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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After dropping 9 of their last 11 on a road trip that saw everything from pitching to hitting crumble before their very eyes, the Astros returned to Minute Maid park Monday night and crushed the Brewers in a 6-1 victory.

To start things off Roy Oswalt slit the throat of his evil twin and walked onto the mound to produce a devastating 7 inning rout of the Milwaukee offense. Allowing only one run, ZERO walks, and 10 strikeouts the Wizard looked as in control as ever.

Lance Berkman also made his presence felt in Minute Maid as he came a double away from hitting for the cycle. In fact, 5 of the 6 runs scored Monday were by his hands. His two run homer in the 2nd brought home fellow All-Star candidate Miguel Tejada, and his bomb over the head of center fielder Mike Cameron rolled up into the wall of Tal’s Hill sending home 3 and nearly resulting in an inside the park Grand Slam.

Other solid offensive production came at the hands of Darin Erstad whose pinch hit drove in Michael Born who had gotten on base with an excellent bunt at the beginning of the inning. Afterwards, Kaz Matsui loaded the bases with a single into left field continuing a string of impressive performances at the plate.

Coming home is good, and if the Astros can sweep the Brewers as they did in their first series this season then the Yankees better look out come Friday.

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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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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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