Morgan Ensberg threw the monkey off his back by ripping a mighty two run yak in the bottom of the eighth to give the Stros a 7-5 win over the Rangers at the Juice Box on Friday night.
Ensberg’s blast bailed out Roy O, who pitched reasonably well (8 inn., 9 hits, 5 runs, 11 K’s, no walks), but gave up a couple of two run homers, the second of which tied the game at 5 in the top of the eighth to set up Ensberg’s crank in the bottom of the inning. Before the Rangers tied it up, the Stros had taken the lead with a four spot in the sixth, highlighted by four straight singles by the middle of the Stros’ lineup. It was nice also to see Lidge secure the save after giving up Sosa’s walkoff crank in yesterday’s loss at Wrigley.
Amid the good news, though, there was bad. Starter Wade Miller is out at least a month with a rotater cuff injury. This is the type of injury that can be season ending.
The Saturday night game looks like a slugfest as the Stros send newly-acquired Jeremy Griffiths to the mound against the Rangers’ newby Nick Bierbrodt.

The Stros announced yesterday that the Minute Maid Park (better known as the “Juice Box”) is now wired for WiFi high speed internet access.

Sammy Sosa cranked a walk off yak on the first pitch from Brad Lidge in the bottom of the tenth Thursday afternoon to give the Cubs a 5-4 win over the Stros in the rubber game of their three game series at Wrigley.
Lidge was the superficial goat in this one, but Jimy Williams is the true goat. In saving Wednesday’s game for the Stros, Lidge threw 35 pitches under stressful circumstances and, thus, had no business even warming up 24 hours later, much less closing the game.
Moreover, even with Carlos Beltran being the only Stro regular hitting the ball well (two yaks, four RBI’s in today’s game), Williams continues inexplicably to keep Mike Lamb and Jason Lane on the bench while Bags and Viz continue to scruff. The Stros officially were the worst hitting team in Major League Baseball during June as they scored a total of 91 runs in 27 games. Meanwhile, Williams continues to have Adam Everett lay down sacrifice bunts and play Brad Ausmus rather than than make meaningful changes to juice up the lineup. It is truly amazing that Stros management tolerates such incompetence.
Roy O takes the hill in the first game on Friday in the weekend series against the Rangers. With a West Coast trip to San Diego and L.A. looming after this weekend, the Stros had better start helping Beltran or else their playoff chances will be over by the All-Star break.

The Rocket pitched seven stellar innings, Bidg cranked two solo yaks, and Brad Lidge hurled two innings of clutch relief as the struggling Stros rode Carlos Beltran’s ninth inning tater to a 3-2 win over the Cubs at Wrigley on Wednesday afternoon.
Clemens was his usual pit bulldog self, giving up only a run on five hits with five walks in his seven innings. Lidge bailed the Stros out of another relief pitcher mess that Miceli produced in the eighth, and then mowed the Cubs down in order in the ninth. Although it does not show up in the box score, Everett made at least three difficult plays in the field that kept the Cubs from gaining any momentum.
The mismatch of the season takes place in the rubber game as the Stros’ Pete Munro takes on the Cubs’ Astro-killer, Mark Prior on Thursday afternoon. The Stros return to the Juice Box for a weekend series with the Rangers before visiting the Padres and the Dodgers in the following week leading up to the All-Star game on July 13th at the Juice Box.

Bidg‘s drop of a fly ball in the seventh resulted in two unearned Cub runs and a 7-5 Cub victory over the Stros in the first game of their key three game series at Wrigley.
Neither Kirk Bullinger nor David Weathers could hold Stros’ leads after Andy Pettitte muddled through five innings without good command. Pettitte ended up giving three runs on four hits with three walks and seven K’s. Miceli looked to have bailed Weathers out, but Biggio’s error sealed the win for the Cubs.
Carlos Beltran belted his first yak for the Stros and JK and Ensberg both had extra base hits to generate most of the Stros’ runs. However, Kent injured his hamstring on his double and appears headed to the disabled list, and Bidg and Bags continue to scruff. Despite their long and heralded service to the ballclub, the Stros are clearly suffering at the plate from their first baseman and leftfielder’s lack of production. Meanwhile, Jason Lane inexplicably has not been seen in the past four games.
Just to make sure that the evening was a complete downer, the Stros announced that Wade Miller — 7-7 with a 3.35 ERA — was being placed on the disabled list because of an a sore shoulder. Miller has been inconsistent this season, and has suffered from a lack of command. He is one of the league leaders in walks, which means he is at risk of throwing more pitches in fewer innings than other pitchers. Newly-acquired Jeremy Griffiths (acquired as a throw-in in the Hidalgo trade) was called up from AAA New Orleans to replace Miller in the rotation, a move that does not say much about the quality of the Stros’ AAA pitching prospects. The Stros did make at least one positive move on Tuesday in that they replaced Tim Redding in the rotation with Pete Munro, a move that they should have made weeks ago.
The Rocket takes the hill for the Stros in Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Cubs’ Matt Clement. That game may be the first must win game for the Stros in this once promising, but now quickly fading, season.

Roy O pitched eight innings of shut out ball and Carlos Beltran scored the only run and made a spectacular catch to take away another as the Stros salvaged the third game of their weekend series with the Rangers, 1-0. Even when they win, this Stros team is tough to watch, as the Astro In Exile attests.
Oswalt was spectacular, giving up four hits in eight innings, walking none (he hit one batter), and fanning nine. Lidge looked good again in closing, and Beltran’s over the wall catch in the first immediately goes on ESPN’s ten best catches of the season.
As they leave Arlington for Chicago, the Stros are 39-36 and six and a half games back of the NL Central leading Cards. Apart from the great acquisition of Beltran, nothing has changed much for the club since my last analysis of the Stros’ season two weeks ago. Apart from Berkman and now Beltran, the hitters are a bunch of slap single hitters with little power. The pitchers have continued a trend of generally improving performances, but Redding‘s performance has been among the worst in the league and, thus, pulls the staff’s overall improved performance down.
Here are the Stros’ hitters’ runs created against average (“RCAA,” explained here) through Saturday’s games, courtesy of Lee Sinins:
Lance Berkman 40
Jeff Bagwell 13
Craig Biggio 9
Mike Lamb 8
Jeff Kent 4
Carlos Beltran 1
Eric Bruntlett 1
Jason Lane 0
Morgan Ensberg -3
Orlando Palmeiro -3
Jose Vizcaino -3
Raul Chavez -5
Adam Everett -6
Richard Hidalgo -6
Brad Ausmus -14
The Stros’ team RCAA of 36 ranks fifth in the National League overall, which is behind division rivals Reds (64), Cubs (48) and just a bit in front of the Cards (30).
Even though he has cooled off over the past two weeks, Berkman remains one of the best hitters in baseball, and Beltran would have a solid 20 RCAA if you include his RCAA from his time with Kansas City this season.
Bags‘ 13 is deceptive because that is only the eighth or ninth best RCAA among first basemen in the National League (Jim Thome is leading NL first basemen with an RCAA of 41 and Sean Casey is second at 37). Biggio continues his fine season, but is not among the top NL producers in left field. With the exception of Lamb, the rest of the club continues to scruff. Note that JK‘s performance is barely above-average despite the propoganda of a great season that the Chronicle exudes about him, and Everett‘s negative six figure should place him at the bottom of the lineup, where Jimy Williams had him in the game today.
Finally, the veteran outmaker — Ausmus — now has the sixth worst RCAA figure among NL starters, and it is clear that Chavez makes the Stros a better team offensive and defensively (he threw another baserunner out today in a key situation) when he replaces Ausmus. Don’t hold your breath that Williams will notice, though. Ausmus is a veteran who “handles pitchers” well, whatever that means.
Here are the Stros’ pitchers’ runs saved against average (“RSAA,” explained here):
Roger Clemens 15
Wade Miller 8
Brad Lidge 7
Octavio Dotel 4
Mike Gallo 3
Dan Miceli 3
Pete Munro 3
Andy Pettitte 3
Kirk Bullinger 2
Roy Oswalt 2
David Weathers 0
Brandon Backe -3
Chad Harville -3
Ricky Stone -3
Jared Fernandez -6
Brandon Duckworth -10
Tim Redding -13
The Stros’ team RSAA of 12 ranks seventh in the National League overall, which is behind division rivals Cubs (33), Cards (28), and Brewers (44).
There is actually much good news here. With Pettitte‘s return and Roy O’s RSAA figure uncharacteristically low, both of their RSAA should improve over the next several weeks. The Stros would realize a big benefit from simply replacing Redding with Munro, which should happen unless the Stros’ management goes brain dead. If Pettitte, Oswalt, Miller, and Lidge all trend toward joining the Rocket at the double digit RSAA level, then that will reflect a strong pitching staff for the second half of the season.
Based on current team RCAA and RSAA figures, the Cubs actually should be leading the NL Central by a long shot, so they are actually underperforming more in the win-loss column than the Stros. If performances remain relatively steady (that assumption does not always hold), look for the Cubs to overtake the Cards after the All-Star break, and expect the Stros and Cards to battle it out for second place in the NL Central. I still expect the Reds and Brewers to tail off, the Reds because of abysmal pitching (their great first half hitting will likely tail off in the second half of the season) and the Brewers because of their poor hitting (but they are getting very good pitching, which could keep them in the race longer than the Reds).
The Stros close out the first half of the season with seven games over the next week, four against the Cubs at Wrigley and then a weekend series at the Juice Box next weekend against the Rangers. The club really needs to step it up during these games because losing most of those games against these two good teams could put the Stros so far down by the All-Star break that any hitch in their giddyup in the second half of the season will drop them quickly out of the race for a playoff spot.

Hank Blalock cranked a tie-breaking eighth inning yak off of Dan Miceli to lead the Rangers to an 8-7 win over the Stros on Saturday afternoon in Arlington.
The Stros’ Tim Redding pitched batting practice for the Rangers, giving up ten hits and six runs over four innings. Hopefully, the only reason that Redding remains in the rotation is because Andy Pettitte has not yet returned to the rotation. However once Pettitte returns, there simply is no reason not to hand the ball every fifth day to Pete Munro rather than Redding, who now has among the worst statistics of any starting pitcher in the National League.
The Stros hitters still are not hitting on all cylinders, but Barry Bonds, Jr. did nail a bases loaded double to tie the game at seven during a four run uprising in seventh. However, a season long power drain continues to plague Bags (slugging percentage of .470 this season against a career .546) and Ensberg (.354 slugging percentage compared with .530 last season), while manager Jimy Williams inexplicably insists on maximizing at bats for Everett (slugging percentage of .361) by batting him second in the order and playing unproductive hitters such as Viz (slugging percentage of .357) and Bruntlett (last night, slugging percentage of .403 in 67 career AB’s) rather than arranging the lineup to make sure that better hitters such as Lamb (slugging percentage of .550) and Lane (lifetime slugging percentage .522) are playing as much as possible. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the Stros’ margin for error in scoring runs is not large enough to compensate for Williams’ dubious personnel decisions.
Roy O attempts to bail the Stros out during the Sunday afternoon game against the Rangers, as the Stros prepare to go to Wrigley for four with the Cubs next week that may just determine whether this club will be able to contend for a playoff spot during the remainder of this once promising season.

Kenny Rogers kept the Stros off balance all Friday night as he led the Rangers to a 3-1 win in the opening game of the Long Star Series.
Rogers made it look like the Stros played 18 innings the night before rather than the Rangers. He gave up only two singles and a double, walked only one and threw less than 100 pitches in chalking up his 10th win of the season. Meanwhile, Stros starter Wade Miller was all over the place, walking six and throwing 116 pitches in five and a third. Miller is among the league leaders in walks, and that lack of command is keeping him from being anything other than a barely above-average pitcher.
I’ve been quiet on the Jimy Williams front lately, but tonight he fielded just a ridiculous lineup. He has a team that is struggling at the plate and he bats Everett second (sorry, Jimy, Everett is a below average hitter regardless of how many times he lays down a sacrifice bunt), he DH’s JK so that he can play the punchless Brumlett at second, and, of course, we always have the incredible out machine Ausmus. That’s a third of the lineup that cannot hit their weight. By playing Kent at second, Williams could have DH’ed either Lamb or Lane and there is absolutely no reason with Beltran around to be batting Everett second in the lineup.
Wake up, Jimy. Your team is struggling. Play as many of your good hitters that you can and bat them more than your below average hitters. This is not rocket science.
Things could get ugly on Saturday as Tim Redding tees it up for the Rangers’ potent lineup. My bet is that Redding’s RSAA (explained here) is well into negative double digits once the Rangers get through with him.

The Stros nipped the Pirates 3-2 at the Juice Box on Thursday night as the Rocket picked up his 10th win of the season and the struggling Stros won for the fourth time in five games.
However, the bigger news out of the Juice Box on Thursday night was that the Stros consummated a trade that will bring star Kansas City centerfielder Carlos Beltran to Houston for reliever Octavio Dotel and AAA catcher John Buck (the Royals then shipped Dotel to Oakland for a couple of minor league prospects).
First, the game. The Rocket was his usual dependable self, scattering four hits and two runs over seven innings. Miceli and new closer Brad Lidge closed out the victory as Morgan Ensberg had the game winning hit for the second time in three games.
Now, the trade. Beltran is one of the best young players in baseball, with a .368 on base average, a slugging percentage of .527, and an RCAA (explained here) of 17 this season. Dotel has been one of the best relievers in baseball over the past three seasons, but he was having a down season so far and Lidge is ready to handle the closer’s role. Buck was once the Stros’ best minor league prospect before his development was derailed a couple of years ago by injuries and the club’s failure to field a high A farm team until last year. However, Buck has rebounded nicely this season at AAA New Orleans and is likely ready for an opportunity to play in the bigs.
So, although far from a great deal (at least as of yet), the trade is a reasonable gamble for the Stros, who were probably going to finish third (at best) in the NL Central if they played a pat hand the rest of the season. Beltran is clearly the type of player who can elevate the Stros’ performance level to equal that of the Cubs and Cards. Of course, the downside is that Beltran is probably a three month rental for the Stros, as his uber-agent Scott Boras has already announced that he is going to auction Beltran’s talents to the highest bidder on the free agent market after this season. Don’t look for the Stros to win that horse race.
Hopefully, Beltran will be in the Stros’ lineup on Friday night as they send Wade Miller to the hill in the first game of the Lone Star Series with the hard-hitting Rangers at Arlington. Redding and Roy O will pitch the next two games of the series.

Newly-acquired David Weathers served up Jason Kendall‘s first career grand salami and that’s all she wrote as the Pirates cruised to a 7-2 win over the Stros at the Juice Box on Wednesday night.
Stros starter Pete Munro actually pitched reasonably well, giving up four hits and four runs over six and a third. But Weathers really screwed the pooch, giving Kendall only his second yak of the season. The Stros bats — not exactly bursting with energy these days — went into deep sleep after Kendall’s tater put the game out of reach.
The biggest Stros news of the day was the rumor that the Stros were dangling Octavio Dotel as trade bait in a proposed three way deal with Oakland and Kansas City that would bring Carlos Beltan to the Stros. Beltran, 27, is one of the best young players in baseball, so he would be a wonderful addition to the Stros. However, the proposed deal violates the “too good to be true” because the term of Beltran’s $6 million contract expires at the end of this season and my sense is that the Stros would not give up Dotel to rent Beltran for half the season. So, any such deal would probably have to involve working out a new deal with Beltran, which is a long shot at best given his prospects on the free agent market. Thus, I recommend not to get too worked up over this proposed deal — I just don’t think it will happen.
In other positive news, Andy Pettitte had a good outing this evening in Round Rock and will likely come off the DL for his next start. Look for Tim Redding to be the odd man out as Munro is pitching better and deserves a shot at the fifth spot in the rotation.
The Rocket tries to make sure the Stros take three out of four against the Bucs on Thursday night before the Stros ship off to Arlington to battle the vastly-improved Rangers in the World Series of Texas this weekend.