As they started the series against the Phillies in Houston there was a lot of excitement. Most of that excitement had to do with seeing Hunter Pence and Roy Oswalt in Minute Maid Park again. No one expected much in terms of wins, least of all me. I hoped for one singular win. I prayed the Astros wouldn’t look ridiculous against the best team in baseball. Turns out God was listening.

For the second straight night, the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies. I’d say lightening definitely struck twice. And it was enough for Houston to win the series. Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll all see if they have it in them to sweep the boys from Philly.

I think the best part of these two wins is they came from excellent outings from the mound by two former Phillies backed with excellent hitting. Toinght JA Happ showed us again that perhaps his time down in AAA at OKC paid off. He threw 6 innings allowing 4 hits, 1 earned run (a homer) while walking 4 and striking out 4. This is a different Happ than we saw earlier in the season. It’s a shame this pitcher showed up so late in the season. But he’s now 2-0 against his former team and 2-1 since he returned from OKC.

Brad Mills was happy with Happ’s outing as well. “JA did a real good job of keeping his emotions under control. He stayed down in the zone which I thought was outstanding.”

When the bullpen came in, they did exactly what they’ve done well this second half of the season by allowing only 1 hit between Fernando Rodriguez and David Carpenter, only 1 earned run and striking out 6. It was a great night of pitching for the Astros. We’d all gotten used to the bullpen blowing 4 run leads. I can’t say that lately. They’ve held their own and games since the All-Star Break.

I can’t not mention the hitting tonight as well. Two batters really stood out tonight. Clint Barmes hit a 3 run homer in the 4th to put the Astros up 5-1. He was 2-4 with 2 run, and 3 RBIs on the night. then JB Shuck came into the game when Jason Michaels injured himself on an amazing catch in right field. Shuck made his presence known as he was 3-3 with 1 run as well.

And defense! I’ve complained about defense this season, but tonight? I have NO complaints. In the 2nd Jason Michaels made a diving catch in right field that bent his hand backwards ending up breaking a left metacarpal badly enough that he’ll require surgery and his season is done. Odds are he has played his last game in an Astros uniform. Then JD Martinez made an outstanding catch at the LF wall in the 5th when the Phillies had bases loaded and two outs. Definitely a pivotal play to keep the lead.

Now my question is this – can lightening strike three times? I can’t say no. I would have NEVER bet the Astros would win two of these games, but now it seems that anything is possible. The Astros are holding their count to 100 losses at 3 to go as they took their record to 51-97 with only 14 games to play this year.

I have to say this – this Astros team lately? They’re playing some really fun baseball.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

For the second straight day at PNC Park in Pittsburgh the Astros and the Pirates battled in the rain. Yesterday, the Pirates came out on top 3-1, but today roles were reversed as the Astros took the game 4-1…in the rain.

After both teams retired batters 1, 2, 3 in the first, the second inning saw Carlos Lee single to right field and then *gasp* steal second base. Really? What has gotten into Carlos these days? Can we bottle it and make him drink it again before next season? That was his fourth steal this year for those keeping count. So then Brian Bogusevic singled to right getting Carlos to third. Next up? My favorite – Jimmy Paredes, who grounded into a force that found Bogie out at second, but allowed Carlos to score. The Astros were on the board.

Clint Barmes would then strike out, followed by Humberto Quintero doubling on a fly ball to center to send Jimmy home to put the Astros up 2-0 halfway through the second. Brett Myers finished the inning striking out.

The Pirates response? Neil Walker singled, but was caught stealing second base. Why haven’t runners learned that when Q is behind the plate, stealing is not wise? Ryan Doumit hit his 8th homer of the year, this one to right center field. to put the Pirates on the board, 2-1. That would be all the run productiont his game would see from the Bucs.

There was hope for another run for Houston in the top of the seventh when Paredes singled, and Barmes singled sending Paredes to 2nd and Q ground into a force out for Barmes but sending Parendes to 3rd. Myers came up next and managed to reach on a fielder’s choice with Paredes attempting the squeeze play and failing. It was painful to watch!

There would be more runs…and they all came in the 9th. Bogie walked, Jimmy doubled, Barmes struck out, Q singled allowing Bogie and Jimmy to both score. 4-1 Astros. Then it was just wait, play good defense and pray. Mark Melancon came in and got the save, his 17th of the season, preserving Myers 4th win.

I liked Brett Myers tonight, and there haven’t been many games I could say that this season. In his 7.2 innings pitched, he allowed 4 hits, 1 earned run (a home run) and threw 6 strikeouts. He threw 92 pitches in those 7.2 innings and 65 of them were strikes. I like that. Maybe missing a start was his key? Or maybe baby Kace is a good luck charm for him? Coming after him in relief was Wesley Wright. I like this kid. I like him a LOT. Tonight it was one batter and he walked him, but still, I think the kid’s got good stuff.

I’m not complaining about tonight’s win at all, although I thought it was a boring game. Boring games can be good sometimes. I think the 9,000+ people at PNC park tonight were just glad it wasn’t a marathon game. I’m sure they were ready to get out of the rain.

So, my standout of the night? Jimmy Paredes. He was 3-4 with 2 runs, and an RBI. He was pretty much half of the offense tonight. There wasn’t a lot of offense from the Astros in this game, but it was just enough to get the W. Along with Paredes, Barmes and Q contributed a great deal as they each were 2-4 at the plate.

The Astros are now 48-94 on the season and still chasing 100 losses with 20 games left to play.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Last night was exactly why I love baseball. When the odds are against you, when your fans have already assumed a loss and left the ballpark, when no one thinks the last place team will come back from trailing 5-2 anything is possible. Brian Bogusevic made Astros fans believe just a wee bit more that this team can be good again.

After Brett Myers struggled early on against the Cubs (7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 SOs, 1HR), it didn’t look very promising. Despite excellent bat swinging by Jimmy Paredes (2-4, 1RBI), JB Shuck (2-4, 2R), and Clint Barmes (2-3, 1R) my hopes weren’t high. In fact, the most exciting part of the game through 8 innings was Fox Sports Houston Announcer and former Astros pitcher, Jim Deshaies catching a foul ball in the 2nd, off the bat of Ryan Dempster. It was really not that exciting of a game.

The energy level drastically changed in the bottom of the ninth inning. With the Cubs leading 5-2 and historical “Astros Killer” Carlos Marmol on the mound, Jimmy Paredes lined out to left field. Shuck followed with a single to right field. It was at this point that many Houston fans rolled their eyes at the thought of hope. After all, how many times have the Astros had a chance this season only to watch it fly past?

Then Marmol threw a wild pitch allowing Shuck to head to 2nd and Barmes connected for a line drive to left sending him to 1st. Then Matt Downs, pinch hitting for Quintero walked. The adrenaline was rising at this point. The chat on twitter was feverish as fans could taste hope. The bases were loaded. Up next in the order? Pitcher Aneury Rodriguez.

Now Brad Mills makes some odd decisions from time to time that we all question, but his putting Brian Bogusevic in to pinch hit for the pitcher was what anyone would have done at that point. Then the unthinkable happened to the worst team in baseball. With the count at 2-2 and 1 out on the board, Brian Bogusevic hit only his 2nd home run of his major league career, but the most exciting one so far. A pinch hit walk-off grand slam. Astros win 6-5. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Wow, was all I could think, speak or write. It was quite the moment. It epitomized why I love baseball. One half inning of ball changed the whole game. One batter made all the difference. One ball hit 423 feet and an unexpected team wins. Man, I love this game. Bogie himself said it beautifully on twitter -

Perfectly stated.

Now, I would be remiss not to point out that Aneury Rodriguez got his first major league win last night. And he did it by retiring only 2 pitchers. Congratulations, Aneury, but I think you got upstaged last night and I would guess, you’re probably okay with that!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Whenever there’s a meeting on the mound of any kind, my mother jokes that they’re discussing where to have dinner, while I run the scene from “Bull Durham” through my head. Certainly they’re discussing a cursed glove, what to get Jimmy and Millie as a wedding gift and the fact that Nuke’s dad is in the stands, right?

So, this little pow-wow of just Clint Barmes and Bud Norris the other day, what do you think it was about? I imagine Clint saying something like, “When this all shakes out, Bud, you might be the most veteran guy left.”

What do you think?

Photo Courtesy of Jesse Gonzalez

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Last night in St. Louis the Houston Astros didn’t just lose. They did it with flair.

J.A. Happ had another rough start last night as he gave up 7 hits and 6 runs and walked 3 hitters in a mere 4.2 innings. At one point Houston fans had to be a little bit wishful that MLB had a mercy rule as it was painful to watch them get scored on time and time again. It wasn’t just the pitching although that was a major part of it. The outfield missed several defensive plays to contribute to the Cardinals run count.

In typical fashion, the Astros fought back. In fact, they were prolific hitters with 11 hits in the game. The problem offensively was once again their inability to make those hits productive. If this team manages to improve in any one area through the rest of this season, as much as I’d love to see it be the pitching, plating runners would be near the top of my list.

The offense was not without a few standouts as Jose Altuve, who fans on twitter have taken to calling #PocketJesus for his hitting prowess and size, went 3-4 with two doubles and a single. And then in the top of the 8th inning with the bases loaded, Carlos Lee found the elevation his hitting has been missing and sent one over the left field wall for his 16th career grand slam. It was a moment that gave hope to Houston fans, but that hope was dashed shortly thereafter as Clint Barmes grounded into a force out and Jose Altuve was robbed by an outstanding catch by Colby Rasmus. The ninth inning would see no more run production, ending the game with another Houston loss (10-5).

I’ve tried all season long to look at the bright side, celebrate the small achievements of the Astros and keep a positive spin. Last night it was almost impossible to keep my chin up. At one point I thought, “Why don’t we just trade them all!”

The Astros will get three more chances against the Cardinals who are currently tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the lead in the NL Central. I won’t hold my breath and hopefully I can see the silver linings as this series presses on in what has come to feel, for Houston fans, like the longest baseball season known to man.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

It's time for Astros' GM, Ed Wade, to start wheeling and dealing.

As the trade deadline looms – it’s less than six weeks away – I’ve been thinking about what I’d do if I were Ed Wade. Eddie, are you listening? Now, the Astros are in an interesting situation since we’re not sure who the technical owner of the team will be at that point and whether Jim Crane will be calling the shots or if Drayton McLane will still be looming in the hallways. I’m going to assume for the sake of my sanity that Crane’s in charge when the decisions are made.

The Astros have only a few players that would bring any real value in a trade right now. I figure the most worthwhile, in no particular order, are Wandy Rodriguez, Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Jeff Keppinger, Clint Barmes, and possibly Brett Myers. So who would I keep and who would I trade? The decision is quite easy for me.

KEEP

I wouldn’t mess with Hunter Pence. Yes, he’s worth a lot in a trade deal especially with how he’s played lately, but the thing is, the young guy you know is better than the young guy(s) you don’t know. Pence is only 28 and we know he’s good, so why would they trade away good future performance for the hope of prospects who may or may not perform someday? Hunter’s a crowd favorite, a leader on the team, and invaluable to this club right now. The smart thing for the Astros to do is to offer Pence a hefty long term contract. Lock him in. They should make Hunter one of the players they build the future team around.

» Continue reading “Eddie Can You Hear Me? What Astros I’d Trade.”

When you’re the team at the bottom of the NL Central and you’re playing the team that leads the NL Central you don’t expect miracles. You go out and just play the best ball that you can. Tonight at Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros did just that.

Bud Norris had fans and announcers whispering the word “no-no” as he threw 6 2/3 innings of no hit baseball with the well played defense of his teammates. Studly Budly is known for being a strike out guy, but not tonight. He had 3 straight lead off walks (all followed by double plays) and only 2 Ks on the night, but by keeping his pitches low he was able to get lots of ground balls in play and economize his pitches.

Brad Mills was impressed with his starter tonight. “You can’t say enough about Bud. I mean, he was absolutely outstanding. The big thing there, I think, tonight is that he really kept the ball down on his own. Eleven groundball outs was really huge for him.” It was huge for the team as a whole as well.

The hit that ruined the possible no-hitter? A solo homerun by Lance Berkman that went just out of the reach of Hunter Pence and over the right field wall. The Cards would get only one other hit the whole night – a double by Pujols in the ninth, but the Redbirds never could get any momentum going and the Astros were able to keep them at bay. » Continue reading “Did the Astros Just Beat the Cardinals? Yep, They Sure Did!”

Friday night the Astros fell apart against the Diamondbacks leaving hope-filled fans devastated. Losing a 6 run lead was a painful thing to watch and losing that 7-6 crushing. Follow that with a painful beating where the fans had no hope from almost the very start. Saturday night’s final score? Diamondbacks 11 and Astros 3. Yep, painful.

Is Sunday the day that the Houston Astros find a little balance? After going out Friday night with guns blazing they fell apart. On Saturday they were stagnant until a too-little-too-late rally in the ninth. I’m hoping that today is the day they figure out that slow and steady wins the race. Pitch like we know you can, hit consistently, stop ground balls when they come right to you, make good throws, run the bases aggressively, and please-oh-please could someone hit a long ball? » Continue reading “Astros Sunday – Is this the day?”

There’s a lot of hype about today. In case you’ve been without digital communication for the past 24 hours, there’s a big news afoot in Houston. Today a formal press conference is being held to announce that Drayton McLane is selling the Astros to a group led by Houston businessman Jim Crane. My question is, does today really matter?

If you’re on twitter, do a quick search on #Astros and more than half of the posts you’ll see today will be excitement about the announcement. Where have these people been? It’s Jim Crane. It’s always been Jim Crane. McLane told us last week it was Jim Crane and that they were just dotting i’s and crossing t’s. So why all the excitement?

When you’re an Astros fan I suppose you find every reason you can to cheer. Saturday afternoon when Carlos Lee got his 2000th career hit, I cheered. Yesterday when Clint Barmes got his first home run of the season, I cheered. When my waiter brought me my chili cheese dog at the game yesterday, I cheered. What can I say, desperate times and all…

So I supposed it’s exciting that there’s a press conference today. I’ll try to get myself worked up about it, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s not that I’m not glad the Astros are getting new ownership. In fact, I’m thrilled that the face of that ownership has a baseball background and truly loves the game. That puts him a step above the current owner from the start. I just don’t have the false hope that the team changing hands will change anything this season. It’s going to take time for the change of hands to really occur and then there won’t be much season left anyway. So although I’ll smile when the deal is done, I’ll save my cheering for when they start making real and impactful changes.

What do you think about Jim Crane and what do you think his first change will be? Should Ed Wade be looking for a new job?

This morning someone asked me, “Can the Astros be fixed?” It’s a good question. The club is going on a handful of years of less than stellar performance, so it stands to reason that some repairs and renovations are needed and I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone. But can it be done? I think it can. Will it happen soon? I don’t think so.

Why do I think the Astros can be fixed? There are several reasons.

#1 -The farm system has been struggling in recent years and although it’s not in tip-top shape as of right now, there are indicators that things are moving in the right direction. If you look just at AAA OKC, you’ll find a few pretty decent players. Jordon Lyles is the guy that’s gotten the most press and he definitely has big league potential. There’s one heck of an arm on the RHP and he’s been performing rather well in OKC (with the exception of yesterday’s rather rocky start). As April ended he was 1-2 with a 3.76 ERA with 19 Ks and 6 BBs in five starts. He threw 13 consecutive scoreless in innings in just two of those starts and he leads the club in innings pitched. Then there’s Koby Clemens. Koby’s .284 BA, 5 2B, 5 HR, 18 RBI in 20 games in April are nothing to sneeze at. He leads the Redhawks in homeruns and RBIs while playing mostly at 1B this season. Then there’s Carlos Corporan who has managed to throw out 7 of 12 attempted basestealers and has only had 1 error in 17 games that he’s caught this year. So there’s some talent up the road in Oklahoma. And if you know anything about minor league ball it’s that talent in the farm system is imperative if you want your big league club to improve. So although there needs to be more money siphoned into the draft budget and it still needs building, the farm system is improving. This is a great indicator that the Astros can and will improve with time.

#2 – Brad Mills and Ed Wade are not afraid of making changes and making them quickly. We’ve seen it all season as he keeps tweaking the lineup, the starting rotation and the bullpen. For example, Angel Sanchez is still getting playing time even with the return of Clint Barmes because Sanchez earned it while Barmes was on the DL. Also, despite Mills’ hopes that Nelson Figueroa would improve on last year’s reliever stats when moved to the starting rotation, he didn’t and Mills didn’t hesitate to move him back to the bullpen. After a couple of poor showings as relief, the team designated Figgy for assignment yesterday and is bringing up Sergio Escalona to fill his void. Escalona will join Abad as the only other lefty in the bullpen. The bullpen will, I’m certain, see more changes in the near future as it’s been a major downfall in recent weeks. At least 8 games have been lost specifically because of the failed efforts of relief and closing pitchers. This is an area that needs major renovation and fortunately is an area that is relatively easy to change on the fly during the regular season, so there’s potential improvement that can come from the bullpen.

#3 – Completion of the sale of the team is reportedly imminent. According to KTRK, the ABC Houston affiliate, all that’s left for Drayton McLane and Jim Crane to do in order to finalize a deal that will result in the Astros selling for an estimated $680 million is to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Bear in mind that even when that part’s over, the MLB owners will have to approve Crane, and the word on the street is that it won’t necessarily be smooth sailing. We can anticipate a couple more months with McLane at the helm. But, a sale is still on the horizon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – with a new owner will probably come big changes. Will we see those this season? It’s not likely as I expect he’ll get some input from Ed Wade as far as any acquisitions Wade’s wanted but hasn’t had budget approval for, so we’ll likely see a small amount of movement in the 2011 season, but I think if Crane’s in place before the draft we could see aggressive spends in that department. It won’t result in overnight wins, but will effect the longterm health of the club.

So be patient Astros fans. The team will get there. It won’t be this season and it may not be next season either, but there’s change a-coming. The Astros can, and hopefully will be fixed.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Reporter for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.