Entropic Soul mentioned this in the game day thread, and it seems to be true lately.  He said that the Astros should only play teams with winning records.  Since the All-Star break, the Astros have won a 3 game series with the Cubs, been swept into last place by the Pirates and then beat the Brewers who were tied for 1st place in the NL Central before today's game(not anymore!).  The Astros found themselves in last place coming into the series with the Brewers, but thanks to some timely losses by the Pirates, we now sit in 5th place again, 1/2 game above the Pirates.

I guess I could say today was a good game... we scored 7 runs in 1 inning and won the game, so I don't really have much to complain about.  Before the game started I questioned Cooper starting Blum and mentioned that even though he was 11 for 21 in his career against Suppan, that that meant nothing to me and wouldn't cause me to sit an obviously better hitter in Ty Wigginton for Geoff Blum.  But what do I know... Blum went 2 for 5 with 2 home runs against Suppan and 4 RBI's to lead the Astros to victory.  The Astros actually did pretty well as a team today(except for Lee who went 0-5 with a strike out) as every starter(including Wolf) had a hit tonight.  Ausmus lead the team in hits with a 4-4 performance, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI's.  I was just looking through Brad's career stats, and did you know that he actually had a season where he hit .293!  It was in 1995 with the Padres, but still... I didn't know he ever did anything with the stick over an entire season. 

Some Nice Stats

• Astros had 6 players with 2+ hits(Tejada 2-4, Berkman 2-4, Blum 2-4,
Pence 2-4, Erstad 2-4, Ausmus 4-4)
• Astros had 4 players with 2+ RBI's(Matsui 2, Tejada 3, Blum 4, Ausmus 2)
• Astros had 4 players score 2+ runs(Blum 2, Pence 2, Erstad 2, Ausmus 2)
• The Astros 5-8 hitters were a combined 10 for 18 with 8 runs scored and 6 RBI's

I forgot to mention the pitching...  Not a terribly well pitched game today... Wolf only lasted 4 1/3 innings before being pulled in exchange for Sampson who finished off the 5th and then completed the 6th and 7th innings.  Wolf struggled through his 4 1/3 innings and threw 105 pitches.  After Sampson's 2 2/3 innings of 2 hit, 1 run ball, Paronto came in and finished off the 8th and 9th by allowing just 1 hit and 1 run, striking out 2.

Roy Oswalt will be returning from the DL to make the start tomorrow to open the series with the Reds.  The Astros sit 1 game behind the Reds for 4th place in the NL Central and need to take this series and try and gain some ground on the 4 teams ahead of them. 

I will actually be going to the game tomorrow(thanks to a kind gift from a fellow blogger) and will do my best to fill up my 2 GB memory card with pictures.