GAMES 56-58 - May 30 - June 1: Can You Count to One?

Friday, May 30: Milwaukee 5, Houston 1
Saturday, May 31: Milwaukee 4, Houston 1
Sunday, June 1: Milwaukee 10, Houston 1

Word for the Day: Free fall. Rapid uncontrolled decline.

After spending most of the month of May as the hottest team in baseball, the Astros suddenly and precipitously changed direction. Just a week or so ago, the Astros were easily scoring 6 or 7 runs in a game, but suddenly anything more than 1 seems like a challenge. Home runs galore - now a thing of the past. That style of run production does not go well with this season's Astros starting rotation. It just adds up to a lot of losses - 5 in a row, with a grand total of 6 Astros runs between them. From second place and just a game or so out of the NL Central lead, losing a series to the Cards and a sweep by the Brewers has sunk the Astros to 6 1/2 games out. It doesn't help at all that the Cubbies are on a 7-game winning streak.

All the games in this series in Milwaukee were pretty much one-size-fits-all: The Brewers got some runs early off the Astros starter, while the Astros got 1 run - and lost. The only really distinguishing game was the last one: The Brewers got a lot of runs.

Friday night, Backe had a poor start. Two Milwaukee home runs in the first inning were a harbinger of what was to come; he gave up all 5 of the Brewers' runs in his 5 innings. Villareal, Sampson (now in the bullpen), and Wright combined for 3 scoreless innings in relief. But the Astros only scored one run - when Pence doubled in the second inning, and scored on Towles' single. The Astros got 7 hits, including 2 by Berkman, but couldn't piece together another run.

Saturday night, Moehler kept the Brewers off the board for the first 4 innings, before giving up 3 runs in the fifth, including a 2-run homer to Prince Fielder. Villareal gave up a lead-off home run in the sixth, but after that, he combined with Brocail and Valverde for 3 shutout innings. But again, the Astros only scored a single run, in the third, when Wiggington doubled and scored on Erstad's single. Brewers starter Ben Sheets just shut them down; he came within one batter of a complete game. To add insult to injury, Houston runners were caught stealing three times. (Bourn had the night off.)

On the bright side, the Astros pitchers only gave up one walk in each of these games - that at least should have made Cooper happy.

It was a very different situation on Sunday, when a bit of a bad umpiring snowballed into a major mess. The Astros got their 1 run in this game right away in the first inning, when Loretta (subbing for Matsui) hit a home run. Chacon - the Astros most reliable pitcher, despite his string of no-decisions - started out fine. He quickly struck out the first two Brewers hitters. But then things started to fall apart: Chacon hit Ryan Braun with a pitch; his subsequent throwing error on a pickoff attempt put Braun on second. He walked Fielder. Then on a 3-2 count, Corey Hart hit what appeared to be a simple ground ball, which was thrown to Berkman for the third out. That's what Berkman thought, as he turned to walk to the dugout, and that's what the replays looked like too. (Even the Brewers' TV guys agreed.) But the ump called the runner at first safe, and with no throw to the plate, Braun scored easily from second to tie the game. Chacon went 3-2 on the next batter before walking him to load the bases. He hit the next batter with a pitch, forcing in what would turn out to be the winning run of the game. Then Craig Counsel hit a 2-RBI double, giving the Brewers a 4-1 lead after one inning.

Chacon didn't make it back into the game; Cooper took him out after that first inning. With 8 innings of long relief to go, Cooper went to a non-rotation starter, Jack Cassell, to continue the game. Cassell looked fine for an inning or two, before he too had a melt-down: He started the fourth by hitting the first batter, then gave up 3 more runs on a triple and a home run. Perhaps he was over-anxious with Fielder at the plate - he misplayed his ground ball and gave away the base. He struck out the next batter, but then gave up another home run. One single later, Cooper pulled him out. Wright came in and gave up a single and a pair of walks, scoring a runner, before getting out of the inning. Six more runs scored - all charged to Cassell. Astros down, 10-1, after 5. Byrdak and Sampson each pitched 2 very nice - and scoreless - innings to staunch the bleeding and end the game without any further embarrassment.

Oh, did I mention, that the Brewers gave 4 of their starters the day off, and were playing their bench?

Well, I always try to find something to like about the Astros - a bit of a challenge when your team just got swept, and is 1-5 on the current road trip. How about this: They weren't shut out in any of the losses. (I should probably not even mention that - I'll probably jinx them for tomorrow!) Seriously, the one bright spot in this dismal road trip has been the relief pitching - the bullpen has been excellent in the last three innings of these games. That includes Chris Sampson, who seems to have made the transition from the rotation to the bullpen pretty well.

But what about the hitting, which has suddenly gone AWOL? "Fickle," says Lance Berkman, who managed to get on base - and be stranded - in each of these games. Fickle indeed.

The Astros get a day off tomorrow to recover their former offensive glory, then they are off to Pittsburgh. Cassell won't be going with them; after the game he was sent down to Round Rock. This wasn't punishment for his performance - they were just making room for Geary to come back off the DL.

The Cubs and the Cards are off to play San Diego and Washington respectively - two of the three worst teams in the National League. So don't look for any help there.