GAMES 102-104 - July 25-27: Back on Track in Milwaukee

July 25 - Houston 3, Milwaukee 1
July 26 - Milwaukee 6, Houston 4
July 27 - Houston 11, Milwaukee 6

Quote of the Day: "Quite frankly, I was lucky to not give up nine runs with what I had going on." (Randy Wolf on his first start for Houston)

What a difference a series makes! After being swept at home, the Astros went on the road against a very hot team and prevailed. The Brewers had an 8-game streak going, and they must have thought that the Astros would be easy pickin's after the embarrassment with the Pirates. But the Astros showed them that there was still some fight left...

Friday night's game featured another terrific start from Wandy, who's continuing to work his way towards being called "Rodriguez" in my game diary. He pitched 6 innings, giving up only 1 ER on 3 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. He must have thought it was an unlucky day, though, since the Astros didn't manage to score any runs in the first 6 innings. Lucky for Wandy, his teammates came through just in time. They scored 3 runs in the top of the seventh on just about the smallest small ball possible: Wiggington walked, Pence got an infield single, then everybody moved up safely on Quintero's ground ball. Wiggington scored on Loretta's pinch sac fly, then Pence scored on Matsui's sac fly. Bourn walked, then Berkman singled to score Q from second base. Berkman was out trying for second, to end the inning. But by then, one base at a time, the Astros had put 3 runs on the scoreboard.

The bullpen did a terrific job to sustain Wandy's good start. Sampson, who has become the team's premier middle inning-eater, pitched 1 2/3 innings, giving up just one hit. Houston's Rule 5 bargain, lefty Wright, threw one pitch to get Prince Fielder out, ending the eighth. Valverde came in to pitch the ninth. After a leadoff double, he settled down and took down the next three batters to get his 26th save of the season.

When I turned on the computer Saturday night after the Sabbath, it was a double bonus: Not only had the Astros won the Friday night game, but they were leading 4-2 in the seventh inning of the game that was underway. The fun didn't last for long, though. The Reds came back in to score a pair in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out homer, tying the game. They added on another couple of runs in the eighth, giving the Reds a 6-4 lead. The Astros couldn't put any runs across and lost. Backe had another good (but rather short) start - he pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up 2 ERs on 4 hits and 4 walks, striking out 5. But Geary and Brocail each gave up 2 runs, with Brocail earning the loss. The Astros scored their runs Saturday on a 2-run homer by Lee and a solo homer by Pence in the the fourth inning, and on 3 consecutive two-out singles in the fifth.

Sunday's game was a Houston debut for Randy Wolf, the pitcher acquired last week from the Padres. Things did not get off to a very impressive start for him: Coming off an 8-day break since his last mound appearance, he walked the first batter on four pitches. A double and a sac fly later, the Brewers were ahead 1-0. They added on another run in the second, and two more in the third. It didn't look good for Wolf, but his teammates decided to help him out.

The battle of the game was Jeff vs Geoff: Brewers' pitcher Jeff Suppan against Houston's sometimes third-baseman, Geoff Blum. This battle is pretty lopsided: Going into this game Blum had an 11 for 21 lifetime record against Suppan. In his first at-bat, Blum hit a solo home run to get the Astros on the board. But his fun wasn't over yet. Going into the fifth inning, with the Astros down 4-1, the Astros did some serious damage, batting around. A walk and five singles scored the first 4 runs of the inning, then Blum capped the effort with a 3-run homer.

Now with an 8-4 lead, the Astros bullpen had a bit of breathing room. Hungry again to eat middle innings, Sampson pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up a run. Chad Paronto finished up the last two innings, giving up one additional run. In between, in the eighth, the Astros scored 3 more, getting into the double digits, for the first time in a while. It was a real group effort, offensively, resulting in a season-high 16 hits. Everyone in the starting lineup except Lee got at least one hit - even Wolf, who reached on a bunt single and later scored. In addition to Blum's 4 RBI, 2 home run game, Ausmus went 4-for-4 with a pair of RBI, and Tejada, Berkman, Pence, and Erstad each had a pair of hits.

All in all, a productive weekend, and a good reversal of the bad karma from the previous series. As bad as it was to be swept by the likes of the PIrates, winning the series from a hot team like the Brewers gives back some confidence that the Astros aren't really as "bad" as Berkman said last week.