I'm Back - Astros Back in the Wild Card Race(sorta)

I'm sure most of you didn't notice, but I took a mini vacation to San Antonio this weekend to visit a friend who is about to have a baby... Long drive, but a good trip overall... and no computer for 2 whole days(that's a record for me...). But I'm back now!

Anyways... The Astros did pretty well while I was gone, winning 2 of 3 from the Rockies... but unfortunately did absolutely nothing to gain any ground on the Wild Card leading Brewers. Thankfully the Brewers got shellacked today by the Padres and Chris Young 10-1.

The next series could be good for the Astros as they start a 4 game series at home against the Pirates before ending the week in a 3 game series against the Cubs. I'm sure the Cubs will be looking to get some revenge after being swept out of Wrigley to start off the month of September against the Astros. We need to sweep these next 2 series and get another 8-9 game winning streak going if we are going to catch all of the teams ahead of us in the Wild Card. Just winning series isn't going to cut it.

Unfortunately, the Astros are starting to be plagued by injuries. Obviously we all know about Carlos Lee and his broken pinky... but then Wandy left his last start early with a strained oblique, and then Ty Wigginton who had been picking up almost all of the slack for Carlos Lee is going to miss 1 week or 2 with a strained groin.

At this point, there is no timetable for a return, but manager Cecil Cooper surmised it could take eight or 10 days, maybe longer, before Wigginton is back on the field.

The 30-year-old Wigginton has been the Astros' best hitter for a solid month. He hit 12 home runs in August, tying Jeff Bagwell for the most in that month in club history. Entering Saturday's contest, he had homered in five of his previous nine games, while also driving in 12 runs in his last 10

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Those are 3 tough injuries for the Astros to try and overcome... and to make matters worse... Brandon Backe is now starting to feel some soreness in his surgically repaired right elbow and is going to miss at least his next start. Backe has already thrown more innings this season that he ever has as a major league pitcher(163.2). Backe had only thrown more than 100 innings 1 time before this season (7 years in the bigs). Alberto Arias will be filling in for Backe in tomorrows game.