Once again Carlos Lee came up big for the Houston Astros as he singled in the game winning run for the Astros in the ninth inning as they beat the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Lee scored Kaz Matsui with a single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Astros the win.  Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt both had one RBI in the game as well.   Berkman has now got a hit in eight straigh at bats tying a Astros club record.

Jose Valverde ended up getting the win as he pitched the ninth inning.  Valverde is now 4-1 on the season.  Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt got a no decision after tossing seven innings of six hit baseball.  Oswalt allowed three runs in the game which all came off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman.  Zimmerman took him him deep for a two run home run and also had a RBI single in the game.

With the win, the Astros improved to 18-16 on the season.

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Carlos Lee had a two run double in the eighth inning to give the Houston Astros the lead and finished with three RBI while Lance Berkman went 5-5 with one RBI and the Astros defeated the Washington Nationals 6-5.

Without Lee’s and Berkman’s at bats, the Astros would have more the likely lost to the Nationals who whit three home runs off of Astros pitchers.  Hunter Pence also had one RBI to help out the Astros who improved to 17-16 on the season.

Starting pitcher Shawn Chacon pitched seven inning and gave up eight hits and four runs to get the no decision.  Chacon did give up home runs to Nick Johnson and Aaron Boone.  Doug Brocail ended up getting the win after pitching one inning and even giving up a home run to Austin Kearns.  Jose Valverde pitched the ninth inning to get his seventh save of the season.  The pitching staff got very lucky as all three home runs by the Nationals were solo home runs.  The came would have been much different if any runners would have been on base.

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The Houston Astros put up six quick runs on the Arizona Diamondbacks as they won 6-4 on Tuesday night.  It was a good thing they got to Diamondbacks starting pitcher Edgar Gonzalez early, because Max Scherzer then came in to make hia major league debut and struckout seven batters over 4.1 innings.

Geoff Blum had three RBI to lead the Astros at the plate.  Blum had a bases loaded double that cleared the bases in the third inning.  Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, and J.R. Towles all had one RBI each for the Astros as well.  Tejada’s and Lee’s RBI’s came in the first inning while Towles had a RBI double in the third inning.

Starting pitcher Jack Cassel pitched 4.2 innings to get the no decision.  Cassel didn’t have his best stuff as he gave up four hits and three runs in his four plus innings of action.  Doug Brocail ended up getting his first win of the season as he pitched in relief.  Jose Valverde recorded his fifth save of the season when he shut the door on the Diamondbacks in the ninth inning.

Great win for the Astros, as they beat a red hot Diamondbacks team.  Lets see if they can do it again on Wednesday.

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Lance Berkman led the Houston Astros over the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 5-3 on Thursday afternoon.  Berkman had three RBI including a two run home run in the first inning that got the scoring going.

Besides Berkman’s three RBI, Jack Cassel and Darin Erstad both had an RBI each.

Cassel also picked up the win for the Astros as he tossed five innings of seven hit baseball.  He did allow three earned runs in his five innings of action.  Tim Byrdak, Doug Brocail, and Jose Valverde pitched the final four innings.  Valverde got back on track as he picked up his third save of the season.

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The Houston Astros gave up four runs in the eigth inning to let the San Diego Padres back in the game, but then they quickly came right back and got those four runs back and went onto beat the Padres 11-7 on Tuesday night.

Kaz Matsui had a single in the eigth inning that scored the go ahead runs as he finished with two RBI on the night.  Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, and Hunter Pence all had two RBI as well.  Darin Erstad, Carlos Lee, and Geoff Blum all had one RBI.  Blum and Pence both hit long balls for the Astros.

On the mound for the Astros, Jose Valverde picked up the win to improve his record to 3-1 on the season.  It was nice to see Valverde not blow a game!  Brandon Backe had started the game and pitched seven innings while giving up four hits and three earned runs.  Doug Brocail sucked it up as he gave up four hits and four earned runs while only recording one out in relief of Backe.

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The Houston Astros got their 7th much needed win of the year over the Colorado Rockies at home on Sunday.  The Astros used three runs in the eight inning to go ahead of the Rockies and eventually win.  The Astros are struggling to get their season going as they have started off 7-12 so far.

Shawn Chacon opened up the night for the Astros pitching six innings and giving up seven hits and three runs.  Dave Borkowski, Wesley Wright, and Jose Valverde finished out the night with Valverde getting his 2nd save for the year.

Geoff Blum, Miguel Tejada, and Kazuo Matsui all picked up RBIs for the Astros.  Matsui and Tejada both had two RBI each while Blum had one RBI.

The Houston Astros will now take on the Milwaukee Brewers for a three game series at home.  Will the Astros have what it takes to keep the wins coming in and maybe get them back into the top of the standings?

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The Houston Astros got hammered by the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday afternoon by the score of 10-2.  The Astros fell behind 3-0 after the first inning and were already down 6-1 after the fourth inning.  Once a team gets in a big hole like that, it takes a lot out of them and they have a hard time coming back.  That is exactly what happened to the Astros against the Phillies.

Brandon Backe only lasted three innings as he gave up ten hits, six runs (five were earned), two walks and two strikeouts.  Oscar Villarreal and Jose Valverde both gave up two earned runs as well.  I don’t think Valverde’s head is in the right place as he has really sucked it up the last two games.

Miguel Tejada and Carlos Lee both went deep for the Astros.  Both home runs were solo shots and that was the only offense that the Astros could come up with.

** It was also mentioned that Miguel Tejada is actully 33 not 31 like most teams had thought.  ESPN.Com is reporting that they have seen his real birth certificate that states he is 33.  Tejada told the Astros the truth, that he really is a couple years older then he had told teams before.**

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The Houston Astros could not close out the Philadelphia Phillies in the 9th inning as the Phillies scored four runs and beat the Astros by the score of 4-3.

Jose Valverde blew the save and took the loss for the Astros as he gave up all four runs in the bottom of the 9th.  Pinch-hitter Chris Snelling hit a leadoff homer in the 9th, and Chase Utley was hit by a pitch.  After Ryan Howard struck out, Pat Burrell tied the score at 3 with a two-run homer to right.

Geoff Jenkins then struck out but made it to first as Brad Ausmus wasn’t able to control the ball.  Pedro Felix then hit the game winning double that score Jenkins from first base.  Just a terrible way to end the game for the Phillies.

Starting pitcher Shawn Chacon had pitched eight strong inning of scoreless baseball and was in line to pick up the win before all hell broke lose in the 9th inning.  Great performance by Chacon, hopefully next time he will be able to get the victory.

Miguel Tejada, Geoff Blum, and Hunter Pence had the three RBI’s for the Astros.

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In a close game against the Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros were able to come away with a two run victory.  Two runs in the 8th inning proved to be enough for the Astros as the held on for the win against the Cubs.

J.R. Towels connected for a two out, two run homerun in the 4th inning off Rich Hill that gave the Astros a 2-0 lead.   The Astros then gave up a couple of runs in the in the 7th inning when Geovany Soto hit a two RBI single to tie the game for the Cubs, but the Astros then came back in the top of of the 8th inning and scored two runs when Miguel Tejada tripled down the left field line and Ty Wiggington hit a sac fly to centerfield.  The Cubbies then scored one run when Mark DeRosa connected for a solo homerun in the bottom of the 9th innin.

Wesley Wright picked up the win for the Astros.  Cub killer, Jose Valverde picked up the save.

The Astros record now stands at 2-3.