Roy Oswalt has the Cincinatti Reds. Mike Hampton has the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hampy is now 4-0 against the Pirates this season and he has won the last 10 games against them dating back to 1999.
To put it into perspective, Mike is the first pitcher since 50s pitcher Robin Roberts to get 10 wins in a row against the Pirates. (Roberts ended up getting 15.)
“I thought we took a good approach, trying to hit the ball up the middle or go opposite field,” said Andy LaRoche. “They just weren’t falling for us. We couldn’t get anything going the whole time. You just tip your cap to Hampton.”
Hampton also had an astounding double play in the bottom of the first showing once again why he is a Gold Glove candidate every year.
After a slow start to the season, Mike has really turned it around. While he will never get back to where he was the last time he played for the Astros, it is nice to see him getting some success and having some good outtings.
Geoff Blum and Miguel Tejada had good nights as well and the Astros ended up with a solid 4-1 win. Hopefully, they can build on that tonight with a good start by Brian Moehler.
Early Draftee Stats
It’s been almost a month since the 2009 MLB draft, so let’s take a look at the players that the Astros have signed and see what they have achieved. Initial thoughts when looking at the statistics? J.D. Martinez, a right fielder playing for Greeneville, might end up being a diamond in the rough. He has a .386 average with 57 at-bats, 11 runs, 22 hits, 7 doubles, 3 homeruns and 17 RBIs. Keep an eye on this guy!
Hitters
| AVG | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SO | SB | ||
| SS | .325 | 40 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 2 | |
| LF | .200 | 25 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | |
| 3B | .200 | 50 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 0 | |
| SS | .280 | 50 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | |
| SS | .324 | 37 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 5 | |
| SS | .171 | 35 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | |
| 3B | .043 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | |
| C | .333 | 27 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | |
| OF | .156 | 32 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | |
| CF | .243 | 37 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 2 | |
| 1B | .235 | 34 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 0 | |
| CF | .347 | 49 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 2 | |
| RF | .386 | 57 | 11 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2B | .160 | 25 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | |
| 1B | .205 | 39 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 1 | |
| 3B | .233 | 30 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 | |
| CF | .174 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | |
| CF | .286 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |
| OF | .143 | 28 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1 | |
Most of the pitchers look pretty good. Robert Donovan, a right-hander playing for Tri-City, hasn’t had a really good start to the season. He is 0-2 with an 11.25 ERA and has only pitched 4 innings.
Pitchers
| W | L | ERA | CG | SV | IP | BB | SO | ||
| RHP | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | 0 | 0 | 6.2 | 1 | 4 | |
| RHP | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 4.2 | 2 | 5 | |
| LHP | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| RHP | 1 | 0 | 2.84 | 0 | 1 | 12.2 | 12 | 6 | |
| LHP | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 1 | 3 | |
| RHP | 0 | 1 | 2.25 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 4 | 2 | |
| RHP | 1 | 0 | 6.35 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 1 | 5 | |
| RHP | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | |
| RHP | 0 | 2 | 11.25 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 | 5 | 1 | |
| LHP | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 1 | 6 | |
| LHP | 0 | 0 | 2.45 | 0 | 3 | 7.1 | 1 | 7 | |
| RHP | 0 | 0 | 4.91 | 0 | 0 | 7.1 | 1 | 1 | |
| RHP | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 1 | 4 | |
| RHP | 2 | 0 | 3.86 | 0 | 0 | 4.2 | 0 | 7 | |
| RHP | 0 | 0 | 1.80 | 0 | 1 | 5.0 | 2 | 6 | |
| LHP | 0 | 0 | 0.96 | 0 | 0 | 9.1 | 4 | 9 |






This is unacceptable. I know it was Tim Lincecum and some unknown named Sadowski (who actually pitched better than Lincecum), but this is still unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for the best team in baseball and the worst team in baseball. It’s unacceptable in the College World Series down to Middle School teams. In fact, it’s only acceptable in t-ball.
The Astros never get named to the All-Star team. Part of a problem of living somewhere other than the northeast, Chicago or California. So with as bad as they have been this year, you would expect only a token player to be placed on the team. I assumed that token player would be Miguel Tejada and I was right, but there was a surprise second player named: Hunter Pence.
That’s another surprise. How did 2 Astros make the team and only 1 Cub? Don’t the Cubs have some kind of rule with Bud Selig that they get to have at least 2 players on the team?
The Astros-Padres game yesterday was one of those games you will never forget thanks to a swarm of honeybees that decided to visit PETCO Park in the 9th inning. The Astros were already ahead 6-1 and went on to win the game 7-2 finishing the season 6-1 against the Padres.






First, they face Zach Grienke and the Royals. Alot of people have been surprised by the Royals, but they haven’t shocked me. I saw them coming along the last few years. They have made some good trades and built up their minor leagues. I picked up Grienke last year off of waivers on my fantasy team and I wasn’t pleasantly pleased with how good he was. His stuff is Filthy with a capital F.
After that, they have to face the Detroit Tigers who have quietly snuck into first place. (Maybe not quietly for Tigers fans, but very quietly for those of us in Texas.) They have the second best record in the AL (38-31 tied with the Yankees and two losses better than the Blue Jays) and really only have one bust on their starters in Dontrelle Willis and I do think it was worth taking a chance on. With Dontrelle’s complex delivery, he needed to be brought up a little slower early on and the Marlins did not do that. His arm is shot and his current stint on the DL appears to be a common appearance for the future.
I went to take a look at Jason Castro. He was upgraded to Double-A on June 7, 2009 and the Hooks were playing a series in nearby San Antonio, so it was an easy, 103 degree trip for me. (Thank god for light breezes!)
Game Calling
Defending the Plate