With 45 games in the past, I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the way the season is going... especially after seeing how badly the season started off.  The Astros currently sit in 3rd place in the NL Central with a 25 and 20 record, just 2.5 games behind the 1st place Cubs.  Guess who's coming into town for 3 games starting on Monday?  The Cubs!!!  Unfortunately the Cubs are on a little hot streak and enter Monday's game with the Astros with a 8-2 record over their last 10 games.  No worries though; I have faith that we can take a 3 game series from them. 

I can't remember exactly how the saying goes, but someone smarter than me once said that the key to having a productive season is to win most of your games at home and to play .500 ball on the road...  Well that's exactly what the Astros have done so far over the season, winning 11 of 17 games at home and 14 of 28 on the road. 

What's the deal with Michael Bourn all of a sudden...  after stealing 18 bases in a row without being caught, he has now been caught 3 times in a row!!!  If he can't hit, can't get on base, and can't steal bases... WHY IS HE PLAYING!!!!  I know I'm being over the top and actually just echoing the sentiments of some of the people on the blog... but Bourn really needs to show some improvement..  but then again, maybe he has started showing a little...  He is 4-12 in his last 3 games which is pretty good... then again, he went 0-17 in the 4 games before that.  Cooper just moved him back to the lead off spot for today's game because he said that Bourn swung the bat well over the last couple of games....  well maybe that's because he's more comfortable batting 8th!!  Bourn's OBP is .297 on the season which is at least .50 lower than any decent lead off hitter is... meanwhile, Erstad is sitting on the bench with a .313 avg.  I understand that the Astros need to see what Bourn can do... but I also understand that he has done little to nothing to help the team offensively this season...  and that bothers me.

Lance Berkman...  It's nice to end any conversation about the Astros with Lance Berkman... it just makes me happy.  Lance Berkman is having a "decent" May...  Decent as in a .625 OBP, 1.065 SLG and .565 AVG to go along with 8 home runs, 19 RBI's and 4 stolen bases!  Heck, Bourn only has 5 stolen bases this month!  I filtered all major league players to just show the month of May, and this is how Berkman stands.

**note, these stats are through 5/17/08, so you may see some differences with the numbers above.  Also, these only include players with 50 plate appearances**

• 1st in BA at .579, next closest is Clint Barmes at .435
• 1st in OBP at .642, next closest is Chippers Jones at .508
• 1st in OPS at 1.765, next is Dan Uggla at 1.566
• T-2nd in HR at 8, Dan Uggla is 1st with 9
• 2nd in RBI at 19, Soriano leads with 20
• 1st in runs scored at 21, Dan Uggla is 2nd with 20
• T-4th in doubles at 7, Brian McCann leads with 9
• 1st in TB at 64, Soriano is 2nd with 56
• T-1st in extra base hits at 15 with Uggla

On April 30th, I made a statement that the Astros have no All Stars on their team...  It looks like Lance Berkman may have taken that to heart.  Now obviously Berkman more than likely doesn't read this blog, but work with me here...

Since 4/30/08, Lance Berkman has been the best offensive player in all of baseball... and it's not even close.

The next closest player to Berkman in OPS would be Chris Snyder of Arizona.  His numbers are quite impressive... but nothing compared to what Lance is doing.  <see compared stats below>

This past 10 days for Lance has really moved him up the ranks in many of the reputable offensive categories.  Below show what his stats were on 4/30/08 along with his rank and also his stats how they are now, and his rank now.  These are only including players with 100 plate appearances.

Pretty amazing that he moved up that far in just 10 days. 

Alright, I have some more stats that you may or may not find interesting.  Here are how well Lance has done in the Astros Wins and Losses.

You could at least try to make a case that the Astros success depends on how well Lance Berkman does. 

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.

What a way to start off May!!!  After losing 4 of the last 5 to end the month of April, the Astros have started off May with a bang by sweeping the 3rd place Milwaukee Brewers out of Minute Maid Park and bringing their record back to .500 at 16 and 16.

Sampson was bad again and only made it through 3 1/3 innings before being pulled with the Astros down 3-2 with 2 runners on and having already thrown 88 pitches.  Sampson just can't seem to stay consistent.  He's had a couple of good games this season, but more times than not, he goes less than 5 innings and gives up a lot of runs.  He's made 6 starts this season and has only reached the 6th inning in 2 of them.  That's just not good enough for a major league pitcher.  I'm not really sure who we can use to replace him, but he's making Woody Williams look like a good option for the 5th starters spot... Cooper better start looking for other options and shorten the leash on Sampson... I don't know what his problem is so far this season, but I didn't expect him to be this bad.  I've been told I have been overly negative about the Astros this season, so I'll end my negative talk with that and get on to some more positive news. 

Obviously Pence is the game hero after hitting the 2 run walk off shot to end the game in the 12th inning... but the player of the game has to go to Lance Berkman.  Pence was 1 for 6(and made his 1 hit really count) and struck out 3 times on the night, lowering his batting average to .254...  Berkman on the other hand went 4 for 5 whith a home run, 2 doubles and 4 RBI's while scoring twice and walking once.  So Berkman gets my player of the game award(I doubt he'll place it on his mantle though).   

The 2nd player of the game has to go to the Astros collective bullpen of Geary, Wright, Brocail, Valverde and Byrdak who went 7 full innings of 1 hit, scoreless ball.  It's nice to see the bullpen step in and pick up the trash after Sampson had such a terrible outing.  Byrdak earned the win by pitching a scoreless 12th, but not without any stress as he did walk 3 batters in the inning.  I guess the old saying "no harm, no foul" would come into play here. 

The Astros have tomorrow off as they wait for the 14-18 Nationals to come to town.

I wanted to say thanks to clack, bwhite2323, lnewcomer, TexSkins, Joe in Birmingham, entropic soul, jsams, Triple347, BTastros, Danyah, exit53, backstop8, Shamus, and beeleever for keeping the game thread alive.  Without you guys/gals, this place wouldn't be the same. 

As Rob Schneider  says, "We suck again!" today as we watched our bull pen ruin another outing by Shawn Chacon.  I'm not even going to say that Chacon was good today, but he did leave the game with the Astros ahead... so that's at least something.  Chacon had by far his worst outing of the season after giving up 5 earned runs in 5 innings, but still failed to earn any type of decision.  Chacon is the ONLY pitcher in the bigs with 6 or more starts that has failed to record any type of decision, win or lose... but you can't say he hasn't tried. 

Super Dave wasn't so super today and earned a blown save and a loss by giving up 2 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning.  I never really thought about it much, but it's kind of weird seeing a guy get a blown save in the 6th inning.  I know it happens a lot, I guess I just don't look at enough box scores.  Anyways...  I remember the twins(Dolan and Raymond) on the radio mentioning that Borkowski has been typically pretty good this season when pitching multiple times during a week.  Well, he's pitched in 4 of the last 5 games and earned 2 losses... not sure I would call that good. 

Astros have NO All-Stars
Well, at least no starters.  Think I'm wrong?  Name one?  Berkman?  Nope...  Tejada?  Nope...  Oswalt?  Not after his start to the season.  I know it's really too early to even be talking about the All Star voting, but MLB has opened the balloting(you can vote here ), so I guess it's at least worth mentioning.  There have been a few pitchers that have pitched good enough to possibly earn an All Star ballot, but they all have at least one major thing holding them back.  Wandy Rodriguez has a 2.31 ERA, but he's only recorded 1 win and he's also been injured.  Chacon has a 3.32 ERA and has 5 quality starts, but has yet to earn a win.  Brocail is the only Astros player right now that really has no blemish to his record and could ear an All-Star vote... but then again, he's a set up guy  and has 1 save to his name.  I'm not saying that set up men never make the All-Star team, but it's usually something that's given to starters and closers. 

Berkman and Tejada have been very good to start off this season, but there are players that are better.  Rafael Furcal has hit .069 points higher than his career average and has a better OBP and SLG than Tejada.  You could make a case that Lance would fair no better than 4th in the All-Star balloting for 1st basemen behind Albert Pujols, Derek Lee and Conor Jackson. 

The Astros have an off day tomorrow before facing the Brewers at home on Friday at 7:05 PM.  Astros sit in 4th place with a 13-16 record, 5 games behind the 1st place Cardinals.

1st Basemen

Short Stop

No, not that type of streaking.  The Astros are actually starting to come around offensively and have scored no less than 5 runs in any of their last 5 games; ultimately winning all of them.  The Astros now sit just 1 game behind .500 and in sole possession of 4th place in the NL Central.

After Saturdays loss to the Colorado Rockies, Hunter Pence was hitting just over .200 at .206 and was finally starting to look like a decent big league hitter.  After today's 5-3 win over the Reds(in which Hunter Pence hit 1st), Hunter is sitting at .268.  Not where he was last season, but definitely a positive number after his pathetic start to the season.  Over the last 5 games, Hunter has went 9 for 19 with 5 RBI's, a home run and 3 doubles.  Pence had just 13 hits and 2 RBI's through the 1st 16 games of the season.  Pence has been a great addition to the team for the last week or so and has played a big part in the Astros success over this win streak.  I'm not going to go as far as saying he's the reason the Astros are doing so well... but obviously his additions aren't hurting the team any more.

Some Notable Stats 
• Lance Berkman, last game went 3-3 with a home run and 3 RBI's.  Batting .325 on the season with an OPS of 1.102
• Miguel Tejada, hit .469 last week with 2 home runs and 9 RBI's with an OPS of 1.219.  On the season is batting .348 with 19 RBI's and an OPS of .970
• Astros averaging 8.2 runs per game during this 5 game win streak and have outscored opponents 41 to 20

Tomorrow the Astros take on the St. Louis Cardinals at 7:05 PM in St. Louis and with a win will sit at .500 for the 1st time this season.  The Cardinals started off the season hot, but have since cooled down, losing 4 of the last 5 games(although, they are leading in Pittsburgh 5-1 at this time).  The Astros could move ahead of the Cardinals in the division with a 3 game series sweep of the Red Birds.  I know it's kind of dumb to even mention it, but the Astros pitching has been pretty good as of late and the Cardinals are having a tough time keeping opposing teams off the scoreboard.  Hopefully the Astros surging offense can do some damage at Busch Stadium.

Now this is what the 2008 Houston Astros offense should be doing.  Every Astros starter except for catcher Brad Ausmus recorded at least one hit tonight, with shortstop Miguel Tejada doing the most damage with his 4-5, 3 RBI's and 3 runs scored including a double and a home run.  Tejada raised his average on the season to .342 with his best offensive performance of the year.  Lance Berkman added a home run of his own to help the Astros beat the Padres 10-3 in the 1st game of this 2 game mini series. 

Padres starter Justin Germano entered today's game with a top 5 ERA of 1.35; he left the game with a middle of the pack 5.01 ERA.

Roy Oswalt is starting to return to his old ways after losing his 1st 3 starts of the season.  Roy has been good in his last 2 starts by giving up just 4 runs over 14 innings.  Roy's ERA is still at 6.00, but that is much better than the 9.00 he was sporting 2 starts ago.  I'm not going to say that he's 100% back to normal, but his breaking ball is coming around and he's hitting his spots most of the time with his fast ball.  Roy struck out 6 batters tonight and only walked 2.  On the down side, 2 of Roy's earned runs against tonight were home runs; but fortunately, both solo shots.

Other Notables

• Bullpen : Byrdak, Villarreal combined for 2 scoreless innings
• Pence : 2 for 4 with an RBI - avg up to .229
• Bourn : 1-3 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored
• Matsui - 2-5 with 2 runs scored

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. 

Your Houston Astros send Roy Oswalt to the hill against C.C. Sabathia at 12:05PM CST for the Astros 2nd to last game of the Grapefruit league season.  The Astros are going to end up with a losing record after going 12-15-1 through the first 28 games. 

The Astros had another good offensive performance against the Tigers yesterday scoring 6 runs in the first 3 innings, but the pitching couldn't hold up, yielding 10 runs to lose the game 10-9. 

Sampson didn't do much to help his case after going just 3 1/3 innings and giving up 4 runs and left the game in the 4th after being drilled in the hip with a line drive off of the bat of Cabrera for the Tigers.  Doesn't seem like it's going to have any lasting effects, just a deep bruise.

Berkman and Pence both had good days with Berkman going 2 -3 with 2 RBI's, a wak and a double and Pence going 2-4 with 3 runs scored and an RBI.  Pence is hitting .403 on this spring season.