It's just one game but....& draftees go deep

The Astros looked like a totally different team in the opener of a much-needed 9 game homestand as they beat the Cardinals, 6-1. Part of the reason they looked so different is because Darin Erstad, Geoff Blum, Mark Loretta and Humberto Quintero were all in the starting line-up: Miguel Tejada, Michael Bourn, Ty Wigginton and J.R. Towles (who was optioned to Round Rock after last night's game) were not. That foursome combined for 8 of the team's 11 hits and scored 3 runs. Once again, I'm very impressed with how Coop is trying to put his guys in position to succeed - that is all the manager can do. He finds at-bats for his bench players and he uses the whole roster extremely well. It doesn't always work, but he is doing a lot of things that are working.

Quintero was behind the plate for just the second time this year and he helped Brian Moehler dominate the Cards. I know Coop said Ausmus would get the majority of the starts moving forward, but like I said on the show tonight that makes no sense to me. You get nothing from Ausmus offensively and he's got a very weak arm. Quintero is superb defensively and has a very strong arm; he also came to camp this year after having dropped a lot of weight and easily in the best shape of his career. He hit extremely well this spring and was pretty ticked off he didn't make the team. He's nothing special - I understand that, but there is no reason not to have him out there as much as possible until he proves he can't help the team more than Ausmus.

Moehler was outstanding. His control since becoming a starter has been sensational, not just his low walk total. He's made six starts and he's been hitting his spots in all of them. He's kept hitters off balance and he's given the team a chance to win every time he's taken the ball. That is doing his job. By the way the last time he tossed 7 innings of shutout ball was July 3rd......of 2002!!

One other thing, I wouldn't exactly say the offense broke out of their slump. They've now scored more than 3 runs in their last ten games just twice. Both games were started by Looper and 4 of then 13 runs they've scored off of him were unearned thanks a boatload of errors by the Cardinals. The Astros face Wainwright and Lohse the next 2 days against whom they managed just 2 solo home runs in 14 innings last week in St. Louis - so let's see how they fare against these two before anyone proclaims the offense is back.
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Following the game, the Astros designated Jose Cruz, Jr for assignment and recalled OF Reggie Abercrombie from Round Rock. Cruz was made the team thanks to a strong spring, but he just didn't hit at all once the season began. He was 15-47 in the spring, just 6-49 when it counted. With Erstad showing his ability to play any outfield position, Cruz lost any value he might have still had defensively.

Abercrombie hit just .221 in April, but has hit .333 since. He spent the entire 2006 season in the bigs with the Marlins, but only hit .208. Glad to see the move.
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Hopefully you took advantage of ESPN's coverage of the Super Regional action in the NCAA tournament Friday night. Because each of the three Astros drafted that were in action belted huge home runs. Arizona CF T.J. Steele (4,122) hit a 2-run first inning homer - a line drive to left - that put Arizona on top of Miami early. Then teammate RF Jon Gaston blasted a 3-run shot in the 11th inning to lead Arizona past the 'Canes in the first game of their 3 game series. The duo combined for all 6 Wildcat RBIs and it's the first time in ten years Miami has lost a game at home in Super Regional play.

In the late game, the Astros top pick went to work for Stanford, C Jason Castro (1,10) cranked out a 2-run opposite field HR in the 5th inning of Stanford's win at CS Fullerton.
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