Your hometown Houston Astros put a whopping on the first place Reds to bring their record up above sea level. With this win the Astros are now 7-6 and have put themselves above .500 for the first time this season.
Sampson was awesome again tonight. 7 innings of 5 hit, 2 run ball with 2 walks and two k's to bring his ERA "up" to 1.20. Sampson has now pitched 15 innings this season and only given up 2 runs. I know it's early in the season and too early to start making any predictions; so I won't... but man this is good to see. Hopefully he can keep this up.
Lane was 2 for 4 tonight with another dinger. Radio shows in Houston are all but calling for Pence to replace Lane. I think it's a little premature right now. Lane hasn't been that great offensively, but he's showing some power and he's driving in some runs. He's showing that he does still have at least a little bit of worth. Pence is doing well in Round Rock(.304 AVG, .873 OPS, 8 RBI) but it's not like he's completely owning Triple-A. He's doing well, but it's not like he's batting .500. We'll see Pence sometime this year, but I still think it's a little bit early.
Astros stay in Cincy tomorrow to take on the Reds again at 6:05 pm. Woody Williams takes his 0-2 record with a 5.63 ERA up against Bronson Arroyo and his equally wonderful 0-2 record, sporting his 3.48 ERA.
In case you haven't noticed, you can start voting for the All-Star game online. Lee is about the only (non-pitcher) on the Astros that should get a vote in my opinion. But it's really WAY too early to even begin voting for the All-Star game... but do as you like. I'll probably hold off on voting for a little while. I'm not one to just go out and vote for Astros because they are Astros. When I vote, I'll vote for who I actually think deserves it. Hell, right now you could make a case for Everett to be in the game. But if you would like to vote, do so here.