Squeaking Into .500 With a 5-0 Win

This one didn't feel much like the score. Just as an ugly 13-2 blowout is equal to a 3-2 barn-burner, a not-so-great 5-0 shutout is exactly the same as an extra-inning walk off win, when it comes to the record. What does matter? Your Houston Astros are even after 88 games, tied with the Cubs for 3rd place and just three-and-a-half games out of first place.

With half as many hits as the Nationals had today (11-yes, 11 hits and they still were shut out), the 'Stros somehow managed to win one that they probably didn't deserve. Moehler was as crafty as could be. Despite not having given up a run, it was a good move to pull him when Cooper did. Alberto Arias continues to be the 2009 version of Octavio Dotel (as a set-up man), and Jose Valverde was solid.

There's not a whole lot to say about the offense today. Aside from Matsui's three run bomb (if you can even call it that), the Astros offense was stagnant all day. Kaz's home run shows the value of a veteran presence; he knew to guess fastball, and was able to catch the rookie pitcher, Zimmerman, in a mistake. This website is by no means the Kaz Matsui fan club, but I will give the man credit for coming through with a huge knock. However, the other two runs that came across the plate came after mental mistakes by the Nationals. Had Michael Bourn not come across in the first, we might have seen a five-nothing game with the road team as the winners.

Ugly or not, as an Astros fan, you have to be happy with where the team is at this point. Multiple real tests from contending teams come immediately after the break, but this is as about as good of a situation as you can expect, with 74 games left in the season. Over the next four weeks of the season (12 at home and 11 on the road), the 'Stros have series against nothing but contending teams. We'll know by early August whether this team has a real shot at a playoff birth.

Since neither The Houston Chronicle nor Astros.com seem to want to do a full player-by-player first half analysis, look for that in the next day or so on the site. Be ready for that soon.