Our lineup tonight at Anaheim. Three rookies starting but it looks like Enrique 'Kike' Hernandez got the nod in left field over Domingo Santana. Kike can pla any position on the field. Well deserved for Kike though. He's been hot with the bat since being called up (3-for-5 with 1 HR, 2 RBI and a double). But I want to see Santana play his way out of his 0-for-7 slump.

1. Jose Altuve (R) 2B
2. Jason Castro (L) C
3. George Springer (R) RF
4. Jon Singleton (L) 1B
5. Matt Dominguez (R) 3B
6. Chris Carter (R) DH
7. Alex Presley (L) CF
8. Enrique Hernandez (R) LF
9. Marwin Gonzalez (S) SS

Hopefully they can get some offense going against Matt Shoemaker. The Astros are 36-50 and 5-14 in our last 19 games. It's time to get it together. Ever since Dexter Fowler got hurt it seems like we're missing that spark. Somebody needs to step up. At least Jose Altuve is on fire. Hitting .343 with 37 stolen bases.

Tough 7-6 loss to the Angels tonight. Mike Trout hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth.

The Astros hit three home runs themselves: George Springer hit his 17th, Jon Singleton hit his 5th and Chris Carter hit his 14th. 4-15 record in our last 19 games. The Astros are now 36-52 on the 2014 season which is tied with the Diamondbacks for the worst record in baseball.

First overall pick in the 2015 draft: Here we come. Sigh, but our last three first overall picks... Brady AIken (2014), Mark Appel (2013) and Carlos Correa (2012) have yet to make it to the big leagues. Brady Aiken, a 17-year-old pitcher, may not reach the show until 2018. I'm just tired of drafting guys who aren't any help to the big league club anytime soon. We need help up here.

George Springer's 17 home runs and 46 RBIs are an Astros franchise record for a rookie before the all-star break. He only needs five more home runs to break Lance Berkman's rookie record of 21 home runs hit in 2000 and he's well on pace to break Jeff Bagwell's rookie record of 82 RBIs back in 1991. Those are the Astros' franchise records.

Pretty impressive considering he wasn't even called up until the third week of the season. He missed most of April.

Springer has made a lot of great defensive plays in right field as a rookie as well...

If we can't beat the Texas Rangers in this series then we clearly are the worst team in baseball this year

I'm not a big fan of our lineup tonight though...

1. Jose Altuve (R) 2B
2. Alex Presley (L) CF
3. George Springer (R) RF
4. Jon Singleton (L) 1B
5. Matt Dominguez (R) 3B
6. Chris Carter (R) DH
7. Carlos Corporan (S) C
8. Enrique Hernandez (R) LF
9. Marwin Gonzalez (S) SS

The Astros haven't been scoring a lot of runs for three weeks now. 4-18 in our last 22 games.

Could catch us if you take the series. Not looking good so far for the premier game.

LOL. the Texas Rangers are so bad the Astros may luck into a rare win tonight. Already off to a good start and teeing off that Rangers pitching.. Unbelievable how Texas is struggling this year. I know it's their injuries but they were once 14-8 following a sweep at Oakland back on April 23.

I want the first overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. Maybe we can draft another high school phenom pitcher to pair with Brady Aiken. Something to look forward to three or four years down the road.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings/_/group/9

It took us going 4-18 in those last 22 games to finally reclaim the worst record in baseball entering tonight at 36-54

But the Diamondbacks are only one game better and the Rangers are only three games better.

Sigh.. 5-0 Astros. Still no outs in the top of the 2nd.

Rangers are horrible...

5 spot in the 1st yesterday, another 5 spot in the 2nd today... their early inning struggles continue..

/e 6 now Rolf and it ain't even over yet.

This post was edited by txO4 on Jul 7 2014 06:35pm

Jarred Cosart is 8-6 with a 3.90 ERA this season which is decent in the American League. He's won three out of the last four games the Astros have won over the past three weeks. He had a miserable outing giving up 6 earned runs in 5.2 innings last time out against Seattle.

He could really use a complete game shutout tonight or something strong that can get him back on track. With a 6-0 lead in the 2nd inning he can afford to just pound the strike zone and try to get quick outs. Get back to keeping the ball on the ground. Walks have been a problem with him. Just walked his 42nd guy this year which ranks 10th in the American League.

Jarred Cosart is one of those young guys, in his second season, who has all-star potential if he can just command his breaking pitches better.