Good news: the Houston Astros hit three home runs last night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Bad news: the Brew Crew hit five.
All three 'Stros longballs were solo shots (Miguel Tejada, Ty Winnington and Carlos Lee), whereas Milwaukee's four runs accounted for eight total runs (two solo shots and two 2-run homers). Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, who shows flashes of brilliance, gave up seven hits and five earned runs in four innings. He's 4-8 on the season with this loss with an ERA of an even 5.00. Both starters got hit hard, and both bullpens had their shaky moments--Houston's more so than Milwaukee's.
Astros pitching, disturbingly, leads the MLB in home runs yielded. I guess it doesn't help when your home games are at Homeron Field.
In the 7th inning, catcher Brad Ausmus was ejected for disputing a checked swing call while manager Cecil Cooper was ejected for (allegedly) colorful language used to dispute a safe call on a pickoff attempt. This is the second time (to my knowledge) this year that Cooper has been ejected. Maybe that's a good thing. Houston needs some fire. I wish Cooper would also toss over a few post-game dinner tables as a way of letting Houston know that losing is unacceptable.
