Please excuse the light blogging this week. I have been working on a big project, so not much time for the old blog.
But even light blogging cannot stop the Stros, who won their sixth of seven games on the just concluded homestand by beating the Pirates 5-2 on a getaway day afternoon game at the Juice Box. Wade Miller scattered 6 hits over 7 and a third innings and didn’t walk anyone, which is a key to for him to do well. Bags and Morgan Ensberg had the key hits for the Stros, who are now 18-10, in first place in the NL Central, and tied with Anaheim for the best record in MLB right now.
That may not last long, though. Tim Redding, who has wavered between mediocre and awful in four starts this season, gets the nod again tomorrow in the first game of a weekend series with the Braves in Atlanta. Roy O and Andy Pettitte are scheduled to pitch the weekend games for the Stros.

The Rocket won his sixth straight game of the season as the Astros beat the Pirates 6-2 in the second game of their three game series. Jeff Kent was the hitting star with a dinger and a triple, while Morgan Ensberg climbed out of Jimy Williams’ doghouse long enough to pick up a couple of hits and RBI’s.
Clemens struggled a bit in this outing (, but he is so ornery that it doesn’t seem to matter much. Clemens moved into second place on the career strikeouts list behind fellow Houston area native Nolan Ryan when he struck out Raul Mondesi swinging in the fifth inning to pass Steve Carlton with No. 4,137 career K’s. Clemens finished the night with nine strikeouts to run his career total to 4,140.
The Stros go for the sweep on a Thursday afternoon businessman’s special before leaving town for a quick three game roadie in Atlanta over the weekend.
Wade Miller will start for the Astros.

The Stros got back on the winning track Monday night as they edged the Pittsburgh Pirates at the Juice Box, 4-3. Andy Pettitte worked five reasonably effective innings (1 run, 2 hits, 2 walks) in his second outing since coming off the DL, and Brad Lidge bailed out fellow reliever Dan Miceli, who had his second straight shaky relief outing. Jeff Kent cranked a two run shot to put the game away, and Bidg hit another lead off home run. Also noteworthy was Adam Everett‘s sparkling defensive plays, one of which saved a run.
The Rocket goes for his sixth in a row on Wednesday night in the second game of the series, which concludes with a businessman’s special on Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Stros go to Atlanta for a three game series with the Braves this weekend.

Roy O‘s buzzard’s luck continues as two late Reds homes runs off of usually money relievers Brad Lidge and Octavio Dotel allowed the Reds to pull out the final game of the four game series, 7-5. Oswalt was not sharp (he walked four in six innings, which is highly unusual for him), but battled gamely and was poised to leave the game with only giving up two runs when Mike Lamb booted a sure double play ball. That led to a two run double that gave the Reds a 4-2 lead. The Stros battled back to take a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the inning to give Roy O the chance for the win, but then Lidge and Dotel served up their gopher balls to the eminently forgettable D’Angelo Jimenez and Javier Valentin in the 7th and 8th innings that allowed the Reds to pull it out.
Andy Pettitte goes for his second win after coming of the DL as the Stros open a three game mid-week series against the Pirates at the Juice Box tonight.

The Astros continued to roll Sunday afternoon as they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth — spiced by a Brad Ausmus squeeze bunt that plated Lance Berkman with the go ahead run — to beat the Cincinnati Reds for the third straight day, 6-5. The suicide squeeze play was preceded by Mike Lamb‘s key bases loaded single that scored two runs to tie the game as the Stros clawed back from an early 4-0 deficit, which was the result of yet another ineffective Tim Redding outing (3 innings, 4 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks). Redding appears to be headed for either the bullpen or AAA New Orleans for awhile until he works out his problems, which appear to be control-related.
The Stros are now 15-9 and lead the NL Central by a game over the Cubs. Roy O hopes that the Stros are ready to provide more than the five total runs that he has received in his last three outings as he takes the hill on Monday evening in the finale of the four game series against the Reds. The Pirates come to town on Tuesday for a three game set before the Stros visit Atlanta for a three game series with the Braves over next weekend.

Jeff Kent, Bigd, Richard Hidalgo and Bags were the big run producers as the Astros beat the Reds in the second game of their four game series, 10-4. Wade Miller struggled through six innings, but the Reds were never able to take advantage of Miller’s wildness to put together a really big inning, and the reliable Stros bullpen limited the Reds to one run in the last three innings to secure the win.
Tim Redding, who has not pitched and probably has beein in therapy since being belted for 9 hits and 8 runs in three innings against the Cards on April 21, will be a highly motivated pitcher for the Stros in the Sunday afternoon game of the series. Cory Lidle will likely start for the Reds.
The Stros are now 14-9, tied with the Cubs for the NL Central lead, and are among the five teams with the best record in MLB right now.

Roger Clemens showed one of the reasons tonight why he is a certain first ballot Hall of Famer and one of the three or four best pitchers in baseball history.
Not blessed with his best stuff and unable to throw any of his breaking pitches consistently for strikes, Clemens threw almost 35 pitches, walked four, and walked in a run in the first inning of the Stros’ game tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. However, Clemens then settled down, began spotting his fastball effectively, did not walk another batter, and scattered five hits over six innings. He left the game without giving up another run.
In short, 41 year old Clemens without his best stuff could still shut down the Reds. He is an incredible pitcher.
The Stros cruised behind Clemens to a 6-1 win over the Reds in front of an SRO crowd of over 41,000 at the Juice Box. Wade Miller pitches on Saturday evening in the second game of the series against the Reds.

In his first game off the disabled list, Andy Pettitte threw six innings of one hit ball as the Astros took the second and final game of their weathered shortened series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-0. Dan Miceli, Brad Lidge, and Octavio Dotel followed Pettitte and secured the win, facing a total of 11 batters over the final three innings and striking out six of them.
The Stros return to Houston this afternoon to begin a seven game homestand at 12-9 and a game back of the Cubs in the NL Central. My prediction about this team is proving correct as, despite several games in which they have scored over 10 runs, the club struggles mightily at the plate at times. For example, in Roy O‘s last three starts, the Stros have scored a total of five runs. In the last three games of this road trip, the club scored a total of five runs. Bags, Kent and Bidg all cooled off considerably on the road trip.
The Rocket pitches the first game of the series at the Juice Box on Friday evening.

After being nasty weathered out last night, the Stros wasted another strong pitching performance from Roy O and lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night, 4-2. The loss was the Astros’ fifth in their last seven games. Andy Pettitte comes off the disabled list on Thursday afternoon to pitch the final game of the series in Pittsburgh before the Stros come back to Minute Maid Park on Friday night behind the Rocket to begin a four game set with the Cincinnati Reds. Ricky Stone was sent down to AAA New Orleans to make room for Pettitte on the 25 man roster.