Astros

The Astros got the bats together on Friday night to beat the Rockies 13 - 5. Good timely hitting, fielding and adjustments by all. Mark Robichau pitched in and out of trouble for 3 innings and Nnamdi Dike came in finish the game. This evened the series with the Rockies at 1 - 1 - 1. The Rockies have always given the Astros a difficult time the last couple years. Aaron Dushkin hit a bases loaded double with 2 outs to drive in all 3 runners and break the game open in the 3rd inning and both Aaron and Mark hit the fence in the 1st inning uprising.

The Astros began a 3 day streak of playing the top teams at KC on Thursday night and beat the Pirates, 7 - 4 for their 2nd win in 2 trys vs the 2nd place Pirates. Excellent pitching by Karl Pringle, Garrett Hester, and a closing inning by Dylan Hickey to earn the save. A key play to brighten a coach was an excellent pitcher covering 1st base play by Karl Pringle on a hard ground ball deep behind 1st base that was fielded by Chris St.Aubin. Good start to a difficult 3 days and a long layoff due to rains.

The Astros came back from a 2 week layoff because of the rains and played like the weather on Friday night, COLD and lost to the Cardinals 7 - 4. Little hitting in the clutch and sloppy pitching did not help the Astros cause. The game was slow and in bad conditions and only 4 innings were played. Good job by Cardinal pitcher, Patrick Morris in providing a good performance.

The Astros held on for a win vs the Dodgers on Friday night, 8 - 7 to claim their 4th win in a 7 day span. The Dodgers were playing with only 8 players vs the Astros with 13 players. After using most of the teams 14 yr old innings vs the Marlins, the Astros got 3 good innings from Nnamdi Dikes, 1 inning from Harrison Muecke, and 2 innings from Aaron Dushkin. Excellent fielding by the team in making the much needed routine plays during the game. Its how you finish a game that you remember, on a dramatic note, the Dodger running from 1st to 3rd base was thrown out by a perfect strike from Karl Pringle to Joe Silver at 3rd base to preserve the victory.

The Astros bats came alive and pounded 11 hits against only 2 hits for the Marlins and gave them their 1st loss of the year, 6 - 3. The Astros had several runners out on the base paths or the score could have been higher. Excellent pitching by Karl Pringle - 4 innings, Mark Robichau - 2 innings and a 3 up 3 down last inning by Aaron Dushkin against the 2, 3, 4 batters in the Marlins lineup. Nnamdi Dikes hit another 2 run HR in the 4th inning to help pave the way. A good team effort aided by diving catches by Brooks Kelm and a double play started by pitch (Mark), to 2nd(Karl) to 1st(Aaron). This was the 1st 7 inning game played this fall. Another tough outing scheduled for Friday vs the Dodgers as the Astros will be mostly using 13 yr old pitching.