After today’s game against the Red Legs, Chris Johnson was informed that he will be sent down to AAA Round Rock following the Astros contest against the Corpus Christi Hooks.

“He took it well — it wouldn’t be fair to leave him wondering about all of this,” Cooper said. “This kid’s handled himself like a big leaguer. He’s handled himself well, he’s held his own here. He handled his business in a professional manner. I could tell he was all ears — not as much talking, just listening. His work habits were great.”" – astros.com

Although Johnson didn’t make the club out of Spring Training, he did open up a lot of eyes and turn a lot of heads.  It wont be long until we see him in an Astros uniform.  It is nice to know that if and when Houston suffers injuries this season, they have some capable players who can come up and fill in.

Bad day on the mound today for the Stros. From astros.com:

Stros at the plate: “Kazuo Matsui went 3-for-3 with a double, run scored and RBI and Hunter Pence went 1-for-3 with a double and RBI. Edwin Maysonet hit a solo home run to left field off right-hander Chad Durbin in the sixth inning.”

That’s two 3-3 days for Kaz in the past 3 games.  Maysonet showing some pop while vying for that back up infield position, making the decision even tougher for Coop. 

Stros on the bump: “Left-hander Mike Hampton allowed seven hits, seven runs, three walks and three home runs in five innings. He struck out three” From Brian McTaggart of the Houston Chronicle: “The Phillies hit four homers off the Astros, with Wesley Wright giving up four runs, a homer and two walks in one inning to raise his ERA to 3.60. Chris Sampson pitched two innings, allowing three hits and two unearned runs. ”

Tough day on the mound for Hampton and Houston but, those days are gonna happen, just ask Mike Hampton:

“”I’ll have one during the season, too, probably more than just one,” he said. “That’s just part of it. You try to minimize the damage as much as you can, but I made some good pitches at times and there were some times I left the ball over the plate and got hit.” ”

In Hampy’s defense, Coop says he got squeezed a little.

Houston’s Grapefruit League record: Astros 9-18-3

In an article on astros.com Alyson Footer discusses Bud Norris’ and J.R. Towles’ demotion to minor league camp.  However, much of the article is spent in praise of Norris:

“Norris didn’t pitch his way onto the team this spring, but he accomplished something just as important — he flew up the depth chart, and as soon as a need arises on the Major League level, the 24-year-old right-hander is going to be the first considered.”

Sounds like things are going well for Air-Bud.

On the drive to the town where I grew up today (liberty, tx) I went through Houston and caught an interview on 1560 with Alyson Footer. (apparently her nickname is scrunci?)  In her interview she discussed the demotion of the two prospects and went further in to detail on Towles. 

She basically said that Towles did not help himself at all with his spring performance and with Pudge on the club this year and Castro on his way J.R. may have missed his window of opportunity. 

Tough news for J.R. especially since it isn’t his fault the club handled him so poorly last season. 

Houston got the bats out today and defeated the Phillies 6-5.

From the all-mighty astros.mlb.com:

Stros at the plate: “Miguel Tejada logged three hits, including a solo homer in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth. Geoff Blum’s RBI single off Ryan Madson in the sixth broke a 3-3 tie, and his double in the eighth gave Houston a three-run lead. Lance Berkman doubled in the sixth and scored on Tejada’s double. Hunter Pence logged three singles, marking back-to-back three-hit games.”

Tejada is playing like a free man.  Kazuo Matsui also had three knocks today.

Stros on the bump: “In his first outing since returning from the World Baseball Classic, Oswalt allowed 10 hits and three runs over six innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out six. LaTroy Hawkins (LaHawk!)pitched a scoreless seventh. ”

Roy said his main goal for todays outing was to throw around 100 pitches and he threw 96.  Roy should get one more start before opening day which is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!

Astros’ Grapefruit League Record: 8-16-3.  2 more wins for double digits baby.

Houston won todays contest against St. Louis 4-3.

Pudge Rodriguez went yard again today.  Hunter Pence and Jason Smith each went 3 for 4.  Michael Bourn walked twice, K’d once, and had the game winning RBI.

Russ Ortiz pitched well today going 5 innings and giving up 1 earned run while walking 2 ans striking out 4. Wesley Wright pitched a scoreless frame.

Make it six in a row for houston, pushing their Grapefruit wins to 7.

Alyson Footer from astros.mlb.com reports that all is well for the Magic Wandy and Chad Paronto:

“By the end of the workday Wednesday, two Astros pitchers had breathed sighs of relief — Chad Paronto, after discovering his shoulder injury isn’t as serious as he first thought, and Wandy Rodriguez, after pitching four innings without feeling any lingering effects from a fingernail issue that hampered him in his last outing.”

Although Coop wont come right out and say it, it looks like Wandy will be the clubs number 2 starter while Paronto will probably start the year in Round Rock.

JJO on Wandy at chon.com: “Although Cecil Cooper has been coy about how he will line up his rotation, it appears evident that the Astros want to at least have Rodriguez lined up as an option to start the second game of the season.

Barring a setback, Rodriguez will start Saturday on three days of rest instead of the usual four. That would put him in line to start an exhibition game again on April 2 and then April 7 against the Chicago Cubs on the second day of the season.

“We’re going to bring him back a little sooner so we can try to line him up a little bit,” Cooper said.

Asked what he was lining Rodriguez up for, Cooper retreated back into his recent stance.

“I’m lining it up,” he said with a chuckle. “You can figure it and fumble all you want.”

Cooper was pleased after watching Rodriguez throw four scoreless innings to beat the Mets 8-0 Tuesday at Osceola County Stadium.”

Houston scored 10 runs today to out slug the Florida Fish 10-8.

From astros.mlb.com:

Stros at the plate: “Lance Berkman homered in the third and the fifth, driving in three runs. Michael Bourn drove in a run in the fifth with an RBI double. Miguel Tejada drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the seventh. ”

Good games today from both Berkman and Bourn.  Killer B’s anyone?

Stros on the mound: “Mike Hampton allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings, striking out four. Chad Paronto left the game after one-third of an inning with a right shoulder muscle strain, and Gilbert De La Vara yielded two runs over two-thirds of an inning. ”

Hampton got hit a little but looked good on the mound as he kept the ball down for the most part.  Sampson pitched a scoreless inning, keep up the good work Samp.

From chron.com:

Cooper on the bats: “Lance put some good swings up,” Cecil Cooper said. “Lance had some great swings today. Every at-bat was good swings. It was good to see that. Kaz had some good swings today. Tejada had some good swings. They all did. There were quite a few. It was nice to see J.R. swing the bat like that. Today was probably our best day swinging the bats.”

Cooper on the arms: “Hampton was very good, got his pitch count up to the high 80s, so that’s good,” Cooper said. “He pitched down. I liked the way he pitched today. Bud (Norris) I thought was very good. His fastball was exploding out of his hand today.”

Here is your Houston Astros Media Round Up for today:

Alyson Footertalks to Houston Astros Pitching Coach Dewie Robinson about what he sees in this years pitching core. “Robinson likes the quality of this group more than the pitchers the Astros had in camp during Spring Training last year.”

There is a nice article on veteran infielder Jason Smith over at Chron.com

Brian McTaggartmakes his projection for Houston’s opening day roster and I gotta say, I think he is pretty much right. I might swap Capellan for Otiz but neither is Brandon Backe which is probably the way it is going to work out. Sorry Brandon.

Astros first round draft pick and catching prospect Max Sapp has suffered two Seizures.  For more info, check out the article at Chron.com.

Finally, Jose de Jesus Ortiz has a few columns you need to check out; De La Vara Impresses, Berkman Hits Road for Game in Sarasota, and Keep Astros Sapp in your Thoughts.

In non Astros related media, there is a good video on spring training autographs that I came across at Big League Stew that will remind you why you love baseball, just in case you forgot.

Houston lost today’s contest to the Cincinnati Reds 8-2. Looks like Berkman taking the road trip wasn’t enough to give the team their second W of the season.

From astros.mlb.com

Stros at the plate: “Brian Bogusevic had two hits. … Lance Berkman was 1-for-3 with a first-inning double. … Hunter Pence was 1-for-3 with a sixth-inning single. … Geoff Blum was 1-for-3. Jason Smith tripled in the eighth and scored on a two-run homer by Drew Sutton. ”

Stros on the mound: “Starter Jeff Fulchino was hit around and gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits over two innings. … Gilbert De La Vera pitched two scoreless innings with one walk. … Fernando Nieve gave up two runs, one earned, with one hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning.”

Sounds to me like Nieve and Paulino have eached pitched themselves right out of the picture.  Maybe Houston can trade Nieve?  Teams will probably just wait until he hits the waiver wire and then pick hiim up.

Today make a dozen losses in a row for Houston and fan blogger Chip Bailey from the Houston Chronicle is asking if a manager can lose their job in Spring Training. Really Chip? Gimme a break.

 De La Vara and Arias both pitched two scoreless innings which is good news.  We still have 3 weeks of Spring Training so everyone needs to chill out, especially you Chip.

Also, one thing I have taken from this Spring Training so far is that Houston has a nice core of talent coming up right now.  Not necessarily a large amount of players but a good group of quality players.  Two or three years from now these guys are going to be making impacts at the big league level.

From Astros.mlb.com: 

“The Astros trimmed four from their Spring Training roster on Tuesday, optioning right-hander Brad James to Triple-A Round Rock while also reassigning catchers Jason Castro and Brian Esposito and right-hander Sergio Perez to Minor League camp. ”

No surprises here.  However, Coop had some comments about the re-assigned players:  “Castro had been real impressive here, and we felt it was time to send him over there so he could get a lot more work,” Cooper said. “James and Perez are guys we like, but they seemed to be a little overwhelmed by all this stuff.” ” -chron.com