Friday – WIN!
Saturday – WIN!
Sunday – WIN!

The settling dust of MLBs trading deadline on Saturday revealed a new, young, unproven, yet vibrant Astros team – and Carlos Lee.

Friday, the centerpiece of the Astros push to get Roy the hell out, J.A. Happ, went out and blanked the Brewers for 6, while huge nights by Kepp and CJ kept the offense on a roll.

Saturday, with Berkman gone for at least the rest of the season, newcomer Brett Wallace made his debut and while he went hitless, he proved he can in fact, pour piss from a boot. Multi-hit nights by Kepp, Michaels and CJ helped the Astros score 6. Wandy blistered the Brewers for 8 scoreless and the boys cruised to their second straight shutout.

Sunday, a pitcher’s duel matching Randy Wolf with young lefty Wesley Wright and they were toe-to-toe through 5. When Hart smacked a 2-run dinger off WW in the 6th, things looked bleak as Wolf was breezing. But in the 7th, Beaker slapped a liner to Wolf that bounced off his left wrist for an infield hit that knocked Wolf out of the game. His replacement, Loe walked Lee and CJ to load ’em for PH JMike. Braddock replaced Loe and gave up a sweet slam to Michaels that landed just a few rows back in the Crawfords. 1 more run was added in the 8th on a PENCE!!! triple and a cutoff throw that sailed into the Brewers dugout. Lopez and Lyon locked things down and the Astros completed the sweep and ran their winning streak to a season-high 5 games. Wesley got his first win as a starter and Wallace got his first MLB hit.

So the rebuilding begins. I have a feeling I’ll enjoy watching these guys play out the season. They take off for Busch for 3 with the Jakes starting tonight. Go kick the shit out of ’em, boys!

Cubs 1, Astros 8
W: Bud Norris, L: Randy Wells

Astros Recap
Game Zone

The Astros won another series against the Cubs. Right now they hold a pretty good lead on the season series. Norris went 6 solid innings and Carlos Lee hit a couple of homeruns to secure this series win. The Astros are only 3.5 back of the Cubs in the standing. Plenty of time left in the season to pass them. Hopefully, the Astros start winning a bit more and the Cubs have their usual season-ending meltdown.

It almost seems like no one really cares about the games right now. It is all about trades. I don’t remember a time of being a fan where the key players were being traded. It is a very weird feeling. I am glad the team is getting stronger, hopefully, but sad that another era is over. It seems like just last year that the Bagwell/Biggio era ended.

Check out tonight’s game against the Brewers in the gamezone or at Minute Maid Park. I’ll be at the park cheering on the newest member to the Astros family, J.A. Happ to a win. Jane’s got all the information you need about the series in her preview.

Contributed by Ebby Calvin
Astros 4 – Reds 0

WP: W. Rodriguez (8-11) LP: M. Leake (7-2)

HOUSTON, TX (AP) – Hundreds of thousands of rabid Astros fans took to the streets Sunday afternoon to celebrate what many are calling, “The Most Important Sporting Event Ever.”

“I just don’t know how to explain what I’m feeling right now,” Jack Sutherford, 34, said. “My life will never be the same. People will always remember where they were when (Astros RP) Matt Lindstrom struck out (Reds PH) Lance Nix (for the final out). I was at a Sport Clips, but I’ll probably tell everybody I was at the game from now on.”

Richmond Avenue’s main strip west of the Galleria took the brunt of the celebration, with estimated damages extending beyond the $300 million range. Dave & Buster’s, formerly at the corner of Fountainview and Richmond, has been flattened; all that remains now is a heap of beer bottles and impossible-to-win stuffed animals.

To put the historic win in perspective, never before has Wandy Rodriguez beaten the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 4-0 while recording seven strikeouts and allowing one hit and two walks on a Sunday in the month of July in the year of 2010. It’s that type of accomplishment that sent the city of Houston into mass hysteria.

“Every night is a highlight reel night for Michael Bourn,” commented Ronald Brand, an Austin native.

“Wandy really used his fastball very well today. Sometimes, he falls in love with his admittedly wicked hook, but hitters who were laying in wait for it today were treated to some cheese. Excellent performance,” opined a California resident who was so moved by the experience that he now demands to be known as simply “Mr. Happy.”

Officials won’t speculate how long they expect the bedlam to continue, but one spokesman who preferred to remain anonymous said, “All these fuckers need to move to New York City, where the women know how to handle a cock and riots and shit like this happen. Every. Day. Seriously, put the periods after ‘every’ and ‘day.’ That’s how it should be written.”

The monumental win put the Astros in the driver’s seat for fifth place in the NL Central.

When asked after the game how it felt to be a part of such a legendary feat, veteran first-baseman Lance Berkman said, “I really wasn’t expecting (to win). It kinda feels like it’s a Wednesday.”

Contributed by austro
Reds at Astros

July 23, 2010
MinuteMaid Park

Astros 4, Reds 6

WP Ondrusek (1-0) SV Cordero (27) LP Byrdak (1-1)

Astros.com
GameZone

The Astros got off to a good start in this one, scoring a 1st-inning run on singles by Sanchez, Berkman, and Pence. Meanwhile, Norris was off to a good start, facing only 10 batters in the first three innings.

But the problems started in 4th inning. Cabrera led off with a ground ball to Johnson, who threw wildly to 1st, Cabrera going to 2nd on the throw. Votto and Gomes walked to load the bases with no outs. Jay Bruce followed with a sac fly to Lee in LF, and Norris hit Cairo to load the bases again. But then Norris got Stubbs to ground Sanchez at short, who threw to Quintero for the force at home, and it looked like Norris might be able to get out of the inning with minimal damage. He got to a 2-2 count on Hanigan, but on the next pitch Hanigan hit a seeing-eye ground ball that snuck through the hole into LF, and that yielded two runs. Wood popped up a bunt to end the inning, but the damage was done.

In the bottom of the inning the Astros got a run back on a daring/dangerous play by Pence. With one out, Pence singled to LF, and then went to 3rd on a single by Keppinger. Johnson then popped up to Phillips in short RF, and Pence decided to go for home. Since Phillips was backpedalling for the catch (which really should have been made by the right fielder), he couldn’t get as much on the throw as he normally would have, and Pence barely snuck in on a very good slide.

The Reds pushed the lead out to 4-2 in the top of the 5th when Votto lined a solo homer over the RF fence.

In the bottom of the 6th the Astros tied it up on a miracle Pence homer. Lee led off the inning with a single, and then Pence somehow reached out and around a low, outside pitch and pulled it into the Crawford boxes. I have no idea how he did that, and I’m worried that this result will encourage him to keep going after that pitch, which is a low pay-off proposition; time will tell, I guess. Keppinger followed with a double, and it looked like the Astros might put the Reds on the ropes. But Johnson, Quintero, and Michaels (pinch-hitting for Norris) made successive outs to end the threat.

The Astros lost the game in the 8th when Byrdak came in and gave up a single to Votto, a single to Gomes, and a double to Bruce that scored Votto. Figueroa relieved Byrdak and struck out Cairo, but then he gave up a double to Stubbs that scored Gomes. Those were the final two runs of the game.

The good guys made a push in the bottom of the 8th when they loaded the bases with one out, but Feliz (pinch-hitting for Quintero) struck out, and Hernandez (pinch-hitting for Figueroa) grounded out to 1st. They put two men on in the bottom of the 9th, too, but nobody could bring them home.

So, yet another loss that could have been averted with a little bit of luck. C’est la vie this year, and like I told my wife, these things are a lot easier to take this year since we know they’re not going to be the difference between a playoff spot and sitting at home.

Game 2 of the series takes place Saturday night at 7pm, with Johnny Cueto taking on Roy Oswalt, assuming Oswalt isn’t wearing a different jersey by then.

Astros 4, Cubs 3, 12 innings

Astros recap
GameZone

Astros won another game on a Wednesday. This one was great. Any win against the Cubs is a great win. Anything that might make a Cubs fan cry, is a great thing.

According to Craig’s series preview, Myers has had some problems with Derrek Lee in the past and Ted Lilly has had way too much success against the Astros. Lilly continued to have success, just not enough to get the win. I do wish that Myers had gotten the win, he just seems to always be in a position for the team to get him a win. I rather think he deserved it, but that was not to be on this Wednesday.

After Pedro Felix hit his homer in the top of the 8th batting for Myers, I was again reminded of Craig’s preview where he mentioned Pedro usually got happy against Lilly, the bullpen pitched scoreless innings until the 12th.

The 12th inning was interesting. The Astros scored three in the top of the inning. Then the Astros go and give away 2 of the runs before the final out. Fun times. The bullpen gave Cubs fans hope many times during this game and then stomped on it. Fun times.

The only thing that seems to be of more interest than an Astros win over the Cubs is all the trade talk about Roy Oswalt. I just don’t have a lot of faith in a trade happening. Don’t misunderstand and think I may not want Roy traded. I do want him traded, I just want to make sure the Astros don’t get raped in a trade. Be sure to check out the TalkZone for all kinds of rumors and discussion on the fate of Mr. Oswalt.

One thing I’ve wondered about. If Roy got traded, do the O’s bros go with him? If they do, then sell Lance fast so the Little Pumas can be shipped out.

Astros at Cubs, 7/19/2010
Astros 11, Cubs 5
W: Rodriguez (7-11) L: Silva (9-4)
HR: Castro (2), Johnson (1), Colvin (13), Ramirez (12)

Let’s make one thing clear from the get-go: Wandy may have been the winning pitcher, but he was not good at all last night, as has been the case throughout the 2010 debacle. Wandy gave up two home runs and several scary warning track shots, in a game where he was given a friggin’ 8-run lead, also known as “blind squirrel finds nut”. So armed with these 8 runs, Wandy proceeded to only go 6 innings and still raise his alarmingly high ERA to 5.11.

So what’s the good news? Hitting. Lots and lots of hitting. Much of it, even, from the youngsters. Jeff Keppinger continues to show that he is one of the only guys with a true plate approach, drawing three walks from his newly minted spot in the 6 hole. Chris johnson was a double short of the cycle, and raised his average over .300 while simultaneously hitting his first big league home run.

Most enjoyably, Jim Deshaies continues to show that he can continue to spin this chickenshit team into some watchable chicken salad. Upon Mr. Castro’s stroke of a home run to give the Astros an 8-0 lead, JD dropped this gem:

“It puts the ball in the basket.”

Seriously… if anyone wants to know what I want for Christmas, all I need is a video clip of Will Farrell doing his Harry Caray impression and saying this over multiple home runs off Zambrano.

We somehow get back-to-back night games at Wrigley, tonight at 7:05.