It was a tough first half of the season for the Houston Astros. With the worst record in baseball at the All-Star break, the Astros couldn’t seem to catch a break.

Save for Hunter Pence, who leads the team in the major offensive categories, the Astros have had little to hang their hats and hopes on this season. The team’s lone All-Star boasts a .323 average, has hit 11 home runs and has driven in 60 runs, but the rest of the team has done little to support Pence’s impressive numbers.

At the All-Star break, Houston owned a 30-63 record and sat 19 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. The perennial bottom-feeders of the NL Central have finally righted the ship and are now in contention for the NL Central Division.

It is extremely difficult to find more than a couple of Astros who haven’t been a major disappointment this year. Enter Carlos Lee. The hefty Panamanian has done little to impress in a home ballpark that caters to his heavy pull hitting. With the short porch in left field only 315 feet away, Lee has only been able to hit seven home runs thus far — hardly acceptable from someone who is supposed to provide major power and is paid accordingly. Coupled with his lack of mobility both on the bases and on the field, Lee has proved to be a major hindrance for the Astros and this doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.

Michael Bourn may not be having as bad a year as Lee, but his numbers are far from what he is capable of. The Houston native has stolen 35 bases, which is tops in the majors, but his strikeout numbers remain too high for a leadoff hitter. With a .287 average and 60 runs scored, Bourn does sit among the team leaders in those categories. However, a lack of dependable run production from the rest of the team is what has hurt the Astros thus far.

Offensive production has been minimal, as has the pitching. The Astros’ team ERA of 4.66 is next to last in the majors, and the team only has ten saves this season. The five starting pitchers share only 17 wins and the talented J.A. Happ owns a 3-11 record. Once again, it is tough to find any positives when the lowest ERA of a starting pitcher is 3.46, which belongs to Bud Norris. Norris does have 113 strikeouts as well, but his 5-6 record is far from perfect.

Lastly, Houston’s 69 errors and .980 team fielding percentage ranks 27th out of 30 teams in the majors. Just like the many balls that have gotten by the Astros to cause all those errors, this season has seemed to slip away as well.

The Astros are in quite the hole in the NL Central, but as they have proved before in the second half of the season, no lead is safe in the division. In order to mount another comeback, they’ll need help from the entire club.

Printed on 07/18/2011 as: Lack of run production, pitching cripples Astros