I've got a few friends going to the Astros / Diamondbacks game in Phoenix tonight, so I'll be watching Roy Oswalt dominate. It looks like the Astros have basically treaded water since I was away; here are a few notes:

Astros Daily is giving up on the Astros playoff chances. I'm inclined to agree. Just because we've come back from the dead the last two years doesn't mean we can do it again, and we would have to leapfrog a TON of teams to get in. I just don't see it.

Craig Biggio, although he did have two home runs in Wednesday's game, is doing his usual 2nd-half collapse thing: .227 / .261 / .470 in the 2nd half

and he still can't hit away from Minute Maid: he has a 610 OPS on the road this year.

Willy Taveras has been getting starts at CF again, but he's still not getting on base (.313 OBP).

Morgan Ensberg is back, and has been starting at 3B with Aubrey Huff moving to RF. Lance should be back tonight, so we'll see what happens.

No big moves over the trading deadline, although we supposedly offered Roy Oswalt to different teams. I'm not sure why we would do that, and I hope we can sign Oswalt to a deal after the 2007 season.

Brad Ausmus really sucks again - since April his month-by-month OPS's are 664, 375, 477, 125.

Roger Clemens is 2-4 with a 2.09 ERA. Par for the course. You should have gone to a different team if you wanted to win, Rocket.

We have a lot of young pitching talent that is almost major league ready. Bucholz. Nieve. Albers. Hirsh. Chris Sampson. Ezequiel Astacio. Behind Roy Oswalt and maybe Brandon Backe, we could throw out an incredibly young, inexpensive, and pretty decent rotation next year. It should be a fierce spring training competition.

Speaking of minor league talent, here are a few updates

J.R. House, Catcher - After hitting .325 at AA, he's hitting .462 in 26 at-bats at AAA. Man, I hope he starts stealing some playing time from Ausmus / Munson next year.

Jason Hirsh - I'm not really sure how Matt Albers was called up instead of Hirsh, who has done nothing except put up a 2.13 ERA in 135 innings at AAA. His walk-to-strikeout ratio isn't great but he's only allowing a .195 batting average and only 5 homers all year! That's good.

Hunter Pence - The best hitting prospect in the organization has done well at AA, with a .291 / .354 / .563 line and 24 HR's in 416 AB's. He's still looking like a late 2007 callup at earliest though.

Jallen Peguero - I haven't heard of him before, but he's got a 0.70 ERA and 48 K's in only 38.2 IP at AA. Good relief prospect.

Matt Albers - He's not ready yet - the ERA is nice (2.17) but the BB/K ratio isn't great (47/95) and he's given up a lot of unearned runs. Needs more time.

Luke Scott and Jason Lane are back up; Taylor Bucholz is down. Bucholz just can't seem to stay away from the big inning - his secondary numbers are still ok. Luke Scott is swinging a hot bat and I still believe in Jason Lane, but he is 29 years old.

Some buzz about Miguel Tejada lately. There's been buzz before, and I think both teams' managements were inches away from a deal last off-season, but it didn't get done. I wanted it then, and I want it now. Here's why:

1) Tejada is awesome. He leads the Orioles in AVG, HR, RBI and R (.323/18/69/68). He is superb defensively, and supposedly is a great team leader in the dugout. Remember his days with the A's, when he'd be on the front row of the dugout, waving his teammates home and cheering like mad? We could use some of that. He won the 2002 MVP with his heart. Plus clutch hitting during Oakland's 20-game winning streak.

2) Adam Everett is the bane of my existence.

3) The trade pieces — specifically the prospects — aren't necessarily All-stars. Yes, it is very nice to have a plethora of talent in the farm system, but sometimes they don't pan out. Hunter Pence looks awesome right now, but it's not a sure thing that he'll slug in the majors, which Tejada has proven he can do. We have a ton of pitching prospects, so giving up one of: Nieve, Albers, Patton, Hirsh won't hurt us too bad. Don't know why they'd want Lidge (although he'd do well working with Mazzone there), but he is expendable.

4) The NL is just waiting for another team to emerge. The Mets are very good, and the Cardinals have Pujols and Carpenter. Thankfully, two other teams get into the playoffs, and we should realize how close we are from making it there. We're only 5 games out of the Wild Card, with a big series this week against the WC-leading Reds. If we win 2 of 3 against Cincy, and 2 of 3 against the D-Backs at home, we're 3 games under .500 and probably only 3 or 4 back of the Wild Card.

5) Here's why: 2B Biggio, CF Burke, RF Berkman, SS Tejada, LF Huff, 3B Ensberg, 1B Lamb, C Ausmus. Holy crap.

It's been a wild few weeks for me - I got back from an ultimate frisbee tourney in Chicago and a family vacation to the Galapagos a few days ago, and immediately found out I got a job and that an apartment that I had been looking at for a while was available. So today I went to NAU, chose an office, moved out of my place, filled out the application for the new place, and packed for a river trip that I leave on tomorrow. Whew. Let's talk some baseball:

First of all, the Aubrey Huff trade.

Astros get: 3B/1B/OF Aubrey Huff
Devil Rays get: SS Ben Zobrist, P Mitch Talbot

Big surprise here: I agree with Andy's earlier thoughts on the trade. Unfortunately, Huff can't replace Ausmus or Everett in the lineup. But he's a solid player, who has traditionally been better in the 2nd half, and the Astros are built (at least for this year) as a team that needs to go all out for the playoffs. Zobrist is a nice prospect, a SS who actually gets on base, but he hasn't shown too much power and management seems to love Adam Everett. Talbot isn't a big loss, with our pitching depth (more on that later). All in all, I like the trade. Huff is off to a slow start so far (.243 / .333 / .378), but give him a little time.

My only concern about the trade (and it's a fairly big one) is that we even think about trading Morgan Ensberg or cutting his playing time once he's off the DL. I know Ensberg is slumping, and he is 30 years old, so he's probably not going to improve, and he's streaky....but he has a career 864 OPS, including a 961 OPS at the Juice Box! He's also relatively cheap, solid defensively, and is absolutely the 2nd best offensive player on the team, and has been better than Berkman for fairly long stretches of time both last year and this year. He's also drawing walks like an absolute maching this year, so once he reverts back to his career batting average of .272, you're looking at an easy .400 OBP. In short, Ensberg is really, really good, and we should try to build the team around him, Berkman, and Oswalt for the next 2-4 years. If we trade him for Scott Linebrink, we suck.

A bunch of Rotoworld rumors involving the Astros lately:

We're interested in left-handed reliever Damaso Marte. Wow, what a surprise, we're looking for a lefty. What, John Franco, Mike Gallo, Trever Miller, and Wandy Rodriguez aren't good enough? Marte is actually pretty good, but he walks a lot of guys and Miller has actually been pretty decent this year at times, so I say just stick with him.

We're shopping Willy Taveras. Sweet! It's pretty apparent that he's not part of our long-term plans, which is fine, so we might as well try to deal him while teams remember his 2nd-place Rookie of the Year finish last year. Taveras isn't that bad - he's excellent defensively, can steal bases, and has shown the occasional ability to get on base. He'd make a fine 5th outfielder, but if we can get value in a trade, do it.

We might be shopping Preston Wilson (to the Yankees, who really need OF help). I like it a lot. Wilson is overrated, and we're certainly not going to sign him after this year (I hope), and with Berkman, Huff, Luke Scott, Jason Lane (at some point) all able to play corner OF, we should be ok there.

Like I said, the 2006 Astros are basically built for one last push: Pettitte and Clemens are probably gone next year, Biggio should start playing less once he gets to 3K hits, and a lot of our younger guys (Burke, Hirsh, Nieve) should start seeing a lot more playing time. Hell, Oswalt isn't even signed for next year - what would our rotation be without him? Yikes. But here's the trick - we're 9.5 back in the division and 5 back in the wild card, with 6 teams ahead of us. I know we've pulled this off in the past, but if something goes wrong (like Berkman injuring his groin yesterday), we shouldn't be afraid to have a fire sale and trade the vets. As much as I'd like to see this team make the playoffs, it's not too likely at this point.

Ok, I've gotta run, and I'll be out for a few weeks, but when I finally get back I promise to write more regularly and more interesting stuff. Later.

Howdy everyone. I actually didn't watch the Home-Run Derby OR the All-Star Game. Frankly, I needed a break from baseball as much as the players did. Too many fantasy teams (once again), and too many crummy Astros defeats have left me somewhat burned on this whole national pasttime thing. But a few days off, and a few interesting moves by the Astros have gotten me right back into the swing of things. Here we go:

As Barstool pointed out, the Astros made several moves to try and revitalize the offense. First, we traded Ben Zobrist and Mitch Tablot (two decent prospects) to the Devil Rays for Aubrey Huff and cash. This is a great trade for us. Yes, Huff is in his last year before free agency, and he hasn't lived up to his 2003-04 potential over the last year and a half. But he has smacked the crap out of the ball recently, hitting 3 HR in his last 5 games (the latest was a 3-run shot to give the Astros a 5-1 win over the Marlins). So hopefully, he's found his swing and can put up a .850 OPS.

Huff is, if nothing else, a very good hitter, which is exactly what we need. Like Richard Justice said when we signed Preston Wilson: Forget where he's going to play or who he's going to take at-bats from, just having him on the team is a very good thing. Unfortunately, he doesn't replace Everett or Ausmus at the end of the lineup, but we'll get to that later.

Lane was optioned to Round Rock to make room for Huff. Like last year, Lane went through an extended slump, but he just never seemed to rebound from it. Just about every time I saw him at the plate or on the bases, he seemed to make dumb mental mistakes. He's not as bad as he is right now, but at 29, his time with the Astros might be coming to a close.

Ensberg to the DL. This move is about a month late. Ensberg has very obviously been bothered since he dove for a foul ball and landed awkwardly on his shoulder against Atlanta on June 9. Good timing at least, since Huff will move into the 3B spot full-time for the next two weeks.

Luke Scott was called up to replace Ensberg. I'm not sold on this move. Seems to me we could have just kept Lane in the majors and Scott at AAA and saved a couple of options. But hey, Scott will probably go back down once Ensberg plays again.

Brandon Backe is scheduled to pitch July 22, and it looks like Wandy will be sent to the pen, with Buchholz staying in the #5 spot. This is probably a good move — Wandy was awful in June and his two starts in July were not promising. Wandy has pretty much shown us his potential in the last year, and he doesn't appear to have what it takes to be a major-league starter. Buchholz, on the other hand, has potential, and if nothing else, he'll be surrounded by Oswalt, Pettitte and Rocket.

Oswalt, Clemens, Pettitte, Backe and Buchholz is a damn fine rotation. The lineup, even with Huff, needs help. The problem, as always, is the bottom of the order. Unless we make even more drastic changes, Ausmus and Everett aren't going anywhere. Here's my proposition: Have Burke start at SS twice a week, have Munson start at C twice a week, and have Wilson make some starts in CF. Burke's offense more than makes up for his lack of defense at short. And obviously, once we get a late lead, we can sub Everett in at SS and Willy T in CF. How's about this lineup?:

2B Biggio, SS Burke, LF Berkman, CF Wilson, RF Huff, 3B Ensberg, 1B Lamb, C Munson

Those are clearly our best hitters. Obviously, this would be a disaster defensively, but we need some freakin' offense.

Clemens vs. the Marlins tonight. Go Rocket.

As you've probably read in the last post, Jack has split for the Galapagos Islands. He must be so desperate for a job that he's even looking in undeveloped islands for employment. Good luck to you, Jack, we're rooting for you!

Meanwhile, after mentioning Jason Lane in the last post guess what the Astros did? That's right, kids! They sent his under-performing posterior to the minors whilst making a trade for Aubrey Huff who is 30 years old, plays for the mighty Devil Rays, and is the kinda guy whom my mother would take one look at and say, "Eww! He a vitamin deficiency! Es jucky!" I don't know much about baseball but after looking at this trade it actually seems like a steal! We trade away two of our prospects for a 30 year old on the rapid decline and some cash for the Astros organization to spend on pleasing the fans (*cough*cough* free beer! *cough*cough*). After that 1 ER, 9 IP LOSS by the Amazing Oswalt, it's good to see that the 'Stros are going after the big hitters with a lot of upside. Perhaps when Jack comes back from the job hunt in the Galapagos he can enlighten us all as to if this trade was good or bad. I'm guessing it was marvelous cuz we got some fat cash along with a Tamba Bay Devil Ray SUPAHSTAH!!!

Anyone get a load of that World Cup? Or better yet, did anyone see that headbutt in high definition? I watched a clip of it when I was at my parents' house on their 60" SXRD (really good TV, fyi) and you can actually see the dude's chest cave in to the unforgiving onslaught that is Zizou's bald-is-beautiful skull. Did it deserve a red card? Yes. Did it wake us all up from watching exhausted Italians hold the line against Henry the Awesome (remember, it's French so it rhymes) and Ribery the Ugliest Soccer Player in World Cup History? You betcha. Out of 10, I rate this World Cup an 8. My complaints: Horrific refs and the typical American complaint...not enough GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALS. Speaking of which, what's with ESPN's guys in the booth? I think people would get a little more excited about soccer if the commentators lost their friggin' minds whenever a goal was scored.

Did anyone see that Irish guy on ESPN predict that Italy would win from the beginning? Leave it to the Irish; they know how to rock (U2). Too bad the rest of the analysis on ESPN is looked down upon...

Enough about the winners! How bout them losers? According to my Mexican inside source (Hi Mom!) pretty much the entire country of Mexico knew that their team was going to underachieve. I found it funny, however, that the U.S. performance was touted as an absolute failure. Don't get me wrong! I completely agree! But usually we hear the talking heads say we lost and nobody cares. Perhaps we're finally seeing a change in the attitudes of this nations sports writers? Seriously, how long can those old farts deny the monstrocity that is futbol?! Superbowl is watched by 50 million...World Cup is worshipped by over a billion...yeah, talk about an isolationist attitude.

Bruce Arena blew it. Argue with me if you want, but the guys looked LOST out there that first match. The forwards were never on the same page and I couldn't help but feel that they really had no game plan going into those games. That's what I observed anyways...the rest of you should let us know what you thought about those games (reply, slaves!). And how bout those soccer megastars like David Beckham and Ronaldo saying they would like to play in America when they're done competing in the big boy leagues? Sounds awesome to me....the U.S. will become the Senior PGA of soccer! Where else in the world can so much cash be thrown at so old an athlete? Or at least traded for two minor leaguers....

I made it back from my river trip - on the day I returned, after de-rigging the boat, I ran off to find a newspaper to see how the Astros had been doing. Their last 10 games: 2-8. Ugh. Then I looked up some box scores and saw how the White Sox and Tigers basically obliterated us. Luckily we ran into the Cubs who are pretty bad right now, although the mighty Sean Marshall managed to shut us out yesterday as Roy Oswalt gave up 1 ER in 9 IP and took the loss.

It looks like Mike Lamb has been hot since I left, as he's been getting the majority of starts at 1B with Lance shifting to RF. I guess I can quit stumping for Jason Lane; it just doesn't look like he's going to get much playing time. Waah. Lamb is hitting .332 / .379 / .533 for the season, so you can't argue with that too much.

Before I go any further, read Aaron Gleeman's wrap-up of the SABR (Society of American Baseball Research) conference right now.

I've been watching the World Cup, which is great. The Germany - Italy semifinal was amazing, the France - Portugal semi not so much. I like Italy to dominate in the finals - their defense (especially their captain, Canavarro, and their goalkeeper, Buffon) is unreal and they should generate enough offense to win. Italy 2-0.

I'm heading out again, to Chicago for an ultimate frisbee tournament and then to the Galapagos Islands on a vacation. Sorry about that, it's summertime. If anyone wants to make a post (JT? Barstool?), I'd owe you one. Until then, take care, cheer for the Astros, and have fun.

Well, Clemens lost to Francisco Liriano, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. Roger had a tough 3rd inning, throwing 30+ pitches, but other than that, I thought he looked fine - just a little rusty. We start a series with the White Sox today, who have won the last 3 games against the Cardinals by scoring 20 runs, 13 runs, and 1 run (on 1 hit!) They're hot. Let's hope we can win a close game or two this time around, as opposed to the World Series last year. I'm going to be on the river for the next week, so Andy, it's all you, buddy.

Astros Notebook

The big news today is Roger Clemens makes his Astros return against Francisco Liriano (who was 1 year old when Clemens made his first MLB start) and the Twins tonight. Clemens by himself won't automatically make us a great team, but if he can get his good buddy Andy Pettitte back on track, get the fans fired up, and pitches great, that will work.

We're making room for Clemens by optioning Chris Sampson to AAA, moving Fernando Nieve to the bullpen, and keeping Taylor Buccholz as the 5th starter. Garner's reasoning for the Nieve / Buchholz decision is that Nieve is better suited to be a reliever than Buchholz. Perhaps this is because he's a better pitcher in general:

Nieve, 2006: 65 IP, 4.71 ERA, 20 BB / 42 K
Nieve, June 2006: 18 IP, 3.00 ERA

Buchholz, 2006: 77.1 IP, 5.82 ERA, 19 BB / 47 K
Buchholz, June 2006: 19 IP, 6.63 ERA

Buccholz has had some excellent starts in the majors but he's also had some terrible ones. He's given up 8 ER or more in 4 different games!

Oh well. It probably doesn't matter that much, since Buccholz will be sent down when Brandon Backe returns. Still, I think Nieve is a better pitcher than Buchholz, for 2006 and beyond.

There has been some talk on Astros message boards about how badly Morgan Ensberg is slumping, etc. I mean, my god, he's only batting .249!

He also leads the team with 48 walks, and is 3rd to Chris Burke and Lance Berkman with a .381 OBP, and is 2nd to Berkman with a .541 SLG.

If his elbow is still bothering him, that's one thing, and we should let him rest. But to say we should bench him because he's not helping the club? Ridiculous.

The U.S. was bounced out of World Cup by a 2-1 loss to Ghana today. I'm disappointed, sure, but to be honest this wasn't a surprising result - Italy and the Czech Republic are both great teams, and Ghana is the best team in Africa. This was a brutal group to get out of. Expect better things in 2010.

One of the free agents that I wanted the Astros to go after this winter was Jason Johnson. Well, he was just released by the Indians after a 5.96 ERA in 14 starts. Johnson's main problem was that batters were hitting .341 off him, which is unlikely to continue - he's allowed a .282 batting average for his career. The Red Sox got him for cash and a PTBNL. I still think he can be a decent pitcher for the right team. He's getting an unbelievable number of groundballs this year, so maybe he just needs better infield defense.

Just when things were looking up (my last post was a little over-optimistic), we lose 2 out of 3 at home to the mighty Royals. We've got the Twins coming up next:

Radke vs. Oswalt
Silva vs. Wandy
Liriano vs. Clemens

That last match-up is going to get all the attention, as Roger Clemens returns to the Astros. I'm almost as concerned with tonight's game, just to see how Roy O looks on his 2nd start after his DL stint. Both Radke and Silva throw a ton of strikes and allow a bunch of hits.

The World Cup is still awesome to watch. I've got a bunch of free time until my river trip on June 25, so I've been watching a LOT of soccer. Big England vs. Sweden game today. Let's go Brits!

Just when things were looking up (my last post was a little over-optimistic), we lose 2 out of 3 at home to the mighty Royals. We've got the Twins coming up next:

Radke vs. Oswalt
Silva vs. Wandy
Liriano vs. Clemens

That last match-up is going to get all the attention, as Roger Clemens returns to the Astros. I'm almost as concerned with tonight's game, just to see how Roy O looks on his 2nd start after his DL stint. Both Radke and Silva throw a ton of strikes and allow a bunch of hits.

The World Cup is still awesome to watch. I've got a bunch of free time until my river trip on June 25, so I've been watching a LOT of soccer. Big England vs. Sweden game today. Let's go Brits!

Just when things were looking up (my last post was a little over-optimistic), we lose 2 out of 3 at home to the mighty Royals. We've got the Twins coming up next:

Radke vs. Oswalt
Silva vs. Wandy
Liriano vs. Clemens

That last match-up is going to get all the attention, as Roger Clemens returns to the Astros. I'm almost as concerned with tonight's game, just to see how Roy O looks on his 2nd start after his DL stint. Both Radke and Silva throw a ton of strikes and allow a bunch of hits.

The World Cup is still awesome to watch. I've got a bunch of free time until my river trip on June 25, so I've been watching a LOT of soccer. Big England vs. Sweden game today. Let's go Brits!

The Astros finished up a sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley yesterday, as Brad Ausmus had a 2-run single in the 8th that gave us a 3-2 win. Fernando Nieve pitched well, almost certainly insuring that Taylor Bucholz will be the one sent back to AAA when Roger Clemens joins the team on June 22. Chris Burke continued his great June (.405 / .476 / .578 for the month) with 2 hits and 2 walks yesterday. He appears to have won himself the majority of the starts in CF, forcing Willy T to the bench.

Morgan Ensberg pinch-hit yesterday and was hit by a pitch immediately. It didn't do any damage, though, and he should be starting today against Kansas City. Mike Lamb did an admirable job filling him, and should get the occasional start at 1st and 3rd and be the main pinch-hitter.

Brad Lidge seems to have settled down - he hasn't allowed any runs (and perhapes even better, not walks) in his 7 IP in June. He should be fine. Chad Qualls (who, somewhat surprisingly to me, has the 2nd highest VORP of any pitcher on the team behind Roy Oswalt, according to Baseball Prospectus) has also been fine since a rough April, and Dan Wheeler's peripheral stats (9 BB, 29 K in 28 IP) look pretty good. Even Trever Miller and Dave Borkowski have been good! It's easy to be flying high after a series sweep, but with Ensberg back, Clemens on the way, Lancey Lance putting up his usual 988 OPS, and two good starts in a row from Andy Pettitte, it's a good time to be an Astros fan.

Some things that I'd like to see:

Chris Burke getting at least a weekly start at 2B to rest Craig Biggio. I've said this plenty, but Biggio has collapsed after the All-Star Break the last two years. He needs more rest.

Eric Munson getting a little more playing time. After his ridiculous April, Brad Ausmus has put up his usual OPS's of 664 and 625 in the last two months. Munson isn't great, but he's slugging .431 on the year and has slugged .411 for his career, which is about 120 points higher than we can expect from Ausmus.

Patience with Jason Lane. Preston Wilson is having a nice comeback, and has his batting average up to .279. Even though he's batting .209, Lane still has Wilson covered easily in both OBP and OPS, yet Lane has been benched fairly often lately. He's not going to hit around .200 all year, and he's got the patience (38 walks, 2nd on the team to Ensberg's 44) and power that we need.

Improvement at the plate from Adam Everett. You can talk all you want to about how shortstop is a defensive position first, and that might be so, but a 571 OPS is awful. Everett seems to pop up or fly out weakly early on in the count WAY too often. First of all, he should take advantage of his speed by trying to hit more ground balls / line drives, and second of all, he should try working the count a little bit.

More walks from Preston Wilson. He takes wild swings often. That's ok if the pitch is a strike, but it still seems like he's pressing a bit and trying to hit huge home runs to left field on pitches a foot off the outside corner. Settle down, go the opposite way, and be a little more patient.

Fewer walks from Wandy Rodriguez. I'm not quite sure how, but Wandy only has a 4.48 ERA despite walking 40 batters in 80.1 IP. I know he doesn't have great stuff, so he can't exactly throw fastballs down the middle of the plate, but he has to quit walking so many batters.

Ok, that's enough. Everything is going well right now, so let's enjoy the ride. But we're only 35-32, still 5 games behind the Cardinals in the division and 2.5 games behind the Reds in the wild card. Clemens will help, but we have to keep working hard.

Roy O is back tonight, as we take on slumping Greg Maddux and the Cubs. The offense continued its recent tear last night - Chris Burke went 4-for-4 with a walk and scored all 5 times, Jason Lane had a hit and drew two walks, and Lance Berkman and Preston Wilson each had 5 RBI's. Sweet. Andy Pettitte looked smooth, giving up 1 run in 7 innings. All in all, a great win. I like this team again!

My first river trip of the summer was supposed to leave tomorrow, but I was unceremoniously bumped from it. It's a long story. I'm still going on one later this month, then an ultimate frisbee tournament in Chicago, and then a family trip to the Galapagos Islands, so I can't really complain. I plan on playing a fair amount of poker the next 10 days. Today was a brutal poker day, though - I had KK five times, and lost all five. I had AA, flopped an A, and lost to a runner-runner flush. None of my draws were coming in, I wasn't flopping sets...that's how it goes. Variance, variance, variance. I should understand small sample sizes better than most people, but it's still frustrating.

Things are looking better for the Astros - we took 3 of 4 from the Braves, and got our offense on track, as guys like Mike Lamb, Eric Munson, and Jason Lane had some big hits. It was great to see Lane have a big night - he's been the victim of some bad luck this year, and I still believe he can be a solid outfielder in this league. The Munson signing has also worked out nicely; it's fun having a catcher with some power, huh?

Roger Clemens made his 2nd rehab start last night, and struck out 12 in 6 innings. Guess he's ready. Andy and I were trying to figure out when Backe would be back, and when he finally is, a rotation of Roy O / Pettitte / Clemens / Backe / Wandy certainly looks good on paper.

I haven't been able to find it, but I seem to recall reading a Phil Garner quote that he wants to get Chris Burke in the lineup nearly every day. This appears to mean a lot less playing time for Willy T and Jason Lane. I like Burke too, but I think he works fine as a super-utility guy also. We'll see how this plays out.

The World Cup has been great so far, as long as you're not a huge American soccer fan. How about Australia's comeback today???

Well, things can't get too much worse for the Astros:

Roy Oswalt misses a start due to back pain
Carlos Zambrano almost no-hits us in a 8-0 win
We get swept by the Cincinnati Reds
Jason Lane isn't playing much despite having a higher OPS than Preston Wilson
Adam Everett has a 576 OPS
Andy Pettitte has a 6.03 ERA

Shall I go on?

Ok, so we're struggling. We've been down and out the last two years and have come back to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, the National League looks stronger this year. The Mets, Cardinals, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, Padres, and Diamondbacks are all good teams. Can we do it again?

I still say we have a better line-up than last year. Garner has been playing "Create a new lineup every day" for a while, but if he'd just stick with

Taveras
Biggio
Berkman
Ensberg
Wilson
Lane
Ausmus
Everett
P

I think we'd be a lot better off. Sure, Mike Lamb, Eric Bruntlett, and Chris Burke are playing well right now, but there's a reason they haven't forced their way into the starting lineup until now.

A rotation of Oswalt / Pettitte / Clemens / Wandy / Bucholz looks good on paper, but there are issues everywhere. Oswalt has thrown a crapload of innings in the last few years and now has back pain. Pettitte is getting hammered (and he's making 17.5 million this year!), Clemens isn't back for another two weeks, and Wandy and Bucholz have both sucked hard the last few weeks.

The bullpen should be good, at least. Lidge / Wheeler / Qualls is solid, Springer isn't terrible, Trever Miller has looked good, and even Dave Borkowski has done decently well.

All in all, anything is possible, but it's time to pick it up. Garner isn't helping us by sitting Lane and Everett.

Ouch! Wandy was absolutely pounded last night, giving up 7 runs, 6 hits and 5 walks while only recording 4 outs. Recently-promoted-from-AAA Chris Sampson came in and did a decent job in his first major-league appearance, giving up 3 ER in 5.2 innings.

In the best news of the day, we demoted Mike Gallo to AAA to make room for Sampson. Gallo had a 6.02 ERA and a 2.14 WHIP in 16 innings this year, and he looked even worse than that. Lefties were hitting .316 off him. Still want two lefties in the bullpen, Garner?

Let's talk about the Rocket coming back. First of all: I was wrong. I really didn't think Clemens would come back and said as much in past posts. Whoops. Now: who does he replace? According to the Chronicle, Fernando Nieve will be sent down. That makes our rotation Oswalt / Pettitte / Clemens / Wandy / Bucholz. Nice front three, again - rough bottom two. Let's ignore for a second the effect that Clemens will have on other Astros (Pettitte, bullpen, etc.) and just talk about what Clemens himself is likely to do.

Well, he put up a 1.87 ERA in 211.1 innings last year. Doing a little math it seems likely that he will pitch around 18 starts * 6.5 innings / start = 117 innings this year. In the first half of last year Clemens put up a 1.48 ERA in 122 innings. Can we expect that again? Maybe not exactly, but he's Roger Freaking Clemens. I'd guess around a 2.00-2.50 ERA.

Ok, now let's talk about the effect Roger might have on the rest of the team. First of all, it might just pump up his good buddy Andy Pettitte. Andy's main problem is batters are hitting .317 against him and he's already given up 12 HR's (17 all of last year). Both of these trends are unlikely to continue, and having Rocket there to cheer him on won't hurt either.

The bullpen should also benefit - Clemens is a lock to pitch more innings per start than Nieve, so Qualls, Wheeler and Lidge (79 IP combined) should get a little more rest.

Finally, the fans might benefit the most from Clemens returning. He guarantees a sellout crowd every 5th day, he gives us a boost, interest in the Astros shoots up, etc., etc. He makes the Astros exciting again.

Lost in 11 innings to St. Louis. It would have been a sweet to take 2 of 3 after sweeping a two-game set earlier in the year, but we didn't take advantage of baserunners and Mike Gallo pitched, so we lost.

Don't know why, but we're having terrible road woes for the second straight year. And it starts with the big boys. Mo and Lance both have OPS 200 points higher at home! What's the deal?

Speaking of which, it's time to evaluate some of our players and see what we can do to spark more offense.

Preston Wilson: Started very hot, hitting opposite-field homers like it was the name of his game. Then he struck out in 8 straight plate appearances and went on a month-long slump. He's been better of late, getting timely hits. His OPS is approaching .700, so we should ride him now.

Jason Lane: Jack's encouragement ("The hits will come, Jason") has not come true. He still looks lost sometimes, and appears to have made up mind to swing before he even sees a pitch. His routine? Watch strike one down the middle. Swing at strike two in the dirt. Strike out fanning at high heat. It's troublesome. But then he hits a 500-foot bomb. I'm hoping he'll repeat last year's second half. I can't exactly fault Garner for benching a sub-.200 hitter, but everyone knows Lane's a good player.

Willy T: His .650 OPS is about what was expected. He can do better, but if you want him to slug .400, you're dreaming.

Adam Everett: Enough about his defense. His .261 OBP is killing us. Mo and Lance are both slugging higher (.597 & .585) than Adam's OPS. He had a huge three-run double against the Nationals, but is it actually possible to do worse than he did at the plate last year?

Chris Burke: Mired in a 4-for-35 slump, but still showing promise with an OPS hovering over .800. With Everett's decline, we should check him out as an option at shortstop.

10-18 in May. Glad to see June is upon us. Cincinnati, Chicago and Atlanta at home, coming right up. And Interleague play to follow. Oh, and we picked up a kid named Clemens. Maybe he can help us out.

Well, after a hot start (19-9 at one point), the Astros have returned to Earth and now sit at 26-25. We can still expect our starting pitching, bullpen, Preston Wilson, and Jason Lane to get better. A big 3-game series against the Cardinals starts today. The pitching matchups:

Roy Oswalt (5-3, 3.36 ERA) vs. Jason Marquis (6-4, 5.12)

Andy Pettitte (3-6, 5.76) vs. Chris Carpenter (4-2, 2.63)

Taylor Bucholz (3-4, 5.57) vs. Jeff Suppan (5-4, 5.12)

Brad Ausmus on the 4-run ninth-inning rally yesterday:

"It has the potential to be the fulcrum of the season."

Berkman has great numbers against Marquis; hopefully he's back in the starting lineup, although Mike Lamb has done great things (.383, 3 HR in May) lately.

Start us off strong, Roy O.

Sorry, it's been a while. I graduated, went to a bachelor party in Vegas, and got my river-rafting schedule for June, and I've been catching up with the Astros. Let's jump right in:

Preston Wilson looks BAD. I've been watching the Astros-Nationals series, and maybe I should have noticed this before, but Wilson takes absolutely HUGE swings at everything, and whiffs most of the time. Maybe he's just in a slump, but would it kill him to shorten his swing just a touch?

Morgan Ensberg is crushing anything on the inner half.

Brad Lidge got a little unlucky yesterday. First of all, he was called in with a runner on 3rd and 1 out. He walked Matthew Lecroy after getting ahead of him 1-2. He got Daryle Ward to hit a hard ground ball to 1st that somehow got by Berkman. Then Soriano blooped one in, Clayton hit a grounder through the left side, etc. He didn't pitch that badly.

How about a quick league at some of the Astros minor league stars?

Round Rock (AAA):

Brooks Conrad, 2B: .263 / .314 / .497, 23 extra-base hits in 180 AB. Those aren't really impressive numbers in a hitter's park like Round Rock, but I'm still a Conrad fan, just because any middle infielder who can slug .450 in the major leagues is pretty decent.

Humberto Quintero, C: .270 / .298 / .438. He doesn't walk. I'm more excited about our catcher in AA.

Jason Hirsh, RHP: 4-2, 2.88 ERA, 22/45 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 59.1 IP. After a semi-slow start, Big Hirsh has gotten it going lately, and will probably get called up sometime later this year and will likely be in the rotation next year.

Corpus Christi (AA):

J.R. House, C: .337 / .396 / .503. Wow. I was cautiously optimistic about our signing of House earlier this offseason - he was a top catching prospect for the Pirates a few years back, blew out his shoulder, and was out for a while. But look at him now! I think there's a great chance that House takes over for Ausmus after '07.

Ben Zobrist, SS: .315 / .418 / .461 - I haven't mentioned this guy before, but he's quietly put up great OBP's as a shortstop. Adam Everett is a wizard with the glove and he's still cheap, but if he ever gets expensive Zobrist is a better offensive player than Everett right now.

Hunter Pence, LF: .310 / .357 / .630, 13 HR. Definitely the best offensive prospect in the organization. He's still working his way up, but the kid is slugging .630. I would think the Astros would move him to AAA pretty soon, and I'd like to see him get a good look at the LF job in '07, since our chances of re-signing Preston Wilson aren't looking too good. Pence has a ton of power and a 'weird swing', according to most scouts.

Matt Albers, LHP: 5-1, 2.20 ERA, 57.1 IP, 19/40 BB/K - Nice year so far for Albers - a few more strikeouts would be sweet, and he doesn't have as high a ceiling as the next guy on this list, but so far, so good.

Salem (A):

Troy Patton, LHP: 1-5, 4.20 ERA, 45.0 IP, 18 BB, 53 K - Forget about the record and the ERA - Patton's WHIP has been good, he's only allowed 2 HR, and his strikeout rate is still excellent. In my opinion Patton is the best pitching prospect in the organization, although it will take him a while to reach The Show.

Munson's batting fifth in today's game against the Nationals. Wilson sixth, Lane seventh. I really don't understand this. Lane has a higher OPS than Wilson and Munson. If anyone should be benched, it's got to be Preston. .247 / .287 / .380 is not what we signed him up for. Well, let's hope he takes his frustation out on his old team. Or at least swings really, really hard and falls down.

Doggy's back!

The Yankees reportedly have signed Richard Hidalgo to a deal. I don't particularly like the Yankees and have no strong ties to Hidalgo, but it's always nice to see a former Astro get a chance with another team. Doggy sports a .269 / .345 / .490 career line with 171 homers and 560 RBI in 987 games (including a .314/44/122 monster year in 2000). I think he'll either be a huge force or a huge bust with the Yanks. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how he fills in for Hideki.

By the way, I just bought the new album by EELS, and it's really good. It's called Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. Check it out.

Sorry for the delay folks, but there haven't been too many positive things to write about during the last week. We got absolutely walloped by the Giants to the tune of 34-5 over the series. Yikes. Of course, that's becoming commonplace when the Giants come to town. But we bounced back and won 2 of 3 against the Rangers, capped by Buchholz's 5-hit shutout on Sunday. Buchholz is turning into a typcial Astro pitcher: mediocre on the road, sparkling at home.

Lamb has been swinging a hot bat lately. He filled in for Berkman, who missed the entire Giants series with a tight hammy, and did pretty well. Garner's been shaking up the lineup, keeping Lamb at first, moving Berkman to RF and benching Lane. He also put Willy T in the leadoff spot for a couple games and moved Ausmus up to 6th and then 2nd. Lane is underperforming, yes, and a few days off might get his head straight, but he is better than Lamb, so I hope this doesn't become a platoon just yet.

Oh, and Burke's off the DL; Super Joe is back at Round Rock. We now head to Capitol City to face the Nats. Their lineup is like ours: if you can get around their big bombers, they probably won't score any runs. If you don't let Soriano and Johnson hurt you, the rest of the lineup will take care of itself. Here are the pitching matchups:

Monday: Wandy vs. Day
Tuesday: Nieve vs. Ortiz
Wednesday: Oswalt vs. O'Connor
Thursday: Pettitte vs. Armas Jr.

Is three out of four too much to ask? I think not. Our last road trip was a disaster, but in our defense, the Rockies, Giants and Dodgers are all contenders for that NL West crown. Everyone knows the Nationals aren't going anywhere, so it's important we start this thing off right and take care of businiess. I'm really hoping Oswalt and Pettitte can find their grooves.

Lance is out, Barry is in. Lance's hamstring may be tight again, as Lamb is filling in for him at 1B and batting third. Bucchholz could enter the record books tonight, but I've heard that Garner will not pitch to Bonds in any sort of meaningful situation. We'll see. I flew out to Flagstaff for the weekend for Jack's graduation (and to see Mama wade for Mothers' Day). Congrats on the master's, big guy. I think Kansas City has openings for the position of GM.

Interesting note: Willy T has had exactly one XBH since April 29. He's slugging .329, compared to Biggio's .479. They're both getting on-base around 33 percent of the time.

A nice 12-2 win for the home team over the Rockies last night. I got chills from reading this paragraph:

"Ensberg took Rockies starter Jason Jennings to a full count with the scored tied 1-1 and the crowd on its feet and cheering wildly. He then homered to left field to drive in Biggio and Lance Berkman.

"During my at-bat you couldn't hear a thing," Ensberg said. "That stuff helps. I mean you can't hear at all. And I just think when it's difficult for you to concentrate because you're not used to it, it helps us because we are used to it."

Man, that's good stuff. I wonder if Ensberg immediately knew it was a home run and did one of his bat-flip things.

Fernando Nieve pitched just fine again (5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 4 K), the bullpen was solid, but it was all about the offense today: Ensberg, Biggio, and Lamb (who has been hot lately) all homered, and we had 15 hits in all.

Trever Miller was activated from the DL and we sent Zeke Astacio down to AAA. I still have high hopes for Astacio, but he needs to keep starting, and he can do that at AAA. Hopefully Miller does better soon - I still like him more than Gallo, and it's a shame that they are both on the roster.

Tonight: Roy Oswalt vs. Aaron Cook. Cook shut us down the last time we played, so hopefully we'll remind him that we play a lot better at home for some reason.

Six straight losses... not good. But unlike last year, when we suffered through two 6-game losing streaks and a 7-gamer, our offense is actually producing. We've scored 25 runs in the last six games, but lost by 1,5,2,2,5 and 3. So, the law of averages attacks us earlier than we thought.

It's a shame Roy and Pettitte got rocked this week. After getting swept in Colorado, I expected at least one of them to throw a quality start. Roy, I think, just suffered a mental lapse in the bottom of the fifth in San Fran. Check out this play-by-play:

Winn tripled to deep right center
Vizquel lined out to center
Finley reached on fielder's choice, Winn scored (Berkman tried to come home on a grounder to first, but was late)
Greene singled to left
Sweeney tripled to deep center, Greene scored
Niekro singled to shallow center, Sweeney scored

After the Berkman error, he was visibly shaken and acted like he didn't even want to be out there. He tried hammering fastballs down the middle and they were crushed.

Pettitte, meanwhile, has been torched. His six-earned-in-five outing on Tuesday was his third outing allowing six or more runs. Of course, all his other five starts have been quality. I'm sure he can turn it around... I just hope his elbow feels fine.

I guess we can always use this as a selling point to Roger. Say to him, "Look at our starting pitching the last six games... We might be able to use a guy like you." A few weeks ago, I heard people saying, "Who needs Roger?" Well, we do.

0-for-the Road Trip. Wandy vs. Derek Lowe. Right now.

Another ugly, painful loss.

I'm referring, of course, to Burke's shoulder injury on Saturday. I'm hearing it's a subluxed left shoulder: a partial dislocation. Alyson Footer says he won't have surgery, just rehab. Why, I wonder, did Garner start him in RF anyway?

Getting swept by the Rockies doesn't upset me too much. Not that it doesn't suck, but everyone's going to get swept at some point, and I'd rather it be now than during the playoff hunt. Besides, all three were relatively close games, for Coors field anyway. It is a shame to not take advantage of the rarefied air — Jason Lane's homer was the only Astros bomb during the series.

What bothers me more is our hitters' tendency to fall flat against mediocre right-handed pitching. I'll give Jason Jennings and Aaron Cook some credit, but our lineup cannot simply roll over like this — it remind me so much of last year. It felt like those games were over in the sixth inning.

Ensberg's slumping again: he's only 3-for-22 in May, but he just looks bad at the plate. He's watching strike three sail right over the plate, and he's swinging at balls that he knows he shouldn't. He's tried altering his stance again: He's tried standing more upright and closing his stance a little. His swing is funny... it's either picture-perfect for a homer or a double, or he looks like garbage. Here's hoping he finds his stroke in California.

Well, two exciting one-run victories over the Cardinals have been followed by two ugly losses to the Colorado Rockies. In the first loss to Colorado, Brad Lidge comes in with a 4-3 lead in the 9th, gives up a leadoff double, Ensberg throws away a bunt (tying run scores), Lidge walks a guy, Wheeler relieves, walks another guy, and then walks in the winning run on a 3-2 pitch. And yesterday Jason Jennings pitches a complete-game shutout against us. A complete game shutout AT Coors? Ugh. I'm still trying to get a lot of stuff done before graduation, so I'm hoping Andy can keep me updated. I saw Chris Burke just got placed on the DL with a shoulder injury.

I'm following the Astros game last night on Yahoo! Sports, and I see that we score a run in the 1st off Ben Sheets (despite Willy Taveras sacrificing Biggio over to 3rd). I go to work on a PowerPoint presentation, come back about an hour later.....7-3 Astros in the 3rd???!!! Holy crap - apparently we had a bunch of hard-hit singles off Sheets, whose velocity was slightly down. When I checked our 5-8 hitters (Lamb, Wilson, Ausmus, Everett) were a combined 8-for-8! That'll work. Fernando Nieve pitched well (7 IP, 6 H (3 of them solo HR), 4 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) and we held on for a sweet 8-5 win.

A few notes, courtesy of Astros Daily:

Astros make an offer to Clemens

Apparently it's a pro-rated version of the 1 year /18 million deal Clemens had last season, which would make it worth around 12 million.

Adam Everett is the best fielding shorstop in the Majors:

According to the book The Fielding Bible, by John Dewan and Baseball Info Solutions, Everett is "quite simply the best shortstop in the Major Leagues." The book, released in February, attempts to quantify the value of defense for each player at the big league level.
According to Garner, the statistical analysis within the book concluded that Everett saves his team 25 runs per year due to his defensive capabilities.

Wow, that's pretty sweet. I know Everett is great defensively - I didn't know he was that great. Now just keep hitting .270 with some walks and a little power, and I'll be thrilled.

Roy Oswalt vs. Jason Marquis tonight, as we start a 2-game series with the Cardinals.

Astros vs. Marquis:

Brad Ausmus: 3-for-16 - 375 OPS
Lance Berkman: 9-16, 7 BB - 1633 OPS
Craig Biggio: 9-26 - 947 OPS
Morgan Ensberg: 8-19, 2 HR - 1158 OPS
Adam Everett: 6-22 - 577 OPS
Jason Lane: 6-15 - 904 OPS
Willy Taveras: 3-17 - 353 OPS
Preston Wilson: 3-16, 4 BB - 600 OPS

Lance Berkman and Ensberg have rocked against Marquis; Ausmus and Taveras have not. Let's go Roy O!

Interesting lineup for Garner tonight vs. Milwaukee:

Biggio
Taveras
Berkman
Lane
Lamb
Wilson
Ausmus
Everett
Nieve

Against Ben Sheets. Look for lots of Ks. And for the Brewers to test Lamb at third. Let's hope Nieve can quiet the Crew's bats... they've been going nuts. Hopefully he can go 6 innings for once.

I actually didn't watch any of last night's 4-2 loss to the Brewers, but apparently Wandy pitched well again but our offense (besides Eric Munson and Craig Biggio) didn't do much and the bullpen (Wheeler, this time) stunk it up again. I'm surprised the bullpen has been having so much trouble, but I wouldn't be too worried - Qualls / Wheeler / Lidge is still a great end of the pen, and they should all be fine. I hope.

Andy, did you watch the game? What did you think? Or anyone else, for that matter.

Whew - we needed that one. The Astros squeezed out a 3-2 victory over the Reds yesterday to avoid a sweep. Taylor "Double-H" Buchholz pitched very well again, with only a little wildness in the 7th forcing him to leave. Chad Qualls came on and got 5 outs in a row. Good job Quallsy. Then Lidge in the 9th...man, what a nerve-wracking experience. He can't throw his slider for a strike and he seems unwilling to pitch inside. Bad combination. He got two outs, gave up a single and a walk, and struck out Javier Valentin to end it, but maaaaan....hitters are simply laying off his slider since he can't throw it for a strike, and they're leaning out over the plate to get to his outside fastball.

I have to run, more soon.

Another loss to the Reds today. Pettitte was cruising through 3 innings but then collapsed in the 4th and 5th, giving up hits and walks galore. I was a little depressed so I decided to go on a bike ride, which ended up turning into a 2-hour marathon ride up Mt. Humphreys. By the time I was finished I was too tired to care anymore. Taylor Bucholz tries to help us avoid the sweep tomorrow.

The parents have been hitting up garage sales all over town as they're filling up their new house with stuff. I've been nominated the official move-in helper, and it's just as well, since their house is pretty cool and I need the exercise. It's a little strange having them so close (it's a 10 minute walk and 5 minute bike ride to their place) but after a few free meals I'm sure I'll appreciate them. And Flagstaff isn't THAT small of a town - it's not like we'll see each other everywhere. Just at the disc golf courses.

The NFL Draft was today, and I'm pretty excited by how my favorite team did. Nope, not the Texans - I don't want to get into the Reggie Bush / Mario Williams saga (but I do think Bush was the best player available) - but the Titans, who picked up Vince Young and LenDale White with their first two picks. Both picks are risky - Young might not translate well to the pro game (see Michael Vick) and White had a terrible combine and some drug issues - but they're both very high upside, as I think both Young and White are top-5 pick talents.

Back to work - 2 weeks until graduation.

I think you meant that Adam Everett is leading all NL shortstops with 13 RBI, Andy. 'Cause I think Mr. Lance Berkman has about 23 RBI!

I passed my oral exams on Monday, essentially guaranteeing that I'll graduate with a master's degree in Statistics in two weeks. I'd like to say they were a long, grueling ordeal, but they weren't too bad - actually kind of fun. Ok, not fun, but I guess I was well-prepared because they went pretty smoothly. I celebrated by watching the first few innings of the Pettitte - Lowe game (which Lidge ended up blowing in the 9th), and then getting pretty drunk at a friend's house.

Hey, how about Wandy Rodriguez? The kid looked good again last night; even the Dodger announcers were impressed, commenting that he has an easy delivery, throws strikes, and seems confident out there. That's all music to my ears. However, some of Wandy's confidence is probably due to the fact that our offense goes crazy whenever he starts. Yesterday was no exception - Lance Berkman absolutely CRUSHED a 2-run bomb off Odalis Perez (batting righty!), Chris Burke went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI (and I'm glad to see Burke replacing Everett at SS and not Bruntlett. Brunt's main positive is his ability to fill in capably at any defensive position during the game...plus C-Burke is batting .440!), and the rest of the offense, with the exception of poor Preston Wilson (who is 1 for his last 29), rocked.

Still, however he's doing it, Wandy is DOING IT. He's 4-0 with a 2.53 ERA and a reasonable 9/21 walk-to-strikeout ratio. I still don't think he can keep it up, but I'll admit he's looked good, and maybe a sub-4.50 ERA is a possibility.

The parents get into Flagstaff sometime tomorrow - it's the first stage of their move out here. It's good timing on their part - the weather is just starting to get nice around here.

The 'Stros get a day off, and then we start a big series with the 15-7 Cincinnati Reds, who are tearing the cover off the ball. Too bad they're going to see Oswalt, Pettitte, and Bucholz! Berkman always crushes the Reds, so look for Lance to keep rocking.

X-rays were negative on Everett's left hand. Phew. He's hitting .273 / .310 / .379 and leads the NL with 13 RBI, so he's exceeded expectations at the plate. Interestingly enough, Chris Burke is getting the start at shortstop tonight, not Bruntlett, like I had thought. Oh, and Kent, Furcal and Lofton are all sitting out tonight's game after the 14-inning affiar last night. Git 'em, Wandy.

Ok. So Lidge blew another save. So we continued to fail with runners in scoring position, missing easy opportunities to win a game. What matters is, we did enough to eke out a victory. It sure wasn't pretty — two of our runs came on errors — but the only important stat is the W. In fact, the two newest Astros, P-Dub and D-Bork, had great games. Preston needed a good game to right his funk, and Borkowksi showed that he can play with the big boys. A week after being called up to replace the injured Trevor Miller, he threw four shoutout innings while allowing only a bunt single by Lofton.

Preston had a pair of singles that led to runs — he drove in Willy T in the first and scored on a wild pitch after leading off the seventh wth a hit. On those at-bats, he toned down his home-run stroke a little and simply got a nice, solid stroke on the ball. And good things happened. He also stole a pair of bases. So despite the recent struggles, he's still a valuable commodity in left field.

Lidge was wild again today, walking the bases loaded and allowing a Kent sac fly to tie the game in the ninth. He seems reluctant to throw the slider anywhere but down in the dirt (Is he afraid of leaving one up like he did to Pujols?). He has fooled hitters to swing at the slider down (see the PIrates' Jose Castillo), but more and more are laying off it. And then there's his fastball. Like they say, a 98-mph heater is nothing if you can't locate it. Lidge needs to be able to go down and away consistently. This heart-of-the-plate stuff isn't cutting it.

Look, I'm not down on Lidge. The guy's usually lights out. Hitters will still tell you that he has some of the nastiest stuff in baseball. I don't think he's having mental problems — it's just a matter of his control. Every pitcher goes through these phases, and hopefully Lidge can work his way out of his.

Wandy makes his first start against the Dodgers, who counter with Odalis Perez tomorrow. Win it and we'll have won (or tied) every series in '06. Biggio is 4-for-11, all doubles, against Perez. Berkman 3-for-6. Nomar is 5-for-8 against Wandy in the battle of the troublesome groins.

Nieve starts against Brad Penny in an hour. Yahoo has the regular lineup posted. The parents are driving up here to catch The Will Rogers Follies. I'm going with them, so I'll miss the first few innings. Nieve's first start at The Juicebox... let's wish him the same result as Buchholz.

B'oh. Hey, at least when Lidge blows 'em, he REALLY blows 'em. No simple homer, or a doubles and a single. Oh no. That's not Lidge's style. He got Furcal to ground out, then gave up a triple to Lofton. Walked Drew on four straight pitches after he got ahead 0-2, and walked Kent after that. Nomar wasn't chasing his sliders, so Lidge blew a couple fastballs by him. The third fastball landed about 420 feet away. Lidge is fine... it's only his first blown save and loss on the year, and though he's been shaky, so has everyone. It's never a good thing to lose games, but this one doesn't bother me too much. I mean, everyone in the media is blasting us because we're winning close games and losing blowouts. This is almost a wake-up call that it's not always as easy (or lucky) as it has been the last two weeks.

Tough loss, but let's win tomorrow.

Berkman homers to DEEP left-center with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to give the Astros a slim 2-1 lead. Lidge better get ready, he's got the top of the order coming up. Damn, Lance! You so sexy!

Jack takes his oral exams today to find out if he has the kung-fu skills to defeat the dragon master. I mean... to see if he knows enough about statistics. Good luck, buddy.

In honor of Jack's big day, Pettitte has thrown 6 innings of no-hit ball. J.D. Drew hit a solo homer with one out in the sixth to break it up and tie the game at 1-1. Ausmus has two monstrous doubles, the first of which drove in Lane, who (guess what?) walked. Palmeiro hit for Pettitte (who had thrown 101) in the bottom of the seventh with two on and two out, but grounded to first. Wheeler allowed a leadoff single to Mueller in the eighth, but set down the next three batters in order. Top of the order up in the bottom of the eighth!

Sorry for the delay in my write-up of the Buchholz game on Saturday. I think I'm still stunned by it. Actually, I spent a lot of the weekend helping the parents pack for their move out to Flagstaff. I also didn't go to the Sunday afternoon game, mostly because I knew there was no way it could top Saturday's game.

My drive to The Woodlands was somewhat delayed by Friday night beer pong with some A&M friends. We'll just say I'm glad it was a night game. Barstool and I left the Wade house with plenty of time — a good thing since we hit traffic on I-45. Still got to The Juicebox an hour before first pitch (I had wanted to catch some of BP, but my hangover and my general tardiness prevented that). We walked around the stadium for a bit to soak up the atmosphere — it had been almost a year since I last visited Minute Maid. We saw all the new attractions: the '05 NL Pennant banner underneath the railroad tracks (it's black unlike all the brick red WC and NL Central banners), the new Coke sign under the scoreboard, the updated pictures of various Astros painted on random support columns (My favorite is Ensberg with his arms in the air, yelling with delight... you think he knows about these? and is he embarassed?). We got some ice cream to ward off the heat, and found our seats... row 5 of the upper deck directly behind home plate: we had a perfect view to tell if pitches were inside or outside (and lemme tell you, I was plenty of called strikes that seemed to be a foot outside). We missed the national anthem and barely sat down before the first pitch.

And then Buchholz went nuts.

Nine up, nine down to start the game. The first inning was actually kind of scary: Duffy smacked a ball hard to Everett, who had to make a good play spinning to his left to nab it. Jack Wilson then cracked a liner up the middle that Buchholz snared on one hop. It wasn't nearly the best comebacker caught by pitchers this week — there were plenty of them to go around — but it was a fine play by Buchholz to rob WIlson of a hit. And then Bay hit a bmob to center. I thought it was gone off the bat, but watched as Taveras twisted and turned his way backwards... running right, running left, finally catching the ball on Tal's Hill, a mere 420 feet away from home plate. Yikes.

But he settled down after that. Hit Duffy leading off the fourth, but induced Wilson into the double play. In the fifth, Burnitz hit a sharp single to right that Biggio really didn't have a play on. If he were for some reason at double-play depth, it would've been right to him... but oh well. Of course, no one thought at the time that it'd be the only hit Taylor would give up until the 9th inning!

Meanwhile, the offense took advantage of some sloppy defense in the first inning to get on the board. Biggio led off the Astros' first by popping out to center. I had already looked away, when Barstool elbowed me. "Wait! Oh! Ooooh!" The crowd was reacting the same way... lauhging and then cheering at Chris Duffy misplay of the easy pop fly. He had broken back initially, and it took him a few seconds to realize it was coming in shallow. Duffy's a fast litle guy, and just about had a chance to mae a diving play on it, but let it fall in at the last second. Yay.

Next, Willy T (who might be mistaken for Barstool next time out.. that's right, Barstool will soon own a Taveras jersey) slapped a ball between first and second. Castillo, who had been at double-play depth, ran back into right field and couldn't catch up to it. So two potential outs turned into two soft singles. And here comes Berkman!

And there goes Berkman. GIDP. Shit. But Ensberg comes through with a solid base knock to center with two strikes on him! 1-0 good guys! Snell was almost as good as Buchholz for the next three innings. Lane walked but was stranded. Berkman singled and Ensberg walked, but Preston struck out swinging. Thankfully, the crowd held its boos. His slump has been pretty bad over the past two weeks, but all ballplayers go through that. And I don't want to be put on the same level as Mets or Cubs fans, who boo their own players. That's not classy. Besides, with two outs, a punch out there is the exact same as if he were robbed of a home run. So the K wasn't so bad. And, for the most part, aren't bad in general.

In the fifth, Biggio hit his 611th career double, and it went where at least 90 percent of his doubles go: down the left-field line. I don't know if defenses ever put on a shift for a right-handed hitter, but Biggio almost always pulls the ball, and usually right down the line. In any case, Biggio is good. Swinging at everything, but still... he's going crazy right now. He adjusted the positioning of his hands after watching videos of at-bats in which he struggled. Since then, he's gone 16-for-26 with 4 doubles, three homers, seven RBI and eight runs. That boosted his OPS from .579 to 1.009. He's gotta be player of the week (if not for his teammate...). Willy T chopped one to third and beat out Randa's throw. First and third, one out (Buchholz K'd) and Berkman coming up!

And this time, he does his job... by crushing a ball to center. Like Bay's ball, I thought Berkman's was gone. But he just got uner it, and Duffy caught it on the warning track near the Astros' bullpen. Biggio trotted home for run number two.

Two innings later, Biggio hits a sharp line drive off lefty reliever John Grabow. It's going right toward Bay in left. "Get over his head," I shout. Bay had backpedaled, but soon turned around to play it off the scoreboard. "Alright!" I thought. "Another double for Bidge!" But I was way off... the ball snuck into the first row of the Crawford boxes for a homer! Biggio scores his third run of the game, the Astros' only ones. Wily T and Berkman hit solid singles immediately after, and Ensberg walked against reliever Salomon Torres, who's actually pretty good. Bases loaded, one out for Preston! I lean over to Barstool: "Man, this would be the perfect way to break out of his slump. Just an easy single. Or even a deep fly ball. Anything to get him started." Of course, it's a situation where a K is awful. But Preston didn't K — he grounded into the easy double play. The struggles continue (and he did draw a few boos). Personally, I was just glad he made contact.

Oh yeah, did I mention Buchholz was cruising? Duffy got on in the fourth via HBP but was erased on Wilson's GIDP. After Burnitz's single in the fifth, Buchholz was perfect! No baserunners! Nada! Craig Wilson came up in the eighth. By this time, fans were starting to realize what the kid had going. They were really cheering him on. And when Wilson smacked a liner into left, you could hear the crowd draw a collective breath... before Wilson layed out and snagged it! A great play... one of several he's made this year that Berkman (and probably Burke) couldn't have made. Great defensive play, and the crowd really appreciated the effort.

Here's where the game got intense. Keep in mind, the Astros' lead was a slim one, 3-0. Buchholz quickly gets Freddy Sanchez to ground out to Everett, who, charging, somehow manages to juggle it over his head a few times before firing it to first just in time. For a relatively easy play, Everett sure made it look tough! Next up, Nate McLouth, who strikes out on a full count!. I don't think I've ever been so nervous for a pitcher the way I was for Buchholz. I mean, I'm pretty much always nervous for Lidge, and I've seen a few gems in my day (including Julian Tavarez taking a no-hitter into the seventh... for the Cubs), but never something like this. The stadium was shaking. everyone was on their feet, willing Buchholz to get one more out

A grounder to second! Bruntlett's got it! He..... fires! ..... wait..... WHAT?!? ..... he dropped it! ...... now he's got it! ...... he fires it! ...... Berkman's got it! ....... NOOOO!!! Ump said safe!! Berkman hops off the bag in a rage! The crowd, which had been cheering like crazy, turns its ire onto the ump. Or Bruntlett, who must've felt two feet small. Booms echo through the stadium! The fireworks are going off! And not just one or two, but an entire display. It must've lasted 30 seconds! Personally, I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, either way, this is something Buchholz will remember forever (as well as most of the fans), and it really makes you realize that baseball is really a game, and sometimes crazy stuff like this happens, and it's all fun.

So shake it off, big guy! Let's just get Wilson here... the one-hitter's still inta---- Nope. Wilson singles to left. Up walks Jason Bay! This game suddenly went from a once-in-a-lifetime event to a possible extra-inning affair in a matter of seconds. Out walks Garner. He doesn't even hesitate when he points his right hand to the bullpen. Lidge.

Lidge said after the game he didn't want to pitch. It sounded weird hearing him say that... but I know what he meant. He wanted Buchholz to go all the way. But despite the crowd's boos, I think it was a smart move. Wilson's single was sharp, and you don't go for sentimentality when a game hangs in the balance. Lidge comes in and immediately gets behind Bay, something he's done quite a bit of late. The old throw-it-two-feet outside routine. But Lidge comes back to a full count and gets Bay looking to end it! Booyah.

Eight and two-thirds of two-hit ball by the youngster! That's something you don't see everyday. I had a hard time seeing his pitches from my angle, but on the replays, his curve looked unhittable. He made Bay and a few others look silly trying to put feeble swings on that curve after they already knew it was too late. And i saw a few 94 mph heaters from the big guy.

After the game, Barstool and I headed down to the dugout to see Buchholz's interview. He came hopping out of the dugout to sit on the field level like he was still walking on air. There were probably 100 or 200 people who hung around to applaud him, and we let him have it when he first came out. He was only a few feet away, and boy did he look scrawny! He's listed at 6'4" and 220 pounds, but that's rather generous. I think I'm taller (6'2") and weigh more (180). He talked for a good five minutes, interspersed with interrupting applause and chants from the crowd.

It was a great day for Buchholz, and a great day to be an Astros fan.

Our lineup for Sunday looks like:

Biggio
Taveras
Berkman
Ensberg
Lane
Burke
Ausmus
Everett
Oswalt

So Preston Wilson gets the day off. I still think he'll be fine - he's just barely missing some pitches at the moment and he's getting a lot of tough strikes called on him. There is a solid article at Astros Daily about how Biggio used video footage to break out of his slump. That's a great idea - do what you need to do to get going. Andy's at the game today, too, plus he has Oswalt on his fantasy team, so he ought to be pysched.

Our ultimate frisbee team had their awards banquet yesterday. My award: "Jack's Tears Cure Cancer. Too bad he has never cried Award." It's a spoof on a Chuck Norris joke - there are lots of them.

Andy is at the game today (and he's going tomorrow) while I'm stuck here studying for my Master's Exam on Monday. Lucky bastard. I'll check in every now and then to see how Buchholz (two H's, according to Andy) is doing.

Oh, and I caught a bit of this movie "Remo Williams" on TV the other day. A few quotes from it:

Chiun: Women should stay home and make babies. Preferably, manchild.

Chiun: Breathe out... slowly... do not gulp. If you do not breathe correctly, you do not move correctly. Pitiful. I can see the deadly hamburger has done its evil work.

Remo Williams: You know, Chiun, there are times when I really like you.
Chiun: Of course. I am Chiun.
Remo Williams: And there are times when I could really kill you.
Chiun: Good. We will practice that after dinner.

Remo Williams: Chiun, you're incredible!
Chiun: No, I am better than that.

Man, that's good stuff. Go 'Stros!

Chris Burke is pinch-hitting for Wandy Rodriguez in the bottom of the 6th with 2 on and 2 out. Another solid outing by Wandy - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 ER (a Jason Bay HR), and 4 K. He got into a jam or two but seemed to come up with a double play when he needed it. He was part of an interesting sequence of events in the 1st inning - a close pitch is called a ball on a 2-2 count, Wandy doesn't like it and may have said something to the home plate umpire Rick Reed, who the next thing you know comes running out from behind the plate to say something to Wandy. Garner doesn't like this and comes running out to Reed, has his say, and gets tossed. Oh, and the game is approximately 9 minutes old at this point. Weird. Oh, and Chris Burke struck out, but we're still up 3-1 thanks to a 2-run Ensberg HR (his 6th game in a row with a HR!) and a solo Jason Lane HR. Keep up the power.

Bah, Russ Springer. Still want him pitching higher-leverage innings, Andy? He's not bad, but he didn't 'magically' become better over the offseason. I'll take Qualls over him anyday.

Chris Capuano looked good tonight. He basically shut us down, although Brad Ausmus continues to draw walks like a man possessed. Andy Pettitte looked great (7 IP, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) but no win. He'll get his eventually.

Astros sue over Bagwell insurance claim. Wow. Actually I guess this was inevitable. What happens if we lose? What happens if we win? More on that next post.

We're 13 games into the season, and the mighty Astros sit on top of the NL Central with a 9-4 record. Inspired by similar posts at Aaron's Baseball Blog and U.S.S Mariner, I thought I might give out letter grades at each position. Here goes:

Catchers: C

Brad Ausmus still can't hit for power, but I'll take a .258 / .410 / .258 line from him any day. He's still solid defensively and can call a good game, although he is not a God in those areas as some would have you believe. I was excited when Garner went with Eric Munson as the backup catcher, since he has some pop (career .405 SLG) and bats left-handed. However, he's struggled so far, hitting .143 / .188 / .143. We don't have any better options, though, so I hope Munson turns it on and keeps his job.

1st base: A+

Lance Berkman. Lance F'ing Berkman! A .380 / .441 / .820 line. 6 HR's, 18 RBI's, 7 walks, solid defense at 1st...what a stud. His knee looks good, he's running well, he's crushing everything...keep it up, big fella.

2nd base: C

Craig Biggio is the 2nd best Astro ever, but he's a 40 year old 2nd baseman, a tough feat to pull off. He's hitting .250 / .308 / .354 with 2 walks, but what makes me nervous is he's only seeing 3.30 pitches per plate appearance. That's terrible, especially from a leadoff hitter. It seems like he's franticaly trying to reach 3,000 hits, patience at the plate be damned. Chris Burke has looked good so far, hitting .231 / .333 / .462 with 2 walks in 13 at-bats. I'd love to see him get at least a start a week at 2B.

Shortstop: B-

Adam Everett still covers a ton of ground at SS, has been swinging a hot bat lately, and he's hitting .289 / .289 / .400 on the year. But 0 walks out of the #8 hole? That's rough. If he starts drawing a few walks, he could end up being one of the better shortstops in the NL.

Third Base: A+

Morgan Ensberg, along with Berkman, has been carrying the team offensively. You like Berkman's 1261 OPS? Ensberg will see that and raise you to a 1377 OPS. He has 11 walks and 10 extra-base hits in only 44 AB's. He has made 4 errors, but not all of them have been his fault. His stance still looks a little funky, but you can't argue with the results.

Left Field: C

P-Wil strikes out a ton (5 times last night!), but there's a tradeoff - he'll hit for a lot of power. I'd like to see him shorten his swing just a bit, because if he pulls the ball at MMP, he'll hit 30 bombs, no problem. However, a .245 / .302 / .510 line isn't bad. He's only drawn 2 walks and he's 0-for-2 in stolen base attempts, so he can do better.

Center Field - B

Willy T has looked better at the plate so far, at least to my eyes. He's only drawn 3 walks, but he's worked a lot of counts (P / PA), and he's hitting a non-fluky .304. He's also 0-for-2 in stolen bases, which is weird, but I expect that to change soon. His defense has also looked good.

Right Field - B

After the last few games, Lane has raised his line to .217 / .368 / .435. The hits will come, and he's drawing walks (11 so far). I like his defense in RF, and he's just an all-around good guy.

Bench: C

No one's done much so far. Bruntlett has had a few big hits, but both Lamb and Palmeiro haven't done anything. Stay tuned.

Rotation: B

Roy Oswalt? 2-0, with a 1.99 ERA. That'll do. Andy Pettitte - 6.35 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, 5 HR allowed...yikes. Brandon Backe was off to a nice start, but he's out for six weeks. And then it's the young guns - Wandy, Bucholz, and Nieve, who have all done surprisingly well. Can they keep it up?

Bullpen: C

The Big Three (Lidge, Wheeler, Qualls) has shrunk to the Big Two so far - Qualls has been really up and down - mostly down: 9.35 ERA, 12 hits, 4 BB in 8.2 innings. Lidge and Wheeler are looking good, but our lefties (Gallo and Miller) are crappy. I'd rather see Springer, Astacio, or Jason Hirsh than either of those guys.

Coaching: B

Garner has done a nice job not overworking his pitchers yet, and he's given Biggio and Ausmus a few days off each. My only complaint is bunting with Taveras in the 1st inning!!! AAARGHH!! Don't give up outs so early on! Other than that, so far, so good.

Overall: A-

We're basically being carried by Berkman, Ensberg, and Oswalt, but that's what stars are supposed to do. Pettitte and Qualls will be fine, Biggio should bounce back a little, etc. A lot will depend on how Wandy / Bucholz / Nieve / Astacio do. I'm excited.

Hope everybody had a happy Easter. The Astros sure enjoyed the weekend, taking two of three from the D-Backs. I had a great time in Austin, and even headed up to Round Rock on Sunday. I played the disc golf course at Old Settler's Park, where the Express play at the wonderful Dell Diamond. I really wanted to check out the game, but Ruby, my black Lab, wouldn't have liked being locked in the van on a 90-degree afternoon. I heard later that Brooks Conrad hit a walk-off two-run homer to win 6-4 over the Cubs. Luke Scott also homered, Jason Hirsh started and J.T.'s favorite Astro, Brandon Puffer, got the win. Ah, baseball.

Meanwhile, in the big leagues, Berkman and Ensberg have been going crazy. Just insane. Forget the numbers; every time they step to the plate, you can SENSE that they're gong to hit the ball hard and do some damage. Obviously, these guys aren't giong to slug .800 for the year, but let's hope they can both ride their streaks for the next few weeks.

Monday' game was encouraging in more ways than one. But none more important than the team's ability to come back from deficits. After Gabe Gross' pinch-hit three-run homer off Qualls (c'mon Qualls!), our hitters rattled off 5 runs in the bottom of the seventh, capped by Lane's moonshot bomb. Also encouraging: Buchholz was money in his first start. Berkman and Ensberg (and Everett!) continued their hot hitting. Lane and Biggio improved their averages. And Lidge nailing down the save in a one-run game. Here's the play-by-play:

I left work early to catch the first pitch, only to find out that the game was blacked out in Bryan-College Station. Hmph. But Milo — like the Astros — was on top of his game tonight (At one point, he described Prince Fielder as "a Hummer in a baseball uniform").

Taylor Buchholz threw a very good game in his first career start. He gave up a monster bomb to Carlos Lee in the second inning (Milo: "Just this side of Beaumont"), but settled down to retire 14 of the next 16 batters. After a Moberg throwing error allowed J.J. hardy to reach with one out in the sixth, Geoff Jenkins hit another monster shot to right. Buchholz walked Lee, but got Koskie to ground into the double play. So in six innings, Taylor allowed only those two hits! Sure, they may have traveled a combined 1000 feet, but still... it was a very encouraging start.

The offense was steady throughout, and boy it was nice to see us respond whenever we lost the lead. Right after Lee's homer, Everett singled home Lane in the bottom of the second. After an awful first week, Everett has really started hitting. With a 2-for-4 night, he's hit in 8 of his last 19 at-bats. Who needs walks? A sac bunt later, Biggio drives Ausmus home with a grounder to go up 2-1.

After Jenkins' bomb, Ensberg made up for his error with a solo shot leading off the sixth to tie the game at 3. And even when most fans thought the game was over after Gross' three-run shot, Biggio led off the seventh with his 609th career double. Taveras reached on Koskie's throwing error which pulled Fielder off the bag. It sounded like it was a close play since Prince put up a fight, but since I couldn't watch the game, I really don't know. In any case, Berkman and Ensberg followed with RBI singles, and after a Preston Wilson strikeout (his 4th out of 5 on the day!), Lane follows with an absolute BOMB off Matt Wise. I finally saw the highlights on SportsCenter, and Lane was PUMPED as he rounded first, high-fiving Cruz and pumping his fist. What a clutch hit! In the playoffs last year, I remember hearing an announcer quoting hitting coach Gary Gaetti as saying that Lane could lead the team in homers in 2006. Boy, that's a scary thought...

Wheeler got in trouble in the eighth, giving up a single to Weeks and a double to Fielder that fell three feet shy of entering the Astros bullpen. Yikes. But Lane made a nice sliding grab of Moeller's liner, and Wheeler got Bill Hall swinging. Lidge allowed a two-out single to Jenkins, upsetting my nerves a little bit, but got Lee on a grounder to end it. What a game!

What's that old saying about momentum? Something about tomorrow's starting pitcher? I believe we got the Wizard going tomorrow. And I have a feeling Wilson will get a big hit off Davis.

Two wins and 18 runs later, it looks like our offense is back on track. Morgan Ensberg and Lance Berkman continue to be the big threats, but Jason Lane, Adam Everett, and Willy Taveras all provided some big hits in the last two days. However, the most impressive performance was probably that of Wandy Rodriguez on Saturday. I watched the game and Wandy looked solid, consistently locating a 90-92 mph fastball and occasionally dropping in a big breaking ball. Only a few balls were hit hard off him, both by Damion Easley. If he keeps pitching like that...well, he probably won't, but if he does, that would be awesome.

My one (minor) complaint is that Eric Munson needs to start hitting! Garner has shown he's willing to give someone other than Brad Ausmus some playing time, and of course Munson has responded by hitting .143 with 5 strikeouts in 14 at-bats. Also, I have to give Ausmus some props - I don't know if he's been reading Moneyball or Baseball Prospectus or what, but he has a .400 OBP, with 6 walks in only 28 AB's. If you're going to slug .250, at least draw some walks. Nice going, Brad.

We start a 3-game series with everyone's sleeper team, the Brewers, today:

Taylor Bucholz vs. David Bush
Roy Oswalt vs. Doug Davis
Andy Pettitte vs. Chris Capuano

Go 'Stros!

According to Astros.com and a few links from Astros Daily (both of which have good message boards, by the way), Brandon Backe will miss a minimum of six weeks with a right elbow sprain, at which point he may or may not return. Zeke Astacio was called up from AAA to take his roster spot.

Shit. It's not like Backe is a great starter - in his first full season as a starter last year, he had a 4.76 ERA and an uninspiring 67 / 97 walk-to-strikeout ratio, but at least he was a guy we could pencil in every 5th day, he just turned 28 so he's still improving, and he was off to a nice start this year (2.25 ERA in 8 innings.) So what does this mean? Well, it makes this even more of a rebuilding year. I'm not saying we couldn't sign Clemens on May 1 and go on another crazy run to make the playoffs, but at least until then 3/5 of our rotation is Wandy Rodriguez, Taylor Bucholz,and Fernando Nieve, with Astacio as long relief. I'm excited to see how all those guys do, but here's a hint: they probably will not all do well. They're young, and most young pitchers have a rocky start when they first make it up to the Show. Still, it will be neat to have a sneak peek at what our rotation could look like a year or two down the road. The four guys I mentioned plus Jason Hirsh should all be contending for rotation spots in '07. Here's their chance to show off.

We lost to the D-Backs 5-1 last night. Brandon Webb got groundball after groundball, and Andy Pettitte struggled a little bit, allowing 7 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs (2 earned, 1 scored off a Biggio error). I thought he looked ok, getting a lot of groundballs like Webb, but more of Pettitte's found their way into the outfield for base hits. Jason Lane had a few nice at-bats, getting 2 hits, but other than that the offense was pretty quiet except for an Adam Everett RBI double.

Today: Wandy vs. Claudio Vargas.

Astros Notes:

According to the Houston Chronicle Fernando Nieve will start against the Diamonbacks on Friday, as Brandon Backe flies back to Houston to get his elbow examined. In case Backe is out for a long time we've got Nieve or Zeke Astacio (6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K at AAA so far) ready to go.

People on various Astros message boards are clamoring for Jason Lane to be benched. To which I say: small sample size, bitches. Lane has already drawn 10 walks this season in 29 AB after drawing 30 all last year. His increased patience (it doesn't hurt that teams are probably pitching around him to get to Brad Ausmus either) will help him a ton in the long run. He'll hit. His OPS (635) is still higher than Willy T, Ausmus, or Everett. By the way, Ausmus, Everett, and Taveras have combined for 0 extra base hits in 89 at-bats so far. Yikes.

The Astros are in town (or as close as they can get) this weekend for a series against the D-Backs. All the games will be on TV here, so I get to watch them all at my local sports bar. Woohoo!

Bad news: Backe hurt his throwing elbow in Game Two of today's doubleheader against the Giants.

We split the two games, losing 5-3 to Matt Morris before Oswalt shut down the Bonds-less lineup to win 8-0. Berkman hit a pair of bombs in Game Two, the first time he's ever hit one from each side of the plate. Preston didn't hit any homers today, so Berkman may have hit one just for him:

"I'm trying to put a little pressure on him... he's been right on my heels," Berkman said.

The Wizard allowed a bunch of baserunners but he worked out of every jam and was able to keep runs off the board. He came out in the ninth for the shutout, but Biggio dropped a potential double-play relay. Roy finished with 8 1/3 scoreless innings for his first win at Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T Park.

The second game was really a team effort. Everyone in the lineup got a base knock, which was good news for guys like Lane and Ausmus. Boy it felt good watching those Giants pitchers walk off the mound shaking their heads.

I have to say that I really like Preston Wilson in our lienup. They guy is a gamer on every side of the ball — his two highlight catches on Tuesday showed his defensive ability. The man's not afraid to crash into a wall or get dirty — something I hope doesn't hurt him later in the year. And he really looks strong at the plate. He's got a very active swing, especially around the legs (It looks like he's popping his left knee out of its socket every time he swings!). But he can wallop the ball, which is great from a corner outfielder.

This was our only scheduled trip to Frisco, so we'll have to make up the third game of the series in May when both teams have an off day.

Now, on to Arizona. Pettitte versus Brandon Webb on Friday and Wandy versus Claudio Vargas on Saturday. After that, our rotation gets a little hazy, especially with Backe's potential injury. Nieve got the last two outs of Game Two tonight, but he might be able to make a start. And Zeke Astacio is at Round Rock, ready for a call-up.

Let's hope Backe's okay. He mentioned the words "Tommy-John surgery," which is a scary, scary sign.

Biggio, Ensberg, and Ausmus all get days off today. Our starting lineup is:

Burke
Taveras
Lamb
Berkman
Wilson
Lane
Munson
Everett
Backe

Lamb hitting 3rd looks strange, but he has good numbers against Morris for his career. I'd like to see Lane and Munson get a little USC offense going. Let's hope Brandon Backe can keep the ball over the plate.

Holy Toledo what a win!

Last July, Eric Bruntlett hit a 3-run homer in the top of the 14th inning to give the Astros a much-needed win in Washington. The starters of that game? John Patterson and Wandy Rodriguez. This afternoon, in creepy, deja vu fashion, Bruntlett did it again. Patterson and Wandy both started and allowed three runs before handing it over to the bullpen. Both closers hiccuped and gave up a solo shot — ex-Astro Daryle Ward took Lidge deep in the top of the 10th, and Morgan Ensberg went opposite-field off Chad Cordero to extend the game in the bottom half of the inning. That set up Bruntlett, who has a penchance for heroics when the game is on the line. Sure, maybe not as much as Chris Burke... but he's a player all the same.

After Biggio doubled off Mike Stanton, Taveras bunted him over and Berkman and Mo were intentionally walked. Bruntlett hit a shallow fly to right-center that centerfielder Brandon Watson caught flat-footed. Biggio saw that he'd have to deliver a perfect strike, and took off for the home. The throw was high and late, and the Astros finished their homestand with a 5-2 record. Not bad for being outscored 36-35 in those seven games.

Chad Qualls deserves some credit for getting back on track. After blowing up in Saturday's loss to the Nats, he pitched 2 scoreless innings to get the win. We'll need Qualls at his best to stay in the playoff race.

So it's off to the West Coast where we'll face the Giants and the D-Backs. Buchholz gets his first start tomorrow against veteran Matt Morris, who's 9-10 with a 3.53 ERA against the Astros. The matchups:

Tuesday: T. Buchholz v. M. Morris
Wednesday: B. Backe vs. M. Cain
Thursday: R. Oswalt vs. J. Wright

Last year we started hot at home (5-1, I think?), before collapsing on the road (2-21 to start the year!). Let's hope we get off on the right foot against the G-men.

I went down to Tucson yesterday for my last ultimate frisbee tournament as a college student - Arizona Sectionals. We played really well - the team has improved a ton since the beginning of the year. We lost to U of Arizona's A Team (they're very good, ranked maybe #20 or #30 in the country), beat their B team, then played U of New Mexico. In a tournament about a month ago they absolutely destroyed us 13-1. We came out hot this time, and led 5-1 before they knew what had hit them. Then we got complacent and they came back to lead 7-6. Then we went on a run and finally ended up leading 12-11. We have two chances to win it that point - I drop one pass I should have had, and one our guys gets footblocked (!!) on a huck that probably would have won it. They score. 12-12. We have two chances that point to win it. We turn it over both times. I almost get a layout D; they score on the next throw. Heartbreaking loss. We played ASU next, but were completely out of gas, and let our rookies play most of the game. We lost.

Andy Pettitte gave up a leadoff HR to Marlon Byrd (on a 0-2 cutter that didn't get inside far enough), but then looked good against the next 3 hitters, getting a K and two groundouts to the left side. Biggio struck out but then Willy T drew a walk (YEAH!) but got doubled off 1st when Berkman flew out to deep left-center. Keep drawing those walks, Willy.

Preston Wilson singles with 1 out in the 2nd, then gets thrown out trying to steal 2nd. Jason Lane draws his 6th walk of the season (the hits will come, Jason, stay patient), and Brad Ausmus hits his tried-and-true weak dribbler to SS to end the inning.

Pettitte gets two quick outs in the top of the 3rd, then Marlon Byrd draws a 10 or 11 pitch AB walk (it's good to see him doing well, his is an interesting story), Royce Clayton lays down a perfect bunt, but Vidro grounds out to 3rd on the 1st pitch. Keep getting those groundballs to the left side of the infield, Andy.

Haha, what an inning - Adam Everett leads off the bottom of the 3rd with a routine ground ball to the SS, but he hustles down the line and Clayton throws it away. Everett on 2nd, 0 out. Pettitte tries to bunt him over, but Drese throws a wild pitch and Everett gets to 3rd. On a 3-2 count, Pettitte singles through the right side! Biggio pops out to 1st on a hanging breaking ball. Taveras gets down 0-2, then hits a hard ground ball up the middle that Drese kicks and then gets through the left side! Pettitte gets to 3rd. Lancey Lance strikes out on a pitch in the dirt. Ensberg singles to LF! Taveras scores from 1st when Soriano bobbles the ball!! YEAH! Preston (who I really like to watch play, he brings a lot of energy, seems like a great fit for the Astros) strikes out. 3-1 Astros!

WOW! What a finish - we're up 6-5 in the 9th, Brad Lidge gets 2 quick outs, then gets ahead of Jereny Hermida 0-2. He walks him. Then he gets ahead of Miguel Cabrera 0-2. He singles through the left side. Then he gets ahead of Josh Willingham 0-2. Willingham works it back to 3-2, hits a little bloop ground ball past the mound and Adam Everett BAREHANDS it and throws to Berkman to get Willingham by a step!!! YEAH!!!

Whew. Chad Qualls gave up the 5th run, Wheeler looked great, and Lidge made me damn nervous, but it's a win.

Through 6 innings we're up 6-4 - 1st inning 2-run HR's by Lance Berkman and Preston Wilson off of Brian Moehler did most of the damage (Biggio has 2 hits and Ensberg is 0-for-0 with 3 walks). Wandy went 5, so he's in line for the win, but he did not pitch very well (5 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 2 K) - he was lucky to get 3 double plays turned behind him. Hopefully Qualls / Wheeler / Lidge shut the door in the 7th / 8th / 9th. Jason Lane could use a hit. Oh, and Eric Munson is starting - maybe he'll become Wandy's regular catcher?

Yikes. In the first Astros game that I've watched in quite a while (by the way, Andy, why did you get MLB.TV if all the Astros games are blacked out for you?) Andy Pettitte got hammered and our offense did very little again. Pettitte's line (4.2 IP, 13 H, 10 R (7 earned), 1 BB, 3 K, 3 HR) was fugly - he was just way too hittable, leaving fastballs over the middle of the plate and hanging a few breaking balls. I'm sure he'll bounce back, but it wasn't pretty. I'm actually more worried about the offense than I am about Pettitte. Preston Wilson and Jason Lane are both 0-for-2006, we have 2 extra base hits in as many games...ah well. It's early, and at least we've drawn 7 walks. Wandy vs. Brian Moehler tonight. Let's see some offense.

Backe's back is bothering him, and Garner has already said he might miss a start. It's never a good thing when a starting pitcher begins the season with an injury, but on the positive side, we can just move Wandy and Buchholz up a start to give Backe some extra rest. Backe's sore back may also have accounted for his terrible outings at the end of spring training. Backe will undoubtedly be a huge factor in the team's success this season. I don't expect a 3.50 ERA or 15 wins, but he needs to have the best season of his young career if our team wants to have a shot at the postseason.

By the way, I'm don't really buy into the whole "one-run game" stat, but a team that knows how to win close games is usually a playoff team. The Indians' run differential was much better than the White Sox's, but the White Sox won a ton of close games, and the Indians lost a bunch — many of them to their Central rivals. So last night's 1-0 win, while not particularly encouraging, can be seen as a good sign. I have a feeling we're going to need to win a lot of close, low-scoring games.

Pettitte vs. ex-Cub Sergio Mitre tonight.

Roy O and the Astros beat Dontrelle Willis and the Marlins 1-0 on — get this — a wild pitch. That's it. No home runs, no RBI... a wild pitch. Interesting start to the season, but a win's a win, and we'll sure as heck take it.

I didn't get to watch the first 5 innings because I was working and my mlb.tv account had it blocked out. Apparently I missed a long celebration of the NL pennant, and a particularly sentimental cheering of the great Jeff Bagwell.

The game itself was great. I love watching pitchers' duels like this... every at-bat becomes so meaningful, so gut-wrenching. Roy and Dontrelle each brought their A-games. Like I said, I didn't catch the first half of the ballgame (I was following on ESPN's GameCast). But I did notice a few positive things from the offensive side in the later innings. First, both Everett and Taveras looked relaxed and patient at the plate. I hope Gary Gaetti worked with them a lot over the winter to improve their plate discpline. How many times did they swing at pitches in the dirt last year? Everett, I think, has worked on his stance. He seems to be keeping his weight back more, and his left leg is little straighter. His stance is wider and a little bit more open, too, which makes me think he's trying for more power... It appears as if he's trying to emulate Ensberg's stance, although not nearly to the degree Mo takes it.

I wouldn't worry about our one run tonight. WIllis was the Cy Young runner-up last year, and, despite his terrible team, he is a very good pitcher, especially in the first half. Berkman and Ensberg each took a pair of walks, so that's a plus. Biggio notched his 605th career double, a liner down the left-field line with two outs that eventually led to our only run of the ballgame. Wilson through Everett didn't do squat, going 0-for-14. Jack and I have deicded that Lane and Wilson are actualy identical twins that were separated at birth. They're so similar: high K's, low BB's, but can hit the ball to Beaumont. I just hope they decide to stagger their slumps. They both will get into funks at some point during the season, and if they do it at the same time, that's four bad hitters in a row.

Oh, and Lidge allowed a leadoff walk (he rubbed his right hand a couple times, as if he couldn't get a grip on the ball), but struck out Miggy Cabrera with a slider in the dirt and got Mike Jacobs to roll into the DP. Go Lidge.

Hate to say it, but this was pretty much an extension of spring training. This Marlins team couldn't win a minor league championship. (As a side note, how much FUN would it be to play for the Marlins right now? No expectations, no pressure. Of course, with Girardi around, there's no facial hair, but this pack of 20-year-olds is going to have a blast this year, 60 wins or not.) But seriously, we caught a break opening with the Marlins. Pettitte and Backe should take advantage. And the Nationals' lineup this weekend won't be a whole lot better.

Speaking of which, I hope the Astros can take advantage of their fairly weak schedule to start the year. After the Nats, we head out West to face the Giants and D-backs (we miss Brandon Webb), then we return home for the Brewers, Pirates and Dodgers. We finish April in Berkman's favorite ballpark, Cincinnati. The Giants, D-Backs and Brewers could all contend this year, but right now the Astros are better than all of them.

Let's go, Pettitte!