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.

The Houston Astros only had six hits in the game but they made sure that they all meant something as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 3-1.  Roy Oswalt pitched six innings and limited the Dodgers to only one run in the game and the offense did just enough to get the victory.

Oswalt gave up a rbi sac fly in the first inning to James Loney of the Dodgers but after that he settled down and when he had to he worked his way out of all the jams he got himself into.  Oswalt struck out nine batters over six innings of action.

Chris Sampson, Wesley Wright, and Jose Valverde all pitched in relief of Oswalt.  Valverde ended up picking up his 22nd save of the season.

Brad Ausmus led the Astros at the plate as he delivered in the fourth inning with a two run single.  Prior to Ausmus’s two run single, Mark Loretta had a rbi single in the fourth inning.  Lance Berkman hit his 22nd home run in the first inning when he took Eric Stults deep.

Astros will now try to go up 2-0 in the series on Tuesday night.  Astros Blog

** We should mention that Roy Oswalt left the game after six innings, but no reports have been released as to what kind of injury it is **  Let’s hope it isn’t to bad and he can make his next start.

The Houston Astros were able to come away with a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.  It was a close game all game long so it was really nice to see the Astros come away with the victory and start the big series with the Rangers off with a win.

Lance Berkman had the big hit for the Astros as he connected on a two run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Those two runs were some nice insurance runs as the Rangers came right back and score two runs in the to of the ninth inning.  Ty Wigginton and Humberto Quintero had the other two rbi for the Astros at the plate.

Brian Moehler started the game for the Astros and pitched 6 1/3 innings as he gave up five hits and one run.  Moehler struck out five batters while walking only one in the game.  He improved to 4-3 on the season with the victory.

The bullpen did a good job up until the ninth inning when Jose Valverde gave up a two run home run that brought the Rangers to within one run.  Valverde was finally able to settle down and finish off the Rangers and pick up his 19th save of the season.

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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.

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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)

Hunter Pence hit a grand slam in the fourth inning that barely got over the wall as the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs by the score of 4-0 to even their three game series at 1-1.  It was nice to see the Astros beat the Cubs, but I still would have like to see some more runs scored in the game.

Pence’s four rbi’s were all the Astros ended up needing in the game.  It would have still been nice to see more runs put up on the scoreboard however.  The Astros just don’t seem to have that “knockout” punch that other teams do.

Chris Sampson did pick up the win after pitcher 7 2/3 innings and giving up seven hits and two runs.  Sampson did give up a two run home run to Aramis Ramirez but other then that he was pretty good as he picked up his third win of the season.

Doug Brocail pitched 1 1/3 innings before turning things over to Jose Valverde to pick up his 13th save of the season.

The Astros will try for the series win tomorrow as they face the Astros once again.  Astros Blog

Miguel Tejada had three hits and two rbi to fuel the Houston Astros past the San Francisco Giants by the score of 6-3.  With the two hits, Tejada improved his batting average to .345 on the season.

Besides Tejada’s two rbi, Lance Berkman and Brad Ausmus both had two rbi as well.  Berkman and Ausmus both hit two run home runs in the game to account for their rbi’s.

Brian Moehler started the game for the Astros and tossed five innings.  He allowed eight hits and three runs to get the no decesion in the game.  Oscar Villarreal pitched 1/3 of an inning to record the win and Jose Valverde notched his tenth save of the season when he shut the Giants down in the ninth inning.

Giants Homeplate is currently seeking a Giants fan that would like to write game recaps for the games.  Recaps can be done right after the game is over or the next morning.  If you are interested be us the contact us link at the top of the site to email us.  Giants Blog

The Houston Astros rallied to score all seven of their runs in the sixth through eighth inning as they defeated the San Francisco Giants 7-3.  The Astros pushed across three runs in the sixth and eighth innings and one run in the seventh inning. Two Giants errors really helped the astros out in the eighth inning as well.

Lance Berkman provided a two run shot to lead the Astros with two rbi.  Hunter Pence, Miguel Tejada, and Jose Cruz Jr. all had one rbi each in the game.

Roy Oswalt pitched eight innings to pick up the win for the Astros.  Oswalt gave up five hits and three runs while improving his record to 4-3 on the season.

Geoff Geary recorded the first two outs in the ninth inning before Jose Valverde was brought in to get the final out and pick up his ninth save of the season.

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