Darin Erstad is most likely headed to the DL after injuring his hamstring on Saturday night. He joins Chris Sampson as a recent addition to that undesirable group. It's not like Erstad is a dependable bat off the bench, but with Lance Berkman still a little gimpy, now it seems like the Astros will be forced to call up a player like Matt Kata or even Jason Smith. Hopefully not, but old-ness is key when making personnel decisions for this club.

Sort of a statistical oddity eminating from yesterday's game against LA: Matt Kemp became the first player in almost forty years to score all four of his team's runs in a game.

ESPN Insider keeps most of us from reading more, but Buster Olney tells us that children will most likely not lead the Astros into October. As Roy Oswalt tells him:

Young guys don't know how long the season is. They might figure there's no way to catch up. But older guys know that all it takes is a good run, winning 10 out of 14, and you're right back in it.

As soon as the Astros' veteran laden crew doesn't have a strong second half, I'll call Roy out on his reasoning. For now, it's a tough point to argue as far as the Astros are concerned.

Richard Justice has the right idea, methinks. We may all be on the bandwagon of a team that, failng to make the playoffs, is heading off a cliff into a canyon of hefty contracts that seem to stretch into perpituity and precious few minor leaguers to take the place of exiting veterans. As for now though, we can enjoy the ride while all four wheels still work.

The Brewers traded for Arizona secondbaseman Felipe Lopez yesterday, and Fangraphs analyzes the deal for us. A month ago, I wouldn't have cared too much about any move Milwaukee made. As long as we're in the hunt though, I'm verryyyy interested.

 Speaking of the NL Central, the Pittsburgh Pirates have made token contract offers to Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez, but have been rebuffed by both players. Pretty savvy move there, Neal Huntington and co.- show the fans in Pittsburgh that you care just enough to offer less than market contracts to your two veterans, so that when you ultimately trade them, you can say "At least we tried!" Say what you will about Drayton McLane, but at least he's given us winners more often than not.