The Houston Astros got the best of the Pittsburgh Pirates once again as they beat them on Wednesday night. This time it was by the score of 7-4 as the Astros won for the third straight time in the four game series. The Astros continue to play some aswesome baseball as they try everything they can do to get into the playoffs.

Brian Moehler picked up the win for the Astros after tossing the first six innings of the game. Moehler gave up five hits and two runs as he improved his record to 11-6. Wesley Wright had some trouble in the game as he allowed two runs to score as well. Jose Valverde notched the save which was hit 42nd of the year.

Miguel Tejada had the big hit for the Astros when he hit a grand slam in the sixth inning. Tejada led the Cubs with four rbi. Hunter Pence finished with a two-run home run and two rbi in the game while Darin Erstad also added one rbi.

Astros will try to go for the sweep on Thursday. I think they will get it! Astros Blog

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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Carlos Lee hit a grand slam in the fifth inning off of Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo and the Astros went onto defeat the Reds by the score of 6-2.  The Astros have now won the first two games of the three game series and will be going for the sweep on Wednesday.  The way they are playing compared to the Reds, I think they will get that sweep!

Besides Lee going deep for the grand slam in the fifth inning, Miguel Tejada had a solo home run in the third inning.  The first run for the Astros came in the second inning when Hunter Pence tripled to deep center and Lee scored.  Those three swings of the bat were all the Astros needed because the pitchers shut down the Reds for the most part.

Brian Moehler came within one out of recording a complete game but still got the win.  Moehler pitched great as he gave up two runs on seven hits.  Moehler now has a 6-4 record on the season.  Wesley Wright came in to record the final out and record his first save of the season.

Let’s sit back and watch the Astros on Wednesday as they go for the sweep!  Astros Baseball

An all-around great game for the Astros tonight.

Brian Moehler pitched an outstanding game. He went 7 innnings, giving up only 4 hits and one run, a solo-homerun to Jim Edmonds. He really had command of the strike zone last night, to bad he couldn’t get the win, he had to settle for the no-decision.

Carlos Lee hit a mammoth shot in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game. The Astros then got two straight hits, but could not muster another run in the inning to give Moehler the lead.

Geoff Geary came in and pitched two perfect innings to get it to the Astros in the bottom of the ninth. Miguel Tejada doubled off Howry to get the inning going. The next batter, Hunter Pence, followed with the walk-off double to seal the game.

It was great to see the Astros come out of the gate and beat the Cubs in this fashion. Hopefully it will swing a lot of momemtum our way. Who knows, maybe this is the start of our patented second half run.

There are some rumors out there that some teams are inquiring on the availablilty of Mark Loretta and Darin Erstad. In my opinion I wouldn’t mind giving up either or both of those guys if we got some pieces that could help us next year. It would take a miracle for the Astros to turn things around this year, although it is possible, so I would like to see some young guys come in for our veteran players.

I have also seen some stories about the Angels scouting Miguel Tejada. I don’t know if there is much truth to that rumor, but it would be odd to see Wade give up on Tejada so soon. Of course, the Angels are loaded with prospects, and getting some of those instead of paying Tejada’s hefty contract could be nice. I still like all the intangibles that Tejada brings to the team.

Some other good news is that Ed Wade has said that the team has put an offer on the table for first round pick Jason Castro. It would be nice to get him signed and in the minors. The guy I really hope we can sign is high school pitcher Ross Seaton. I think he is a great prospect, and from what Wade is saying, both sides want to work a deal.

Our first round pick in 2005, pitcher Brian Bogusevic out of Tulane, has been converted to an outfielder. He got sent down to Salem from Corpus Christi to work his way up. He just could never get it going as a pitcher. Brian was surprised by the move, but evidently the front office has been thinking about making the switch for awhile. So far so good though, as he went 1-1 with an RBI and a walk in his first appearance as an outfielder.

Since his arrival as GM, Ed Wade has never been one to wait to make his moves. I would bet that we could see some minor trades in the next week or so, so stay tuned!

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 had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning but were not able to push across any runs and they lost to the Texas Rangers by the score of 3-2.  Miguel Tejada grounded out to end the game when the Astros had the bases loaded.  That was a tough way to lose a game, especially to the instate rivals.

Roy Oswalt took the loss for the Royals after pitching seven inning.  Oswalt gave up seven hits and all three runs.  The one hit that really hurt him was a two run home run by Max Ramirez in the fourth inning.  Chris Sampson did a good job as he pitched the final two innings and only gave up one hit while not allowing a run to score.

The Astros offense had ten hits in the game but they only scored two runs.  Both of those runs came in the second inning when Michael Bourn hit a two run home run.   You can look at one state in the box score and see why the Astros lost this game.  They left 20 runners on base.  When you leave 20 runners on base you don’t deserve to win in my opinion.

Wandy Rodriguez will battle Kevin Millwood and the Rangers on Thursday for the series win.  How do you think Wandy will throw?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

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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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Recap: It was all about the long ball in Houston’s Wednesday night loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Astros hit a total of three home runs from players Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee and Ty Wiggington.

However, the Brewers managed to rough up Brandon Backe early and send him to his third strait loss. Backe has been hit extremely hard in his last three starts, going 0-3 with an 8.40 ERA. The Brewers combined for a total of 5 homeruns against the Astros struggling pitching. The Astros now lead the league in surrendering long balls to opposing teams.

Wednesday’s game also feature some fireworks when both Cecil Cooper and catcher Brad Ausmus were tossed from the game for arguing a series of very questionable calls from first base umpire Angel Campos.

Note: The Astros most recent call-up Reggie Abercrombie took advantage of his first time being inserted in the starting lineup going 2 for 4.

Next Up: It doesn’t get any easier for the Astros as they go up against Milwaukee’s ace Ben Sheets (6-1) in Thursday afternoon’s rubber match. The Astros will be sending Brian Moehler to the hill (3-2) to counter.