Not only the rain watered-down things for the Astros this Saturday afternoon. Right after a rain delay, Brandon Backe was on a Major League mound for the first time in four months. Everything seemed to be all right, after Lance Berkman and Preston Wilson belted homers in the first frame.

But things changed in the fourth, after Xavier Nady went yard and drove in three to turn around the score, and deciding a 4-3 final in favor of the Amazins.

Nady’s dinger straightened Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez out. He improved dramatically and was able to contain the Houston offense, whiffing 8 in 7 innings. Backe went out of the game with a 4.50 ERA, with 4 runs in the same amount of episodes.