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Pirates look to extend streak vs. reeling Astros

Apr 14, 2009 - 10:11 PM By Dan Pieringer Stats Writer

Houston (1-6) at Pittsburgh (4-3), 7:05 p.m. EDT

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates feel this could be the year they finally snap their streak of sub-.500 finishes. There's no such optimism in the Houston Astros clubhouse.

The Pirates look to build on another strong outing and notch their first back-to-back wins of the young season Wednesday night when they continue a three-game home series against the NL Central rival Astros, who have dropped five straight while continuing to struggle at the plate.

Pittsburgh has finished with a losing record in 16 straight seasons, matching a major league record set by the 1933-48 Philadelphia Phillies. This year's Pirates (4-3) feel like they're capable of snapping the streak.

"It's definitely a different feeling in here," first baseman Adam LaRoche said after going 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in a 7-0 win over the Astros (1-6) in the Pirates' home opener Monday. "It's like (manager John Russell) said, what you need to do as a team is put yourself in position to win, and that's what we've been doing."

The Pirates, whose last winning season was 1992, know it'll take more than one good week of solid baseball to end the franchise's struggles over the last decade and a half. They're averaging 7.5 runs and batting .353 in their four wins but have been held to 1.3 runs per game and a .100 average in their three losses.

"This gets them fired up at the beginning of the baseball season and gives them some new hope, but it's going to take some consistency and going out and doing it for a month or two," LaRoche told the Pirates' official Web site. "But no one is satisfied yet. Nobody thinks that this is a fluke and that we can't keep it going again."

The Astros hope their lack of success so far is a fluke. Monday's loss was the second consecutive time they've been shut out, and they've scored in only one of their last 28 innings, getting two runs in the ninth of an 11-2 loss in St. Louis on Saturday.

Houston is near the bottom of the majors with a .234 batting average and a 6.45 ERA.

"It's us. It's not what they're doing," manager Cecil Cooper said, referring to opposing pitchers. "It's what we're doing to ourselves. We're getting ourselves out, we're not putting ourselves in good situations and not swinging at good pitches."

Cooper says he's not sure how to fix the problem.

"Same song," he told the team's official Web site. "We can't seem to get any hits. We can't seem to generate anything. I don't really have an answer right now."

Cooper hopes part of the solution will be handing the ball to Mike Hampton (0-1, 5.40 ERA), who gave up three runs in five innings of a 5-3 loss at St. Louis on Friday. That was Hampton's first start with the Astros since he went 22-4 with a 2.90 ERA and finished second in the NL Cy Young voting in 1999. He spent the last four seasons with Atlanta before signing with Houston over the winter.

"I felt good out there," the injury-plagued left-hander said after his season debut.

Hampton is 10-3 with a 2.71 ERA in 22 games - 16 starts - against the Pirates, whom he hasn't faced since 2003.

Pittsburgh will counter with Ross Ohlendorf (0-1, 3.00), a right-hander who's 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in four games - two starts - against Houston.

Ohlendorf held St. Louis to two runs in six innings in his 2009 debut, but he didn't get much help from his offense in suffering a 2-1 loss Thursday.