You read that right... The Houston Astros are FINALLY over the .500 mark with a 17-16 record and sit in sole possession of 3rd place in the NL central with the Brewers losing to the Marlins 3-0. 

What a game!!!  I don't really even know where to start, but I guess it would be wrong to start anywhere else than Lance Berkman.  Lance Berkman ended the night with his 1st career 5 hit game and brought his average up to .353 to take the lead from Miguel Tejada.  Not only did he have 5 hits, he had 2 doubles, 2 stolen bases, an RBI and scored 4 times.  I guess I should also mention that he scored the game winning run.  Lance's .353 average is good for 5th in all of baseball behind Chipper Jones(.426), Rafael Furcal(.366), Chase Utley(.362) and Albert Pujols(.355).   **note** These stats(other than Berkman's) are based upon numbers not updated to tonights games.  Lance was 20th in all of baseball before tonight's game.

Carlos Lee didn't have too bad of a night either, going 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's and a walk.  Two of those RBI's in the 8th inning to put the Astros ahead for the win.  I don't know what to think about Lee yet.  He started getting hot over the last week or so and was up to a 5 game hit streak, but then went 0-5 in the last game against the Brewers.  He now comes back and goes 3-4... hopefully this is a sign of him turning it around and reverting back to the player that we signed for 100 million dollars. 

Shawn Chacon failed to record a decision for the 7th time this season, but pitched decent enough to keep the Astros in the game and not waste the bullpen.  Chacon went 7 innings tonight and gave up 4 earned runs while striking out 4.  This wasn't Chacon's best outing of the season, but it was better than his last start in which he only went 5 innings against the Diamondbacks and gave up 5 earned runs.  Honestly, I think I'll pretty much take 7 innings and 4 earned runs from Chacon on most nights, so I can't be too unhappy with this performance. 

Don't look now... but Jose Valverde might actually be a decent closer.  I'm not getting too excited about him yet, but tonight's save(his 7th of the season) makes 5 straight save opportunities without blowing it.  If my stats are correct(and they should be, they come from MLB.com), that makes 9 straight appearances for Valverde and 10 2/3 innings without giving up a run.  Hopefully he will continue to add on to that.  Valverde is now 7 for 10 in save chances.

This pretty much happens every year and I doubt we'll go through the entire season with out it happening again, but who do you think will be the 1st Astros starter to lose their job due to poor play?  Last season we had both Brad Lidge and Chris Burke lose their starting jobs pretty early in the season.  Who will it be this year? 

*note* I'm including Valverde in this, even though he isn't technically a starter... but he is the "starting" closer... so it fits in my opinion.

Not exactly the ending we all hoped for, but a win is a win; and a win on a walk-off shot is exciting...  but I would have rather seen Wandy get the win that he earned after going 7.1 innings of 3 hit ball.  You don't get much better than Wandy did tonight.  Wandy struck out 6 and didn't walk a batter allowing just 3 Cardinals to touch 1st base before he left.  Wandy is hands down my player of the game.

Now, my Game Hero has to go to Miguel Tejada who saved Jose Valverde by going yard in the 9th, opposite field style to win the game for the Astros, 5-3.  Tejada was also 2-4 on night. 

Other Notables

• Lance Berkman, came back from a "pain in the neck" to go 1-3 with a home run.
• Carlos Lee, finished off the back to back jacks in the 7th and also went 2-4.
• Michael Bourn, 2-4(raising his avg to .250) with 2 stolen bases; that makes 6 on the year. 

And the downside of the game... I have to start with Valverde who totally ruined the excellent game by Wandy by blowing the save in the 9th and taking away Wandy's win, as well as giving up 3 earned runs.  If he's going to be a dominant closer.. he can't give up runs.  His ERA is now 11.25!!!  It needs to be closer to 3.25.  Hunter Pence is another downside.  Hunter has looked like he does indeed need to go back to Triple A by going 0-4 tonight with 3 strike outs, lowering his average to .171.  Not exactly the guy who led the team in avg last season(of those with 100+ runs).  I think he'll turn it around though.

Listening to the post game interview with Cooper, someone asked if Cooper learned anything tonight concerning Valverde... Cooper just responded with "I learned that will go with Valverde in the 9th inning if he's available".  Not really what I wanted to hear...  Sounds like blind faith to me... blind faith in someone who hasn't proven to be faithful...  We'll see how it goes. 

One of our readers went to some of the pre-game activities and e-mailed me a few pics.  The pics are from "Kelly", but I"m not sure the name on the blog, so I'll leave it at that.