Houston Astros baseball team

CINCINNATI — Roy Oswalt has had his way with the Reds for most of his career, but on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park, the home team held its own. It also thrived once Oswalt was out of the game after six innings, and as a result, the Reds topped the Astros, 6-4. Oswalt, [...]

CINCINNATI — The last time Jason Smith was designated for assignment, he stayed put in Houston, instead of heading to Triple-A Round Rock. Smith had been told there was a chance he might be needed again. The infielder may want to stay close to the phone again this time, though he did accept his assignment [...]

Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada's league-leading .522 average last week helped him earn the honor of being the National League Player of the Week presented by Bank of America for the period through Sunday. Tejada also topped the loop with his 12 hits, a 1.043 slugging percentage and 24 total bases. Revisiting the American League temporarily [...]

CINCINNATI — Eight runs. All unearned. And that was the story of the Houston Astros on Monday at Great American Ball Park. Wandy Rodriguez and Alberto Arias — not to mention fantasy baseball players from coast to coast — had to be mildly pleased that not a single run scored by the Reds was charged [...]

HOUSTON — Brandon Backe is ready to pitch for the Astros. Eventually, Houston will decide when, where and in what capacity — either as a starter or reliever. A glass-half-full type of person might view the conundrum as a good thing. After all, the Astros appear to have six healthy starting pitchers with only five [...]

CINCINNATI — Head athletic trainer Nate Lucero and manager Cecil Cooper made their way to the mound in the bottom of the first inning on Monday, which usually indicates a possible injury to the pitcher. But the two were clearly having a conversation with catcher Pudge Rodriguez, not Wandy Rodriguez, so it came as no [...]

HOUSTON — The Astros' woes at home and against the Rangers continued Sunday. For the third successive game, Houston was unable to keep the Rangers' hitters at bay, dropping a 5-0 contest to be swept by its in-state rivals. Miguel Tejada went 4-for-4 with a double, but for the most part, the rest of the [...]

HOUSTON — Before the Wandy-Rodriguez-is-an-All-Star talk could begin in earnest, manager Cecil Cooper cut off the conversation. "Let's not go there," Cooper said. "Let's not jinx the guy. He's pitching good, he's very consistent — let's leave it at that." Baseball folks, by definition, are superstitious. So you can't really blame Cooper for not wanting [...]

HOUSTON — Geoff Blum will likely miss at least two games with a strained left hamstring after suffering the injury during Sunday's finale with the Rangers. Blum felt the discomfort after singling in his first at-bat in the second inning. "When I went into second base, I kind of hesitated a little bit in my [...]

HOUSTON — For the second straight game, Nelson Cruz provided the knockout punch against the Astros, going deep twice in the Rangers' 6-3 win over Houston in Game 2 of the Lone Star Series. Miguel Tejada homered for the third time in four games, but Cruz one-upped the Astros shortstop, going deep twice off Astros [...]