GAME 96 - July 18: Walk-off Fun and Games

Houston 2, Chicago 1

Quote of the Day: "I just came in here when no one was here and turned on the pitching machine and basically just worked my eye." (Pence, on how he spent his All Star break)

The second half got off to a good start with bottom-of-the-ninth heroics from Hunter Pence, who had spent the All Star Break cozied up with a pitching machine preparing for just such an occasion. His hard work paid off: Pence had 3 hits in this game, culminating in his walk-off RBI double. He may have lost an IQ point or two from the ritual head-bashing performed by his joyful teammates, but it was probably worth it for the good cause.

It's one thing to take a series from the hapless Nats, whose record is even worse than the Astros'; it's another to beat the guys who are leading the division. The recipe for success was the same as the previous two games: Awesome pitching. Moehler held the Cubs to just one run in seven innings, giving up only 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 3. He got off to a very economical start with a 4-pitch first inning. The single run was a solo home run to Jim Edmonds in the fifth inning. Geary came in tidy up with two perfect innings in relief - he now has an even dozen scoreless innings this month.

Ted Lilly (no relation) pitched just about the same, allowing just a single run on 6 hits in his 7 innings - Carlos Lee's seventh-inning solo homer over the railroad tracks, which put his Caballitos fans into orbit. Subsequent singles by Tejada and Pence and a walk to Blum loaded the bases, but Lilly got out of it without allowing the Astros to turn it into a Big Inning.

The pitchers' duel continued with the relievers until the bottom of the ninth, when Bob Howry took the mound. Howry had never given up a run in Minute Maid Park, according to the Astros broadcasters. So he was overdue: Tejada led off with his third hit of the game - a ground-rule double - trotting into second base clapping his hands. Just as the broadcasters wondered whether Pence would be bunting, he took a nice swing at the first pitch, bouncing the ball into center field. Acting on intel that Edmonds' arm wasn't what it once was, Romero waved Tejada around third and on to home to score the winning run. He was mobbed by his teammates, who then swarmed to second base - where Pence ended up - to do the ritual brain bashing thing.

The joyful ending to the game - much more exciting and unexpected than the end of the shutout here in Washington - was a thing of beauty. I witnessed it (several times in a row) on the MLB.tv archive after the Sabbath ended the next night.

Good start, guys! Six more wins to .500, and then we can start paying much more attention to the other guys in the division.