It's turning into a good day. Cosart's ERA continues to shine through three starts but the Blue Jays will likely win against our bullpen. We had won 8-6 yesterday while the Marlins lost 7-4 to the Pirates, but now we need to lose today because the Marlins already won 3-2 over the Pirates.

LOL, going to be back to 5.5 games ahead (6 in loss column) for the first pick next June.

Bo Porter, like him or not, I think he's done a good job managing this year's team under the circumstances.

The race for the 1st overall pick in 2014

1. Astros 35-69
2. Marlins 40-63

A six-game lead in the loss column and 5.5 games worse than any other team.
The Marlins have an impressive 5-2 record during their last 7 games.

The White Sox and Brewers are still playing right now. Both are creeping close to the Marlins, at 61 and 60 losses respectively.
Once either team ties the Marlins in the standings, I'll have to keep a close eye on both of those teams.
Probably in a couple of days the White Sox will have the second worst record. The Marlins are winning a lot games lately.

But with 58 games left this season, the Astros appear to be in pretty good shape, in terms of the Carlos Rodon sweepstakes.

I doubt we're going to go on many winning streaks the rest of the season. Our best chance to win is when Jarred Cosart pitches.
And Cosart is only 1-0 in three starts so far (two no-decisions), despite the stellar 0.86 ERA, two earned runs in 21 innings.
The Astros lost both of those no-decisions, so that tells me we can't even win despite good starting pitching.

Our offensive production has been dismal for a long time. I think it's time to call up 1B Jonathan Singleton and CF George Springer.

A good stop gap until Carlos Correa is called up. I've been impressed with his flashy glove in the week he's been up in the big leagues so far. Between Jonathan Villar and Brandon Barnes, we've been getting some excellent defense at shortstop and center field.

But the future at both of those two positions for the Astros are Carlos Correa and George Springer, who both project to be good hitters as well. But man, Villar hasn't been awful at the plate. The kid has so much promise. 22 years old and deserves his chance the rest of this year and maybe next year. He's no Correa though.

The great catch he made against the Athletics in the last series. He made two against Toronto today - not on youtube yet though.

Bye bye Veras

The Detroit Tigers have acquired Houston Astros closer Jose Veras for outfield prospect Danry Vasquez and a player to be named later.

Do you know anything about the outfield prospect the Astros landed? A player to be named later is interesting. I'm glad to see him going to the Tigers. He'll at least get some save opportunities. We simply can't score runs right now.

Inb4 Bud Norris is traded.

He was playing with the West Michigan Whitecaps. Looks to have improved his batting average this year compared to last year.
Not sure I'm really too impressed with his lack of power numbers. He must be a great defensive player or something.



The Astros probably have plans to start him at Double-A and eventually Triple-A (in a year or two), once their better prospects are called up. We have quite a few outfielders in the minor leagues that are better than him. George Springer is putting up superstar numbers at Triple-A, close to the big leagues any day now, and Domingo Santana is playing well at Double-A.

19-year-old Ariel Ovando has been struggling at lower-A ball so maybe this is insurance for Ovando not panning out yet.

I agree with his celebrity crush "Shakira" at 3:51

He's not closing. Setup man.

Wow. Not sure he'll be good in that role. He's a closer in my eyes. But best of luck to him in Detroit.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2013/07/31/report-norris-traded-to-the-orioles/

Norris traded to the Orioles for two prospects, draft pick

The Astros will receive outfielder LJ Hoes, minor league lefthander Josh Hader and the Orioles’ compensation pick in the 2014 draft in exchange for Norris, whom the Orioles considered among the top four-five pitchers on the trade market.

Hoes was scheduled to get his second major league start in Wednesday’s game vs. the Astros. He hit .304 for Norfolk of the International League this season.

Hader, 19, has made 17 starts in Class A this season. The lefthander is 3-6 with a 2.65 ERA.



23-year-old left fielder with 4 career MLB at-bats.

I don't know much about pitcher Josh Hader, but I like the fact he's young and a lefty.

That compensation pick could turn into a good player but it's always a crap shoot in the draft.