In a season that has been littered with blown saves by the Astros bullpen, they finally got to see how the other half lives. With a Carlos Lee double, a Chris Johnson double, a Jason Michaels single, some help from a wild pitch, and a Matt Downs pinch hit homer – the Astros rocketed to a 5-3 win over the Rangers in the ninth inning. It seemed a bit of poetic justice actually, after the Rangers stole a game-long lead in the 11th on Tuesday night.

So there was no sweep in Arlington and for that, Astros fans are thankful. In fact, that win put the ‘Stros at 3-3 for their roadtrip and broke a three game losing streak. It was about time. But it seems every win lately starts the talk of “is this the turnaround?” as Astros fans anticipate the second half comeback the team’s been famous for year after year.

I’ve got news for you. » Continue reading “Wait- Which Bullpen Blew a Save?”

I went to Minute Maid Park Thursday night full of hope. The Astros had pulled a win out of thin air against the Cardinals the night before led by the great pitching efforts of Bud Norris and I suddenly believed in miracles.

I thought Happ would pitch well. I thought the Astros would finally find a way to score on some of those numerous hits they keep getting. I thought Carlos Lee would hit into the Crawford Boxes. I thought they could win the series. I thought wrong.

It wasn’t all miserable. I had a helmet sundae. I was there with a friend who, despite being a Brit who was raised on rugby, has become a huge baseball fan. I had great seats, so there’s that. Oh, I was supposed to be talking about the game though, wasn’t I?

The upside of the game was Hunter Pence, once again. First, it has to be said that Hunter’s got some scruff going on his face. I don’t know if it’s a superstitious thing or if it will be around for much longer, but…wow…I hope so!

Hunter’s hot, and this time I mean at the plate. With two hits last night he extended his streak to a career-high 20 games. Within those 20 games he’s had multiple hits in 10. The boy is on fire with a batting average of .315. If we could get one or two more guys going like this, the Astros just might have some decent offense!

So while the Astros lost 9-2, I had a great time with a friend, laughed a lot, saw a few nice homers (that hurt us), had a chili cheese dog and a helmet sundae, and just enjoyed a night at the ballpark.

Meanwhile, the Astros will welcome back Brandon Lyon from the DL tonight as they take on the Braves at Minute Maid Park. In addition, Robinson Cancel has been sent back to AAA OKC and Carlos Corporan, who has missed most of this season with a broken finger, is being brought up to hopefully take some pressure off J.R. Towles, who’s been taking a beating behind the plate of late. Game time tonight is 7:05pm. Go out to MMP and have a helmet sundae for me.

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.

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?”

I could have imagined the Astros getting a win thanks to several batters, but J.R. Towles would not have been on that list at gametime today. After a 0-32 slump, Towles proved to everyone today that the slump is over. He went 3-4 at the plate this afternoon at Minute Maid Park, the final hit being a walk-off  single to lead Houston to it’s first back to back series win. Congratulations, J.R. Your timing is impeccable!

My favorite part of the scene at the end of the game was that the first person to reach Towles on the field was Batting Coach, Mike Barnett. I’m sure the encouragement and excitement in that exchange was fierce!

There were other great plays in the game – » Continue reading “0-32? Not Anymore! JR Towles Comes Alive to Give the Astros Another W”

It’s been about eighteen hours since the devastation the Astros experienced in Atlanta yesterday afternoon. I’m still not over it, but I’ve calmed down enough to at least talk about it. Okay, scream about it really. If nothing else came out of that game we learned one thing, this club has problems top to bottom.

I propose that with all areas falling apart that the Houston Astros get back to basics. Perhaps we should all start at page one in Baseball for Dummies? Don’t worry, skipper, there’s a book for you, too- Baseball Coaching for Dummies is also available. Now, I don’t really think these guys are dummies, but I do think it’s time to revisit the basics.

Wandy pitched a beauty yesterday, proving that he’s settling into this season and is becoming a dependable guy to start games. In 8 innings pitched he allowed 5 hits and no runs, walking two. Wandy deserved a win.

A win was not to be, however. Everyone’s been blaming the bullpen, and they have often deserved the blame. You can make an argument that Melancon let the game slip when he was one strike away from ending it and instead took a homer off the bat of McCann. But I think the offense blew the game. » Continue reading “Astros Bookclub? A little light reading.”