That he might be hurt again, or that he might not be?

There was nothing for the medical staff to announce after Sheets was hammered for seven earned runs on nine hits in 2 1/3 innings of an eventual 8-5 Brewers loss to the Astros at Miller Park.

On one hand, that was great news. Sheets missed the final five weeks of last season and the first two weeks of 2006 with muscle injuries behind his right shoulder, and he is key to the team's resurgence this season.

But on the other hand, if the problem was not physical, what the heck happened?

"It's my fourth start after a short spring," said Sheets (1-3), who strained a back muscle March 9 near the one he tore last August. "You've seen my spring numbers before, it's not like I exactly dominate in spring.

"I don't know what the alarm would be. If I'm here in June like this, then knock me upside the head."

The 12,664 fans in attendance Tuesday were not used to watching Sheets get knocked around like this. He struck out 19 batters over his last two starts but on Tuesday his fastball topped out better than 89-91 mph range only a handful of times in the first two innings, when Sheets used a sinking two-seam fastball extensively because he couldn't command his four-seamer.

The 2 1/3-inning stint matched the shortest non-injury-related outing of Sheets' career -- he also pitched 2 1/3 innings on April 17, 2002 against the Pirates. Sheets' briefest career start was Aug. 19, 2003 against the Phillies, when he left after one inning with a rotator cuff injury.

"It was just an off night," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "I can't explain why pitchers have off nights. Doug Davis had one. They just happen. Starting pitchers aren't going to be great every time they go out. ... As long as he feels fine, there's no worries."

Yost and Sheets both went to great lengths to be clear that the right-hander feels fine.

One theory: That Sheets is experiencing a bit of "dead arm," something some pitchers experience at the end of Spring Training.

"I don't know if I believe in dead arm," Sheets said. "But people swear by it. ... I definitely don't feel like I had the zip like I've been having, to throw the ball through a wall. But the first start in New York [on April 16] I didn't have it, either.

"Does it mean anything? No. Does it mean I can come back in five days and have it? Yeah. Why not?"

Bill Hall made his first career start in center field and homered for the fourth straight game, and J.J. Hardy and Damian Miller also homered for the Brewers against rookie Houston starter Fernando Nieve (1-0), who worked seven innings for his first Major League win.

The Brewers actually rallied to bring the potential tying run to the plate in the eighth inning, but Hall struck out looking. Brad Lidge pitched the ninth for Houston and earned his ninth save.

"We've been swinging the bats so well, nobody ever felt we were out of the ballgame, and I don't think [the Astros] thought we were out of the ballgame over there," Yost said. "We had enough time to battle back."

Entering Tuesday's game, the Brewers had won six of their last seven games.

The first inning gave little indication of what was to come for Sheets. Craig Biggio led off the game and yanked a double down the third base line, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Lance Berkman's sacrifice fly to right fielder Geoff Jenkins, who nearly threw out Biggio at home plate.

"That was my best inning, the first one," said Sheets, who had no indications during his warm-up that it was going to be a bad night. "Maybe I should have stayed creaky."

But in the second inning, it was clearly not the same Sheets. The first five batters he faced hit safely including Adam Everett, who pounded a ground-rule double to straightaway center field for two of his four RBIs, and the opposing pitcher, Nieve, who hit a hanging curveball for an RBI single.

The Astros scored five runs in that inning and added two more in the third, when Sheets surrendered three more singles and was finally replaced with reliever Ben Hendrickson after throwing 60 pitches.

"He's picked us up more times than he's given it up," Hall said of Sheets. "He's a great pitcher, and he's proven that through the years. Everybody has their bad days; unfortunately that was a bad one for him."

Hendrickson was sharp in his season debut for the Brewers, limiting Houston to an unearned run on five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

"He gave us an opportunity to claw back into the game," Yost said. "I was very impressed with Hendrickson."