Down on the Farm - 6/4/13

AAA - Albuquerque 10 Oklahoma City 2

3 RedHawks errors led to 4 unearned runs and Philip Humber lost for the 9th time this year as the Isotopes hammered the RedHawks (32-25) 10-2. Jake Elmore went 2 for 5 and Brett Wallace went 3 for 4, but the RedHawks left 12 men on base in the game. Humber allowed just 2 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings of work, but hit two more batters giving him 6 hit batsmen in 12 innings since he was sent down. Kevin Chapman struck out the side while working a scoreless inning.

AA - Corpus Christi 9 Midland 5

Jake Buchanan improved to 7-0 on the year, but the bigger story was that he actually got scored on... TWICE. While just one of the runs was earned, Buchanan's ERA skyrocketed to... 0.85. The Hooks (36-21) got big offensive efforts from Ben Orloff (4/5), Jose Martinez (3/5, 3 RBI) and Domingo Santana (2/5, 2 RBI) in the win. Martinez is 10 for 14 for the Hooks since he was activated from the DL. Justin Maxwell started as the DH in his first rehab appearance since his injury. He went 0 for 3 with a strikeout, but stole a base and scored a run.

Advanced A - Stockton 4 Lancaster 2

For the second day in a row, the Ports handed the JetHawks (35-23) a 4-2 loss. Andrew Aplin and Chris Epps each had 2 hits, but all six RedHawks hits were singles and they never really got much going offensively. Aaron West allowed 3 runs in 5 innings to fall to 2-2 on the year. Michael Dimock added 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Dimock did allow a hit which was the first he'd surrendered since his promotion to Lancaster. Opposing hitters are batting just .048 against him in the California League.

Dominican Summer League - DSL Astros 2 DSL Red Sox 0

Edwin Villarroel tossed 5 shutout innings, and Joselo Pinales and Harold Arauz combined for 4 shutout innings of relief as the DSL Astros 4-hit the DSL Red Sox 2-0. Arturo Michelena drove in a run on a groundout in the first and Hector Roa tripled and scored on a Jesus Bermejo single in the 7th, but that was more than enough for the Astros as they won their second straight.

Down on the Farm - 5/26/13

AAA - Iowa 2 Oklahoma City 1 (Game 1)

Brett Oberholtzer allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 5 1/3 innings, but the RedHawks (27-22) offense was stifled, and they dropped a tight one to the Cubs, 2-1. Jake Elmore had 2 of Oklahoma City's 3 hits and a stolen base, and Marc Krauss added a double, but the RedHawks went hitless with runners in scoring position in losing Game 1 of their doubleheader.

Iowa 4 Oklahoma City 3 (Game 2)

The RedHawks (27-23) rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game, but Iowa got a game winning home run from Donnie Murphy in the bottom of the 6th to sweep their doubleheader. Philip Humber made his first start since his demotion and went 4 innings allowing 3 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits and fanning 5. He walked just one hitter, but hit two others. Eric Berger suffered the loss in relief.

AA - Arkansas 8 Corpus Christi 6

The Hooks (29-20) scored 5 times in the bottom of the 8th, but couldn't overcome an early 8-1 deficit in their 8-6 loss to the Travelers. Ben Orloff and Domingo Santana each drove in a pair of runs, and Jiovanni Mier reached base 3 times (singles, 2 walks) and scored twice in a losing effort. Josh Fields made another rehab appearance and was scored upon for the second straight outing allowing a run on 3 hits in an inning of work. Kenny Long and Matt Heidenreich combined on 3 2/3 innings of no-hit shutout relief ball.

Advanced A - Lancaster 18 Inland Empire 10

In your typical California League shootout, the JetHawks (29-20) rallied from deficits of 5-0, and 9-7 and defeated the 66ers 18-10 thanks to a 10-run 7th. Lancaster slugged 5 home runs including 2 by Brandon Meredith who finished the night 3 for 3 with 5 rbis despite not entering the game until the 6th inning as a pinch hitter. Delino DeShields picked up 4 hits, while Joe Sclafani, Preston Tucker and Chris Epps all had 3 runs batted in. Sclafani finished the night 2 for 4 with a pair of walks to raise his average on the year to .386 as he continues to fill in admirably for the injured Nolan Fontana at short. Theron Geith piched 2 scoreless innings in relief to lower his ERA on the year to 2.08 while Kyle Hallock earned the win to improve to 2-0.

Low A - Quad Cities 5 Clinton 2

The River Bandits bullpen tossed 6 scoreless innings as Quad Cities (26-23) defeated the LumberKings 5-2. Austin Elkins went 3 for 4, Jordan Scott had 2 hits and 2 walks, and Carlos Correa was 1 for 4 with a double and a walk as the River Bandits won despite going just 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position and stranding 14 runners on base. Gerardo Sanchez earned the win in relief and improved to 2-0 on the year. Jordan Jankowski continue his solid form as of late with 4 scoreless innings to earn his 2nd save and lowered his ERA to 2.70.

Down on the Farm - 5/23/13

AAA - Fresno 4 Oklahoma City 1

Jarred Cosart logged a quality start, but the RedHawks bats were silent as they fell to Fresno by a score of 4-1. Brett Wallace reached base 4 times (2 singles, 2 walks) and raised his average since his demotion to .319, and Austin Wates added a pair of doubles and drove in the only run for the RedHawks (27-19), but they were about the only bright spots on offense. Philip Humber made his second appearance for the RedHawks, but struggled to find the strike zone and walked 2 of the 4 hitters he faced and hit a third before getting relieved by Kevin Chapman.

AA - Corpus Christi 10 Northwest Arkansas 4

Bobby Doran improved his record to 6-1 as the Hooks (27-19) cruised to a 10-4 win over the Naturals. Jonathan Meyer homered and drove in 4 and Max Stassi hit a pair of doubles and drove in 3 to lead the 13-hit attack. Stassi has now hit in 9 straight and he's 13 for 34 during that stretch raising his average on the year to .306. Nick Tropeano pitched the final four innings to earn his 5th save of the season.

Advanced A - Lancaster 8 Inland Empire 7

In a sloppy game featuring 8 errors, 18 strikeouts and 3 wild pitches, the JetHawks (26-20) edged out the 66ers 8-7. Carlos Perdomo and Preston Tucker each drove in a pair of runs and 8 different JetHawks scored at least once in the win. Delino DeShields Jr. entered the game as a defensive substitution and added a pair of stolen bases. Theron Geith (5-0, 2.29) earned the win with a scoreless 8th inning and Travis Ballew closed it out with a scoreless 9th for his 8th save.

Low A - Wisconsin 7 Quad Cities 4

Quad Cities (23-22) didn't get a hit until Terrell Joyce's home run to lead off the 7th inning and their late rally came up short as they were defeated 7-4 by the Timber Rattlers. Roberto Pena added a 2-run double and Carlos Correa drew a pair of walks and scored a run in a losing effort. Vincent Velasquez worked the final 4 innings and allowed just one hit while fanning 8.

Down on the Farm - 5/20/13

AAA - Fresno 10 Oklahoma City 3

Asher Wojciechowski finally got roughed up a bit surrendering 8 runs on 10 hits, including 3 home runs, as the RedHawks (25-18) lost to the Grizzlies 10-3. Philip Humber followed Wojo making his RedHawks debut and allowed 2 runs in his 2 innings of work. Sadly his 9.00 ERA is better than what he posted during his stint with the Astros (9.59). Fernando Martinez led the RedHawks offense by going 3 for 4 with a home run and a pair of rbis. Brandon Laird added two hits including a double.

AA - Midland 19 Corpus Christi 11

The Hooks (25-19) took an 11-10 lead into the bottom of the 8th, but the RockHounds scored 9 times off of 3 Hooks pitchers and won a wild, high scoring affair 19-11. Erik Castro, Michael Burgess and Zach Johnson all homered for the Hooks, and Castro and Burgess each had 3 rbis to lead the offense, but the Hooks made 4 errors, walked 9 hitters and allowed 17 hits. Pat Urckfitz was the lone bright spot on the mound for Corpus Christi tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

Advanced A - Rancho Cucamonga 10 Lancaster 6

Tyson Perez allowed 7 runs in the game's first two innings and the JetHawks (24-20) never recovered losing to the Quakes, 10-6. Telvin Nash homered and drove in three runs, and Preston Tucker had 3 hits as Lancaster tried to rally late, but fell short. Chris Epps added two doubles and Joe Sclafani reached base 3 times while Theron Geith threw 2 scoreless innings.

Low A - Beloit 4 Quad Cities 1

Teoscar Hernandez led off the game with a single, and the River Bandits (23-20) went hitless the rest of the way falling to the Snappers, 4-1. Mike Hauschild tossed 5 no-hit innings for Quad Cities, but Beloit got to the River Bandits' bullpen for 4 runs on 7 hits. Rio Ruiz delivered a sacrifice fly to score Hernandez for Quad Cities' only run.

The Humber Era Continues!

In case you missed it, Philip Humber cleared waivers and is headed for Oklahoma City. The player once drafted one pick after Justin Verlander back in 2004 was designated for assignment after falling to 0-8 with a 9.59 ERA in his first 9 appearances of 2013. Humber allowed 57 hits and 15 walks in just 35 2/3 innings and was letting opposing hitters bat .354 against him. I suppose it's no real surprise with numbers like that that he cleared waivers, but he accepted his assignment and gets a chance to work through his issues in AAA.

I'm actually on board with this move. As bad as Humber was, he did start the season strong (2.89 ERA through 3 starts), and even turned in one good relief appearance before his final meltdown against Texas. He's obviously got the potential to do well, and with none of Houston's starters really locking up spots in the rotation, why not keep him around to see if he can figure it out?

And let's face it. The RedHawks have a pair of starters done for the year (Rudy Owens and John Ely), while Paul Clemens, Jose Cisnero, Jordan Lyles and Dallas Keuchel are already in Houston, so the additional depth won't hurt. Humber will join his former rotation mate Brad Peacock on the RedHawks as 40% of Houston's Opening Day rotation is now in the minors. So far the demotion has worked well for Peacock as he's struck out 14 and only walked 1 in 11 innings of work. Hopefully things work out for Humber too.

Humber Out, Edgar Back In

After last night's Philip Humber meltdown, you kinda saw this move coming. After starting the season 0-8 with a 9.59 ERA in 9 appearances, Humber was designated for assignment today. The Astros didn't waste any time filling his roster spot either as they signed free agent Edgar Gonzalez who was recently released by Toronto. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Gonzalez made the Astros out of Spring Training, but was designated for assignment before appearing in a game this season to make room for Travis Blackley. Now he's back and will help out in long relief for the Astros. How long he stays on the roster remains to be seen as Josh Fields is getting closer to returning from injury. Gonzalez made 4 starts for AAA Buffalo going 1-0 with a 5.49 ERA, and 3 relief appearances for the Jays in which he posted a 7.88 ERA (7 runs in 8 innings). Gonzalez made 6 starts for the Astros a year ago, going 3-1 with a 5.04 ERA. He beat the Pirates, Reds and Brewers. Is he "the answer" to our problems? Probably not. But, he buys us some more time so we don't have to rush the kids (Cosart, Wojo, etc.)

Some other notes from last night:

1) I really like Trevor Crowe. He did three things last night that stood out for me:

*A two-strike base hit off of closer Joe Nathan in the 9th inning to drive in a run
*Threw out Ian Kinsler at home on a would-be sacrifice fly
*Went from 1st to 3rd on a wild pitch in the 9th inning to set up a run

A switch hitter with good speed, Crowe present us with some interesting possibilities moving forward. A former first round pick, it'd be great if he finally put things together.

2) Erik Bedard was terrific yesterday and deserved to win that game. He left with a 3-1 lead in the 6th after fanning 7 and allowing just 4 hits in 5+ innings. His most impressive inning was the 5th in which he worked out of a 1st and 3rd no out jam without allowing a run. That's the Bedard we thought we were getting when we signed him. He's had an interesting season so far. Let me break it down for you in three parts:

Part 1 (Apps 1-2): 7 1/3 IP 2 H 0 ER 2 BB 5 K - 0.00 ERA 0.55 WHIP
Part 2 (Apps 3-6): 11 1/3 IP 21 H 17 ER 10 BB 16 K - 13.50 ERA 2.74 WHIP
Part 3 (Apps 7-8): 8 1/3 IP 6 H 3 ER 3 BB 10 K - 3.24 ERA 1.08 WHIP

Now if we could just harness parts 1 and 3 and keep THAT guy going forward...

3) Nice to see Sweet Matty D go yard twice against Darvish yesterday getting his first 2 home runs of the year and notching his first career multi-homer game.

4) Jose Cisnero pitched well in relief of Humber allowing a Lance Berkman home run in 3 1/3 innings of work. While Cisnero has pitched well for the most part during his brief tenure in Houston, I think he's the likely guy to get sent back down when Josh Fields returns. It's not a knock on Cisnero's performance at all, but being a young guy, it's more important for him to get work than it is for him to sit on the bench in Houston.

10 Reasons to be Optimistic Even Though We Lost the Last Two Games:

1) Chris Carter has struck out just 4 times in his last 7 games after striking out 49 times in his first 28. During this recent stretch, Carter is 6 for 18 with 5 runs batted in.

2) Philip Humber pitched 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen on Thursday night and didn't allow a hit while fanning 3 and walking one. Maybe a move to the pen is just what he needs to turn things around.

3) Trevor Crowe, not known for his power, hit his first home run as an Astro last night off of Alexi Ogando.

4) When Houston faced Ogando in April he fanned 10 hitters in 6 1/3 shutout innings. Last night he didn't make it through six innings and fanned only 3. That, my friends, is progress.

5) Dallas Keuchel turned in a quality start in his first appearance in the Astros rotation this year allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings. Yeah, we didn't get a win, but if you're a realist, you recognize this year isn't about wins, it's about evaluating talent. Keuchel has been a pleasant surprise this year in whatever role he's been asked to fill and could help bolster a shaky rotation if he continues to pitch well.

6) Losing close games is frustrating, but having close games is a step in the right direction. If you think about it, the Astros could have very easily gone 6-2 over the last 8 games. Yeah, we're only 2-6 during that stretch, but that's about learning how to win more than it is learning to play good baseball. We're getting there, and that's reason to be excited.

7) We're two weeks into May and Brandon Barnes is still hitting .327 with an on base percentage of .413. What's more, he's been able to sustain his hot bat despite not playing every day.

8) A day after making an uncharacteristic 3 errors at third, Matty Dominguez was back to his old self again last night. Always nice to see young players with a bad short term memory and able to shake things like that off.

9) Marwin Gonzalez has put together back-to-back multi-hit games after enduring a 1 for 24 slide raising his average back up to .264. Put that together with Ronny Cedeno's .314 clip and suddenly the shortstop position has become fairly productive offensively for us.

10) Lucas Harrell struggled with his control walking 6 in 5 innings on Thursday night, but allowed just 1 earned run. I'd still like to see him work through his control issues, but it was nice to see him battle through a tough lineup despite not having his best stuff.

Tigers Showing Us How Far We Still Have to Go

Not much you can say about a 17-2 loss, except that at least we didn't give up 19 runs in a game for the second time this year. The Tigers showed us exactly how far we still have to go yesterday. They hit, they pitch, they make plays, they put balls in play, they execute on the bases... They're a model franchise, especially for a team like Houston considering that a decade ago (2003), Detroit lost 119 games. The Astros also have a special connection with that team in that Carlos Pena played for them. And look at Detroit now. A couple trips to the World Series, a perennial contender... That's what we want to get to. And unfortunately, it's not going to happen over night. Things don't get any easier today either with the Tigers throwing their ace Justin Verlander against Philip Humber, who has lost all six of his starts this season. We've just to keep grinding it out though and keep moving forward. As my college coach, Pete Barry, used to say: Every day, in every way, we get a little better. Some final thoughts on yesterday's blowout:

1) Lucas Harrell is not very good when his sinker isn't working. When he's on, he's a groundball machine (see Yankee Stadium earlier this week). When he's off... every ball gets hit hard.

2) Carlos Corporan was one of the few bright spots offensively picking up two hits and slugging his second home run of the week. The 29 year old Puerto Rican born catcher needs just 2 home runs to tie his career high of 4 set last season.

3) Robbie Grossman reached base 2 more times last night, leading off the game with single, and then later drawing a walk. Grossman's on base percentage is still low at .327, but it's been steadily rising. He's in the midst of a 6-game hitting streak that has seen his average rise from .091 to .205 and he's also drawn 5 walks during that stretch. Unfortunately, his baserunning still leaves a lot to be desired as he's been caught stealing twice in the Tigers series.

4) At some point the schedule has to start getting a little bit easier, right?

5) Brandon Laird was 0 for 2 last night with a pair of strikeouts lowering his average to .226 (7/31) and giving him 12 strikeouts on the year. With Marc Krauss hammering the ball in AAA, it makes me wonder how much longer Laird has in his audition.

6) Hey, at least we didn't get shutout, right?

Humber Falls to 0-6 in Loss

Missed opportunities early and a failed rally late resulted in a 7-4 loss for the Astros last night. The loss dropped righty Philip Humber to 0-6 on the year, although it was a much better result for him than his previous 2 starts. Some more notes on last night's game:

1) Houston had 1st and 3rd with one out in the first, bases loaded with two outs in the second, and first and second with none out in the third, and couldn't push a run across. That's just not a recipe for winning baseball. Eventually Hiroki Kuroda got into a groove, and the Yankees offense pushed some runs across, and before you knew it, the game was over. The Astros did rally scoring twice in the 8th and twice more in the 9th, but it's all about capitalizing on opportunities early (see Game 1 in this series)  and getting teams on the ropes. We did not do that last night.

2) Philip Humber gave up 9 hits in 6 innings, but 8 of them were singles. He did have four wild pitches though, two of which led to runs. I don't know if he was trying to be like his teammate Rick Ankiel, or if Jason Castro was just having an off night, or if Humber's stuff was just moving all over the place (the 9 hits would suggest otherwise), but that's a lot. Overall, Humber didn't pitch terrible, and this was a big improvement over his previous outings, so I think his spot in the rotation continues to be safe for the time being, despite calls from the armchair GMs for his head.

3) Rex Robbie Grossman reached base 3 more times yesterday drawing a pair of walks and then singling in the 9th. Hopefully he's starting to get more comfortable at the plate even though his average (.138) isn't really reflecting that yet. 

4) Trogdor the Bombinator (Chris Carter for those of you who don't regularly follow the blog) blasted a 2-run homer in the 8th inning off of David Roberton to start to bring the Astros back into the game. The homer was Carter's team-best sixth of the year and he remains tied with Jose Altuve for the team lead in rbis with 14. Carter's homer was his only hit of the night, but it was clutch, and he showed that he has big time power to all fields, driving that ball out to right.

5) The Peacock did not fly last night. After a solid start to the evening coming on in relief for Wesley Wright, the wheels came off in this second inning of work. All three hitters he faced in the 8th reached base safely, and all of them came around to score. His ERA on the year is now 9.41, and with the Astros announcing today that they're ready to call up both Jordan Lyles and Dallas Keuchel, you have to think he's on his way to Oklahoma City. I think the kid has a lot of potential, but when things start to go bad for him, they just seem to snowball and he loses all confidence. Hopefully he can get back on track and become the guy we hoped he'd be when we traded for him.

6) I have no idea who the two guys are that are going down for Keuchel and Lyles. I think it's pretty easy to say that Peacock is one, but the second one? Veras is safe. Wright is safe. And I don't know how you could justify sending down Cisnero or Clemens, both who have been very good. Travis Blackley just keeps improving so I think he's in the clear. So all that leaves are Hector Ambriz and Rhiner Cruz. And Ambriz leads the team in holds with 3. So to me that means it's going to be Rhiner. But if that's the case, who gets sent down when Josh Fields finally comes back? Keuchel again? Lyles? Bedard? It'll be interesting see where we go with this.

2 Runs Are Better than None

So on paper, scoring just 2 runs might not seem like an accomplishment, but the Astros gave Clay Buchholz his highest ERA in any of his 5 starts by crossing the plate twice against him in 7 2/3 innings. That shoots his ERA all the way up to a Bob Gibson-esque 1.19. Hey, small victories, right? Some more notes on yesterday's game:

1) Philip Humber is having a rough go of things lately. After being arguably Houston's best starter the first three trips through the rotation, Humber has been crushed by bad first innings in his last two outings sending his ERA from 2.89 up to 7.99. In his last two first innings, he's retired just 4 hitters and allowed 12 earned runs. You ready for the math on this one? That's an ERA of 81.00. No good. You've gotta feel for the guy though. He's 0-5 which makes sense given his high ERA, but if you take away the 6 runs Houston scored in their 19-6 blowout loss to the Indians, the Astros have managed to score just 3 runs in Humber's starts. Unless you're Clay Buchholz, that makes it awfully tough to win.

2) Fernando Martinez was a bright spot yesterday going 3 for 4 in his 4th start since returning from the DL. Nice to see him squaring up on the ball against some pretty good pitchers (Buchholz and Daniel Bard). People tend to forget Martinez is only 24 so he's still got a lot ahead of him if he can stay healthy.

3) Jose Cisnero was very sharp in his second outing, once again throwing shutout baseball. J-Cizzle tossed 2 scoreless innings against the Sox bringing his scoreless innings streak up to 5 2/3 innings since his arrival. It's going to be awfully hard to send him back down to AAA if he keeps throwing like this. The next big question is, can he pitch effectively when the game is on the line? So far we've only seen him in blowout baseball.

4) Travis Blackley had his best outing as an Astro yesterday going 1 1/3 innings in relief of Humber and fanning two while walking just one. The lefty from Australia has gotten better each time out following his return from the DL which is very promising. It will be interesting to see how his role in the pen progresses, especially with Clemens and Cisnero on the roster. There's no real reason to carry 3 long relievers (unless your starters can't get out of the first inning 3 nights a week), so it stands to reason that someone will start to take on a different role. However, until the day comes when our bullpen isn't completely burned out, all we can really do is speculate.

5) Rick Ankiel drew his first walk of the season yesterday giving him 1 walk and 28 strikeouts. Ridiculous. Ankiel has drawn 155 walks in 1837 at bats in his career, with a high of 42 in 2008. On a brighter note, Ankiel has already matched his home run total from 2012 (which took 158 ABs) and needs just 4 more rbis to hit last year's total in that category as well.

6) After drawing just one walk in his first 16 games, Jason Castro has walked in each of the last three contests. Castro has also seen his average jump out lately going from .200 a week and a half ago, up to .250 and he's hit safely in 5 of the last 6 games.

7) Chris Carter struck out two more times yesterday giving him 37 strikeouts through the first 22 games of the season. Carter has only played one game this year in which he did not fan at least once. That came against the A's on April 16th in which he was 1 for 3 with a walk. Carter has struck out 3 times on 3 occasions, and twice in ten different games. He's currently on pace to end the year with 272 strikeouts which is almost as absurd as Rick Ankiel's strikeout to walk ratio. On the plus side, both Ankiel and Carter are on pace to hit 37 homers with 35 of Carter's projected to come against the Mariners.

Week 3 in Review

Rough week for the Astros as three times they saw their starters knocked out in the first inning and they finished the week 1-5, dropping them to 5-13 on the season. On the bright side, they didn't get shutout:

Weekly Results

4/15   L Athletics 11-2
4/16   L Athletics 4-3
4/17   L Athletics 7-5
4/19   W Indians 3-2
4/20   L Indians 19-6
4/21   L Indians 5-4

Overall Record: 5-13
Team Batting Average: .250
Runs For: 74
Runs Against: 108
Home Runs: 20
Strikeouts/Walks (Hitting): 173/47
Stolen Bases: 7
Caught Stealing: 3
Team ERA: 5.40
Team WHIP: 1.58
Starters ERA: 5.73
Bullpen ERA: 5.04
Strikeouts/Walks (Pitching): 100/73
Times Shutout: 3
Shutouts: 1

Team Leaders (Hitting):

Average: Jose Altuve .370 (27/73)
Runs: Carlos Pena 12
Hits: Jose Altuve 27
Doubles: Carlos Pena 5
Triples: Justin Maxwell 2
Home Runs: Chris Carter/Rick Ankiel 4
Runs Batted In: Chris Carter/Rick Ankiel 10
Walks: Carlos Pena 9
Stolen Bases: Justin Maxwell/Jose Altuve 2

Team Leaders (Pitching):

Games: Rhiner Cruz/Wesley Wright/Hector Ambriz 10
Innings: Lucas Harrell 21 2/3
Wins: Bud Norris 2
Saves: Erik Bedard/Jose Veras 1
Holds: Hector Ambriz 2
Strikeouts: Lucas Harrell/Brad Peacock 15
Quality Starts: Philip Humber 2
ERA:  Bud Norris 4.74
WHIP: Bud Norris 1.47

On the Farm:

Oklahoma City (AAA) - 10-7
Corpus Christi (AA) - 9-7
Lancaster (AdvA) - 11-6
Quad Cities (LoA) - 10-5

Minor League Leaders:

Runs: Nolan Fontana (AdvA) - 17
Hits: Jake Elmore (AAA) - 23
Walks: Nolan Fontana (AdvA) - 17
Home Runs: Preston Tucker (AdvA) - 5
RBIs: Marc Krauss (AAA) / Zachary Johnson (AdvA) - 18
Stolen Bases: Austin Wates - 9
Wins: 9 tied with 2
Saves: Jose Valdez (AAA) - 5
Strikeouts: Luis Cruz (AdvA) - 22

A Touchdown and 4 Field Goals Later...

Not much to say about last night. I feel like I've said that a lot this week. For the third time in 5 games, a Houston starter failed to make it out of the first inning. 19 runs later, well... you get the picture... Still, even as bad as last night was, there were some positives. My thoughts on last night's blowout:

1) Despite everything else, Jose Altuve continues to get hits. The diminuitive second baseman had two more hits to commemorate his bobblehead night, and extended his hitting streak to 6, and raised his batting average to .371. At some point, don't we have to stop viewing him as our leadoff hitter and start considering him in the 3-hole? I wouldn't mind seeing Brandon Barnes or one of the shortstops hitting leadoff. It can't hurt, right? As Danny Glover said in Angels in the Outfield, 'What are we gonna do? Fall out of last place?'

2) Paul Clemens has to be viewed as the big winner this week. In two blowout losses, Clemens tossed 8 2/3 scoreless innings allowing just 2 hits. He's certainly made the most of his opportunity and I'm fairly confident when I say that he'll be a staple in the Houston bullpen for the rest of the season. Now if we could just get him some meaningful innings.

3) Travis Blackley made his Astros debut last night and Jason Giambi wrecked it with a 3-run homer. I'm not going to put too much stock in last night's appearance though. It was his first game as an Astro, his first game back off the DL, and a blowout. Let's see what he can do now that he's got the first game jitters out of the way.

4) Brandon Laird homered in his second at bat showing the hot bat he had this spring wasn't a fluke. He finished 2 for 5, but he did strikeout out with runners on 2nd and 3rd an 1 out in the 5th. It wouldn't have changed the game any, but if he's going to be a middle of the order guy on this team, he's got to do better with situational hitting.

5) Philip Humber's ERA jumped from 2.89 to 6.63 after he allowed 8 runs in just 1/3 of inning. Figures this would be the game where we finally scored him some runs too. Humber is now 0-4 and on pace for a 30-loss season. Yeah...

6) Carlos Corporan was hit by a pitch in the 7th inning making him the first Astro all season to get on base that way. That's unbelievable. 16 games without a hit batsman? By contrast, Astros pitchers have hit 7 batters this year. I don't know if it's just bad luck, or if there's just no need to pitch our guys inside because they don't intimidate anyone. Either way, I found it interesting.

7) Brandon Barnes ripped his first home run of the year last night. He's hitting .333 now and I'd love to see him keep getting playing time. In fact, an outfield of Fernando Martinez, Justin Maxwell and Barnes intrigues me. Throw in Rick Ankiel here and there just to mix things up. Again, worth a shot, right? Let's find out what we've got with these kids.

Philip Humber Just Can't Catch a Break

Another tough loss, but getting shut down by C.J. Wilson isn't exactly anything to be ashamed of. Nor is losing a series on the road against the Angels. Let's face it, even though they're struggling, they still have arguably three of the best players in the game right now, and they're going to get theirs. And hey, even with the loss, we're looking at a 3-3 week in which we were in every game. Throw out a blown save and we win both series and go 4-2. Anyhow, here's some more thoughts on the loss:

1) Not a lot of offense yesterday, BUT it should be noted that the Astros worked 5 more walks including 2 apiece for Chris Carter and Carlos Pena. I love seeing this from Carter because a little bit of plate discipline is just going to make him that much more dangerous as a hitter.

2) You've gotta feel bad for Philip Humber. The guy has pitched his heart out in 3 straight starts. He's got an ERA of 2.89, and zero wins to show for it thanks in large part to the fact that the Astros have managed to score exactly one run TOTAL in his three starts. That's just not going to get it done.

3) Rhiner Cruz made his team high eighth appearance of the season yesterday afternoon and surrendered a two-run home run to Josh Hamilton. The flame-throwing righty has worked 8 innings out of the pen this year and has a 4.50 ERA while allowing 10 hits, but only fanning two. I'm not sure why Rhiner is getting the lion's share of the late innings right now, other than that he is probably the only guy that really has the stuff to be a dominant late innings pitcher. Figure Bo's going to give him every opportunity to be that guy this year. Kind of the same way we're going to keep sending Brett Wallace out there even though he's struggling. You've got to find out what you've got. Personally I'd like to see Wesley Wright get a longer look as a true setup man, especially given that we have two other lefties in the pen right now. That's just me though.

4) On the injury front, Fernando Martinez started his rehab stint in AAA this weekend and could be back in Houston by midweek. It'll be interesting to see who gets sent down if/when Fernando comes back. My money is on Brett Wallace just because he's in the biggest slump right now, although J.D. Martinez is certainly a possibility as well simply because those two play the same position. In other injury news, Houston lost yet another fringe arm to Tommy John surgery as John Ely, acquired from the Dodgers, just got shut down for the season. Ely had pitched in just one game in AAA this year working 4 scoreless innings and earning a save. What this means moving forward is that another spot on the 40-man roster is opening up. So someone like Brandon Laird, who's hanging out in AAA, may now have a clear path to Houston should a roster spot become available. It alternatively gives Houston a chance to sign a player off of waivers without making a corresponding roster move. Just something to keep an eye on.

5) Houston's starters have a 3.39 ERA through 12 starts this season led by Bud Norris (1.96) and Humber (2.89). Only one starter - Lucas Harrell - has allowed more than 3 earned runs in one of his starts. The bullpen, by contrast, has a 5.72 ERA and has allowed 63 baserunners in 39 1/3 innings. If Houston is ever going to be competitive, those numbers MUST get better.

Week 2 in Review

The Astros went 3-3 on the first six games of their 9 game West Coast road trip, and they certainly played a much more competitive brand of baseball. Here's a rundown on some of the numbers for both the big league club, and the up-and-comers:

Weekly Results

4/8     L Mariners 3-0
4/9     W Mariners 16-9
4/10   W Mariners 8-3
4/12   W Angels 5-0
4/13   L Angels 5-4
4/14   L Angels 4-1

Overall Record: 4-8
Team Batting Average: .254
Runs For: 51
Runs Against: 60
Home Runs: 12
Strikeouts/Walks (Hitting): 121/31
Stolen Bases: 1
Caught Stealing: 2
Team ERA: 4.26
Team WHIP: 1.37
Starters ERA: 3.39
Bullpen ERA: 5.72
Strikeouts/Walks (Pitching): 62/39
Times Shutout: 3
Shutouts: 1

Team Leaders (Hitting):

Average: Jose Altuve .333 (17/51)
Runs: Justin Maxwell/Chris Carter 8
Hits: Jose Altuve 17
Doubles: Carlos Pena 4
Triples: Justin Maxwell 2
Home Runs: Chris Carter 4
Runs Batted In: Rick Ankiel 8
Walks: 5 tied with 4
Stolen Bases: J.D. Martinez 1

Team Leaders (Pitching):

Games: Rhiner Cruz 8
Innings: Philip Humber 18 2/3
Wins: Bud Norris 2
Saves: Erik Bedard 1
Holds: 3 tied with 1
Strikeouts: Bud Norris 14
Quality Starts: Philip Humber 2
ERA:  Bud Norris 1.96
WHIP: Bud Norris 1.09

On the Farm:

Oklahoma City (AAA) - 5-5
Corpus Christi (AA) - 7-3
Lancaster (AdvA) - 7-3
Quad Cities (LoA) - 7-2

Minor League Leaders:

Runs: Drew Muren (AdvA) - 10
Hits: Jake Elmore (AAA) - 19
Walks: Robbie Grossman (AAA) - 11
Home Runs: Matt Duffy (AdvA) - 4
RBIs: Matt Duffy (AdvA) - 14
Stolen Bases: Austin Wates - 5
Wins: 3 tied with 2
Saves: Jason Stoffel (AA) - 3
Strikeouts: Nick Tropeano (AA) / Luis Cruz (AdvA) - 15

Albert Pujols is a Bad Man

Losses like that one are always hard to swallow. You can't help but look at missed opportunities, and wonder about what might've been. That said, it's one game, and if you're going to get beaten by someone in the bottom of the 9th, it might as well be one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Hats off to Albert, once again he beat us. Some more thoughts on last night's game:

1) I've mentioned before how I'm not sure Jose Veras is the answer at closer. But when you look at our bullpen right now, I don't know who is. Wesley Wright hasn't been as effective in 2013, Rhiner Cruz is still learning the finer points of pitching, Hector Ambriz has allowed more than 2 hits an inning, Xavier Cedeno has control issues, Paul Clemens has pitched in exactly one major league game, and Dallas Keuchel is, at best, a serviceable long reliever. Now last night wasn't exactly an easy save situation, but Veras has yet to put together a 1-2-3 inning and any of his 5 outings now. You can't put that many runners on base and expect to be effective in the late innings. Plus, you can't walk the #9 hitter. Make him put the ball in play! We'll see how Veras bounces back. Hopefully his next opportunity involves a three run lead so he has more of a margin for error and can gain some confidence.

2) I probably should have led with this, but Brett Wallace had 4 at-bats last night and struck out exactly ZERO times! He even battled for a walk which helped facilitate Houston's 2-run 7th. I don't want to say he's on the verge of breaking out of his season long slump, but last night was a good step in the right direction. We'll see if he can build on that moving forward.

3) J.D. Martinez's error proved to be pretty costly. And let's face it, errors in close games usually are. You've got to make that play though if you're a Major League outfielder. Now I realize J.D.'s game is probably better suited for left field, but still... If he's going to be out there, he needs to make those types of plays.

4) Chris Carter is a beast. Trogdor bashed his 4th home run of the season and extended his hitting streak to 6 games. He's still managed to strike out in 11 straight games passing Wallace for the team lead with 18, but so long as he's producing, I can live with the occasional (or more than occasional) strikeout. After starting the season 1 for 19, Carter has raised his average up to .289 during the streak.

5) Lucas Harrell pitched much better this time out. After getting roughed up pretty good by Oakland, he continued the trend of solid starting pitching for the Astros allowing just 1 run in 5 2/3 innings. Houston starters have allowed more than 3 earned runs just once this season and have a 3.49 ERA through 11 starts.

6) Marwin Gonzalez executed a perfect bases loaded squeeze play in the 7th inning to bring home Houston's 4th and final run. It's nice to see us able to bring that runner home from third base this season. Houston stranded just 3 runners last night and was 2 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

Houston sends Philip Humber to the mound today in an effort to win their second straight series. The Astros have not scored a single run in either of Humber's two previous starts this year.

Seattle Plays Sound Fundamental Baseball and Sends Astros to Sixth Straight Loss

Houston wasted a quality start from Philip Humber and arguably the best showing we've had from the bullpen all season as the Astros were shut out for the third time in the past week, dropping their sixth game in a row by a score of 3-0 in Seattle. Some notes from Game 7:

1) This game was a perfect example of how you don't need a lot of hits to get a win. Seattle had just 5 hits in the game, but produced 3 runs thanks to good fundamentals (two successful bunts), good baserunning (a stolen base to set up the game's first run), and timely hitting (2 clutch hits by Kendrys Morales). The Astros, in 7 games, have yet to lay down a successful sacrifice or attempt a stolen base, and the 3 shutout losses speaks to their inability to get timely hits.

2) I'm a real fan of the work Matty Dominguez is doing over at the hot corner. His defense has been absolutely terrific so far this season, and he's generally had solid approaches at the plate striking out just twice in 21 at-bats. With Brett Wallace mired in an abysmal slump, it looks less and less like the possibility of a platoon over there meaning Dominguez is going to get a long look this season.

3) Humber became just the second Astros starter in seven games this season to pitch through the sixth inning. He threw just 86 pitches, 56 of them for strikes and allowed just five hits and a walk. That makes back-to-back solid outings for the righty, but unfortunately the Astros offense has scored a total of ZERO runs in his two starts.

4) I'm baffled somewhat by how a guy like Rhiner Cruz can throw so hard, and have so few strikeouts. Cruz finally logged his first strikeout of the season last night, and he's already thrown 4 1/3 innings on the year. I don't know if he's tipping his pitches, or if his stuff just didn't have any life, but he's not missing nearly as many bats as he should be.

5) Justin Maxwell, one of the Astros lone offensive bright spots singled in the first to extend his hitting streak to 5 games. After hitting just .153 this spring, Maxwell has hit safely in every game this season with the exception of the Darvish game, and leads the team in runs (5), hits (9), walks (2), triples (2) and batting average (.360).

6) I'd like to see Brandon Barnes start getting some more playing time. We all know about his defense, but he also brings an element of speed to the table, and he's been getting on base lately (2 hits and 2 walks in 3 starts). With Ankiel looking like he'd have a hard time hitting a beachball with a tennis racket, J.D. Martinez getting benched for "mental errors", and Chris Carter struggling on both sides of the ball, it would seem like Barnes is due for an opportunity.

7) Seattle's bullpen is filthy. Carter Capps, Charlie Furbush and Tom Wilhelmsen all had plus stuff and effectively sealed any hopes of an Astros comeback last night. By contrast, the Astros pen has an ERA of 5.18 on the year. Although, they did shut down Seattle's offense in the late innings last night, so maybe they'll turn things around. In their last 10 innings, the Houston bullpen has only allowed 2 runs.

Hard to Win if You Can't Score

The bats were lifeless for a second straight game as the Astros fell to the Rangers 4-0. The Astros racked up double digit strike-outs for a third straight game to start the year and wasted another strong pitching performance, this time from newcomer Philip Humber. Some more observations from Game 3:

1) The inability to put balls in play is killing the Astros right now. They have ten times as many strikeouts (43) as walks (4), and hit just .172 in the series while fanning in 46% of their at bats. You can point your finger in any number of directions too as every Astro with the exception of Carlos Corporan struck out at least once in the three game series. Top offenders: Brett Wallace (8), Chris Carter (7), Carlos Pena (6), Justin Maxwell (5), and Rick Ankiel (5). Even pitchers don't strike out at that rate, so you have to figure things will get better and average out, but still...

2) Jason Castro and Chris Carter both went 0 for 11 in the Rangers series. Have faith, both will break out of their mini slumps. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

3) Lance Berkman is not welcome in Houston any more. The Big Puma reached base in 9 of his 13 at bats and drove in 3. His "replacement" Carlos Pena was just 2 for 11 and as previously noted struck out six times. I say the word replacement loosely because Pena didn't really "replace" Berkman, we just opted to sign him instead. Any regrets yet?