I'M BAAAAACCCKKKKK!

It's been a long and grueling month in the proposal tank, getting home at midnight, working Sundays... but this one is winding down, and life is getting back to normal. At least for now. I'm over a month behind my game writeups, and no, I'm not going to try to catch up. I actually did get to watch most of the games late at night on the mlb.tv archive, but writing them up was beyond my energy level.

So cut to the chase. Now that we're past the All Star Game, with our record over .500, it's time to get traditional - that is, the Astros tradition of having a humongous second half. This year that will be a bit of a challenge; we have a tougher schedule than the earlier part of the season. But since no one really knows why this team has become such a second half powerhouse, it's hard to know if that's really a major factor.

Here's where we are, a few games after the All Star Game: Out in LA, where the Astros whomped the first-place Dodgers in their first couple of games. Thursday night Wandy threw a shutout, with a little bit of help from the bullpen. Then Friday night Oswalt pitched all all-but... if Pence hadn't lost a fly ball, resulting in a third-inning triple, that game would have been a shutout as well. Last night's game was a can't-win-'em-all mess, with iffy calls from the umps, a bizarre run-scoring error by Hampton, and Coop's ejection. Today's game doesn't start for another couple of hours, giving me some down time to write in my blog and to watch Friday night's game on the archive.

Did I mention that we're over .500? After a pretty awful start to the season, capped by Berkman's worst-ever performance, things started coming together over the last month, and the Astros chipped away at the deficit, series by series. By the All Star Break, we got to .500 - no longer a losing team, for the first time since the beginning of the season. Berkman, of course, got better. Tejada's been a hitting machine - fifth in the league in batting average, first in number of hits. Oswalt started being himself. Wandy is continuing on his way to a breakout season - which I've been predicting since Spring Training. And one of my favorite success stories this season: Michael Bourn has turned into exactly what the Astros hoped when they traded Lidge to get him -- a terrific leadoff batter. He's already passed his total number of runs scored from last year, he's leading the league in stolen bases - and triples too, and has one of the league's highest averages with RISP.

Roster changes: The Astros picked up Chris Coste from the Phillies, adding another catcher to the roster. Paulino was sent down to the minors, Wesley Wright is back up from Round Rock, with Chad Paronto right behind him to replace Sampson, who went on the DL (muscle spasms). Brocail is inching his way back from his stint on the DL. Berkman has sat out the last couple of games, due to a calf strain, but it's minor and he's day to day. But Erstad might be on his way to the DL with a strained hamstring in last night's game.

So there's a fair amount of churn within the team, as the Astros head towards the July 31 trade deadline. Lots of gossip going around about trade possibilities, but none that I've heard related to the Astros. Still, who knows? Wade likes to surprise us.

Midseason predictions: We're going all the way, of course! No surprises here, for anyone who knows me. I always stay the course until we're mathematically eliminated. That's the beauty of being a fan, not a sportswriter. Seriously, though, this team has been much maligned (I've pretty much stopped reading the blog comments on Astros.com) and doesn't deserve it. With no run-away team in NL Central this year, I have to like our chances.

This will be very short...

I've been a horrible blogger. I have several partially written game write-ups that I haven't posted. I'm a couple of series behind. I can't help it - it's THAT time of year: Proposals. When you work for a federal contractor, you know the drill. At the end of the fiscal year, the government wants to spend all its moola. Use it or lose it. So they issue requests for proposals and we write proposals. Last summer was just after another. This summer looks the same. I'm not really complaining: That's how we get business. But why can't they just issue RFPs in the OFF SEASON?

I have been watching most of the ballgames. Last night after the Sabbath ended, I watched both Friday and Saturday's winning games, back to back. But I have to admit, after getting home at 10 PM tonight, knowing that the Astros lost their chance for a sweep in a blown save, I don't really feel like watching the game.

The Astros are headed out West to play a series against the Padres. Usually I hate the West Coast games - they're on so late for me, here on the East Coast, I end up staying up way too late for a work night. But since this proposal started, I've been routinely getting home halfway though the night games. At least with the Astros in San Diego, I might get to see more of the games live.

A few team notes... Blum is back from the DL. Unfortunately that pushes Maysonet back to Round Rock. Too bad - I like Maysonet. And, to make room for Paulino to come back from the DL, the Astros designated Backe for assignment. I like Paulino - he had a triumphant welcome-home party against the Tigers last night. But it's bittersweet for Backe, who's a local guy (Galveston) and who had some great times for the Astros in the past.

I'll probably have to do one big bang catch-up posting for all the games I've missed writing up, like I did when I returned from Israel. Or I guess I could just stop writing up the season... but that would be too much like admitting that they aren't going to win the pennant this year. I won't do that until they're actually mathematically eliminated.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is another day... in the proposal tank. See you on Twitter when I get home.

GAMES 63-65: Not at Home, on the Rangers Turf

June 16: Rangers 6, Astros 1

June 17: Rangers 5, Astros 3 [10 innings]

June 18: Astros 5, Rangers 3

The Astros had a disappointing conclusion to their annual Lone Star duke-it-out with the Rangers, coming within a game of being swept in the 6-game series. In Game 1, Wandy reverted to being beaten up (is he tipping pitches or not?), allowing 6 runs (including 3 homers and 6 walks) in the first 4 innings. At the same time, the Astros couldn't figure out the Rangers' Millwood, who held them to only 4 hits over 7 innings. I had hoped that the Astros would get their big chance when he was replaced by Jason Jennings, who was a complete loser when he pitched for the Astros. Unfortunately he's pitching just fine, thank you, for the panhandlers - he threw 2 scoreless innings.

There were actually several bright spots in this miserable game. The first related to Pudge Rodriguez - his solo homer in the fifth accounted for the Astros' only run. That earned him a standing O from the hometown crowd, who were feeling charitable due to a big lead and Pudge's special circumstances - he tied Carleton Fisk for the record for the most games caught. The other bright spots were the Astros' two relief pitchers who took over when Wandy was pulled after 4 innings. Arias threw 3 full scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits, no walks, and striking out 3. Byrdak finished it off with a a scoreless eighth.

Game 2 was a milestone game: Pudge broke the record for most games caught, in the town where he played for 12 years at the start of his career. But Game 2 was also annoying - the Astros really should have won it, but they didn't. They got plenty of hits (13, including 5 for extra bases), but left hundreds of runners on base (okay, an exaggeration), had runners erased by double plays, and just played sloppy baseball. (I heard that Coop raked them over the coals after the game - and forgot to congratulate Pudge on his milestone.) The most annoying thing to me was in the tenth inning, when El Caballo led off with a routine ground ball; the shortstop mishandled the ball, but since Lee didn't try to run it out, there was time for the fielder to recover and make the play. That could have cost the Astros a run, since two players later, Pence hit a long drive into deep right, which may have scored Lee - if he hadn't been sitting in the dugout.

While Pudge was celebrating his milestone, he wasn't celebrating his performance in this game. He went 1 for 5, no runs, no RBIs, and was tagged with 2 errors, both of which led to runs. (One of them looked to me like Matsui's fault.) Pence, on the other hand, had a major performance - he went 4 for 5, with two doubles, a single, and a homer. The bullpen logged a good performance, although Jeff Fulchino lost the game in the ninth. Sampson, Hawkins, and Valverde combined for no runs on 2 hits in their 3 innings.

Although the series (and the larger cross-state rivalry series) was already lost, the Astros made a good comeback in Game 3. The Rangers took an early lead off starter Brandon Backe. When I got home from work (late, I'm on a proposal), the Astros were already losing 3-1. But they picked up a run in the fifth when Quintero's RBI single plated Erstad from second. Then, in the sixth, Carlos Lee's RBI single made it a little closer. Then With the bases loaded and 1 out, the Rangers' catcher mishandled a bad pitch, allowing Tejada to score the tying run on the passed ball. Although the Astros went on to load the bases again, they failed to score any more runs in the inning. They bought a little insurance in the 8th, when Pence led off with a solo homer. Quintero singled with 2 outs, then scored on Bourn's triple. (Man, that guy is fast!)

The bullpen was excellent again in Game 3 0. Wright did the heavy lifting this time, pitching 2 2/3 hitless innings. Arias came in to finish off the seventh, retiring his one batter with a strikeout. But he was in the right place at the right time: Since the Astros went ahead on his watch in the eighth, he got the win for his troubles. Hawkins gave up a couple of hits and a walk in the ninth, but did not give up any runs in his inning. Then Valverde threw a very strong ninth to earn his 3rd save of the season - the first since his return from the DL.

Unfortunatly, the pair of losses pushed the Astros back a bit in the standings - from a recent hgh-water mark of 4 games down in the NL Central, they are now back to 6 under. It's a long season, and we're by no means mathematically eliminated, so it's still "interesting," no matter how much the pundits (and many fans) moan and grown about how it's just not our year.

Bad stat of the series: Berkman, who had been doing so much better in June, was hitless in the whole series.

Next stop: Weekend series in Minnesota.

GAME 62: Tastes Just Like Chicken

June 14: Houston 8, D-backs 3

Knowing that a big proposal effort would be starting at work on Monday, I was soooo in the mood for a nice relaxing baseball game. The rubber match of the D-backs series was made to order. The Astros rushed to get on the scoreboard, with Berkman's 2-run homer capping a trio of runs in the first inning. Starter Moehler gave back a pair on a home run in the bottom of the inning, generating a few moments of uncertaintly. But Pence added a long ball of his own in the third, to give the Astros a 4-2 lead. Moehler allowed a solo homer to lead off the fourth; after that he kept the snakes rattling harmlessly through the sixth.

Meanwhile, the Astros hitters played add on: They loaded up the bases with no outs in the sixth as Tejada doubled, followed by back-to-back walks by Pence and Berkman. Pudge hit a sac fly to score Tejada, then Michaels singled to score Pence. Astros lead 6-3. In the seventh, the Astros put together another pair of runs out of odds and ends. Maysonet led off with a bunt single, then advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Bourn's RBI single. Then Bourn manufactured a run of his own, stealing second, then third, and finally all but stole home on Tejada's ground ball to third.

Excellent work from the bullpen to back up Moehler. Fulchino threw two scoreless innings, and then Valverde took his rightful place on the mound in the ninth, for the first time in weeks. Although it was a nonsave situation, Valverde played it out in the style we all love to see: He struck out the side.

Pence is just so easy to love - the guy does it all. In addition to his 2 hits (including the homer), he walked, stole a base, and had an outfield assist.

On the D-back side, it was nice to see Qualls pitching well in a perfect ninth (easy to be magnanimous since we were well ahead when he came in).

All in all, just what I was hoping for the day before starting on a new proposal. The win gives the Astros their fifth consecutive series win. Keep it up!!!

GAMES 60-61: Dueling with Snakes

June 12: D-backs 8, Houston 1

June 13: Houston 6, D-backs 4

Coming off a nice 7-3 homestand, the Astros were off for a 9-game road trip. First stop in the Snake Pit to play the Diamondbacks...

I missed the Friday night game, due to Sabbath observance. Saturday night, after I saw the result - an 8-1 loss - even my new HD experience did not entice me to watch the game. For completeness, a quick recap: The Astros continue to be stingy with runs in support of their pitchers (it's not possible that every pitcher they face is a CYA candidate) - this time they only managed 2 hits in Dan Haren's complete game. Happily one of the hits was El Caballo's solo homer in the fourth inning, so it wasn't a shutout as well. Houston's starter did not have the same luck: Hampton threw 99 pitches over 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits and 5 walks. Backe finished up the game in relief, making another poor case for his place on the roster: In 3 innings, he gave up 5 runs - all scored on a trio of home runs. On the bright side, he struck out 5. (There's always something to like in a game, if you look hard enough.)

Saturday's game was chock full of things to like. I fell asleep reading after our Shabbat lunch guests went home, and overslept until almost 10 PM. By the time I turned on the computer, it was the top of the eighth inning. Oswalt was already out after 7 solid innings, and the Astros were protecting a 3-1 lead for him. It was good timing - I got to watch the Astros put 3 more runs on the board. After Tejada opened the innig with a ground out, Michaels knocked the first pitch deep for a double. Berkman, of course, was intentionally walked. (That has been leading to good things lately.) Pudge followed with a single, scoring Michaels; Puma went to third and Pudge advanced to second on the throw. Matt Kata reached on an infield single, scoring Berkman and moving Pudge to third, a good position for scoring on Maysonet's sac fly. Russ Ortiz, pinch hitting for Oswalt, struck out to end the fun.

With a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth and Sampson coming to the mound, Oswalt should have been feeling pretty good about his chances for getting that third W. Sampson has been the Astros most reliable reliever, with a long stretch of 0 ERs going. But this was not his night: He walked the first batter, then gave up a single and 2-run double. That was enough for Cooper - he brought in Byrdak (who whiffed his lefty batter) and then Arias, who allowed a double, scoring Sampson's third runner. With the lead back down to 2 runs and a runner in scoring position, Coop did what he hadn't planned to do: He brought in Valverde in a stressful situation. Fresh from more than a month on the DL, Valverde was supposed to get a nice easy inning to pitch his first time out, to work his way back to closing. But no worry - the big guy likes pressure. He took care of his batter to end the inning.

The Astros didn't do anything in the 9th against the D-Backs' Scott Schoeneweis, who was back from an unfortunate break of his own - the sudden death of his wife last month. Hawkins, enjoying his last opportunities to close, got off to a scary start in the bottom of the ninth, allowing a single and a walk. But he then induced a double play (his first of the season - good timing!) and struck out the last batter for the save. Good work all around to keep Oswalt's nice start intact and to earn him a third win.

After watching the hugging and back slapping for a few moments, I went straight to the sixth inning to watch the game's record-book moments: Bourn led off with what would be a double for anyone else, but was a triple for him. After Erstad's fly ball was too short to score Bourn, Tejada took care of matters with an RBI single - his 2000th career hit. Michaels hit a ground ball to third for the second out. Then the Puma knocked the ball out - his 300th career home run. These two big number events had been anticipated for a couple of weeks, with hopes that they would occur in front of a friendly crowd in Houston's homestand. But no luck, and with a nine-game road trip, they were bound to happen on the road. That they happened in the same inning resulted in a nice celebration in the dugout, if not the stands. And once the game was in the books, with a nice W for the Wiz, the Astros had even more reason to party.

At the office, we're expecting an RFP to drop any moment, so I brought home about 500 pages of documents to peruse this weekend. But I'll be done by 4, in time for the rubber match of the series...

GAMES 57-59:Finishing the Homestand in Fine Form and High Definition

June 9: Cubs 7, Astros 1

June 10: Astros 2, Cubs 1

June 11: Astros 2, Cubs 1 [13 innings]

After a grueling first day back in the office, I rushed to be home in time to catch a live (!) ballgame. However, my not-cousin Ted Lilly apparently wasn't in on the playbook - he didn't read the part where it said that the Astros were going to win a big blowout to celebrate my return. Instead he shut Houston out into the seventh inning, allowing only 3 measly hits and a pair of walks. The Astros didn't manage to get on the board until the ninth inning, when Berkman's solo homer scored their lone run.

Meanwhile, Astros starter Brian Moehler was a lot more generous with the Cubs. He started off on the wrong foot, giving up 3 runs on 2 doubles and 4 singles in the first inning. It didn't get much better after that - he allowed runs in both the second and third innings before he got the hook. Reliever Brandon Backe (welcome back, I guess) struck out the first two batters he faced, and then was in constant trouble after that. He squeaked out of it in the fourth and fifth before succumbing in the sixth, allowing another pair of runs to score. Arias pitched two scoreless innings and Byrdak finished up the ninth with the bases loaded, but no runs scored.

Cubs pitchers continued to stymy the Astros batters throughout the series, but Houston hurlers outmatched them in Games 2 and 3. Both of these 2-1 walkoffs had the same ending: Runner in scoring position, Berkman intentionally walked, brining Geoff Blum to the plate. One might remember Blum's place in Astros history in a negative way - as a spoiler in one of the World Series games back when he played for the White Sox. I won't say his part in these two games makes up for that, but every little bit helps. In both games, Blum singled to score the winning run, resulting in the usual head-pounding by his joyful teammates. Blum ended up in the interview box two games in a row, minus a couple of IQ points, looking a bit like a tall blond porcupine. I suspect that his friends on the White Sox rejoiced in his success - anything to stick it to their cross-town Cubbie rivals.

Game 2 seemed like a continuation of Game 1, from the Astros hitting perspective: With Zambrano on the mound, Houston was held to 3 hits for the first 8 innings. This time, however, he was matched by Wandy for 7 innings, and Sampson right behind him to hold down the fort. After several miserable outings (causing the pitching team to scour the tapes for evidence of tipping), Wandy was back in his earlier form. He gave up only 1 run on 5 hits, striking out 6. However, with no help from his batting comrades, he left the mound after 7 with his team behind 1-0. The Astros scored in the bottom of the inning to tie it up, taking Wandy out of contention for the decision, on Blum's RBI groundout to score Pence. That left Sampson, who pitched the last 2 innings, in place to garner the win. It was another nice performance for him, in a string of scoreless outings - he shut out the Cubs on 2 hits, ending with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Game 3 - more of the same... Cubs starter Ryan Dempster allowed one run in the first inning (Bourn scored from third on Lee's sac fly). He then held Houston scoreless for 6 more innings, Meanwhile, the Astros pitchers - Ortiz, Byrdak, Arias, and Sampson - shut out the Cubs to preserve that 1-0 lead all the way into the ninth inning, when Hawkins gave up a solo homer to Derrek Lee to tie it up. Fulchino was nearly perfect in extra innings to earn the win, allowing only one baserunner (a single) in three innings. Let's jump directly to the good part: Pence got a 1 out walk, then stole second on Michael's strikeout. Berkman was intentionally walked to get to Blum, who once again singled to score Pence and win the game.

I watched this day game Thursday night when I got home from work. Besides the win - of the game and the series - I had another reason to enjoy watching this game: There has been a major upgrade in my baseball watching ability. On returning from Israel, where I had used my daughter's Mac for 2 weeks, I was no longer satisfied watching and writing about ballgames on my 12" Dell with the broken "?" key. A 30 minute trip to the mall resulted in a 24" iMac, dwarfing my puny laptop. With this giant screen (larger than the TV set we have somewhere in the house), baseball-watching should have been awesome. But it wasn't - our DSL service was "starter" level, too slow to even keep up with basic MLB.TV streaming. A call to Verizon fixed that - FIOS is 100 times faster. Then $20 to MLB.com for my upgrade, and presto! I am having a fine time watching ballgames now! If only the Astros can keep winning - I don't need HDTV to watch them lose!

GAMES 41-56: Baseball - It's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore

Back from Israel - and back to live baseball games that don't start at 3 AM! The Astros considerately did not have a game scheduled the day I got back, so I'd have time to recover from my jet lag. I watched the previous day's game (a win!) just to get back in the mood... Here's what I missed while I was gone:

May 22: Rangers 6, Astros 5
May 23: Rangers 6, Astros 3
May 24: Rangers 5, Astros 0
May 25: Reds 8, Astros 5
May 26: Reds 6, Astros 4
May 27: Reds 6, Astros 1
May 29: Astros 6, Pirates 1
May 30: Pirates 7, Astros 4
May 31: Astros 2, Pirates 1

June 1: Astros 4, Rockies 1

June 2: Astros 3, Rockies 2

June 3: Astros 6, Rockies 4
June 4: Rockies 10, Astros 3
June 5: Astros 9, Pirates 1

June 6: Pirates 6, Astros 4
June 7: Astros 6, Pirates 4

Total: Astros won 7, lost 9.

But (ever the optimist), let's make that sound better: After the initial losing streak (two sweeps in the wrong direction), the Astros won 7 and lost 3. Over the course of this 2+ week period, I didn't actually watch one complete game live - just bits and pieces, live and archived. Looking forward to a continuation of their recent winning ways now that I'm back!