The Houston Astros, whose hotness I wrote about in the posting immediately below, have now gone cold. In two games against the Cubs, the Astros were no-hit last night by Carlos Zambrano and then were held without a hit for six innings today by Ted Lilly. To provide some historical perspective, MLB.com reported several items of no-hitter trivia. The following appears most applicable to the Astros' latest futility:

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time a team pitched or succumbed to a streak of 15 consecutive no-hit innings was June 2-3, 1995, when the Expos held the Padres without a hit for that span. On Sept. 25-27, 1981, the Astros held the Dodgers without a hit for 16 consecutive innings.