Cubs 4
Astros 2

Carlos Zambrano pitched just over 6 innings giving up only earned run and striking out 6.  Roy Oswalt went 7 innings and gave up 3 earned runs including a leadoff home run by Alfonso Soriano, his 50th lead off dinger, and another home run by Aramis Ramirez to lead off the 2nd inning.

Houston struggled at the plate logging 8 hits but none for extra bases.  Michael Bourn hit an infield single in 7th to score Miguel Tejada.  Hunter Pence hit a sac fly in the 9th that also scored Tejada, who scored both of the Astros runs.

Matsui 1-3, BB
Rodriguez 0-4, 2K
Berkman 1-2, 2BB
Lee 0-4, GIDP
Tejada 3-4, K, CS, 2 R
Blum 1-3, BB
Pence 0-3, RBI, GIDP, K
Bourn 2-4, K

Good news: Roy pitched pretty well and hopefully will probably settle down on the home run tip.  I doubt Roy is ever going to pitch a no-hitter in his career because he is such a strikeout/pitch to contact type power pitcher. Also, Bourn was 2-4.

Bad news: Pence, Lee, and Rodriguez did not look real good at the plate. I was surprised by how free swinging Pudge is.

Pitching Lines:
Roy Oswalt 7IP, 3 ER, 2 SO, 1BB (0-1)
Geoff Geary 2 IP, 1 ER, 2 SO, 1 BB

Houston takes on the Cubs again tomorrow at 7:05 with Wandy Rodriguez taking on Ryan Dempster.

Houston 0-1

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.”

Apparently Backe and Wandy have been taking fungo bats to each others rib cages for fun.

From chron.com:

“Backe could miss at least one start after suffering a strain of the left posterior intercostal muscle, commonly referred to as a strained rib cage muscle.

“The injury occurred during the first inning of Backe’s third spring training outing (second start) Sunday against Pittsburgh when his left foot slipped while he was delivering his final pitch of the inning.

“The last pitch of the first inning, my front foot, my landing foot, slipped on me a little bit and caused me to basically collapse on that side,” Backe said. “I guess what caused it was the ribs pushed together or whatever.”

Backe stayed in the game but was pulled after two innings, one shy of his target goal of three. He allowed two hits and one walk.”

This is a real bummer for Brandon as he isn’t in the position where he can afford to miss a lot of time.  Sounds like he was actually pitching well before he got injured.

“Russ Ortiz, Jose Capellan and Felipe Paulino are among his competition, and they could get a leg up if Backe is on the shelf for a long period of time.

“I don’t need to miss any time,” he said. “Missing time is only hurting my situation.

“But I’m going to work as hard as I can to get back and get this thing ready for me to get back on the mound.””

Are you listening Russ Ortiz?  This injury is definitely not going to help Backe’s bid for the 5th spot.

Anthony DiComo from mlb.com has an article on the recovery progress of Wandy Rodriguez.  Wandy has a “strained intercostal muscle” on his left side.

Wandy thew for 6 minutes yesterday and 8 minutes today.  He said he hasn’t experienced pain after each workout.

Wandy is still scheduled to miss two starts.  Cecil Cooper had this to say: “All we can do is keep progressing,” Cooper said. “No setbacks, and that’s a good thing.”

Personally, I think Wandy is the second most important pitcher on this staff behind Roy Oswalt.  Wandy has improved every year but was hindered by injury.  People note Wandy’s home road split and that is definitely something he has to work on.

If Wandy can stay healthy, he has a great curve and can thrown the inside fastball.  He deserves to be our number 2, he just has to step up, be aggressive, keep his cool, and stay healthy.

Today’s game  against the Yankees ended with a 5-5 tie after the New York Yankees ran out of pitchers.

From astros.mlb.com

Astros at the plate: “Geoff Blum drove in Houston’s first run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, plating Lance Berkman. Matt Kata knocked a solo homer off Anthony Clagett in the fifth, and Chris Johnson drove in two more runs with a hit in the eighth. Brian Bogusevic knocked in the game-tying run with an infield hit later in the inning. ”

Astros on the mound: “Hampton was slated to throw three innings, but a high pitch count limited him to just two. Hampton yielded four runs on six hits, including an RBI triple by Cabrera that contributed to a three-run first. Jose Valverde struck out two in one inning, and Ortiz allowed one run over three frames.”

Astros Grapefruit League Record : 1-4-1

I’ve had the chance to watch a little Houston Baseball over the weekend and last week thanks to ESPN and the MLB Network.  Chris Johnson is a good looking prospect.  I think the kid contributes to the club sometime this year. 

In other news, Miguel Tejada has decided to pitch for the Japanese squad in the World Baseball Classic and Wandy Rodriguez has a rib-cage injury.  He is expected to miss two starts.

The Houston Astros were unable to beat the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday and take two out of three games in the series as they lose 5-2 in Milwaukee. The Astros were right in the game until the seventh inning when they allowed the Brewers to score two runs and extend their lead.

Wandy Rodriguez ended up with the loss as he was charged with three hits and allowed three runs to score through 5 1/3 innings. Wandy had a problem with is location as he walked five batters in the game. Wesley Wright was charged with one run when he allowed a base runner on and then Doug Brocail gave up a two run home run to J.J. Hardy in the seventh inning.

Both of the Astros runs came in the fourth inning when Geoff Blum and Reggie Abercrombi had rbi singles.  It was pretty bad that the offense played as bad as they did. They should have scored more runs then two as the Brewers scored five runs on only four hits. Just one of those games I suppose.

Astros Baseball

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.

Great news today. The Astros have agreed to terms with their first round pick, catcher Jason Castro out of Stanford.

A lot of scouts have said that Castro is almost Major League ready. With the way our current catchers are performing there couldn’t be greater news than this signing. At Stanford this year Castro hit .376 with 14 homers and 73 RBI’s. It’ll be exciting to watch his progression through the system.

Another update from the conversion from pitcher to outfielder for Brian Bogusevic. He went 1-2 last night with a homerun. So far so good in the position switch. Who knows, this guy may turn out to be the next Rick Ankiel. Scouts thought he was a better hitter than pitcher coming out of college anyways. We’ll see.

Wandy Rodriguez takes the mound tonight, hoping to right the ship after a dissapointing game last night.

The Houston Astros lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-6 in 11 inning of action on Tuesday night.  Astros relief pitcher Wesley Wright gave up a solo home run to Jeff Kent that proved to be the game winning hit and run for the Dodgers.  Wright took the loss for the Dodgers and is now 3-3.

Wandy Rodriguez started on the mound for the Astros and pitched five innings.  Rodriguez got the no decision after giving up six hits and five runs while walking four batters and giving up one home run.  Oscar Villarreal gave up one run in the sixth inning as he pitched in relief of Rodriguez.  Tim Byrdak and Geoff Geary pitched three combined scoreless innings after Villarreal left the game.

Ty Wigginton had the big hit for the Astros as he hit a three run home run in the sixth inning.  Hunter Pence had a rbi single in the first inning that scored Michael Bourn.  Carlos Lee got into the rbi column with a rbi double in the seventh inning but that would be the Astros final run of the game.

Astros Blog

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?

Astros Blog