Your Houston Astros send Woody Williams to the hill today at 12:05PM CST against the Atlanta Braves and former Astro Mike Hampton.  Woody Williams really needs a good outing today to help him earn a roster spot on the team.  Hopefully Entropic Soul's risky pick of Woody Williams last night in the fantasy draft will raise the confidence level of Williams and return him to his younger self.

Todays game is being broadcast on FSN, so for all of you who like me, are itching to see Astros on the TV... you're in luck.

Yesterday the Astros beat the Reds 6-5 behind a good pitching performance by Brandon Backe.  Backe went 5 innings and gave up 4 runs, but only 2 were earned.  Backe also struck out 3 and walked just 1.  The real story of the day/week/spring training is Astros lefty Wesley Wright who went another scoreless inning on Saturday, making that 5 consecutive outings without giving up a run.  Wright looks like he could be the lefty from the bullpen that the Astros have been looking for.  Wright only 23 years old.

Carlos Lee had another 0-fer yesterday giving him just 2 hits in his last 21 at bats.  In his last 8 games, he's had hits in just 1 game.  Maybe this is why.  

One more thing, if anyone is interested in the Dodgers VS Padres game in China, one of the readers of www.lonestarball.com our Texas Rangers SBNation blog, actually lives in China and was able to attend the game. You can read more about it here.

Happy Easter!

Poll

6 innings, 3 ER for Woody... This enough to earn a roster spot?

• Yes
• No
• Will wait to see his next start
• Send him down, he's too over the hill to waste anymore time on

  47 votes | Results

Be there!  Hopefully this will be fun... and hopefully it won't last too long.  

Your Houston Astros send Brandon Backe to the hill against "rock star" Bronson Arroyo at 12:05PM CST in Kissimmee.  

Yesterday the Astros were beat by the Marlins 8-3 behind Roy Oswalt who gave up 4 runs to earn his first loss of the spring training season.  

Backe had his best out of the spring training season last time out against the Reds when he went 4 innings giving up a hit and a walk while striking out 2.  Backe seems to have the #2 spot in the rotation down... hopefully he deserves it.  

Astros hold an 11 and 13 record so far and have less than 2 weeks before REAL MEANINGFUL BASEBALL will be played!

Your Houston Astros take on the Florida Marlins today at 12:05PM CST.  The Astros send Roy Oswalt and his 2.40 ERA(this spring training) against Andrew Miller of the Fish.

Last time out, Roy-O put up his best outing of spring training by going 6 full innings, giving up no hits and striking out 7 against the Braves.

The Astros offense over the last 3 outings have scored 24 runs and won 3 in a row.  

Sounds like a beautiful day today in Florida; 76 degress, sunny with a nice breeze.

1. Astros Lineup
   
2. Pence, RF
3. 
   
4. Loretta, 3B
5. 
   
6. Berkman, 1B
7. 
   
8. Lee, LF
9. 
   
10. Tejada, SS
11. 
    
12. Blumb, 2B
13. 
    
14. Abercrombie, CF
15. 
    
16. Ausmus, C
17. 
    
18. Oswalt, P

Looks like Cooper has his rotation mostly set. Woody Williams still hasn't secured a spot.

The rotation will begin with Roy Oswalt, with Brandon Backe following as the No. 2, Wandy Rodriguez as the projected No. 3 and Shawn Chacon as the No. 4.

The fifth spot is up for grabs, with three contenders still in the running: Woody Williams, Jack Cassel and Chris Sampson.

"That could change," Cooper warned. "As the next week unfolds, that's how it's looking right now."

Link

Good for Coop. I'm pulling for Sampson to get the 5th starter spot and am happy that Cooper isn't just giving Woody the 5th spot.

Your Houston Astros send Chris Sampson will against Odalis Perez at 6:05 PM CST.  

I've been out of town since Monday and evidently the Astros have done pretty good in my absence winning 12-10 on Monday against the Dodgers and 8-7 on Wednesday against the Braves.  The 20 runs scored sounds pretty good, but then again, the 17 runs against over those two games isn't real impressive.  

On Monday 3/17/08, Williams was dreadful yet again going 4 whole innings and giving up 6 runs(5 earned).  Williams this spring has gone just 11.2 innings over his 4 starts and given up at least 5 runs in the last 3 games.  Woody doesn't appear to be earning a rotation spot at this time...

Tuesday was a day off(the Astros only scheduled day off of the spring season) but picked up again on Wednesday as the Astros took on the Braves.  Chacon looks to have turned things around after giving up 5 earned runs against the Dodgers on the 13th, went 5 innings and gave up just 1 run; walking none and striking out 4.  Maybe, just maybe he will be a decent pitcher for the Astros.  

Hey everyone, sorry for the late notice, but I'm leaving this morning and going to San Antonio until Thursday.  I will have limited (at best) internet for those days.  

Your Houston Astros send Chris Sampson to the hill against the Met's and Nelson Figueroa.  The Mets are playing a split squad game today against the Astros.  

Game Time : 12:05PM CST

In case you didn't see or hear any of yesterday's game, Roy O was awesome.  6 Innings with 7 strike outs, no walks and if it wasn't for an error, would have faced the minimum.  

It looks like the game should be broadcast on FSN today... It's also a BEAUTIFUL DAY outside(at least in the Houston area).  Right now at my house it's 63 degrees with a 20-27 MPH wind.  Looks like I'm going to barbecue!  Barbecue + Astros = good day.  

Completely different than the ATL/Houston Game.  Astros in the 5th inning and getting drilled 9-3.  Cassel went 4 innings giving up 4 earned runs while Hernandez in just his first inning, has already giving up 5(2 off of home runs).  Diaz and Quintero have both went deep during this game.

Sorry these are up late, wife woke me up early this morning and we took, the kid to the rodeo.

Split squad game, Roy O is still in after 6 innings with 7 strike outs as the Astros lead 9-0.

Berkman has already went yard today, while Ausmus is 3 for 3 with 2 RBI's.

Your Houston Astros take on the Detroit Tigers for the 3rd time this spring training today at 6:05 PM CST.  The Astros send Wandy Rodriguez against Nate Robertson.  The Astros also plan on using Villarreal, Brocail and McLemore sometime during the game.  

So far this spring training, Wandy has started> 3 games with a 1-0 record over his 8.1 innings pitched.  During this time he's earned a 5.4 ERA to go along with a 3/8 BB/K ratio.  Last time out, Wandy went 4 innings and only gave up 1 run while striking out 5.  Definitely a bright spot in for the Astros starting pitching.  Unfortunately, the game before, he only went 2.1 innings and gave up 4 runs.  Hopefully he continues his progression and has another outing like his last.  The way things are going right now, the Astros are really going to need Wandy to be good this year.  As much as it hurts me to say this, Wandy looks to be one of the key figures in this years rotation.

Possible club house issues between Cooper and Lee?  I don't know if I'm reading too much into this, but after the Astros win over the Dodgers on Thursday, Lee put a note on Coop's desk stating...

"I'm taking the day off tomorrow. I need it. Thanks."


More...

Isn't the manager the one that is supposed to schedule days off?  I mean, I can see a player saying hey, Coach, I'd like a day off tomorrow... but outright saying that he's taking the day off...  who knows.  Hopefully I'm just being the conspiracy theorist here and it's nothing.  Cooper's response about it....

"Guess he'll be taking the day off [Friday]," Cooper said with a laugh.