Over the weekend the Astros went 1-2 losing to the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees Friday and Saturday, and beating the New York Mets on Sunday. I was down in Kissimmee for the weekend, hence the reason for no recaps. Lets take a quick look at some of the action from this past weekend.

Pitching

This seems to be the biggest issue from the weekend, even in the win over the Mets. Wandy Rodriguez pitched Friday and gave up seven runs in 3.1 innings. Bud Norris went against the Yankees Saturday and gave up five runs in three innings. Finally, Livan Hernandez started Sunday against the Mets and gave up four runs in three innings pitched. The only thing that saved the Astros on Sunday was that Mike Pelfrey was even less effective than Hernandez allowing eight runs in 2.2 innings.

On the flip side of that the bullpen appeared to pitch well. Brandon Lyon, Fernando Abad, Fernando Rodriguez, Xavier Cedeno and David Carpenter had perfect innings in relief. The only other reliever I want to make note of is Brett Myers who pitched two innings Saturday and allowed no runs and only one hit while striking out one.

Offense

Both Jordan Schafer and Jed Lowrie impressed me and Travis Buck made a strong case for making the opening day roster this weekend. Combined all three were 10-17 with 10 runs scored, five runs batted in, three base on balls and three stolen bases. Schafer was 2-3 with two runs scored, two walks and two stolen bases. Lowrie was 3-7 with three runs scored, three runs batted in and one walk. Buck was 5-7 with three runs scored, two runs batted in and a stolen base. Overall the offense scored 17 runs over the weekend.

One other note is that Carlos Lee hit his first homerun of the Spring and drove in five runs Sunday, he was 3-6 over the weekend.

Defense

Matt Downs had an error on a routine double play ball at second base, that resulted in no outs. Schafer made a nice diving catch, coming towards the infield, in center Sunday against the Mets. Unfortunately, that also resulted in a sprained wrist that has him on the day-to-day watch.

Monday

12:05 p.m. CST at Miami Marlins. Radio KBME 790.

Jack Cust Watch

Still hitless.