GAMES 132-134 - August 26-28: Seeing a Nice Shade of Red

August 26: Cincinnati 2, Houston 1
August 27: Houston 4, Cincinnati 1
August 28: Houston 3, Cincinnati 2

Quote of the Day: "After he threw that last pitch, he kind of gave me a little stare. I got goose bumps. It was a good thing. I really liked the competition. It was honestly a fun at-bat, but I lost in that situation." (Joey Votto, after striking out to Oswalt to end the sixth)

I usually like it when the Astros play the Reds. It's not just that Cincinnati's record is worse than Houstons', giving them a chance to win. That's true of the Pirates, too, and the Astros have been terrible against them. But the Astros do seem to be lucky against the Reds. The Cincinnati team looked different this time, though, with long-time teammates Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr gone in trades.

They weren't too lucky on Tuesday night in an unlikely pitchers' duel between Wandy and Bronson Arroyo. The high-kicker threw all nine innings, allowing only a single Astros run on 5 measly hits. It was the second game in a row that the Astros were bested by a complete game performance. But Wandy was no slouch either in his seven innings. In one of his best starts all season, he gave up only 1 run on 3 hits and 1 walk, and struck out out 10. The game differentiator turned out to be a Reds hit off the wall off of Geary in the 8th - a close call that would have been checked out on the instant replay two days later, when that goes into effect. But the ump called it a homer, and the Reds took a 2-1 lead.

The Astros lone run was patched together in the fifth. Loretta led off with a single, and moved to second on Pence's walk. Newhan's ground ball out moved them both up a base. Loretta scored from third on Ausmus' ground out.

Wednesday night's game was a rerun of a show I've seen so many times before - and never get tire of: Oswalt beating the Reds. It was classic Wizard: Seven innings, 1 run, 5 hits, a couple of BBs and a few Ks. Cincinnati may have a new cast of characters, but they were as befuddled as ever with Roy O on the mound. The Reds' sole run scored in the first, on an infield single, double, and ground ball combo. After that, they couldn't do anything against Oswalt - with the same result as so many times before: Oswalt 22, the Reds 1.

Unlike his last start, the Astros gave Oswalt some friendly run support in this game. The Astros scored all four of their runs on homers - one 2-run home run for Pence in the fourth and a matching one for Wiggington in the seventh. Berkman was 3 for 3, scoring on Pence's homer. To back up Oswalt completely, Hawkins pitched a scoreless eighth, and Valverde struck out the side for the save.

In the rubber match Thursday afternoon, it was Backe up against Aaron Harang. Backe, in his pingpong approach to pitching this season (one game dominant, next game skunked), broke the pattern. He was due for a huge loss; instead he pitched a very respectable 6 2/3 innings, not giving up any runs until the seventh inning, when he allowed a pair. Meanwhile, Harang pitched a quality start also, only allowing the Astros to score 3 runs in his 7 innings. So it was a very close game that the bullpen inherited in the seventh. They didn't let Backe down: Brocail, Hawkins, and Valverde threw 2 1/3 perfect innings to keep the Reds in their place. For the second game in a row, Valverde struck out the side, earning his 35th save.

Offensively for the Astros, the game turned on another outstanding performance by Wiggington. Since taking over for Carlos Lee in left field, the guy has been amazing. This time it was another pair of solo homers - one in the second and one in the sixth - that accounted for two of the Astros' three runs. Quintero's solo homer in the fifth added the third. The past two games have been a home run derby for the Astros - all of the runs in both games were scored on long balls.

Another series win, as the Astros continue their strong performance since the All Star Break. But it's probably still too little, and too late, as the teams ahead of them have been even better.