The Houston Astros got five shutout innings from Alberto Arias and went onto beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 on Monday night. It was a great start to the series for the Astros as the improved to 77-67 on the year.

The two runs that the Pirates did score came off of Wesley Wright in the sixth inning. He gave up rbi singles in the inning. Other then Wright’s two runs, the rest of the pitching staff pitched great. Doug Brocail, Chris Sampson, LaTroy Hawkins, and Jose Valverde all threw out of the bullpen after Wrigth was taken out. Valverde finished things up in the ninth inning for his 41st save of the season.

All three of the Astros runs came in the fifth inning when they were finally able to get to Pirates starting pitcher Ian Snell. Snell gave up a solo home run to Saccomanno and then Miguel Tejada and and Lance Berkman knocked in a run each with rbi singles.

The offense was lucky that the pitching staff threw the ball so well as they struggled against the Pirates pitchers. A win is a win however, and right now the the Astros need every win they can get.

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The Houston Astros rallied on Thursday afternoon as they came from behind to beat the visiting San Francisco Giants by the score of 6-4. Lance Berkman clubbed a two run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning that broke a 4-4 tie and put the Astors up 6-4. Humberto Quintero then added another run on a single that made the score 7-4.

Darin Erstad had tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with a rbi single. Berkman finished the game with three rbi while Erstad and Geoff Blum both chipped in with one rbi each. It was nice to see more then one player contributing at the plate and that is exactly what the team has been doing during this winning streak.

Brian Moehler was the starting pitcher and he pitched into the sixth inning but was taken out after throwing 5 1/3 innings. Moehler allowed eight hits and four runs including one home run his outing as he received a no decision. LaTroy Hawkins earned the victory and is now 1-0 since coming to the Astros. Jose Valverde had no problems in the ninth inning as he recorded his 30th save of the season.

The Astros will now have a tough six game stretch as they play the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers. How do you think they will do over the next six games? I’m thinking 2-4.

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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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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.

On a day when the Astros needed a big start from Runelvys Hernandez , because of the 17 inning game on Sunday night, they got just the opposite. In only 4 innings Hernandez gave up 10 runs on 13 hits and 4 walks.

In the top of the first Carlos Lee hit a 2-run homerun, followed by an RBI single by Ty Wigginton that put the Astros up 3-0 early. That lead did not last long as Hernandez gave up 4 runs in the bottom half of the first on four straight singles. After giving up two more runs in the second inning it looked like the Astros were done. In the top of the fourth the Astros came roaring back with four runs to take a 7-6 lead. Hernandez helped himself out with an RBI bunt single and Lance Berkman came through with an RBI double to headline the inning. What little hope that inning brought was crushed mintues later in the bottom of the fourth when Hernandez gave up another 4 runs to end his night.

Neither offenses did much after the first four innings. Recently called up Chad Paronto came in and threw four shutout innings in relief, giving up one hit and issuing one walk. If there is any positives to take away from this game it would be the strong showing of Paronto.

Kazuo Matsui should be coming off the disable list today, and my best guess would be that Runelvys Hernandez will be sent back down to AAA. He has shown some good stuff, but he needs to work on being consistent. His fastball has reached 96 mph on the radar, so I hope he can get it together and be a solid back-end rotation guy for us sometime.

Here’s to hoping Brandon Backe can come through tonight with a good start, because if he doesn’t, his future doesn’t look to bright either…

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.

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 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 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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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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