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.

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

Wow....It's like Yogi says... It's like deja-vu, all over again.  Maybe I'm just a ignorant, but I don't see why managers(specifically Garner over the last few seasons and now Cooper), pull a starting pitcher out of game when they have yet to give up a run and have a pitch count under 10,000...  Especially when you have a struggling closer?  WHY!  It seems the only thing that ever comes out of this is that the starting pitchers brilliant outing goes completely to waste. 

Chacon was brilliant tonight, going 8 strong innings and allowing only 4 hits.  Valverde allowed 3 hits, 2 home runs and 4 runs in ONE THIRD OF AN INNING!!!!!!!  AHHH!!!  Fire him now.. trade him now.. whatever... I don't care...  but he better get his crap together fast.  We only have him for 1 season(guaranteed), and if it's going to be a losing season because he can't keep runs off the board, then what's the point of even putting him out there.  The only thing Valverde's done successfully this year is managed to get his ERA higher than Roy-O's...  Wow, he has 2 saves...   Yea, well he's blown 2 as well.  I could close 50% of games for the Astros and I'd take a hell of a lot less money than Valverde is getting paid... and I haven't pitched in 10+ years!!

I don't think there is one thing in baseball that pisses me off more than a manager pulling a starting pitcher that hasn't given up a run only to watch his outing be completely wasted by a closer who couldn't close the fridge door.  (sorry that was lame)  What happened tonight bothers me to no end.  There is no way I could be a major league owner... the 1st time my manager did this, I'd be in his office after the game... he'd walk into his office and I'd be there sitting in his chair with my back turned towards the door.  As he walks in I'd turn around slowly in the chair with a straight look on my face, not blinking and just stare at him.  Then I'd calmly tell him without any emotion that he screwed up tonight and that he better never do it again.  The next time it happens... there would be a help wanted sign on the door before he even made it into the locker room. 

One thing that can be pretty evident in after going through most of spring training for the Astros is that we can score some runs... but unfortunately... we give up a bunch as well. 

The Astros started off good today scoring 7 runs in the first two innings, but then the pitching (starting with Chacon) slowly gave it away.  Chacon went 5 innings today, but gave up 6 runs.  Not really what we were looking for from who looks to be our 4th starter.  Wright (who had been terrific in his last few outings), earned a blown save by giving up 2 runs in the 9th inning to send the game into extra innings. 

Our leadoff man, Michael Bourn went 0-6 today with a strike out lowering his spring average to .258.  Jose Cruz continued his good spring with a 2-5 day and his 3rd home run of the season. 

Next up, the Astros go up against the Tigers at 5:05PM CST tomorrow, sending Chris Sampson to the hill against Justin Verlander.  This looks like Sampson's last chance to earn that 5th starters spot. 

Astros spring record is 12-14-1