There was much ado about pitching last night; conversations on twitter and message boards, fan reaction at the ballpark. For years I’ve said, it’s about the pitching. Good defensive pitching can make a mediocre offense a little less important. But if a team has subpar pitching, it takes a whole heck of a lot of amazingly impressive offense to make up for the sins of the guys on the bump.

The Astros starters have been reliable, not outstanding, but definitely reliable. The first 5+ innings of baseball haven’t been the site of anything tragic. In fact, they’ve been pretty darn good. Even when they’ve struggled and seen inflated pitch counts, Astros starters have battled their way through. If you look at the ERA of starters, throwing as starters, you can’t complain – Lucas Harrell (1.50), Philip Humber (1.59), Bud Norris (3.18), Brad Peacock (4.15) – as a group, the starters have a 2.63 ERA. It’s a stat where the Astros are not, in fact, the worst in baseball. They rank 8/30 clubs in starting pitching ERAs so far. Not bad.

If any real criticism can be made after ONLY FIVE games – and let’s all remember it’s only been 5 measly games – it’s more about the fact that a starter should come in throw six innings, but the starting rotation in Houston has only Lucas Harrell as a member of the 6 inning club. Last night, Bud Norris got pretty darn close, but still didn’t clear that hurdle. Bear in mind this is after FIVE games…there are 157 more to go and we need those shoulders and elbows to remain intact, so SPs only going 5 1/3, 5 2/3 isn’t a “real” concern, but something to ponder.

The biggest problem with the starters unable to go a full six is the the Houston bullpen has been terrible. Several people commented via social media last night that the team’s bullpen was stretched and that’s why Porter left Bud Norris in during the sixth after a homer, an error by Ronny Cedeno, two fly ball outs, a walk and a hit. That’s not why Porter left him in.

“Bud did a tremendous job. To me, tonight, he grew up,” were manager Bo Porter‘s words. “He did what a number one starter should do.” Porter told Norris he had earned the right to earn the win, resulting in Norris throwing 122 pitches in 5 2/3. Perhaps not his most efficient start, but not devastating by a long run.

The problem? The bullpen. Their ERA so far this season? 6.62 Yep, folks, that’s the problem. So you can go on twitter and whine about how long the starters are lasting. You can moan and groan about whether Brett Wallace is getting hits or Chris Carter is striking out again (although I admit I have fun with that last one), but when the umpire yells, “Play ball!” it’s going to come down to the guys on the mound. If they can’t their job done, then no amount of offense will save your team.

Jason Castro hit a three run homer last night in the Astros 6-3 loss to Oakland. Not even close to being enough to make up for pitching that wasn’t defensive. Justin Maxwell and J.D. Martinez were both 2/4 last night. No matter how productive that offense is on any given day, poor pitching can give a game away. And the Astros’ bullpen has been giving a lot away. Where do they land in baseball? 26 /30, so not the bottom of the barrel, but not anywhere they’d want to be.

One more comment of note from Bo Porter since the strikeout count has been so high and noted both in historic and sarcastic context by everyone under the sun. Last night the Astros struck out only four times – that’s the lowest in a game so far (again ONLY  FIVE games). When asked his thoughts on the matter, Porter, being the guy we’ve all come to expect him to be, said, ”I couldn’t tell you how many it was yesterday or how many it was today. What I do know is that we lost the game.”

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Most Houston Astros fans gave up in July. Remember that month? It was long, very, very long…and included only 3 wins in 27 games. That month seems to be so long ago now that September is big hits and big wins month.

So far in September, the Astros are playing .500 ball.

They’re still sitting with 106 losses, tied with last year’s final total, but the last two games are against the Cubs, so anything really is possible. And since the Astros have pulled off back to back shut out wins….on the road? Now we know miracles can happen.

Speaking of this final series against the Cubs, tomorrow night will mark the first time since 1962 that two teams with 100 losses or more will meet to play a game of baseball. The last time it happened, the Cubs were involved as well – versus the Mets.

So tonight Lucas Harrell took his record to 11-11 for his rookie season. Not a shabby showing for a guy who got next to no run support early on, but managed to continue to be impressive from the mound. Wesley Wright earned his first save of the season, and Fernando Martinez stunned with this 3rd home run in as many games. These are NOT your July Astros.

These Astros are making the final days of National League baseball really fun to watch. Tune in tomorrow night and Wednesday afternoon and let’s see what they do to wrap it all up.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone 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.

There’s just too much to say today to go with “Wordless Wednesday” this week, so you get Wordy Wednesday today instead.

So what’s going on in the world of Houston baseball? Here’s the rundown.

•  The Astros lost a nailbiter last night at Coors field 8-6 against the Rockies. It was a mess of bad defense, mediocre pitching, errors and a hitting bonanza in which each team had 10 hits. There were a couple of 2 RBI homers going every which way and no one had clear command of the game all night. It made for good television though. My favorite part of the night was when Brad Mills pulled Wesley Wright off the mound and put him in….are you ready for it….right field! He’s never played there as a pro, but Mills knew he wanted Wright off the mound for one hitter and then back up, so why not. It’s not like the World Series is on the line. It was a fun move in this very dismal season. So, although they’ve already lost the series, game 3 in Colorado will kick off at 2 this afternoon. You can catch it on My20 here in Houston. Wandy Rodriguez will take the mound.

• Wandy Rodriguez has been claimed on waivers by the Colorado Rockies. I know, right? The Rockies were the LAST team on my list of “who might.” Three things can happen now. The Astros can negotiate a trade, pull Wandy back, or just let the Rockies have him. Although there are reports the Astros aren’t willing to negotiate yet, they have until 11am tomorrow so there’s time. I’d like to see them get a little something and let Wandy go. It’d give them more salary relief. Frankly, no one on the Astros should be making that sort of money. If only it’d been Brett Myers….

• JA Happ will be rejoining the Astros starting lineup. After sending Jordan Lyles down to the AAA bullpen to preserve his number of innings pitched, there was some question as to who would fill his role. Turns out, that Henry Sosa will pitch on Thursday; starting on only 3 days rest and then Happ will get the nod on Friday. Let’s hope he’s ready for this again. His head’s been in all the wrong places this season and despite still having lots of good stuff to throw, he’s been getting the willies on the mound and falling apart. I want to see a commanding Happ that’s confident and hitting his spots. Anything less on Friday will tell us that Mills was wrong about him.