Came Out of Nowhere

Don't look now, but the Houston Astros have pulled themselves to within 4 games back of the Wild Card.

They have a huge series with the Cubs coming up, however 2 games have been rained out due to Hurricane Ike.

The Astros are on a tear. They are 9-1 in their last 10 games, and have won 13 of their last 14. Could they pull a 2007 Colarado Rockies? Unlikely, but possible.

Roy Oswalt, who hasn't had the type of year that was expected of him, has picked it up lately. He has pitched 17.1 scoreless innings. In his last 10 starts, 66.1 innings, Oswalt has an ERA of just 2.17.

Lance Berkman is having an MVP type year. At this point, he is my runner up to Albert Pujols. Berkman is hitting .330 this year with 28 HR and 100 RBI. His OBP is .433 and his SLG is .601. with a 1.034 OPS.

Despite losing RBI machine Carlos Lee for the remainder of the year, and a retired Craig Biggio, the Astros have hung in there.

The Astros have a lot of former Phillies thanks to the Brad Lidge trade. It has worked out quite nice for the Phillies. Michael Bourn, Randy Wolf, and Geoff Geary are all current Astros. You can find out how they are doing in my previous post, "Where are They Now". Of the three, Geary has been the best. In 59 IP, he is 3-3 with an ERA of 2.44 with a WHIP of 1.14.

Ty Wiggington and Hunter Pence also provided some power for the Astros with 22 homeruns each.