East Coast Invasion Not Going So Well, Astros Lose 10-4

Yikes. Last season when the schedule for 2011 was announced, I had a feeling June would be unkind to Houston. The way the teams were shaking out just didn't work for them. However, actually implementing that schedule was worse than I thought.

Through the month of June, Houston only won one series, against the hapless Dodgers. Since that time, they've won just two games in 11 trys, getting kicked around by Texas, Tampa Bay and Boston. Going back further, though, Houston had two four-game losing streaks and a five-game losing streak in June and hadn't won a series prior to the Dodgers one since sweeping the Cubs at the end of May.

That late-season surge may still kick in. After all, Boston is one of the best teams in all of baseball. But, Houston was enticingly close to winning Friday's series opener. Saturday, the Astros also kept it close until a disastrous eighth inning by Fernando Abad. They just couldn't score enough to keep up against the Red Sox offense.

So, we head into Sunday's finale with one last chance to save a series sweep, but it sure is cold comfort to just how bad the Astros have played lately.