Seven and Counting...

Another proposal, another Sunday working at the office... On Sundays "business casual" is overdressed - it's blue jeans and tee shirts. So I got up this morning and put on my Biggio 3000 Hits commemorative tee, with a big 7 on the front. (It was sent to me by a dear friend of my late great-aunt's, who got it at the give-away game; she loves the Astros, but tee shirts are not her fashion style.) I came downstairs for a cup of coffee, wanting to spend a few minutes updating my blog before running off to work. Checking the standings for facts and figures, I note that the Astros match my shirt - they've got a big fat 7 in the E column. That means that they are only 7 games away from elimination, with 20 games left to play. Until we hit 0, I teeter between logic and emotion: All those beautiful stats clearly depict a team that will need to hustle to end the year at .500, but there's still that little irresistible voice that whispers "Maybe a miracle..." With the Astros behind by more than 10 games in both the division and the wild card race, that little voice is hard to hear over the boom of "There's always next year."

We're getting to see bits and pieces of next year, now that the Astros have called up some of their future talent. I expected to see a bunch of them this weekend in the series against the already-E'd Pirates. What better time to play the new kids than in a game that won't affect the outcome of anything? Sure enough, Friday's box score (Game 141) looked a whole lot like one from the tail end of Spring Training - starters at the top of the order, with recent callups filling out the bottom. Bud Norris was matched up with his Round Rock backstop JR Towles, and Chris Johnson got a start at third. Sammy Gervacio and Yoman Bazardo each got an inning in relief. Tommy Manzella and Edwin Maysonet made appearances as well.

So how did the Astros fare with all these newbies in the game? They beat the pants off the Pirates, 9-1. Granted, all of the RBIs were credited to the veterans - Lee had a 3-run homer, Berkman had a solo homer and RBI double, Matsui hit two runs in on a 3-for-4 night, and Bourn continued to show why he's second in the league in hitting with RISP. But the callups definitely contributed to the fun. The star of the show was Bud Lite, who threw another terrific game - six innings, 1 ER (solo homer), 6 hits, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. Manzella got his first big league hit, pinch-hitting in the eighth. Gervacio had a 1-2-3 seventh, and Bazardo struck out the side in the ninth.

Last night's game was an all adult affair, not a September callup to be seen. Moehler threw a quality start - 6 innings, 2 ER on 7 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts - but left with the game tied, 2-2. The Astros only runs had come on Lee's 2-run homer. Fulchino, Hawkins and Valverde held the Pirates at bay for the rest of the game. Tejada hit the tie-breaking homer in the seventh. Coop used his veterans, Erstad and Michaels, to pinch hit.

This afternoon Paulino will take the mound, hoping that the Astros have saved a bit of fire power for him. He's been robbed in his last two games, throwing quality starts and then earning the losses when his teammates failed to provide any run support for him - literally, not one run while he was in the game. Now that Berkman's regained his home-run swing (after a 32-game drought), perhaps he'll help to give Paulino a chance.

This has been quite the homestand - first the mind-blowing sweep of the Phillies, then the disappointing series loss to the Braves, and now a chance for a sweep of the Pirates. The Astros may be just 7 games away from the Big E, but there's still room for fun and fantasy in the meantime.