I guess we'll have to jot this one down as a loss to be blamed on the pitching staff.  The Astros offense produced as advertised scoring 7 runs behind 12 hits, but unfortunately, the pitching staff couldn't hold the lead.  Roy Oswalt, the Astros bone fide Ace of staff had another rough outing going 6.2 innings and giving up 5 earned runs.  The most surprising thing for me?  No strike outs?  Roy is a contact pitcher, but I still expect him to chalk up 3 or 4 strike outs a game.  Him having a zero in the K column is bothersome.  Roy said he felt fine, but "just didn't have it."  Well, Roy, that's 2 straight outings where you "just didn't have it"... any more and you'll have me pretty worried.  Another thing that Roy doesn't seem worried about is the "temporary twinge" in his right bicep that occurred during the 6th inning.  It may have been temporary, but any type of pain in my star pitchers arm seriously worries me... call me over dramatic if you will; but it bothers me.

***News Flash***  Wigginton was charged for his 1st error this season... he's no longer a gold glover... what a shame...

Offense wise, the Astros were strong.  Carlos Lee(who has been having a pretty terrible season so far), went 3-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI to go with a 2 run dinger in the 4th.  Very happy to see this out of El Caballo.  Erstad also had a strong game after coming in relief of Lance Berkman(who left the game early due to neck spasms; listed day to day) by going 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.  Having someone who can do this off the bench could be a very good commodity in the long run.  Other Astros with multiple hits were Ty Wigginton who went 2-3 and Michael Bourn who went 2-5.  Pence(1) and Bourn(4) also swiped bases during the game.  If Bourn keeps this up, I may nickname him "Swiper" in which the only defense would be to say "Swiper, no swiping; Swiper no swiping."(for those of you without kids, it's a reference to Dora the explorer... sorry).  Bourn is now on pace for 108 steals this season... I know... meaningless, but still fun.