GAMES 105-107 - July 28-30: Seeing Red Against the Reds

July 28: Houston 5, Cincinnati 4
July 29: Houston 6, Cincinnati 2
July 30: Cincinnati 9, Houston 5

Quote of the Day: "Woo Hoo!" (Email from Robert C., colleague from Cincinnati, after Dunn"s grand slam)

My friend Robert-the-Reds-Fan's gleeful email arrived in the third inning, when Roy Oswalt's much anticipated return from the DL took an ominous turn - he gave up a grand slam to Adam Dunn. His joy didn't last long, however, as the Astros went on to win the game, and then the series.

I was hopeful but tentative about Roy O's start on Monday. In his last game, here in Washington, he had only made it through one inning before being pulled due to his ongoing injury - and the Astros went on to lose 10-0. Fans and sportswriters have wondered all season if Oswalt's uncharacteristic performance was due to injury. He got through the first inning quickly, but the second inning got off to a challenging start with a leadoff double, followed by a single. With runners on first and third with no outs, Oswalt reverted to classic form: He struck out the next three batters. He struck out the first batter of the third inning, then gave up an infield single. The next batter lined out. With 2 down and a runner on first, Oswalt seemed to have ducked trouble again. But a single and a walk loaded up the bases for Adam Dunn's blast to center - a two-out grand slam.

This set back needs to be put in context though: The Astros kicked off the game with an offensive blast: Matsui hit a leadoff double, then scored on Tejada's single. Berkman walked, moving Tejada up. Lee's single scored Miggy and put Berkman on third. Blum hit a sac fly to score Berkman, giving the Astros 3 runs by the time they made their first out. So Roy O had a little cushion to work with. That lead evaporated with Dunn's granny, but the Astros redeemed Oswalt in the bottom of the third, retaking the lead on Blum's two-run homer, his third home run in two games.

Oswalt pitched uneventful innings in the fourth and fifth, maintaining the 5-4 lead. But Cooper didn't want to overdo it and pulled him out after 5. Oswalt had thrown 74 pitches, 54 of them for strikes, giving up those 4 runs on the grand slam, 7 hits, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts. He had no good reason to expect his one-run lead to hold for 4 more innings. But the bullpen backed him up in a huge way: Byrdak in the sixth, Geary and Wright sharing the seventh and eighth, and Valverde to top it off. They combined for a total of one infield hit, no walks, and most importantly, no runs. That line was critical, as the Astros failed to add any insurance to that tiny lead. Roy O is back, with a win to even his season record at a very odd 8-8. I got to "Q
Woohoo" back to my Reds-fan friend in the end.

Tuesday Brian Moehler came that close to pitching a complete game, redeeming himself after his horrible start against the Pirates. This time he threw a beautiful game for 8 2/3 innings, giving up only 2 runs on 7 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. But with 2 outs and 2 on in the ninth inning, leading 6-2, Cooper brought in his lefty Wright to take out the last Red with a strikeout. (The crowd booed Coop, and gave Moehler a standing O.) With a four-run lead, Wright didn't realize that the runners on base made it a save situation. He did not know until someone told him after the game that he had just earned his first save.

This time it was the Astros' turn for a "Woo hoo!" Carlos Lee hit his granny in the fifth inning, stinging high-kicking Bronson Arroyo for his first loss in the past six starts. Pence's RBI triple in the second plated the Astros' first run, and Tejada added a second run with a solo homer in the third inning.

I'm procrastinating talking about the last game, since it didn't turn out to be quite as much fun, with a note about Wesley Wright. You gotta love this kid, our Rule 5 bargain. Ignore his 4.5ish ERA - with a situational lefty, who pitches to a batter here and a batter there, one or two bad outings can really skew an ERA. But his ability to throw strikes and strike out batters, with no apparent emotion at all, makes him worth a look as a future closer. He just seems to have a complete lack of nerves when he's on the mound.

Okay, enough delay. The Astros lost the pitching match between Wandy and the Reds' All Star, Edinson Volquez. Wandy did not advance his cause towards graduating to last-name status. He didn't even make it out of the fifth inning. The Reds hit him up for a Dunn solo homer and RBI double in the second inning, and then a Griffey 3-run home run and another Dunn solo job in the sixth. Paronto came in to relieve him, and immediately gave up another home run, followed by a single. Cooper yanked him right away, and Brydak came in for a strikeout to end the pain.

Meanwhile, the Astros still hadn't managed to put a run on the board. Facing a 7-0 deficit, Pence led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run, but his teammates couldn't keep it going. Sampson pitched the sixth and seventh, giving up another run. After God Bless America, the Astros finally got a rally going, thanks to some poor fielding by the Reds. After Blum's ground out to start the seventh inning, Pence doubled, then moved up to third on a fielding error by the Reds shortstop handing Erstad's grounder. On the very next play, the same guy makes another fielding error on Quintero's ground ball, scoring Pence. Wiggington then came in to pinch hit for Sampson, and was right on the money - a three-run homer. With the Reds lead cut to a much more reachable 8-5, Matsui kept the good times going with a double, but Tejada and Berkman failed to get him past third base.

Lefty Wright pitched a scoreless eighth, but Brocail got stuck with another run in the ninth on a bunch of little stuff: The leadoff batter singled, stole second, advanced to third base on a long fly ball, and scored on another infield single. But it didn't matter, since the Astros didn't manage to score again. Final damage, Red 9, Astros 5.

Still, two wins out of three games is a series, and worth a Woo Hoo or two.

In other news... Bourn is still out with a strained ankle. With the trade deadline looming, the Astros traded minor leaguer Matt Cusick to the Yankees for LaTroy Hawkins, and designated Paronto for assignment to make room on the roster for him. Wade had been looking for another inning eater for the bullpen. By the numbers, it doesn't look like the Astros are getting a huge improvement - for the Yankees this year, Hawkins has a 1-1 record and a 5.71 ERA, but he has improved steadily from a bad April.

Next up, the hated Mets.