It’s been a crazy week of plays that have injured players with line drives to the head and others running into the wall. Houston Astros’ closer Jose Valverde took over the National League saves lead after finishing the game against the Philadelphia Phillies Friday night at Minute Maid Park. However, earlier in the inning, Valverde was hit with a line drive off the bat of Pedro Feliz that first hit the tip of his glove before making contact with his face.

Valverde hit the ground immediately and after being attended to by members of the Astros athletic training and coaching staff, he returned to his feet. Amazingly enough, Valverde stayed in the game, and closed out the ninth inning, giving him an NL leading 15th save of the season. The video is below.

On Thursday, the Houston Astros will begin spring training as they prepare for the first pitch of the 2008 baseball season. Pitchers and catchers report on Thursday, while next Tuesday is the date that position players report.

The top two catchers for the Astros in 2008 are expected to be J.R. Towles and Brad Ausmus. Towles joined the Astros at the end of the 2007 campaign and hit .375 in 14 games for Houston. The 38-year-old Ausmus is entering his tenth season as a member of the Astros.

Roy Oswalt headlines the pitchers this season for the Astros. Oswalt has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since he entered the big leagues in 2001. Wandy Rodriguez, Woody Williams and Brandon Backe are expected to join Oswalt in the starting rotation.

The bullpen is led by the newly-acquired Jose Valverde. Valverde, who led all of baseball in saves last season while with the Arizona Diamondbacks, will be the closer in 2008.

The Astros are holding their spring training in Kissimmee, Florida and will play their first spring training games on Feb. 28 against the Cleveland Indians.

After a self-imposed deadline past for the Houston Astros on Wednesday night, general manager Ed Wade announced that the team will proceed to salary arbitration with Jose Valverde and Mark Loretta.

Said Wade: “That’s why we felt it was appropriate to let the agents know up front. The right way to handle this was to create a deadline. In order for us to be men of our words, we will stick by the deadline.”

Valverde was acquired in the offseason and is expected to be the closer for the Astros in 2008. Last year for the Arizona Diamondback, Valverde had 47 saves and an ERA of 2.66. Loretta will enter his second season with the Astros this year. Last season, the infielder hit .287 with four homeruns and 41 RBIs.

The arbitration hearing will take place on Feb. 1 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Avoiding arbitration, the Houston Astros signed relief pitcher Dave Borkowski to a one-year contract on Tuesday. The right-handed Borkowski will give the Astros more quality depth in their bullpen.

The 30-year-old from Detroit, Michigan will enter his third season with the Astros in 2008. During the 2007 campaign, Borkowski had five wins, three losses and a save while posting a 5.15 ERA. In 2006, he had three wins, two losses and a 4.69 ERA.

The Astros still have two arbitration-eligible players in pitcher Jose Valverde and infielder Mark Loretta.

Hunter mentioned in his blog post about the new players that were acquired by the Houston Astros this offseason. In case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest news, here’s a rundown of the Astros’ offseason acquisitions.

Coming off of a disappointing 73-89 campaign in 2007, the Astros and new general manager Ed Wade decided to shake things up. While the legendary Craig Biggio decided to hang up his cleats following the 2007 season, many other players were brought on board to hopefully get Houston back to the playoffs.

Miguel Tejada
Tejada is a slugging shortstop who won the AL MVP in 2002. Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles, Tejada is a player who will play everyday and provide the Astros with some power in the middle of their lineup.

Jose Valverde
With the Arizona Diamondbacks, Valverde led the major leagues in saves last season with 47. The Astros acquired him to serve as the team’s new closer. Valverde, who was an All-Star in 2007, will be a huge upgrade for the Astros in 2008.

Kazuo Matsui
The Astros wanted to add some speed to their lineup. To do so, Matsui was brought in to play second base. Matsui had a breakout season last year for the Colorado Rockies and signed with the Astros as a free agent.

Michael Bourn
Another speedster, Bourn was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies and is slated to become the team’s centerfielder in 2008. The 25-year-old Bourn doesn’t have much big league experience but has already shown the ability to steal bases.