Houston opened up interleague play with a 3 game series against their in-state rival Texas Rangers in the Battle for the Silver Boot. The Rangers won 2 out of the 3 games and take the battle for the Boot in what became a game of homers. The 1-2 record over the weekend brings the ‘Stros to a solid 25-20 leaving them in 3rd place in the NL East.
Game 1 was just a trade of rallies as the Astro’s were down early 8-2 but put together a sting of runs in the 5th inning to make the score 8-7. Houston added another run in the 6th evening the score at 8’s and making it a whole new ball game. Unfortunately Texas went on a rally of their own in the 7th and 8th innings getting 8 more runs and making the score 16-8 which ended up being the final. There were 6 homers from the Rangers and a total of 29 hits between the two teams. Darin Erstad had the best game for the Astros going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Carlos Lee also had a nice game hitting 2-of-4 with 1 RBI and a run scored. The best news of all is that Lance Berkman continued his hot streak going 2-for-4 with 1 run scored and he now has his batting average up to .394. The pitchers had one of their ugliest games of the season as they put Shawn Chacon on the mound and only got 3 1/3rd innings from him. In that time he allowed 6 hits, 8 runs, 5 earned, 4 walks and 3 homers. He didn’t receive the loss because Houston made their comeback. Wesley Wright did get the loss though pitching 1 1/3rd innings giving up 3 hits, 2 runs, all earned and 2 walks. The loss brings his record to 3-1 on the season and increases his ERA to 4.11.
Game 2 had Roy Oswalt taking the mound looking to split the series with the Rangers through 2 games. Oswalt gave up a lot of hits though which ended up being the reason why the Astros fell 6-2. The loss gives Texas 2 wins out of 3 games and crowns them the champions of the Battle for the Silver Boot. Once again the bats were alive for the Rangers and between the two teams they totaled 21 hits. Lance Berkman had another great game and continued his hot streak. He hit 2-of-3 with 1 RBI and a run scored. His batting average is now up to .399 which is the Major Leagues 2nd best behind Chipper Jones who is hitting .410. Miguel Tejada also had a nice game going 1-for-4 with 1 RBI. His batting average is up to .337 and his RBI total is at 33. As I said Roy Oswalt took the mound and had one of his weaker performances of the season. He worked 6 inning allowing 11 hits, 6 runs, all earned, 1 walk and 2 homers. He was given the loss for the game which brought his record to 4-4.
Game 3 was more of a small ball approach for the Astros and they actually walked away with a 5-4 victory. Brandon Backe got the start for Houston and helped the team get the win in the final game of the 3 game series. This was the first game of the 3 that the Astros led in hits as they totaled 13. Miguel Tejada had a good game going 3-for-5 with 1 RBI and a run scored. Lance Berkman once again continued his hot streak going 2-for-5 with 1 run scored, stole his 8th base of the season and kept his batting average at .399. Backe took the mound and gave the ‘Stros the performance they needed to get out of Texas with a win going 6 1/3rd innings allowing 5 hits, 3 runs, all earned and struck out 5. He earned the win for the ball club bringing his record to 3-5 this season. Jose Valverde came in to close out the game and did just that getting his 12th save of the season striking out 3 in the process.
Overall the weekend wasn’t exactly what Houston was looking for but if you look at the offensive statistics it looked good. Too bad for us is that pitching is very important and it wasn’t very strong this weekend. The Astros will now look forward to a 3 game home stand with the NL Central leading Cubs on Monday.
