Step by step

This opening series against the San Diego Padres has shown us all the positives and negatives we could list about the Houston Astros. There's a whole long way to go before we could be pessimistic about it though. It has been only three games and there's a whole season ahead of us.

The first couple of games had hopeful signs scattered all along: On Tuesday, Brandon Backe had a pretty convincing outing. Wandy Rodriguez followed suit the next night. Despite the fact Rodriguez ceded advantage to the Friars with 4 runs in total, struck out 6.

Monday's game was a clash of titans. Jake Peavy Vs. Roy Oswalt. It wasn't the best for Roy-O, while Peavy showed us all why he was the unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young award. One ace had it good, the other one hadn't. That's baseball to you.

Last Night the 'Stros proved us they won't go down so easily. We finally saw the offense they promised us, specially with Lance Berkman's tater which made the difference in the end.

Maybe you'll overlook this fact if you consider the Astros were losing at the moment Maddux left the mound, but remember the Old Professor was rocked with 6 hits, 4 runs and 3 homers in 6 innings.

"They got a good lineup," Maddux said to chron.com. "They're solid one through eight. Peavy and CY (Chris Young) made it look pretty easy. This lineup is pretty good, man. They got power up and down pretty good."

Pretty good things have happened so far, despite just one win. Even considering Michael Bourn, showing us great outings for someone that unexperienced. With this Wednesday victory, the Astros can get the pressure off their backs and focus on the here and now.