There’s nothing like the excitement of overcoming an adverse outcome and winning a ballgame. The Astros have already experienced such a feeling twice, in consecutive contests. This time they scored five runs in the seventh inning to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7, in a thrilling game full of intriguing elements: surprising starting pitching, followed by an erratic bullpen, wasted opportunities and an offensive onslaught.

Rookie Taylor Buchholz (see earlier post) handled himself solidly during six episodes, setting an example on pitching economy: He threw 85 pitches, 52 of them strikes. The problem was the same Fernando Nieve experienced yesterday afternoon: poor run support. The Astros had only scored two runs, one of them on a solo shot by Morgan Ensberg, and left 6 men on base during Buchholz’s appearance on the mound.

The two hits Buchholz conceded were home runs, one by Carlos Lee in the second, and another by Geoff Jenkins in the seventh; which sealed his fate in the end. Chad Qualls allowed 3 more runs in a poor relief exhibition, setting his ERA into an alarming 9.35, and leaving thoughts of a bullpen that has not risen to expectations.

Houston benefited from happy swings in that productive bottom of the 7th, that started with a Milwaukee lead, 6-3. But Lance Berkman and Morgan Ensberg drove in a run each, and Jason Lane capped the effort with a three-run homer, his third of the year, and the Astros finally turned the tables.

Brad Lidge got his fourth save this season, and kept Milwaukee from shredding to pieces the minimal deficit.

Taveras, Ensberg and Berkman are on fire these days: the Dominican center fielder has a 10-game hitting streak going; Ensberg has 3 games going yard, and Lance collects 18 RBI.

It was a thriller to the end, no doubt; yet this bullpen has not been what we had expected so far, and the young guns have provided above-average performances.

This has been one Exciting ballgame, with a capital "E". And I’ll tell you all about it in my next post. But all pictures tonight, without exception, have been excellent.

Many of them tell the story of Taylor Buchholz’s first Major League start ever: despite pitching six outstanding innings, he left with no decision, and an adverse score against the Milwaukee Brewers, due to a home run by Geoff Jenkins in the top of the 7th.

That’s the story these photographs tell. One of many plots in a wonderful baseball game.

It was the fifth inning. Phil Garner went to the mound and asked Fernando Nieve to give him the ball. The rookie was experiencing his first Major League start ever, and he didn’t do that bad after all: 2 hits, 4 Ks and 4 hits, including a homer by Luis Gonzalez. However, the offense couldn’t protect him and at the moment he was carrying a huge "L" above him. It was a good outing, but not an outstanding one.

How things changed.

The Astros had a seven-run sixth frame, due to a couple of 2-RBI singles by Lance Berkman and Willy Taveras; and a 3-run dinger by Morgan Ensberg; to pull off a "W" instead (8-5), owning the series at Chase Field, and finally, returning to Minute Maid Park with a positive record on the road. We know it’s just the first of many trips throughout a long and excruciating season, but this leaves players and fans with a nice mood that could carry on into more good moments.

So much has been said about the Astros and their lack of lumber, it’s so refreshing to see developments such as tonight’s. We can only wait and see if this momentum keeps on going and the bats deliver; what Ensberg and Berkman have done so far is remarkable. Ensberg was such a factor in the three games in Arizona, that led Diamondbacks TV commentators to say, after reading his numbers on these past three games (2 HR, 5 RBI, .461 BA), he contributed not just with his power, but also taking the team photo and catering the whole crew.

Now it’s back home, with a positive outlook in the surroundings.

What a contrast. The Astros not only beat the Diamondbacks this Saturday night. They literally clubbed them. And tied them down as well.

The Houston offense put on a strong display, with a total of 15 hits, 3 of them home runs, for a final score of 10-0.

Sure enough, the hitting was outstanding, but this shutout is the result of a remarkable pitching performance by newcomer Wandy Rodríguez, able to maintain himself strong for 7 innings without allowing a run, and barely conceding two hits. After Wandy left, Chad Qualls and Mike Gallo did the rest. What is Wandy’s previous record against the D-Backs? 0-1 and a 9.00 ERA.

There was a serious display of lumber tonight: Every starting player for the Astros had a least a hit, with the sole exception of Craig Biggio. Adam Everett, a shortstop who earns his salary relying on his defense rather than his bat, went for broke and batted 2-for-4 including a double and a homer, driving in 3 runs.

It was also a great moment for Morgan Ensberg, who keeps on rising his batting average, now at .389. He went 3-for-5, with a double and a dinger, only missing a triple to hit for the cycle. It was Willy Taveras the one who connected a three-baser (he went 3-for-3 tonight).

The Astros English-language radio crew chose Ensberg as Player of the Game; however, it isn’t hard to think Wandy was also suitable for that honor. That was exactly what Ensberg said during his interview. Rodríguez was simply phenomenal, showing poise and always on top of his opponents, being able to get out of dangerous jams totally unharmed.

Tomorrow is the turn for yet another newcomer, Venezuela-born Fernando Nieve, to start a Major League Baseball game for the first time in his career. A whole country will definitely be watching.

When the Diamondbacks delivered their game notes tonight, they made sure a certain factoid had a distinctive placing: Their starter, Brandon Webb, owns one of the best sinkers in the game, and is responsible for a grounder to air ratio of 4.32, leading the induced grounder department (is there such a thing?) with 451.

And that was exactly what Webb delivered, hypnotizing the Astros offense at Chase Field, becoming the main character in tonight’s victory over the Astros, 5-1.

Webb allowed just a run in six innings. Andy Pettitte had to bear the loss, with three runs in six episodes.

Tonight’s story was without question Webb’s repertoire, that turned the Houston bats into grounder machines; and Trever Miller’s relief appearance didn’t help: Conor Jackson homered off Miller, and that practically wrapped up the whole contest.

The Astros offense, not precisely the best in the NL, but not that shabby also (Ensberg is batting .355, Berkman .333, Taveras has a 6-game hitting streak), was neutralized by the Diamondbacks hurler. That was the story, and there’s no second-guessing about it.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Yesterday’s doubleheader in San Francisco left us with good and bad things equally. It can’t all be perfect, or so they say. Sadly, Brandon Backe had to leave action after 2.1 innings in the first game, due to elbow problems that will represent a stint on the DL, being substituted on the roster by Ezequiel Astacio, who had his share of playing time in the Big Leagues last season, with mixed results.

Astacio was in the competition for the fifth starter’s position (still undefined at this moment), but was demoted to Round Rock after wards.

The good news came with that solid outing by Roy Oswalt (he’s more of a pitching machine than those ones he endorses in Baseball America, it seems). He pitched eight shutout innings in the nightcap, allowing scarcely 8 hits.

I won’t forget about Lance Berkman, who went yard for the sixth time this season in barely 9 games (consider he was on the DL at this very moment last year). The last Astro in achieving such a feat was Jimmy "The Toy Cannon" Wynn in 1975. Too bad Preston Wilson couldn’t follow suit.

Berkman is batting before tonight’s game .344. The Astros have a collective .257 BA, ninth-best in the Senior Circuit… We have to be a little patient though because the win-loss record is still positive; however, we hope that batting average goes nowhere but up. (The Mets are leading that category, with a .320 collective BA).

I would like to say hi to all of you visiting mlblogs.com; I have to tell you it’s a lot of fun and if you’re considering joining in, don’t hesitate in doing so.
My name is Rafael Rojas Cremonesi, and for the past two seasons I have been a writer for the official spanish website of the Houston Astros, currently at www.astrosdehouston.com

The Astros thought of having all of its spanish writers blogging, and my new friends at mlblogs.com have asked me to do an English-language version of my blog.

The idea is to give you commentary on the current National League Champions (I’m sorry to rub this on you, but we’ve been waiting more than 40 years for this), and we’ll try to do it in a more informal style than the one we keep at the website. We want this to be a place for all Astros fans to tell us their stories of how they became identified with the franchise, and special moments you’ ve experienced with or because of the ‘Stros.

I can’t thank MLBAM enough for their support and for giving me this opportunity, most especially Mark and Jake, who have been so kind. So without further ado, here we are… and also available for your comments, questions, stories and (hopefully) your pictures at rafaelspacerace@gmail.com and rafaelrojasc@houston-astros.net.

Join us as we follow the good guys and never stop believing the buzz!