ASTROSBABE's Blog

For the better part of six innings, Scott Kazmir looked relatively unhittable, considering his lone blemish while facing the Astros was a Hunter Pence solo homer that led off the fifth frame.
 But Carlos Lee changed the course of the game in the sixth, knocking Kazmir out of the game with a two-out, two-run homer, lifting the Astros to a 3-2 win over the Rays on Sunday at Tropicana Field.
The victory secured the Astros' first series win in June, and it also marked Brandon Backe's first win since May 23, ending a string of three losses in four starts. Their 2-4 record on this road trip is hardly cause for celebration, but considering how scarce wins have been for this team in the last month, the Astros will take what they can get.

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Shawn Chacon was informed Sunday morning that he is no longer a member of the starting rotation Runelvys Hernandez will take Chacon's place in the rotation and will make his Astros debut on Friday against the Red Sox. Brian Moehler, Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez will pitch the upcoming Interleague series with the Rangers that begins Tuesday.  Manager Cecil Cooper pointed to Chacon's inconsistency as the reason for the move. Chacon began the year with nine straight no-decisions and did not allow more than three earned runs in any of his first five
outings, but beginning with his start against the Diamondbacks on April 30, the right-hander has turned in a handful of good starts mixed in with some duds.

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Kazuo Matsui left Sunday's game against Tampa Bay with a strained right hamstring, which he suffered during his at-bat in the sixth inning while facing Rays lefty Scott Kazmir.
 Matsui has been dealing with tightness in that area for a stretch of time and after the game said he'll know more about the severity of the condition on Tuesday, when the Astros open a homestand with the Texas Rangers.

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For most of the season so far, Astros baserunners had a continual "green light" from manager Cecil Cooper -- meaning, if presented with a base-stealing opportunity, they were authorized to run with it, so to speak.
But that philosophy was altered about a week ago, when Cooper limited green-light privileges to three players -- Kazuo Matsui, Michael Bourn and Reggie Abercrombie. The rest of the team would be given the go-ahead on a case-by-case basis.
The reason for the change? Too many bad decisions that led to a slew of caught stealings over an approximately three-week period.