The Houston Astros are getting into a hole at this stage of the competition. They still have an average of over .500 but they need to win a game soon or the team won??t be very motivated. They got sweep by the Giants with out Barry Bonds in Houston.

That wasn??t a good series for the Astros they let slip away important victories at home that would??ve helped them a lot to improve their record. They??re third in the NL Central, just behind St. Louis and Cincinnati.

They need to get back on track because this division is very tough and they need to shorten some distance in the standings and try to go for the first place. They just need to start playing like they did at the beginning of the season and everything will just fall into place once they find their rhythm and the continuity needed.

"This is about as bad a series as I can recall," Houston manager Phil Garner said.

Lineup

1. Craig Biggio, 2nd B. 2.Willy Taveras, CF. 3.Mike Lamb, 1st B. 4.Morgan Ensberg, 3rd B. 5.Preston Wilson, LF. 6.Brad Ausmus, C. 7.Orlando Palmeiro, RF.

The Washington Nationals suffered a tough loss against the Cubs last week. 5-0 was the final score of a game in which the Nationals didn??t had much to do against a very inspired Cubs team that needed desperately to win if they want to improve their record.

The Nationals have lost six of seven games. They hadn't been shut out in consecutive games since St. Louis did it on Aug. 27-28.

"We just can't put anything together as far as offense is concerned," manager Frank Robinson said.

Zach Day (2-4) took the loss giving up three earned runs and eight hits with three walks in four innings.

"We're struggling badly," Jose Vidro said. "It's not just the hitting, it??s just everything, no 'Ws,' no nothing. We're struggling so badly right now that it's not worth watching."

But the Nationals have chance to get back on track this week against the Astros that are not playing very good lately. This will be an interesting series because both teams need to accumulate more victories in order to have a chance of going to the playoffs this year. If you like sports betting do some study on this team and take your pick in this series.

Lineup

1.Alfonso Soriano, LF. 2.Marlon Byrd, CF. 3.Jose Vidro, 2nd B. 4.Nick Johnson, 1st B. 5.Jose Guillen, RF. 6.Ryan Zimmerman, 3rd B. 7.Wiki Gonzalez, C. 8.Damian Jackson, SS. 9.Zach Day, P.