Given the caliber of competition (Dodgers, Padres, Red Sox) the Astros finishing their homestand with five wins and four losses is fine. Now they're on the road for nine starting with spending this weekend in Buffalo playing the Toronto Blue Jays. The birds flew north for the summer after playing their first two months of home games in Florida. As when the Jays were in Houston last month the Astros will not play against George Springer. For his six year 150 million dollar contract, Springer makes about 150 thousand dollars per game whether he plays. Springer has played in four games this season. He remains sidelined recovering from a quad strain.

The Astros have a rich pitching heritage, the best of which I would break down into three eras of guys whose careers overlapped for multiple years. First the J.R. Richard/Joe Niekro/Nolan Ryan era, then Roy Oswalt joined by Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, then most recently Dallas Keuchel into Charlie Morton, Justin Verlander, then Gerrit Cole. In none of those eras did the Astros ever have starting pitchers go seven consecutive games giving up no more than one run. The current Astros' rotation did just that before Jake Odorizzi gave up a three run homer Thursday. I don't know what the Major League record in the category is, but the Astros don't have it since earlier this season the Brewers had an eight game run of starters giving up no more than one run.

Stuff happens over a long baseball season but if the Astros lose the American League West or miss out on a Wild Card by a game or two, they'd probably think back and wonder how in the heck did they get swept in series by the Tigers and Rangers. A.J. Hinch's Tigers are on pace to lose 95 games. The Rangers are worse, pacing for 101 losses. Since taking three straight from the Astros the Rangers have not won a game. 0-9. They have lost 15 consecutive road games.

Quirky: before going 0-4 Thursday Alex Bregman had reached base safely in 20 consecutive games. Over those 20 games his season batting average dropped 17 points.

Stop me if you've heard this before: the Astros have some rulebreakers on their team. No, not lingering residue from 2017/18, but pitchers who illegally put substances on the ball designed to up spin rates. Unlike the trash can scheme which was unique to the Astros in its proven breadth, it's a virtual certainty that every team has pitchers who put stuff on the ball. MLB supposedly is about to get serious in trying to crack down on it. Not a coincidence that this happens while the overall MLB batting average is a sorry .236, which would be the lowest season long mark ever. Strikeouts per game are on course to set a record high for a 16^th consecutive year.

A new-look Rockets broadcast is coming

Changes happen. The Rockets have experienced a lot of them in the last year, most notably going from a good team to woeful. Nothing lasts forever, including broadcasting jobs. It is not damning that the Rockets/AT&T SportsNet are making changes to their broadcast teams beyond Bill Worrell's retirement. Word hit this week that Matt Bullard is out after a decade and a half in the TV analyst's chair. Whatever one's opinion of Bullard as a game analyst, I'd be surprised if you can find anyone with a bad word about "Bull" the guy. A smart, funny, friendly man of integrity. And he loves the NHL playoffs. I said he's smart.

To the deep chagrin of TNT and especially Disney (ESPN/ABC) the Lakers NBA title defense didn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs. It's the first time in 15 career postseason appearances that LeBron James loses a first round series. For the first time in a decade the Western Conference Finals will have neither the Lakers nor the Warriors nor the Spurs (2011 Mavericks-Thunder). Jazz-Suns would be interesting. Nets-Bucks in an Eastern Conference semifinal starting Saturday night is highly interesting. Milwaukee has the personnel best equipped to at least somewhat slow the Brooklyn scoring machine.

Still alive in the postseason: Chris Paul, James Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Clint Capela. Trevor Ariza went out in the first round.

Buzzer Beaters:

1. With regards to baserunning there is sometimes a fine line between aggressive and stupid. Sometimes the line is thick and crystal clear. The Astros too often cross the line to stupid.

2. Still no Deshaun Watson at Texans OTAs? In other news, water is still wet. Go Tyrod Go!

3. Greatest NFL Taylors: Bronze-Charley Silver-Jason Gold-Lawrence