I know things are bad with the Astros lately... but I NEVER would have thought we would have been swept by the Pirates and I NEVER would have thought they would have scored 8+ runs against us in each game to bury us back in the cellar... well, it happened and to the cellar we go again.

I still dont' know what to say about this series against the Pirates.  We started out so good the 1st game, taking a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning where our stud closer could seal the victory for us and take us into game 2 of the series with a 1-0 lead... only to blink and see the 3-2 lead completely gone and the Astros in disbelief as they went home with a 9-3 loss. 

That loss hurt and it showed as we came back in the 2nd game(with probably our strongest starting pitcher on the hill in Wandy Rodriguez) and put up just 2 runs(and those were after the game was out of reach) in what turned out to be an 8-2 smack down. 

And then we come back the next day with one of our only brights spots of the season(Brian Moehler) on the hill to watch him exit the game after pitching just 2 1/3 innings in the hole 5-4. 

I'm trying to find a bright spot in the Astros current situation and I just can't seem to find one.  Sampson has been good lately... and Lee has been good... I guess you could call them bright spots... but there are so many clouds in the Astros sky(okay.. that was really lame) that they are drowning out the bright spots...

So what do you do as an Astros fan?  Do you stop watching the games?  Do you sit through them in agony?  Do sit and hope for change?  Should we "drink the Kool-Aid" and be happy that the Astros are making attempts to better the team now in hopes of making a playoff push?  What do we do?  I wish I knew the answer...  I'm sure like many of you that come here, I'll sit through the games and continue to watch them until game 162 is done... and then I'll start looking forward to next season in which I'll do it all over again.  But... it's painful.  Being an Astros fan right now just isn't much fun. 

I guess there's always tomorrow... wait.. it's an off day!! YES!!!

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I was just looking through the standings in the National League and noticed that the worst team in the NL isn't the Nationals any more.  That title has been taken by the Padres who have won 10 games less than the Astros.  Wanna hear something pathetic... They have about the same chance of making the playoffs as the Astros do.  The Astros are 12.5 games out of 1st place in the NL Central(at the time of this posting) while the Padres are 13 games back.  Hell, you could make a case that the Padres are in better contention for a division title as all of the teams in the NL West suck.  The Astros have to get passed the three best teams in the National League to win the division title.

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The Astros optioned Cassel back to Triple-A today to make room for Randy Wolf.  Wolf is scheduled to start Sunday against the Brewers in Milwaukee.

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What is there to be happy about as an Astros fan?  Should we be happy that our owners are making trades sending young talent(albeit not exactly a top prospect) to other teams in exchange for a veteran, bottom of the rotation guy that is more than likely going to leave at the end of the season?  I don't really understand the trade sending Chad Reineke to the Padres for Randy Wolf.  This to me looks like a team making a move just for the sake of making a move.  I don't know what to say about the team... obviously I'm not in the greatest moods when it comes to the Astros. 

I could see this move if the Astros were still a team that could contend and were in need of a pitcher to help fill out the back side of the rotation... I could see that... but we're not.  We're the worst team in our division(tied) and we have NO STARTING PITCHING!  You aren't going to win with this type of team and signing Wolf does little to nothing to increase the chances of the Astros making the playoffs.  We're the worst team in a division with the 3 best teams in the National League. 

Have you ever gotten the feeling that every move your team makes... is the exact opposite of what you would have done?  That's kind of where I am right now....

With the 2nd straight loss to the hands of the Pirates, the Astros are now TIED for last place in the NL Central with those Pirates.  Tied for last place with the team that hasn't had a winning record since I was 12(1992). 

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I'm happy to see Cassel up with the big club... I think he should stay for the rest of the season and see what he can do...

I'm still shocked at the way we lost last night... I had a good feeling about it going into the 9th and was just thinking to myself how Valverde usually gets the deal done when he has a 1 run lead...  I was so wrong as he didn't get out of the inning and the Astros ended up losing 3-9.  How you give up 7 runs in the 9th is beyond me, but the Astros managed to do it.  I guess Valverde heard us talking about trading him during the game and wanted to lower his trade value.

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	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Runelvys Hernandez	0-3	3	3	0	0	0	0	14.0	24	17	16	4	9	12	10.29	2.36

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What a joke of a starting pitching match up... wow, this game doesn't exactly bring the fans to the stadium!  I think anything more than 10,000 fans at the game would have to be a bonus for Drayton...

Astros managed to win a series against the best team in the NL over the weekend, taking 2 of 3 from the Cubs... that sounds good and all, but both the Brewers and Cardinals still managed to increase their lead over the Astros by sweeping their last series.

MICHAEL BOURN BATTING 2ND!!!! OMG! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  If I actually typed what I was thinking, I'd get kicked off the internet for foul language and hurtful thoughts...  anyways... Obviously I'm not a big fan of Bourn [being in the lineup] batting 2nd and still think Wigginton should be leading off...

Poll

Over/Under combined runs scored with 2 pitchers around 10.00 ERA

• >15
• <15

  13 votes | Results

This is kind of old news(this came out yesterday), but I've been AWOL due to personal stuff(nothing bad, just life getting in the way of bloggin) and have pretty much been out of the loop for a few days.  Anyways...

Roy Oswalt underwent an MRI on Saturday morning that confirmed the right-hander is still recovering from a left hip abductor strain he suffered on June 30.

Oswalt was previously scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday afternoon in hopes that he could reenter Houston's rotation on Tuesday. But following the MRI results, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to his one-inning, 17-pitch start on July 11 against the Nationals.

 

Link

This basically just shows that the Astros mishandled Roy by letting him make the start on July 11th and now will not be able to use Roy if they wanted to until the 26th(I think).  It really isn't a big deal and didn't hurt much(I'm not sure Roy will be ready to come back on the 26th anyways), but who knows when he would have been back if they would have just put him on the DL in the 1st place and let him rest the back instead of having him do the bullpen before the 11th and then start the game on the 11th. 

 

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Can you guess why I took a picture of this?

Unfortunately, the Puma was either hiding or not home today.