The streaky rollercoaster season of ups and downs for the Houston hometown team continues. Just when you think this team has gotten it together, they plunge again. After a winning three straight in the Rocky Mountains, they drop three straight in the house that replaced the house that Ruth built. Hoping to start uphill again, the Astros head into Kaufmann Stadium to face the Kansas City Royals who are fresh off a 3-3 road trip through Minnesota and Cincinnati. Side note: I’ve heard that Kaufmann Stadium is a really beautiful park, even though it is the sixth oldest stadium in the majors. Constructed in 1972 and originally named Royals stadium, the facility was built for baseball only, not a multi-sport stadium that was the rage at the time. Recently, the stadium has been renovated to the tune of about $250 million. I’ve kinda always wanted to visit there, along with Dodger Stadium, Fenway, and Wrigley. Ok, back to the preview….
Probable Pitchers
Tuesday, June 15, 7:10 p.m. CT Felipe Paulino, RHP (1-7, 3.82) vs. Kyle Davies, RHP (4-5, 5.48) Paulino’s 1-7 record does not reflect the turnaround he has had in his last several games. In his last 5 starts, he has dropped his ERA by almost 2 full points. He has gone 8 innings in each of his last 3 starts, giving up 17 hits, 3 earned runs and posting 19 Ks. Davies has struggled with control this season and not gone more than 6 2/3 innings in any start this year. He has never faced the Astros as a team, however he has faced 5 members of the team, totally dominating them by allowing only 2 hits in 15 ABs.
Wednesday, June 16, 7:10 p.m. CT Roy Oswalt, RHP (4-8, 3.16) vs. Bruce Chen, LHP (3-0, 4.01) Oswalt was nothing less than spectacular in his last start versus the Rockies. He finally got a little run support in his stockings and earned his fourth win of the season. He will need to be sharp when he faces the Royals, who have a .298 team BA when facing him. Chen has been a serviceable replacement for Meche who is out with a sore shoulder. He has gone 2-0 in the three starts since taking over the starter’s role.
Thursday, June 17, 7:10 p.m. CT TBA vs. Luke Hochevar, RHP (5-4, 4.96) All I can say is, there are only 2 days left and we still don’t know who is pitching? Give Hochevar the win and go home.
Injuries
Astros-Lindstrom’s expected to be back for this series. Norris and Sampson are expected to begin rehab assignments this week. Arias is still pining away on the IR.
Royals-Ankiel (quads) and Parrish (shoulder) are on rehab assignment. Meche and Barrera got caught playing head, shoulders, hamstrings and elbows and got sent to the 60 day DL. Josh Fields is out for the season (hip).
Promotions and Give-it-to-mes
Tuesday, June 15–T-shirt Tuesday. Dude, that’s yellow.
Wednesday, June 16–Get your FREE hot dogs! And get there early for some SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. 
What the heck? Is George Brett coming back? With this? Nope, but KC is getting the All Star Game. In 20 somethingorother.
Thursday, June 17–Youth Night, College Night and Top Gun Night at the K. A pedophiles wet dream.
The Blues Brothers
My baseball fandom began in 1980 culminating with the series versus the pHucking pHillies, and I was caught hook, line and sinker. So, call a homer, but I have always been an Astros fan. Well, almost. I had the biggest crush on two brothers, yep, both of them. Of course, neither one of them really ever wanted to acknowledge my existence in the universe, they were too busy catching snakes to scare the teachers with, setting fire to the trash in the boys bathroom at school, or sneaking a dip between their teeth and gums. But they were baseball fans. Born and raised in Kansas and they bled royal blue. So while I was learning to get all hot and bothered about my ‘Stros, they were on cloud 9 with their Royals. What was a young impressionable girl to do? Yeah, you guessed it. I made the Royals my “American League Team”.
Now I had never given the AL the time of day; there was no interleague play back then. (for all you internet natives, the AL and NL only used to meet in the World Series and the All Star game, what a friggin amazing concept!) I really had no knowledge of the style of play or the history of the American League. But they did, and they hated the Yankees. And I mean HATED the Yankees. But they reserved a special vitriol for the (expletive) St. (expletive) Louis (expletive) Cardinals (chain of expletives) . I was first introduced to just about every four letter word I know now by these brothers and every time it was in reference to that team from St. Louis. Like any other young impressionable preteen girl, I figured that if the boys I liked hated the Yankees and Cardinals then I better hate them, too. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I really didn’t like AL ball, but my crush on these two was of magnificent proportions. I even remembering convincing my mom to buy me some black parachute pants for one of my birthday parties because the (Name Withheld to Protect the Innocent) boys were coming. I still cringe just thinking about it. Fast forward to the 1985 World Series–Kansas City vs the St. Louis Cardinals. I still had the hots for these two, but realized I had just about as much chance of kissing Leif Garrett as I had of kissing them, so I resigned myself to just talk baseball with them. Every day at school we would discuss the game and when the Royals beat the Cardinals to win their first World Series title, I saw on their faces what being a fan was all about. Since that day, I have yearned for that feeling from my Astros, and still look forward to the day I can just sit back in satisfaction knowing my team is the World Champions.