Two In A Row! Two In A Row! Astros Win 4-3

Of the three biggest plays in this game, two of them were made by relievers and neither involved throwing a pitch. Jose Valdez' tag of Angel Pagan at the plate and Brandon Lyon's double play in the ninth were both huge, heads-up plays by  guys who don't normally do much fielding.

It was also heads-up by both J.R. Towles to make the quick toss to Valdez, on point and in position to make tag or for Matt Downs to cut over in time to get the double play at first after Lyon caught the popped up bunt. Add in a few great plays by Carlos Lee in the field and a few more nice double plays and Houston had a pretty excellent game in the field.

That's also not counting the great play Bill Hall made, which ended with him hurting his ankle after he banged into the wall down the right field line. It's unknown at this point how badly Hall was injured.

Hunter Pence provided the biggest offensive blow, absolutely blasting a line drive home run to left field. That ball got out in a hurry and was a nice pick-me-up for Pence, who hasn't hit as many home runs in the early going as he could have. That may have been the biggest blow, but 2 for 4 nights from Michael Bourn, Brett Wallace and Chris Johnson certainly helped.

All of that supported Bud Norris on a night when he was sharp, but still giving up a lot of hits. Norris scattered (!!) 10 hits while allowing three runs, one walk and striking out six. The Shark got his second victory of the season, but that leadoff walk he gave up wasn't the best way he could start an inning.

Most importantly, Houston finally won two games in a row. They're looking to be on a roll offensively and are getting the pitching to support that. This team, in the past two series has looked more like that team from the second half of last season. They've looked like a pretty good team.