Tampa Bay @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( May 21, 2010 ) Tampa Bay 1, Houston 2
Frustration is mounting in Houston and many of the Astros are hoping to jump ship.
A week after Lance Berkman waived his no-trade clause and hinted he was ready to leave the organization, starting pitcher Roy Oswalt asked to be traded on Friday.
His wishes, however, were met with disdain by the Astros' front office.
Houston, which is buried in last place in the NL Central with the worst record in the league, hosts the Tampa Bay Rays in the second of a three-game interleague series at Minute Maid Park on Saturday night. The Astros won the series opener, 2-1, on Friday.
Oswalt has been frustrated by a lack of run support in all of his starts. Houston has scored just 18 runs in the Houston ace's nine appearances. Despite pitching well all season long, Oswalt is just 2-6 on the season with a 2.66 ERA. Houston is averaging just two runs a game in his starts, the lowest run support in the league.
Houston general manager Ed Wade addressed the Oswalt situation on Friday. Wade said the request was duly noted but had no plans about doing anything about it. Oswalt also has a no-trade clause, but Wade added that it wasn't a "trade me" clause. He said that Oswalt could hold his breath until he turns blue in the face and it wouldn't matter.
Should the Astros trade Oswalt, they will surely be looking for plenty of talent in return. Oswalt is 32 years old and is a two-time 20-game winner.
The Astros got another solid starting performance in Friday's series opener, again they didn't score much but this time they got the win. Brett Myers allowed an unearned run in the first inning and shut the hot-hitting Rays down the rest of the way.
Jeff Keppinger had an RBI single and scored the other run for the Astros, who won for just the second time in eight games.
Keppinger was anointed the team's second baseman earlier in the week when the Astros released Kaz Matsui. Keppinger had two hits on the night raising his average to .281.
Michael Bourn leads the team with a .291 average. The Astros are last in the majors in hitting, batting .228 as a team entering Friday's game.
Tampa Bay saw its six-game winning streak come to an end Friday. Matt Garza went the distance in the loss and the Rays scored just once following a double by Ben Zobrist in the first inning. Carl Crawford scored on the play with help from an error by right fielder Hunter Pence.
Zobrist had three hits in the game and raised his average to .301. He's hit in nine of his last 10 games raising his average 34 points in the process. On Thursday, he hit his first home run of the season.