Astros starter  Brandon Backe suffered his first loss in 10 career starts at Minute Maid Park, allowing 6 runs in the first three innings and the Astros rally came up a run short against the cross state ‘rivals’, the Texas Rangers of the junior circuit, losing the Silver Boot in the process. Read the rest of this entry »

Roy Oswalt baffled the Royals through 8 innings, allowing 1 run on 7 hits and a walk, to lead the Astros over the Royals Saturday night. Read the rest of this entry »

This draft begins the dawn of a new era for the Astros.  This is the first draft in many years headed by a new General Manager.  Tim Purpura takes the reigns and will put his first stamp on the long-term health of the organization.  The Astros also have a new Scouting Director, Paul Ricciarini.  Together, they will attempt to add quality players to a minor league system that has seen a number of bad drafts in the past 5 years.

As has been noted on numerous occasions this is the first draft in 3 years that the Astros have a pick in the first round.  Because of the Jeff Kent signing (2003) and the Andy Pettitte signing (2004) the Astros forfeited their first round picks in the indicated draft year.  Despite that those 2 year’s drafts appear to be promising.  So, the outlook for this year’s draft was quite optimistic.
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Roger Clemens was denied his 5th win of the season when  Brad Lidge blew the save in the 9th, but  Morgan Ensberg left Astros fans happy with a two-out, three run jack in the bottom of the ninth and a victory over the Blue Jays of Toronto 6-3. Read the rest of this entry »

Astros rookie starter,  Wandy Rodriguez , coming off his first career win in his previous start last Saturday, was roughed up early during a  dreadful  home debut, allowing 9 runs in 2 2/3 innings, including a grand slam by Reggie Sanders and a two-run dinger by Cards pitcher Jason Marquis, part of the 8 runs scored in the third inning. Read the rest of this entry »