Checking in on the Ex's

Just a quick look at some of the folks we've parted ways with in 2013:

Xavier Cedeno (LHP) - Cedeno was claimed off of waivers by the Washington Nationals in late April after a rough start to 2013 for the Astros (11.37 ERA in 5 games). Cedeno has been pitching for Syracuse, Washington's AAA affiliate, since they claimed him and he's posted a 3.09 ERA over 12 appearances while holding hitters to a .205 average. He is 1-0 with 1 save.

Rick Ankiel (CF) - Ankiel hit just .194 with 5 homers in 25 games with the Astros before eventually getting released. The Mets signed him shortly thereafter and he's made 14 starts in centerfield for them, hitting .226 with a pair of homers and 7 runs batted in. On the year he's hitting .209 with 53 strikeouts in 115 at-bats and only 7 walks.

Chris Wallace (C) - Wallace was the odd man out in Houston's minor league catching rotation before getting traded to Cleveland for minor league left-handed reliever Eric Berger. In 22 games between AA and AAA for the Indians, Wallace is hitting .319 with a homer and 14 runs batted in. Wallace hit .271 with 20 homers and 78 RBIs between Lexington and Corpus Christi back in 2011, but followed that up with just 5 homers in 236 at bats last year. Berger has bounced between AA and AAA since 2010, but has pitched decently for the RedHawks with a 4.43 ERA in 15 appearances.

Jake Goebbert (RF) - After two solid years with AA Corpus Christi, the 25 year old Goebbert was shipped to Oakland in exchange for Travis Blackley in early April. Goebbert has appeared in 50 games for AA Midland this year and has 9 homers and 33 runs batted in while hitting .291. Meanwhile, Blackley, a converted starter, has excelled in the Astros bullpen where he's posted a 3.60 ERA in 20 appearances and is second on the team with 8 holds.

Tyler Greene (SS) - Greene signed with the White Sox after getting released by the Astros during Spring Training where he hit .167 (7/42). He started the year with AAA Charlotte and was called up when another former Astro, Angel Sanchez, was placed on the DL. In 21 games with the White Sox, Greene is hitting .235 with a homer and three rbis. He's struck out 18 times in 51 at bats.

Nate Freiman (1B) - The A's claimed the 6'8" Freiman off of waivers this spring and the Rule 5 Draft Pick has hit .266 for them in 27 games. He only has 2 home runs, but of course they've both come against the Astros. Freiman has driven in 14 runs on the year and is hitting .340 against left-handed pitching.

Mike Kvasnicka (RF) - The Astros drafted Kvasnicka in the first round in 2010, but traded him to Minnesota this spring for pitching prospect Gonzalo Sanudo. Kvasnicka hit a career high 15 home runs for Lexington last year, but only hit .232 in 88 games. He's spent all of 2013 on the disabled list. Sanudo appeared in 15 games in rookie ball in 2012 and posted an ERA of 2.00. In 36 innings he fanned 33 and walked just 2. He's yet to appear in a game for the Astros organization.

Sam Demel (RHP) - It didn't come as much of a surprise that Demel was waived after posting a 42.49 ERA (not a typo) in 5 spring appearances for the Astros, but the Yankees still claimed him off of waivers. In 18 games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Demel has an ERA of 1.30 and he's allowed just 19 hits in 27 2/3 innings while fanning 34 and holding opponents to a .184 batting average.

How to Respond to Last Night's Loss

Ok, so obviously I have no say in what happens to the Astros as they move forward from last night's debacle, but here's what I would do:

1) Send Jimmy Paredes back down to AAA where, if we're serious about making him an outfielder, he plays nowhere but the outfield EVERY DAY. Just pencil him in there: Paredes, 9. While the error was inexcusable last night, let's face it, the guy was a second baseman, we turned him into a third baseman, then last year he was a second baseman again, and now he's looking like an outfielder. Yes, playing the outfield is easier than playing the infield, but a guy's still not going to be good at it without playing time. Paredes can hit, but letting him learn the outfield at the Major League Level isn't going to do anything but mess up his confidence.

2) Keep Jake Elmore around. Elmore is versatile, and he can hit, run, doesn't strike out... In three games in which he spelled Jose Altuve, he basically was Jose Altuve hitting safely in every game and batting .364 (4/11). Reminds me of a faster Mark Loretta.

3) Make Brandon Barnes our every day centerfielder, shift Grossman to left and put J.D. Martinez out in right. Barnes is the only outfielder on the roster hitting above .240. And he's hitting .320. He's our best defensive outfielder, he runs well, he has some pop. LET HIM PLAY.

4) Move Hector Ambriz out of the 8th inning slot. Hector gets a bad wrap for what's really only amounted to two blown leads, but I don't see him as an 8th inning guy. I'd like to see him flipped with Paul Clemens or Travis Blackley and take some of those 6th inning responsibilities until he can harness his stuff. The only pitcher in the Astros pen with worse numbers is Edgar Gonzalez, there's no way he should be in there with the game on the line right now.

5) Less over-managing. I appreciate that we're playing the percentages, but I'd like to see our lefties face more than just lefties. Travis Blackley was an effective Major League starter last year, and Wesley Wright sports the lowest ERA in the bullpen. They don't have to come out of the game every time they're due to face a right-handed hitter.

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.

So Close... Yes So Far...

I'm trying to put a positive spin on last night's game, but it certainly isn't easy. For the second time in as many nights, we let a game slip away against the Tigers. This time, closer Jose Veras surrendered a 9th inning 2-run homer to Alex Avila, who's now hitting an Astro-like .179 on the season, dealing us a 4-3 loss. On top of that Jose Altuve got robbed on a great play by Omar Infante in the 9th and Jason Castro hit a line shot, but right at left fielder Don Kelly to end the game. So, positive spin... right. The only thing I can really think to say is that we're in these games, and we're actually expecting the results to be different. A couple of weeks ago, we expected to lose EVERY game, and by a lot. But now the starting pitching is getting better, and with the exception of Veras, both Hector Ambriz and Travis Blackley were solid out of the pen. Robbie Grossman reached base 3 more times as he continues to work his way out of that 0 for 17 skid in Boston, Jose Altuve had 3 hits, we actually rallied from a 2-0 deficit late in the game to take a 3-2 lead... Good things are happening with this club, they just aren't translating into wins yet. And let's face it, this year isn't about wins, it's about next year, and the year after that. It's about figuring out what we have, and who's worth keeping. Did anyone really think Jose Veras was the long term solution at closer? No, he's there the mentor younger guys in the bullpen. But as guys like Ambriz and Clemens and Blackley and Cisnero start to emerge out of the pen, and Harrell and Norris and Lyles have successes in the rotation, Castro emerges as an every day player, Dominguez plays his Gold Glove defense at third, you're starting to put together a team, which is something we haven't been doing since the early 2000s. Don't get me wrong, I hate losing, and it's frustrating to look at our record and see we're 8-22. But we are making progress, however small, and you've got to buy into what the organization is trying to do otherwise you're in for a long couple of months/years. So hang in there, Astro fans, and stay positive. Take the small victories for what they are and a few years from now, you'll be able to say you were there through the dark years, and always believed. It'll make the end reward that much sweeter.

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.

Winning is Way More Fun

VICTORY! The one thing about pulling for a team that isn't very good is that the wins are a lot more fun. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather go back to winning most of the time, but the wins are a little sweeter when they're harder to come by. On a down note, last night's win came at a price as starting centerfielder Justin Maxwell broke his hand when he was hit by a pitch, so he's headed to the DL. Some more thoughts on last night's big win:

1) Bud Norris didn't have his best stuff last night, but pitched out of trouble all game and earned his third win of the season. That means he has 50% of our 6 wins. With lots of speculation that Norris is going to get moved come the trade deadline, it's beneficial to Houston that he continues to perform so if we do end up dealing him, we can justify getting a lot in return. If it comes to that, I'll certainly be sorry to see him go, but if you believe in what the organization is trying to do right now, it makes sense. And if you want proof that we're on the right track, all four of our minor league clubs currently have winning records.

2) The loss of Maxwell is going to hurt, but Houston's got some intriguing options able to take his place. First off, defensive specialist Brandon Barnes who's been solid so far this year off the bench. And then there's newly recalled prospect Robbie Grossman who's been tearing it up in AAA. Grossman is especially enticing because he does something most of the current Astros don’t do: he draws walks!! If he can hit at the big league level, he might even be the leadoff hitter we're looking for which would allow us to drop hit machine Jose Altuve down in the order where he might actually be able to drive in some runs.

3) Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi! Travis Blackley was solid in relief last night retiring the first six hitters he faced before surrendering a mammoth home run to Kendrys Morales. With three long men now on the roster (Blackley, Clemens, Cisnero), it'll be interesting to see how roles evolve as we go forward. I personally think Clemens has the stuff to be a back of the bullpen type guy, but I don't know that his long term role won't be in the starting rotation. Things are going to get even more muddled up when Josh Fields comes off the DL in a little bit. Don't be surprised if Rhiner Cruz draws the short straw and gets sent down. While he has the physical tools, I think he'd benefit from some more time in the minors to hone in his stuff. Plus, everyone else is starting to pitch better: Ambriz has only allowed 1 run over his last 7 outings, Wesley Wright has been pitching better, Veras has 2 straight saves, and all the long men in the bullpen have been delivering. I think the only other real plausible option if it's not Cruz is for it to be Cisnero, but after his performance against Seattle on Monday, he's kinda earned the right to stick around a bit. We'll see though.

4) Speaking of Veras, the closer finally delivered last night making by far his most dominant appearance of 2013 setting down all three hitters he faced, two by strikeout. That makes 4 straight scoreless outings for Veras after his blown save against the Angels including a pair of saves. As a former collegiate closer, I can speak to how important confidence is when you're that guy and it's looking like Veras is starting to grow into the role. Over the past week, Veras has seen his ERA drop from 9.64 to 5.19. Still not great, but getting better. It should also be noted that both of his converted saves were 1-run games with no margin for error.

5) I thought it was kind of funny that twitter was blowing up last night with people dogging Hector Ambriz before he'd even thrown a pitch. Including last night's 1-2-3 8th, over Hector's last 7 appearances, he's thrown 8 1/3 innings and allowed just one run (solo homer to Mark Reynolds) on 6 hits while walking 1 and fanning 5. He's had 3 holds, more than anyone else on the team, and has held hitters to a .207 average during this stretch.

6) "Defensive Specialist" Marwin Gonzalez set a new career high in home runs last night with his 3rd of the young season (and it's till April!). He's also just 5 RBIs shy of the 12 he had in his rookie season. One of Houston's more consistent hitters this year, Marwin's power surge is a pleasant surprise to say the least and while he probably won't stay on this pace and eclipse 20+ homers, he may end up with 10 or 12 which would be great. I'd really like to see Marwin get a shot at hitting higher up in the order instead of sitting down in the 9 hole, but as long as we win, I suppose I can deal. All three of Marwin's homers have come against Seattle, and all of them from the left side of the plate.

7) Lefty reliever Xavier Cedeno was claimed off waivers by the Washington Nationals after being designated for assignment by Houston. The 26 year old Puerto Rican pitched in parts of 3 seasons with the Astros posting an ERA of 6.00 with 1 save and 6 holds over 52 games. In 44 games in 2012 he had a 3.77 ERA striking out 36 in 31 innings.

Cisnero Debut a Success, but That's About It

The losses are starting to pile up again, but the truth is, there's not a lot of shame in getting shut down by King Felix. It would've been nicer to see Peacock go a little deeper into the game, but short outings are apparently all the rage right now. At least we got a great outing from Jose Cisnero in his debut. Some more thoughts on last night's game:

1) Brad Peacock had his worst outing of the season allowing 3 homers in 4 1/3 innings skyrocketing his ERA up to 7.50. After striking out 7 his last time out, Peacock managed just 1 strikeout last night, and once again just threw too many pitches. Unfortunately, no one else is pitching any better right now, so it's hard to justify making any sort of move.

2) Jose Cisnero was terrific last night in relief logging 3 2/3 scoreless innings in his Major League debut. He becomes the latest in a long line of long relievers that have appeared on the Astros roster this year: Edgar Gonzalez, Travis Blackley, Dallas Keuchel, Paul Clemens, Brett Oberholtzer, and now Cisnero. If nothing else, Cisnero has earned the right to stick around a bit. The kid has pretty good stuff, so many he can help out sooner than expected. I just wish we could have a game where our best player wasn't one of our long relievers.

3) All or Nothing Ankiel crushed another homer last night raising his average up to .237. Ankiel is now  9 for 38 with 24 strikeouts. He has two singles, two doubles and five home runs for a team high 11 runs batted in. When he puts the ball in play, he's batting .643. Simply ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is that he still hasn't drawn a walk in 2013.

4) Jose Veras tossed a scoreless inning in relief last night, but once again allowed a hit so he's now gone 8 straight outings without retiring the side in order. On the plus side, he has gone 3 straight appearances without allowing a run after blowing that save against Albert Pujols and the Angels.

5) Jason Castro had his 3rd multi-hit performance in the last 4 games with a pair of doubles and a walk raising his average up to .242. Unfortunately, the walk was just his 2nd of the year which is way down from his walk rate a year ago. He's not the only one this applies to on this roster, but Astro hitters need to work more counts, and draw more walks. Cutting down on the strikeouts would be nice too. Yes, I'm talking about you, Chris Carter. Carter picked up a hat trick last night giving him 31 strikeouts in 70 at bats this season. No good.

6) Jose Altuve went 1 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 8 games and he's now hitting .377 on the year. The only other Astro hitting over .300 right now is reserve outfielder Brandon Barnes (.333 - 8/24).

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.

Down on the Farm 4/18/13

AAA - Oklahoma City 5 Round Rock 3 (Game 1)

Travis Blackley made his first rehab appearance for the Astros retiring the first six hitters he faced before hitting the leadoff man in the third and coming out of the game. Shortstop Jonathan Villar set the tone for the offense as he continued to break out of his season long slump notching almost as many hits in this game (3) as he had in the previous 12 (5). After starting the season 2 for 34, Villar is 6 for his last 12. Che-Hsuan Lin added a pair of rbis and Marc Krauss had a pair of hits and his 14th rbi of the season. Jose Valdez got the final out for his third save of the season

AAA - Round Rock 8 Oklahoma City 4 (Game 2)

Newcome Eric Berger surrendered 4 runs in an inning and a third in his second appearance as part of the Astros organization turning this one into a blowout as the RedHawks (7-7) fell to the Express 8-4. Jake Elmore was 0 for 3 and saw his hitting streak end at 12, but teammate Trevor Crowe hit safely in his 12th straight game. The veteran outfielder is now hitting .327 on the season. Marc Krauss drove in 2 more runs (16) and Jimmy Paredes reached base safely 4 times to lead the offense.

AA - Frisco 4 Corpus Christi 2 (17 innings)

The Hooks (7-6) lost a heartbreaker last night falling in 17 innings to the RoughRiders 4-2. Brett Nicholas led off the 9th with a solo home run off of Hooks closer Jason Stoffel to tie the game at 2 and from there it was a battle of the bullpens. Jorge De Leon led the Hooks pen with 4 scoreless innings of relief, but it wasn't enough as the RoughRiders got to Pat Urckfitz for two runs in the 17th. The Hooks went just 7 for 57 in the game. Rene Garcia was the only Corpus Christi player to get 2 hits and Enrique Hernandez homered for the second time this year.

Advanced A - Bakersfield 4 Lancaster 2

The Blaze scored 4 times in the second inning and the JetHawks (9-5) never recovered. Nolan Fontana, Andrew Aplin, and MP Cokinos all had 2 hits for Lancaster, but it wasn't enough to overcome the early deficit. Brady Rodgers worked 4 scoreless innings of relief while starter Chris Devenski allowed 10 hits and 4 runs in 5 innings of work and took the loss.

Low A - Quad Cities 9 Kane County 8 (11 innings)

Quad Cities (9-3) blew a 5-0 lead, then rallied from an 8-5 deficit to beat the Kane City Cougars 9-8 in 11 innings. Terrell Joyce doubled home Jordan Scott in the top of the 11th, and John Neely slammed the door with a perfect bottom half to earn his second save. Mike Hauschild worked 4 scoreless innings in relief to earn his first win of the season for the River Bandits while Ariel Ovando hit his first home run of the season and drove in three to lead the offense.

Errors Will Kill You Every Time...

The Astros took a 3-1 lead into the 6th, but an error by shortstop Ronny Cedeno led to three unearned runs and Houston dropped a fourth straight, this one by a final score of 6-3, to the Athletics. Some notes on last night's game:

1) Houston hitters struck out only four times after fanning an average of 14 times a game through their first 4 contests. They still didn't manage to draw any walks and have just 5 on the season, but at least they're putting more balls in play. The absence of Rick Ankiel and Brett Wallace from the lineup may have contributed to the reduced strikeout numbers, but across the board, at bats were better.

2) Jason Castro clubbed an opposite-field 3-run home run in the fourth to give Houston a short-lived 3-1 lead. This was what I was envisioning when I said that he's going to have a big year this year. His ability to drive the ball to all fields gives him 20-homer potential in my opinion which is almost unprecedented for an Astro catcher.

3) Jose Altuve extended his hitting streak to 5 games when he "beat out" an infield single to former teammate Jed Lowrie. Replays show that Altuve was out by half a step, but his hustle got him the benefit of the doubt. Now, if somehow Altuve breaks DiMaggio's record, does it come with an asterisk? These are the things you think about when you love a team like the Astros.

4) I know hindsight's 20/20, but I really think Bo Porter should've pulled Bud Norris in the 6th rather than let him tally 122 pitches. I know he's the ace, but this is April, and it's not like we're playoff bound or anything. Was our bullpen really that spent that we didn't have anyone we could throw out there? What about Josh Fields?

5) Is Brandon Barnes in the doghouse? The guy got the start on Opening Night, but hasn't gotten into a game since. Instead, we've seen a steady diet of J.D. Martinez who wasn't even supposed to make the team out of camp (he's here because of the Fernando Martinez injury).

6) Dallas Keuchel looked decent out of the bullpen last night after getting the call to replace newly injured Travis Blackley. Nothing like trading for a guy and having get hurt throwing a bullpen session...

7) Astro starters are now just 1-4 on the year, but boast a 2.63 ERA. Only one Astros starter has made it through 6 innings which will have to improve to save the bullpen, but at least the starters are keeping us in games. 

What you need to know about Travis Blackley

It may just be three games into the 2013 season, but the Astros aren't done making moves. Just ahead of a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics, the Astros acquired left-handed pitcher Travis Blackley - FROM Oakland - for minor league outfielder Jake Goebbert. Blackley, a 30 year old Australian, broke into the big leagues way back in 2004. And while he didn't exactly hit it off in the majors right away, he did manage to pitch for the Australians in the 2009 World Baseball Classic tossing 5 2/3 innings of 1 run ball in a start against the Cubans where he went head to head against Aroldis Chapman. 2012 was definitely Blackley's break out year though as he went 6-4 with a 3.86 ERA for the A's as a starter and a long reliever.  Remember the last Australian born starter/long reliever we acquired? Does the name Ryan Rowland-Smith ring a bell? Rowland-Smith - who like Blackley was signed as an amateur free agent by Seattle back in 2000 - failed to make the 2011 Astros (you know, the first Astro team that ever failed to win 60 games) out of spring training and went on to go 2-10 with a 6.19 ERA in AAA that year. For the sake of all parties involved, let's hope Blackley fairs better. He's not exactly riding a hot streak on his way into town after putting up Jordan Lyles-esque spring numbers (12 2/3 innings, 27 hits, 20 runs), but he's a lefty who's pitched in the AL West (5 starts against the Rangers last year including two wins), and with Alex White probably out for the year, he gives Bo Porter another arm he can use in long relief.

So what'd we give up to get him? Jake Goebbert is a corner outfielder who has hit .285 over the last 4 minor league seasons. He spent most of 2011 and 2012 in AA, but did reach AAA both years. He doesn't have tremendous speed or power - he's more of a doubles hitter if he's anything - but he has good plate discipline and doesn't strike out a ton (which is more than you can say about the Astros major league roster right now). You just have to hope Goebbert doesn't go out and pull a Justin Ruggiano on us. Ruggiano, another corner outfielder we gave up on, hit .325 in AAA for the Astros last year, and then we traded him to Florida - I mean MIAMI - for Jobduan Morales. Ruggiano then went on to hit .313 for the Marlins with 13 homers and 14 stolen bases. Whoops.