Brandon Duckworth gave up 8 runs in 4 innings against the Cards yesterday, but that's a little misleading - he gave up a few swinging bunt singles, and Willy Taveras misplayed a fly ball to CF which turned into a 2-run triple. He still didn't pitch well - 4 walks/0 K's in 4 innings - but it wasn't as terrible as you might think. The offense made a nice comeback after falling behind 8-1 - we took a lot of pitches, Adam Everett had a bases-loaded double, Raul Chavez had 3 hits, and Morgan Ensberg had a HR off Julian Tavarez. We couldn't catch up all the way, though. The bullpen also looked tough, with 4 innings of scoreless work.

Clemens vs. Mulder today. Bagwell gets a day off and Lamb (a lefty) bats 3rd instead of Lane. Looks like Garner is falling in love with the lineup-by-position - a 1B has to bat 3rd, regardless of who it is.

The Astros signed Tom Martin to a AAA deal with Round Rock. I like it - John Franco has been terrible, Mike Gallo isn't any better, and Martin has had some good years in the past. Now if we could replace Franco with Martin and Springer with Mike Burns I'd be happy.