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Coming into 2008, the Astros rotation boiled down to Roy Oswalt, Wandy Rodriguez, and a bunch of stiffs. They actually signed Shawn Chacon to start after he spent all of last year unable to break into the Pirates' rotation. At least Wandy got off to an awesome start this year, steamrolling through a 2.33 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 19 and 1/3 innings with only 2 walks and 16 hits allowed. Last night, however, the Astros pulled him after four innings due to an incredibly sore left groin. From the Houston Chronicle:

Rodriguez said the pain became unbearable when he went to the dugout after the fourth inning. He left with the game tied at 2 and received a no-decision in the Astros' 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.

"I went to (pitching coach) Dewey Robinson and said, 'I can't take the pain anymore,' " Rodriguez said.

Now, the article doesn't specify what exactly happened, but I guess I'll just assume a pulled groin until someone says something different. There's no prognosis either, but phrases like, "I can't take the pain anymore" make me think that Wandy might be missing some substantial time. That would make the Astros rotation go something like Oswalt/Backe/Chacon/Sampson/Question Mark. Actually, not knowing who would take Wandy's place is probably better than actually hearing a name.