GAME 111: Win a Few, Lose a Few... Isn't this FUN?

GAME 111 - August 9: Astros 10, Braves 4

Seven games up. Four games down. One up... The Astros are on a roller coaster these days as their mostly-young team fields different lineups, rotations, and bullpens in what is essentially a really extended Spring Training. The games might count, and the road trips are longer, but with the outcome not really in doubt, they are free to try out various configurations in preparation for fielding what we all hope will be a much better team next year. Why wait till March?

A day after our baby-faced starter wannabe got clobbered, Wesley Wright found himself on his way back to Round Rock. Wright's a lefty, with good but inconsistent stuff, so I'm guessing he'll be back before long. In his place, the Astros brought up their new acquisition in the Berkman trade, Mark Melancon (apparently pronounced "Melanson") to join the bullpen. Now Nelson Figueroa, picked up last month from the Phillies off waivers, will get his chance to try out for the rotation with a start planned for the weekend. 

Meanwhile, we're getting lots of looks at our youngsters, with CJ, Sanchez, and Wallace playing daily, and Castro alternating with Q behind the plate. The exciting thing is the way that they have helped to redefine our anemic offense. Where a few months ago, the BAs for our line up seemed to average somewhere in the embarrassingly low .200s, they've moved up into much more respectable territory. CJ leads the pack batting over .350, newbie Wallace is at .333 (admittedly a very small sample), Kepp's in the .290s, Sanchez close to that, Pence around .275. Even Carlos Lee eked his batting average up over .250! Since the All Star Break, the team's BA has jumped about 10 points -- considering that it's late in the season, and it takes a lot to impact the stats, that's a huge improvement. How big an improvement? Well, here's a fun stat: In the last 7 days, the Astros have the highest team batting average in the league -- a quite respectable .329. They've led the league in runs scored -- 45 to the next highest Reds at 36. And all that with only 1 (ONE!) home run. This is a very scrappy lineup. Unfortunately, during that same time period, our pitchers have notched a league-worst ERA of 6.62, accounting for that ugly stretch of losses. Win a few, lose a few... 

Overall, watching the Astros has become a lot more interesting since they shuffled the deck and threw out some of the money cards. When the post-season's not a consideration, the wins are fun, and the losses are... oh well, who cares? Last night's game is a good example. The Astros had some fun at the plate, taking advantage of really bad fielding by the Braves (3 errors), and came up with a big win. The game was mucking along with so-so starts by two rookies. Bud Lite started for the Astros and Mike Minor made his big league debut for the Braves. Each lasted through 6 innings, each gave up 4 runs on some hits, a walk or two, striking out a few batters. Nothing on either side to make banner headlines, but not embarrassing for either of them. At the end of 6 innings, the game was tied 4-4. 

Then the fun began. In an amazing seventh inning, the Astros looked like they were taking batting practice against a little league team, whose fumbles, bumbles, and wild throws allowed Houston to more than bat around. I should have known -- it was Kyle Farnsworth on the mound for the Braves; he'll always be remembered in Houston for what he did to help us win the pennant in the infamous 18 inning game. Coming into the inning with the score tied, Mills started out with small ball. Blum got a pinch-hit single, and Bourgeois came in to run for him. Farnsworth threw 6 pickoff attempts trying to catch the speedy Bourgeois. The last one went astray and Bourgeois went to second. Bourn grounded out, moving Bourgeois to third with one out. Assuming a squeeze was in the works, Farnsworth pitched at, then out, Sanchez, before walking him on 4 pitches. Kepp singled to score Bourgeois, giving the Astros a 5-4 lead. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. Farnsworth then intentionally walked Pence to load the bases, hoping for a double plan to get out of trouble. Pitching change.

Lee was up, bases loaded, one out. This is the new era El Caballo. Instead of hitting into a double play or a booming grand slam, he lobbed a blooper single into right field. (It was Lee's second bloop of the game -- the first turned out to be an RBI double by the time it fell in No Mans Land between three Braves fielders.) Sanchez scored. Bases still loaded, one out, and CJ comes to the plate. On the scorecard, he got credit for a single to left field, but the end result was an inside-the-park homer. Kepp scored. Pence beat the throw to the plate. Catcher McCann throws to third, hoping to catch Lee, but the ball sails to the outfield fence, and everybody comes home. Astros lead 10-4.

Multi-hit game for Bourn, Keppinger, Lee, CJ, Wallace. The bullpen contributed 2 1/3 innings of no-hit pitching to hold down the fort - Byrdak got the win for his 1/3 inning in the seventh. Pence made a terrific outfield assist to spoil a two-out RBI "single" in Minor's first big-league at bat. Lots of fun all around.

Did I mention how awesome it is to see Jeff Bagwell wearing #5 in the dugout? Does anyone think that he has NOTHING to do with all this fun?

Can't wait for tonight's game!