What a great night to be a baseball fan: John Maine flirted with a no-hitter. Mark Buerhle tossed one. I don’t have in my immediate memory (I’m still a young guy, methinks) another evening like this one, in which two pitchers were so close to get that amazing feat, practically at the same time.

Meanwhile, back at Cincinnati, the Astros proved themselves they can turn things around, and in what a fashion. Last night’s 7-2 win was a demonstration of how Phil Garner can move his pieces and you cannot stand still looking for results.

Mike Lamb and Jason Lane are not precisely everyday starters, however, they were included in last night’s lineup, and they were, alongside pinch-hitter extraordinaire Orlando Palmeiro, the ones who brought in the runs for the Astros, driving in runs and getting the job done.

And that’s even better since, if that late reaction didn’t happen, a great pitching outing by Chris Sampson (7 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) would have gone to waste.

By the way, the Astros are over .500.