1st.

Brian Moehler was pulled after 1 2/3 innings and 7 earned runs.  Moehler didn’t get any breaks as the Cubs had at least 3 broken bat singles in the first.  Those days will happen.  Russ Ortiz came in and immediately gave up a 3 run shot to Ryan Theriot.  Although the line wont show it, Russ pitched well with 6 k’s in his first outing since 2007.

The story for tonight, other than Chicago scoring 4 runs in both the 1st and 2nd inning, was the bats for Houston.  Jeff Keppinger (J-Kepp!), Lance Berkman, Kazuo Matsui, and Hunter Pence all hit solo shots with Pudge Rodriguez hitting a 2 run shot as well to account for 5 home runs and all Houston runs tonight. 

Matsui 1-5, HR, RBI, R
Keppinger 2-5, HR, RBI, R
Berkman 1-4, HR, RBI, R, K
Lee 1-4, 2B (first hit for Lee)
Tejada 1-4, R
Pence 2-4, HR, 2B, R, RBI
Pudge 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, R
Bourn 1-4, K

Good News: Houston’s offense was looking better with the 5 home runs.  Russ Ortiz pitched well though he gave up 3 runs.  Carlos Lee got his first hit and Bourn continues to hit.  J-Kepp is proving to be a great pick up and seems as though he can do no wrong. Hunter Pence 2 homers in 2 games and is swinging the bat well. Michael Bourn will head to St. Louis with a 3 game hitting streak.

Bad News: Obvious here, Moehler only pitched 1 2/3 inning.  He didn’t pitch poorly but the Cubs were putting the ball and play and getting hits. It will be interesting to see how Moehler bounces back.

Pitching Lines:
Brian Moehler 1 2/3 IP, 8 hits, BB, K, HBP, 7 earned.
Russ Ortiz 3 IP, 4 hits, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 3 earned.
Chris Sampson 1 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 0 earned
Geoff Geary 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 K, 0 earned
Wesley Wright 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 K, 0 earned
Doug Brocail 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 earned.

Ted Lilly gives up 4 bombs and gets the win. (1-0)
Brian Moehler takes the loss. (0-1)

Houston is off tomorrow but will travel to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals Friday with Mike Hampton facing Joel Pineiro.

In a game that started with great pitching from Wandy Rodriguez and Ryan Dempster, the game was decided long after each player left the game.  Jeff Keppinger, J-Kepp!, hit a walk off single with the bases loaded in his first at bat to drive in Pudge Rodriguez.

Hunter Pence homered for his first hit of the game going 2-3.  Kazuo Matsui had a triple.

Matsui 1-3, 3B, SB, CS, BB
Rodriguez 1-4, BB, R, 3K
Berkman 1-4, BB, 2K
Lee 0-4, GIDP
Tejada 1-3, 2BB
Blum 2-4
Pence 2-3, BB, HR, RBI
Bourn 1-4, RBI
Michaels 0-1
Keppinger 1-1, RBI
Erstad 0-1, K

Great performance from Wandy Rodriguez:
6 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 4 K (3 were soriano), 3 BB
Samspon:
1 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 K, 0 BB
Hawkins:
1 IP, 2 hits, 1 HR, 1 earned run, 1 K, 0 BB
Valverde:
1 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 2 K, 0 BB
Byrdak:
2/3 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 2 K, 0 BB
Brocail:
1/3 IP, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 K, 0 BB

Overall good performance for the Houston pitchers tonight aside from Hawkins dinger to Soriano who had been shut down by Wan-Rod.

Brocail gets the win.

Good News: Houston is back at .500 with good pitching and a walk off knock from Jeff Keppinger. Atta’boy J-Kepp! Tejada also is swinging the bat well this series.

Bad News: 3 K’s for Pudge and Lee is still o’fer on the season with two GIDP.

Houston wil play Chicago again tomorrow at 7:05 central to determine who takes the series.

Ted Lilly (0-0) V. Brian Moehler (0-0)

Roy tossed 4 innings in his last start before the season opener, woohoo!, and Chris Johnson isn’t going out without a fight…even though, in reality, he doesn’t have a chance.

Stros at the plate: “Michael Bourn led off the third with a double, stole third and scored on a base hit by Kazuo Matsui. Darin Erstad knocked a solo homer in the sixth. Chris Johnson drove in a run with a triple in the seventh and scored on a Reggie Abercrombie sacrifice fly. ”

After looking at the box score for today’s game, it looks like Bourn was3-3 with a walk. If you are counting that is an OBP of awesomeness.  Keep it up Michael! J-Kepp was 0-2.

Stros on the bump: “Roy Oswalt pitched four innings in his final spring tuneup before Opening Day. He allowed one run on three hits with three strikeouts. Tim Byrdak followed with two innings, during which he allowed one run on three hits. ”

Jose Valverde, Doug Brocail, and Geoff Geary all tossed scoreless frames.

Houston Astros Grapefruit Leage record: 11-17-3

From more on the game visit astros.com

The Astros returned Gilibert De La Vara back to the Royals today per the Rule 5 Draft:

“After De La Vara, 24, cleared waivers, general manager Ed Wade offered him back to the Royals for $25,000, half of what the Astros paid when they selected him during the Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings last December. ”

The team also sent down Edwin Maysonet after acquiring Jeff Keppinger (J-Kepp!), pretty much giving the back up infielder position to Jason Smith.

Here is Footer on Edwin, Jason, and the rest of the prospects:

“The Astros roster is pretty much set. Edwin Maysonet was sent down today, which means Jason Smith probably has locked up the utility infielder job. Chris Johnson is still in big league camp, but now that Jeff Keppinger is joining the club, it’s likely Johnson will start the year at Triple-A. I would expect Johnson to accompany the team home to Houston this weekend and then head to Round Rock after Saturday’s game. ”

Also from Footer’s blog, Ed Wade on Maysonet:

“He’s going to play in the big leagues for a long time. At some point, he’s going to get the opportunity to do it. I just told him, when I got here before last season, people like Tal [Smith] and David [Gottfried] and Ricky [Bennett] and others talked about Maysonet and his ability to play defense all over the place, and his bat was coming, and that’s exaclty what we saw when he was here.”

“He had a few rough spots in Spring Training defensively, but he has exceptional hands and a strong arm and great instincts. He’s going to hit enough to play a lot of games in the big leagues. Right now, with the ability to get a guy like Keppinger, I think it’s more appropriate for Edwin to go back and get those at-bats at Triple-A.”

The Houston Astros have acquired Jeff Kieepinger from the Cincinnati Reds for a minor league player to be named later.  Here is the news from stros.com:

“Nearly two weeks after losing Aaron Boone for the season due to a heart ailment, the Astros found an alternative solution. Keppinger will assume Boone’s duties as the right-handed complement to Blum at third, but he’ll also receive time at short and second when Tejada and Matsui get those promised days off this season.

Keppinger, who turns 29 on April 21, hit .266 with three home runs and 43 RBIs over 121 games for Cincinnati in 2008. He struck out just once every 20.9 plate appearances, the best ratio in the Major Leagues last season.”

The strike out ratio is definitely a plus for the impatient Astros.  Keppinger, or as I am going to call him until anyone thinks of a better nickname J-Kepp, post good numbers against lefties.

“An even bigger selling point: Keppinger hit .351 and slugged .515 against left-handers last year. He logged 94 hits in 268 at-bats versus lefties, recording 17 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 35 RBIs. He drew 22 walks and struck out eight times.”

This should make for a nice platoon at third for the Astros.  Hey it’s no Wiggy but it’ll do. Heck, even Brian McTaggart thinks so. “[I agree. I think that could be a nice platoon for sure.]“