Pittsburgh 7, Houston 4

We set the table...where's the food?

Willy Taveras and Craig Biggio combine to get on base 9 times tonight (Taveras: 3-3 with 2 walks; Biggio: 3-for-4 with 1 walk), but the rest of the lineup went 5-for-30 with 0 walks. Ezequiel Astacio made his first ML start, and looked pretty good, although hittable. His final line:

6 IP
7 H
1 BB
4 ER
7 K
2 HR

I was pretty impressed, considering it was his first start. On the other hand, it was against the Pirates.

Chad Qualls took the loss, in a weird 8th inning - the first two runner reached on balls that were more errors than hits, then he walked Ward on 4 pitches, Wilson lined a single to LF, and some other guy blooped one to LF. Then a double play and groundout. Only one hard-hit ball, but a little lack of control. Not that much to worry about.

The Rocket goes tomorrow, then Backe and Oswalt go against the Braves. I read that Berkman had to leave his latest rehab game due to "knee soreness". Crap. Might be a few more days or a week or so before he's back.