GAME 75 - June 21: Ugly Shirt Loss

Tampa Bay 4, Houston 3

Quote of the Day: "No excuses -- I stunk up the place. " (Brocail on his blown save)

I hate it when the Astros wear those ugly Rainbow Retro uniforms. Why would anyone want to see his favorite baseball team dressed to coordinate with Southwest Airlines planes? And it's got to be more embarrassing to lose when you're wearing a clown costume. The Astros were wearing those jerseys when they lost 18-3 against the Rangers on July 4, 2004. This loss wasn't quite as memorably embarrassing, but it was perhaps more painful for a team that really, really needs a break.

In short, they blew it. The Astros had managed to eke out a few runs, just enough for a very precarious lead. After the win on Friday night, they were so close to ensuring a winning series. Leading 3-2, heading into the bottom of the ninth, they just needed three more outs. But Brocail, pitching in the save situation instead of Valverde, couldn't manage even one out. Two singles and a hit batsman loaded the bases, and the third single gave away the game.

After Lee's solo homer in the fourth inning, the Astros really had to work for the other two runs they managed to manufacture. In the seventh inning, they loaded the bases with one out on Lee's single, Blum's double and an intentional pass for Erstad. Loretta walked on a full count to force in the run. But they could not manage to score another run, and stranded a full house. The run that scored in the eighth was totally manufactured: Berkman struck out on three pitches, but the catcher dropped the ball. Berkman took off for first, and ended up on second when the catcher threw wildly. He then stole third, and scored on a fielders choice. For a guy who still gets called Fat Elvis (mostly by opposing teams' TV broadcasters) and who is nursing a sore leg, Berkman has been incredibly active on the base paths this season. The stolen base was his 12th of the year - his previous season high was 9!

Wandy pitched well - he threw 5 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. He did not give up a hit until the fourth inning. Geary came in to relieve him in the sixth, with two outs and the bases loaded; he got the ground ball to end the inning. Geary then pitched two scoreless innings to get the Astros to the ninth with their one-run lead intact.

The Astros old friend Dan Wheeler, now pitching for the Rays, got the win. He's having a great year, with a 1.89 ERA over 33 appearances. Good for Wheels - but sorry that it's at the Astros expense!

The Astros still have a chance to win the series Sunday, with Backe on the mound. After 7 straight series losses, that would be very sweet. Between the Sabbath games and MLB.TV blackouts of the Baltimore series, I haven't seen a live game in a week. I'm not sure that I have the stamina for it!

Something Funny: To end this with a humorous postscript: My cousin Jon from Tampa sent me an email on Sunday, saying that he had been at this game and had enjoyed watching his team's amazing win over my team. He attached a photo he took of one of the players, wearing the horrid Rainbow Retro, with this note:

"We were sitting in the right field bleachers right behind everybody's favorite Astro...Under Pants. I've never seen an outfielder spend so much time turning around and looking up into the stands. We were half expecting him to get hit in the back of the head by a fly ball."

In case you don't recognize the player from the picture or the nickname, it's Hunter Pence. Under Pants? Back in March, when we went to a Spring Training game with Jon and his wife Heather, I was chatting about one of my favorite young Astros players. Jon misheard the player's name - I said "Hunter Pence," but he heard "underpants." He'll always be Under Pants to Jon. Which just goes to show that there are definitely worse nicknames than "Fat Elvis."

Photo courtesy of Jon Rosenfeld.