Watching Roy Oswalt pitch makes me think he is hurting somewhere. He has started 14 games this season for the Astros and he is 5-6 with a 5.06 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Oswalt has allowed 104 hits and 17 homers in only 89 innings this season which sends off signals that something just isn’t right with him. Oswalt has never had a season where his ERA has been above 3.49 at the end of the season so this is very odd. Maybe he’ll turn things around soon but I wouldn’t be surprised if something is wrong with him.

The Astros should find a way to just pitch lefty starter Wandy Rodriguez at home. At home, Rodriguez has started 15 games and he is 6-3 with a 2.94 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. On the road however Rodriguez has been horrible. In 14 road starts, Rodriguez is 2-10 with a 7.31 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP. Overall, Rodriguez has started 29 games and he is 8-13 with a 4.83 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. With baseball getting specialized so much the Astros should find a way to limit Rodriguez to starting home games. The Astros are still in last place in the National League Central with a 65-86 record which has them 13.5 games behind the Cubs & Brewers. The more important thing for right now is that the Astros are still 1 game behind the Pirates for fifth place.

Woody Williams and Dan Wheeler have repeatedly let the Astros down this season.  The Astros gave Williams a lot of money in the off season to help replace Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte and he has done a terrible job. Williams is 4-10 this season with a 5.34 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. Don’t look for Williams to get any better in the 2nd half as he is starting to look his age on the mound. Wheeler was handed the closers job after Brad Lidge blew a save early in the season. He started out doing a good job but he has fallen on hard times lately. Wheeler is 1-4 with 11 saves, a 5.70 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP this season. It appears as if Wheeler can’t handle the pressure of the closers job as he has allowed 8 homers in only 42.2 innings. The crazy thing about Wheeler is that the stuff is there as evidenced by his 51 strikeouts this season.

Woody Williams is finding that Minute Maid Ballpark isn’t as forgiving as Petco Park. In 10 starts, Williams is 1-6 with a 5.52 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP so far. In 58.2 innings, he has allowed 71 hits, 12 homers, has walked 19 batters and whiffed 24 of them. Look for Williams to continue to have a hard time as he seems to have lost it.

Trever Miller has been pathetic so far this season for the Astros. In 14 games, Miller is 0-0 with a 7.04 ERA and a 2.61 WHIP this season! Miller has only pitched 7.2 innings this season and he has allowed 12 hits and walked 8 batters. He has whiffed 8 batters also so it’s likely that he would improve by just throwing strikes and the Astros are depending on him as their lefty specialist.