GAME 97 - July 19: Second Half Fun Continues...

Houston 4, Chicago 1

Quote of the Day: "Shortstop Miguel Tejada believes the key to the Astros' success during the second half of the season isn't about what he and his fellow sluggers are able to do with the bats.The key, Tejada says, is what happens on the pitcher's mound..." (Brian McTaggert, Houston Chronicle, July 20, 2008)

Well, duh.

The dominating performance of the Astros' often-maligned rotation continued for a fourth game, as Wandy turned in a beauty. I promised at the All Star break that if he gets 10 wins in the remainder of the season, I'd start calling Wandy by his last name and now he just has 9 to go. He gave up only a single run in his 6 2/3 innings - a homer to his opposing pitcher Zambrano, whose .351 batting average exceeds Backe's. Wandy wasn't lights out - he gave up 9 hits - but the hits were scattered around and the Cubs never really got any serious momentum going against him. He continues to rack up strikeouts - another 7 in this game - and did not walk anyone.

The bullpen was lights out, though. Sampson struck out his single batter on 4 pitches, and Brocail had a 1-2-3 eighth. Valverde came into the ninth with a 3-run lead, but this time he skipped the drama and just went for the save. He struck out the first two batters, then gave up a sharp liner that Tejada just speared to end the game. It was Valverde's 25th save, tied for first place in the NL. (Interesting small-world tidbit: The #4 and 5 closers, measured in numbers of saves, are two ex-Astros - Wagner (23) and Lidge (21).) Astros pitchers have only given up 2 runs in the last 3 games.

Wandy got some offensive help, but not enough to have bailed him out of a mess. The Astros scored their first run in the second inning when Lee led off with a walk, got to third on Tejada's single, and scored on Pence's RBI grounder. Wandy himself got the ball rolling in the third inning with a lead-off single - only his 3rd hit of the season. Matsui's ground ball moved Wandy to second, but Erstad whiffed for the second out. Berkman walked, setting up for back-to-back singles from Lee and Tejada to score two more runs. That 3-0 lead held until the seventh inning, when Zambrano got his solo home run. The Astros added on one more in the bottom on the inning as Newhan got a pinch-hit triple, and scored on Erstads' RBI ground out. It wasn't the big bashing offense that the Astros will probably need to do something spectacular in the second half, but it was twice as many runs as they scored Friday night - and more importantly, 3 more runs than the Cubs had. Tejada was 2 for 4, continuing his return from the doldrums. I think that the Astros' success over the next couple of months will be proportional to the amount of hand clapping from Tejada and fist pumping from Valverde.

Four wins in a row. Five games under .500. And counting...