Chris Carter launched a solo homer in Monday's win over the Angels. The fifth-inning blast put the Astros on the board in the fifth, and a sac fly in the sixth put them ahead for good. Carter has been terribly inconsistent this season and is piling up the strikeouts by the truckload, but he's in the midst of a hot streak with three bombs in his last five games.

Chris Carter hit his 11th homer to plate the Astros' only two runs in Saturday's win over the Angels. After going 2 1/2 weeks without a homer, Carter has two in the last three days. He's still hitting just .223 for the season, but as the Astros' biggest power threat, he figures to remain a lineup fixture.

Chris Carter went hitless in a third straight game Tuesday, leaving him with a .214/.296/.399 line in 173 at-bats this season. Carter hasn't gone deep since hitting his ninth homer on May 12, and he just doesn't have a lot to offer when he's not hitting bombs. The Astros need to go ahead and give him 500 at-bats in order to figure out whether he should be in their plans for 2014, but right now, he looks more like a platoon player than anything else.

Chris Carter went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts and an RBI in Sunday's loss to the A's. In 49 games, Carter has struck out an astounding 74 times. Whiffing was expected to come with prestigious power, however, and that isn't panning out at the moment. Carter has just three homers this month, none since May 12. He's out of options and Houston isn't going anywhere, so Carter's at-bats are safe, but his fantasy relevance today doesn't extend past AL-only formats.

Chris Carter is expected to see more playing time at first base and in the designated hitter spot moving forward. He played mostly left field early on, but that didn't work out very well. Carter has six homers this season but has been very streaky, batting just .207/.282/.405 overall. He'll remain an everyday player.

Chris Carter is not in the Astros' lineup Sunday. It's just a day of rest. Carter has five homers and 12 RBI this season, but he's been very streaky, batting .216/.300/.432 with 43 strikeouts in 88 at-bats. He struck out four times in Saturday's contest.

Chris Carter went 4-for-6 with a pair of homers Tuesday in the Astros' 16-9 win over the Mariners. Eight homers were hit in the game, the third highest total in Safeco history. Of course, this was just the second game in the reconfigured park after the walls were brought in over the winter. Carter enjoyed himself, hitting his first two homers of the season. He figured to be good for 20-25 more over the course of the year.

Chris Carter went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Wednesday to finish hitless in the series against the Rangers. Along with the three whiffs at the plate, Carter also had one in left field for his first error. In three games, he's struck out seven times in 11 at-bats. But the Astros knew Carter was going to strike out a lot. They figure it's worth the price for the 25 or so homers he's likely to hit.

Chris Carter homered twice off Brandon Morrow to lead the Astros to an 11-2 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday. Whether all of Carter's strikeouts will prevent him from posting solid averages and OBPs is still an open question, but his power certainly isn't. He's a pretty good bet to reach 25 homers, with a chance of topping 30, as the Astros' starting left fielder.

Chris Carter hit a two-run homer off Jason Motte as the Astros and Cardinals played to an 8-8 tie Friday. Carter started in left field again today, and it seems that will be his position come Opening Day. It doesn't make much sense to us; Carter isn't going to last in the outfield for the long haul and he's a bigger part of the Astros' future than either Brett Wallace or Carlos Pena. Still, it will give Houston's lineup a little more depth for the short term.