May 8: Astros 2, Padres 0
May 9: Astros 5, Padres 4
May 10: Astros 12, Padres 5
It's hard to pick the best thing about this weekend's series with the San Diego Padres. Was it the sweep - the first 3-game sweep of the season? Was it the Wizard finally getting his first win of the year? Was it the season high 12 runs in the Mother's Day win? Or maybe Wandy's eight innings of shutout pitching on Friday night?
I think I'll go with the last one. I've been predicting Wandy's Big Year all season, and so far he's been coming through in a big way. Game 1 on Friday night was his best start yet: 8 scoreless innings, just 5 hits, no walks, and 7 strikeouts. It was not at all apparent in the first inning that Wandy was going to have such a great game: With one out he had runners on second and third, and the heart of the lineup coming to bat. A groundball to third - two down. Then Chase Headley hit a long fly ball to center. It looked like extra bases for sure until Bourn snagged it in an amazing over-the-shoulder catch that left him lying on Tal's Hill - with the ball still in his glove. The pattern recurred in the second inning: Runners on second and third with one down. And again Wandy pitched his way out of trouble. After that, however, he did not allow a single base runner until there were two outs in the seventh, retiring 16 batters in a row. He then came back to throw a perfect eighth. The eight scoreless innings pushed Wandy's ERA down to 1.80, third lowest in the NL.
It was slim pickins for the Astros Friday night - their only runs scored on Pence's two-out 2-run single. The Astros only managed to get 5 hits in the game, and 4 belonged to Pence and Lee. Hawkins pitched a perfect ninth for the save. I watched this game late Saturday night after the Sabbath.
Game 2 of the series, on Saturday evening, was even closer. I tuned in after the Sabbath ended, just in time to see the Astros lose a 3-1 lead. Moehler had a good start, throwing 7 innings, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 6. But as soon as he came out in the eighth, Geary, Arias, Wright, and Hawkins combined efforts to give up 3 more runs, putting the Astros behind 4-3. Too bad for Moehler; excellent start but no decision.
Happily the Astros came back in the bottom of the eighth. Bourn and Pence both walked to lead off the inning. Lee singled to score Bourn, tying the game, moving Pence to third. Tejada grounded to the pitcher. In a crazy and lucky move, Pence took off for home and scored what turned out to be the winning run. With the Astros now ahead 5-4, Hawkins came in to close in the ninth. He gave up a double to ex-Astro Chris Burke, but then retired the side, no harm done.
In Game 3, Roy Oswalt didn't pitch as well as either Wandy or Moehler - in 6 innings he gave up 4 runs - all scored on home runs. The game didn't do anything good for his ERA, but it made a big improvement in his win record: it was his first win of the season. It would have been hard for Oswalt NOT to have won this game, as his teammates went on a rare all-out hitting spree. They scored a season record 12 runs on 16 hits. Special kudos go to El Caballo who hit 3 for 4, including a homer, with 4 RBIs and 2 runs. Tejada was 3 for 5, with 4 RBIs, scoring twice. Pudge went 4 for 4, with a triple and a homer.
Meanwhile, Berkman was 0 for 0 - he didn't play. He's recovering from a sore left writst, a minor injury received on a checked swing on Thursday night. He's day to day. In worse news, Brocail's injury is worse than initially expected - he may not be back until after the All Star Break, or even later.
Oh well, let's think good thoughts, and cheer for the Astros to keep up the winning streak as they head out to Colorado.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
GAMES 28-29: I Don't Want to Talk About It
May 6: Cubs 6, Astros 3
May 7: Cubs 8, Astros 5
Another rotten two game series. At least Minute Maid Park has a retractable roof. After being soaked in Atlanta and then in Washington, who knows what unmentionable molds and mildews the Astros were suffering from? I bet they were glad to be back home - at least until they were swept in the opening two-gae series. (Who made up the schedule this year? Is there anything more annoying than a bunch of two game series?)
Game 1 got off to a terrible start. Hampton gave up two singles and a walk, interspersed with a pair of fly-ball outs, to load the bases with two down. The next batter hit a looooonnnng fly to center. Bourn went after it, and laid out for the catch - but missed. It was a base clearing triple. Pudge allowed Hampton's next pitch to get away from him, allowing the runner to score to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Hampton settled in after that, and pitched scoreless innings through the fifth. In the top of the sixth, however, another Cubs runner scored on a second passed ball, and that was it for Hampton's night. Although he only had 5 1/3 innings, he did pass one momentous milestone before Coop gave him the hook: He threw over 100 pitches, a rare feat for Astros starters these days. Not his best start though: He gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks, striking out 4.
The bedraggled bullpen did a good job for the rest of the game. Arias, just up from Round Rock, relieved Hampton, pitching 1 1/3 innings, giving up a single run. Wright and Fulchino each pitched a perfect inning.
The Astros' offense wasn't anything to get excited over. They scored 3 runs on 8 scattered hits, including a homer by Berkman, his 7th of the year. Hampton, who has a history of being a good batter, hit an RBI single. But all together, the team could not put together enough runs to overcome those first inning difficulties.
Game 2's 8-5 score actually looks a lot closer than the game actually was. Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs were ahead 8-2; the final score only looks close because the Astros added on 3 at the last minute. It was hardly a save situation.
Mysteriously, considering how badly the bullpen needed a rest, Coop outdid himself in pulling his starter early: He took out Ortiz after only 2 1/3 innings, with under 60 pitches. And no, Ortiz was not injured, except perhaps for his self-esteem. He hadn't been pitching a terrific game - at the time he was removed, he'd given up 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. The bases were loaded with one out. Byrdak, who relieved him, allowed one of Ortiz's runners to score before getting out of the inning. Out of the half dozen Astros on the mound, Sampson was the best by far: He pitched three perfect innings to eat up the middle of the ballgame. The bullpen goat was Paulino. Entering the ninth just two runs behind, 4-2, he gave up 4 runs on 3 singles, a double, a home run, and a pair of walks.
The Astros' offensive star of the game was Tejada, who's making a regular occasion out of multihit games. He was 3 for 4 , including a first inning 2-run homer, two doubles, and a single. Berkman was splendidly terrible - he was 0 for 5 with 4 strikeouts, including the out that ended the game. He had a fielding error, just to add to his misery.
What's worse that two-game series? Being swept in two-game series. And just to make it even a little more painful, the Astros also found out that Brocail's injury is a torn hamstring, and he'll be out for at least a month. He can go hang out with Valverde, who had fluid drained from his injured right calf - he will be out 3-5 weeks too.
I really don't want to talk about it any more.
May 7: Cubs 8, Astros 5
Another rotten two game series. At least Minute Maid Park has a retractable roof. After being soaked in Atlanta and then in Washington, who knows what unmentionable molds and mildews the Astros were suffering from? I bet they were glad to be back home - at least until they were swept in the opening two-gae series. (Who made up the schedule this year? Is there anything more annoying than a bunch of two game series?)
Game 1 got off to a terrible start. Hampton gave up two singles and a walk, interspersed with a pair of fly-ball outs, to load the bases with two down. The next batter hit a looooonnnng fly to center. Bourn went after it, and laid out for the catch - but missed. It was a base clearing triple. Pudge allowed Hampton's next pitch to get away from him, allowing the runner to score to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Hampton settled in after that, and pitched scoreless innings through the fifth. In the top of the sixth, however, another Cubs runner scored on a second passed ball, and that was it for Hampton's night. Although he only had 5 1/3 innings, he did pass one momentous milestone before Coop gave him the hook: He threw over 100 pitches, a rare feat for Astros starters these days. Not his best start though: He gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks, striking out 4.
The bedraggled bullpen did a good job for the rest of the game. Arias, just up from Round Rock, relieved Hampton, pitching 1 1/3 innings, giving up a single run. Wright and Fulchino each pitched a perfect inning.
The Astros' offense wasn't anything to get excited over. They scored 3 runs on 8 scattered hits, including a homer by Berkman, his 7th of the year. Hampton, who has a history of being a good batter, hit an RBI single. But all together, the team could not put together enough runs to overcome those first inning difficulties.
Game 2's 8-5 score actually looks a lot closer than the game actually was. Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs were ahead 8-2; the final score only looks close because the Astros added on 3 at the last minute. It was hardly a save situation.
Mysteriously, considering how badly the bullpen needed a rest, Coop outdid himself in pulling his starter early: He took out Ortiz after only 2 1/3 innings, with under 60 pitches. And no, Ortiz was not injured, except perhaps for his self-esteem. He hadn't been pitching a terrific game - at the time he was removed, he'd given up 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. The bases were loaded with one out. Byrdak, who relieved him, allowed one of Ortiz's runners to score before getting out of the inning. Out of the half dozen Astros on the mound, Sampson was the best by far: He pitched three perfect innings to eat up the middle of the ballgame. The bullpen goat was Paulino. Entering the ninth just two runs behind, 4-2, he gave up 4 runs on 3 singles, a double, a home run, and a pair of walks.
The Astros' offensive star of the game was Tejada, who's making a regular occasion out of multihit games. He was 3 for 4 , including a first inning 2-run homer, two doubles, and a single. Berkman was splendidly terrible - he was 0 for 5 with 4 strikeouts, including the out that ended the game. He had a fielding error, just to add to his misery.
What's worse that two-game series? Being swept in two-game series. And just to make it even a little more painful, the Astros also found out that Brocail's injury is a torn hamstring, and he'll be out for at least a month. He can go hang out with Valverde, who had fluid drained from his injured right calf - he will be out 3-5 weeks too.
I really don't want to talk about it any more.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
GAME 27: Stinko de Mayo
May 4: Astros 10, Nationals 10 [11 innings, so far...to be continued in July]
If a soothsayer had told you that on Tuesday the Astros would put double-digits on the scoreboard with the Wizard on the mound, what would you do? I would have jumped with joy. If that combination does not spell "WIN," it's hard to imagine what does. So Roy O was on the mound, and the Astros did indeed get 10 runs... but the Cinco de Mayo game (free t-shirts for the first 10,000) totally stunk. At least the Astros didn't lose... yet.
The last time I glimpsed my guys, they were trudging into the dugout in pouring rain, to wait out their third rain delay in the past 5 games. This was after almost 11 innings of a game that more similarities to ping pong (the scoring) and little league (the playing) than to major league baseball. Of course, I ran undercover to wait out the rain delay - I'm not one of those fans who goes home before the game is finished. An hour later they announced that the game was indefinitely postponed, to be continued... (That is actually an improvement over the bad old days, just a couple of years back, when a tie game would have been played over from scratch.)
The game ended in the bottom of the 11th with a Nats runner on first and one out. I was just as glad to see it called for rain - the Astros bullpen (the subject of much recent commentary here) had been pretty terrible, and I figured that the outcome would be a loss. The ignomy of a sweep - even a two-game one - at the hands of the worst team in baseball was too much.
Roy O had started the game, hours before, with much hype about how he'd eat up a bunch of innings and give the bullpen a much needed rest. Instead, after 5 innings and change, Oswalt was pulled due to a finger injury resulting from a bunting accident. He had a decent start, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks, with a two-run homer in the fourth accounting for the Nat's only score. His teammates helped him out for a change, with a run in the second and a four-run fifth, to give Oswalt a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Guzman led off with a single. Oswalt was in the middle of an at-bat by Nick Johnson when he stopped to have his finger examined. After he walked Johnson, Cooper pulled him and brought in Sampson.
It wasn't raining - yet. I don't know if Sampson's bruised foot played into the story. Whatever the cause, the Stinko de Mayo game quickly started to smell more like gorgonzola than Monterrey Jack. Sampson's first batter singled in one of Oswalt's runners. Four walks later, Oswalt's lead was gone and the Astros were now losing 6-5. That was enough of Sampson. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, Byrdak came in to pitch. The fielders choice should have ended the ending - but Tejada fumbled and another run scored. A hit batter forced in another run, before the 12th at-bat ended the inning with the Nats ahead 8-5.
The Astros came back to tie it up in the seventh, and then the score rickocheted back and forth, leaving the two teams tied at 10-10 at the end of nine. This was a very ugly 20-run game: There were many hits, of course - 14 by the Astros anad 10 by the Nats. But there were also a lot of walks (13 total), errors (3), wild pitches (2), and a hit batsman. In a game that was supposed to give the bullpen a rest, the Astros used 4 relievers: Sampson, Byrdak, Geary, and Hawkins. Three of them were on the mound when runs scored (not necessarily charged to their ERAs), and Hawkins is still on the mound, come July when the game will be resumed in Houston.
I'm going to do something outrageous here and declare myself the Fan of the Game. I went to both cold rainy games, despite a heavy cold, and cheered them all the way, despite the fairly miserable performances. When I got home from the game, I was greeted by a tweet from RoundRock15, inviting me to take a look at his blog. There, I found that my dedication to photographing my favorite team had been caught for posterity in the lens of FSHouston. I stole the picture off RoundRock's blog, and reproduce it here despite my usual rule about using anyone else's pictures - at least it's my image:
Yep, that's me - looking the way I always look during a game, with a camera sticking out of my face. I took a boatload of pictures (nice ones too, since I splurged on a good seat), which will be posted on my website before long. In the meantime, you just get me.
If a soothsayer had told you that on Tuesday the Astros would put double-digits on the scoreboard with the Wizard on the mound, what would you do? I would have jumped with joy. If that combination does not spell "WIN," it's hard to imagine what does. So Roy O was on the mound, and the Astros did indeed get 10 runs... but the Cinco de Mayo game (free t-shirts for the first 10,000) totally stunk. At least the Astros didn't lose... yet.
The last time I glimpsed my guys, they were trudging into the dugout in pouring rain, to wait out their third rain delay in the past 5 games. This was after almost 11 innings of a game that more similarities to ping pong (the scoring) and little league (the playing) than to major league baseball. Of course, I ran undercover to wait out the rain delay - I'm not one of those fans who goes home before the game is finished. An hour later they announced that the game was indefinitely postponed, to be continued... (That is actually an improvement over the bad old days, just a couple of years back, when a tie game would have been played over from scratch.)
The game ended in the bottom of the 11th with a Nats runner on first and one out. I was just as glad to see it called for rain - the Astros bullpen (the subject of much recent commentary here) had been pretty terrible, and I figured that the outcome would be a loss. The ignomy of a sweep - even a two-game one - at the hands of the worst team in baseball was too much.
Roy O had started the game, hours before, with much hype about how he'd eat up a bunch of innings and give the bullpen a much needed rest. Instead, after 5 innings and change, Oswalt was pulled due to a finger injury resulting from a bunting accident. He had a decent start, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks, with a two-run homer in the fourth accounting for the Nat's only score. His teammates helped him out for a change, with a run in the second and a four-run fifth, to give Oswalt a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Guzman led off with a single. Oswalt was in the middle of an at-bat by Nick Johnson when he stopped to have his finger examined. After he walked Johnson, Cooper pulled him and brought in Sampson.
It wasn't raining - yet. I don't know if Sampson's bruised foot played into the story. Whatever the cause, the Stinko de Mayo game quickly started to smell more like gorgonzola than Monterrey Jack. Sampson's first batter singled in one of Oswalt's runners. Four walks later, Oswalt's lead was gone and the Astros were now losing 6-5. That was enough of Sampson. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, Byrdak came in to pitch. The fielders choice should have ended the ending - but Tejada fumbled and another run scored. A hit batter forced in another run, before the 12th at-bat ended the inning with the Nats ahead 8-5.
The Astros came back to tie it up in the seventh, and then the score rickocheted back and forth, leaving the two teams tied at 10-10 at the end of nine. This was a very ugly 20-run game: There were many hits, of course - 14 by the Astros anad 10 by the Nats. But there were also a lot of walks (13 total), errors (3), wild pitches (2), and a hit batsman. In a game that was supposed to give the bullpen a rest, the Astros used 4 relievers: Sampson, Byrdak, Geary, and Hawkins. Three of them were on the mound when runs scored (not necessarily charged to their ERAs), and Hawkins is still on the mound, come July when the game will be resumed in Houston.
I'm going to do something outrageous here and declare myself the Fan of the Game. I went to both cold rainy games, despite a heavy cold, and cheered them all the way, despite the fairly miserable performances. When I got home from the game, I was greeted by a tweet from RoundRock15, inviting me to take a look at his blog. There, I found that my dedication to photographing my favorite team had been caught for posterity in the lens of FSHouston. I stole the picture off RoundRock's blog, and reproduce it here despite my usual rule about using anyone else's pictures - at least it's my image:
Yep, that's me - looking the way I always look during a game, with a camera sticking out of my face. I took a boatload of pictures (nice ones too, since I splurged on a good seat), which will be posted on my website before long. In the meantime, you just get me.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
GAME 26: A Dark and Gloomy Night - and Wet Too!
May 4: Nationals 9, Astros 4
Let's start with the good news: I met some nice Astros fans at the cold, rainy opening game of the big (2 games!) series in Washington. While the Jumbotron was featuring the Fan
of the Game contest - all Nats fans, oddly enough - I was sitting right behind a youngster who has great taste in favorite players, as shown by his #5 Bagwell hat. Grayson's dad might have season tickets for the Nats, but when the Astros come to town, he knows who to cheer for. Sitting right over the Astros dugout, Grayson was in a great place to score a game ball - and finally at the end of the game, he got it, courtesy of another fan in Astros regalia.
Houston f
ans Meg and Mary were also at the game, out to cheer for their team despite the icky weather. Now I think that Mary and Grayson would have been great candidates for F-o-t-G, and it's outrageous that they should be overlooked just because they don't cheer for the Nats. Discrimination! However, I can do my little part to rectify the situation by naming them the Astros Fan in Exile Fans of the Game!
Now for the bad news: After waking up with all the symptoms of a bad cold (no, not swine flu!), I almost hoped that the first game of the Astros-Nats series would be called for rain! It rained all day, and I checked the hour-by-hour weather predictions constantly: Rain, showers, rain, showers, rain predicted all day. By late afternoon it was fluctuating between mist and light rain. Since the Nats' game on Sunday was postponed due to the weather, I guessed correctly that barring a hurricane they were going to play through the precipitation on Monday. So I packed up my kleenex and my Dollar Store rain poncho, and headed for the subway, to meet up with my brave soul friend Marlene at the stadium.
It's hard to say what contributed the most to the unfortunate outcome of the game. It was a foregone conclusion that Brian Moehler wasn't going to pitch deep on his first appearance after his stint on the DL. Sure enough, he threw only 5 innings (93 pitches), giving up 2 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5. A credible return to the mound, but a short one. That meant that the Astros would have to put more innings on a tired and injury-depleted bullpen.
I predicted in my last blog entry that Coop's propensity for the sacrifice would go beyond the all those bunts, and that the overuse of the pen in Atlanta was sacrificing the series in Washington. So I wasn't all that surprised when it was a meltdown by the pen that gave the Nats a big lead. The box score shows just 1/3 of the sixth inning each for Wright and Paulino, but the fine print tells the dismal story - 10 batters between them, 5 runs on 3 hits, 4 walks, and a hit batter. Then Fulchino came to pitch for the rest of the game - 46 pitches over 2 1/3 innngs. He gave up another pair of runs, but that was just something to entertain the few die-hard hometown fans who were crazy enough to sit through the whole game in the rain.
The bullpen was our Achilles heel, but the weather didn't help matters: It ranged from misty to drizzly to rainy over the course of the game. In the sixth, when the bulk of the trouble came, it was coming down pretty steadily. I find it hard to believe that this wasn't a factor in the lack of control by the Astros pitchers in that inning. It may have also affected the home plate ump's ability to see the game clearly. My fellow blogger RoundRock15 questioned two of the "balls" on the at-bat that resulted in Paulino's walking in a run in the sixth.
It wasn't all gloom and doom - the Astros got on the scoreboard right away. Matsui led off the game with a b
unt single, stole second, and scored easily on Berkman's double. In the fifth, the Astros added three more runs on back-to back singles by Keppinger and Towles, followed by back-to back doubles by Matsui and Bourn. (And, yes, of course there was a sac bunt by Moehler in between!) Bourn, unfortunately was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple - he would have scored easily since Berkman and Lee both singled behind him.
Other offensive numbers: Matsui was 2 for 3, with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Lee went
3 for 4 Berkman was 2 for 4 with an RBI - he briefly flirted with a batting average over .200. Is it too early to say that he's coming out of his April slump?
Before leaving this game report, I have to give kudos to my friend Marlene, who is not a baseball fan but who came out in the rain to watch this one with me. We had great seats, a few rows back behind first base, courtesy of my friend Chuck. But sitting near the field meant sitting in the rain. Marlene didn't last quite as long as Moehler, but she did give it a good try - and she provided sandwiches and Israeli chocolates. After she left, I moved across the sparsely populated stadium and spent the rest of the game in the second row over the Astros dugout. That means I have a lot of pretty good photos of a pretty bad game. (Pretty good for a rainy night game, at least.) I'll post more on my Astros Fan in Exile Photo Album as soon as I get a chance to format them.
Another day, another game. Today it's Roy O on the mound for the Astros. Let's hope for a complete game - and his first win of the season!
Let's start with the good news: I met some nice Astros fans at the cold, rainy opening game of the big (2 games!) series in Washington. While the Jumbotron was featuring the Fan
of the Game contest - all Nats fans, oddly enough - I was sitting right behind a youngster who has great taste in favorite players, as shown by his #5 Bagwell hat. Grayson's dad might have season tickets for the Nats, but when the Astros come to town, he knows who to cheer for. Sitting right over the Astros dugout, Grayson was in a great place to score a game ball - and finally at the end of the game, he got it, courtesy of another fan in Astros regalia.Houston f
ans Meg and Mary were also at the game, out to cheer for their team despite the icky weather. Now I think that Mary and Grayson would have been great candidates for F-o-t-G, and it's outrageous that they should be overlooked just because they don't cheer for the Nats. Discrimination! However, I can do my little part to rectify the situation by naming them the Astros Fan in Exile Fans of the Game!Now for the bad news: After waking up with all the symptoms of a bad cold (no, not swine flu!), I almost hoped that the first game of the Astros-Nats series would be called for rain! It rained all day, and I checked the hour-by-hour weather predictions constantly: Rain, showers, rain, showers, rain predicted all day. By late afternoon it was fluctuating between mist and light rain. Since the Nats' game on Sunday was postponed due to the weather, I guessed correctly that barring a hurricane they were going to play through the precipitation on Monday. So I packed up my kleenex and my Dollar Store rain poncho, and headed for the subway, to meet up with my brave soul friend Marlene at the stadium.
It's hard to say what contributed the most to the unfortunate outcome of the game. It was a foregone conclusion that Brian Moehler wasn't going to pitch deep on his first appearance after his stint on the DL. Sure enough, he threw only 5 innings (93 pitches), giving up 2 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5. A credible return to the mound, but a short one. That meant that the Astros would have to put more innings on a tired and injury-depleted bullpen.
I predicted in my last blog entry that Coop's propensity for the sacrifice would go beyond the all those bunts, and that the overuse of the pen in Atlanta was sacrificing the series in Washington. So I wasn't all that surprised when it was a meltdown by the pen that gave the Nats a big lead. The box score shows just 1/3 of the sixth inning each for Wright and Paulino, but the fine print tells the dismal story - 10 batters between them, 5 runs on 3 hits, 4 walks, and a hit batter. Then Fulchino came to pitch for the rest of the game - 46 pitches over 2 1/3 innngs. He gave up another pair of runs, but that was just something to entertain the few die-hard hometown fans who were crazy enough to sit through the whole game in the rain.
The bullpen was our Achilles heel, but the weather didn't help matters: It ranged from misty to drizzly to rainy over the course of the game. In the sixth, when the bulk of the trouble came, it was coming down pretty steadily. I find it hard to believe that this wasn't a factor in the lack of control by the Astros pitchers in that inning. It may have also affected the home plate ump's ability to see the game clearly. My fellow blogger RoundRock15 questioned two of the "balls" on the at-bat that resulted in Paulino's walking in a run in the sixth.
It wasn't all gloom and doom - the Astros got on the scoreboard right away. Matsui led off the game with a b
unt single, stole second, and scored easily on Berkman's double. In the fifth, the Astros added three more runs on back-to back singles by Keppinger and Towles, followed by back-to back doubles by Matsui and Bourn. (And, yes, of course there was a sac bunt by Moehler in between!) Bourn, unfortunately was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple - he would have scored easily since Berkman and Lee both singled behind him.Other offensive numbers: Matsui was 2 for 3, with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Lee went
3 for 4 Berkman was 2 for 4 with an RBI - he briefly flirted with a batting average over .200. Is it too early to say that he's coming out of his April slump?Before leaving this game report, I have to give kudos to my friend Marlene, who is not a baseball fan but who came out in the rain to watch this one with me. We had great seats, a few rows back behind first base, courtesy of my friend Chuck. But sitting near the field meant sitting in the rain. Marlene didn't last quite as long as Moehler, but she did give it a good try - and she provided sandwiches and Israeli chocolates. After she left, I moved across the sparsely populated stadium and spent the rest of the game in the second row over the Astros dugout. That means I have a lot of pretty good photos of a pretty bad game. (Pretty good for a rainy night game, at least.) I'll post more on my Astros Fan in Exile Photo Album as soon as I get a chance to format them.
Another day, another game. Today it's Roy O on the mound for the Astros. Let's hope for a complete game - and his first win of the season!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
GAMES 23-25: Wet and Tired and Injured - But Winning
May 1: Braves 7, Astros 2
May 2: Astros 5, Braves 1
May 3: Astros 7, Braves 5
The Astros followed up their disappointing home stand last week with a good start to the road trip, notching back-to-back series wins in Cincinnati and Atlanta. Granted, the Braves aren't what they used to be - they only have one fewer loss than the Astros. But let's not quibble - a win's a win.
The Atlanta series did not get off to a very promising start - Game 1 was a 7-2 loss as Hampton's former team tagged him for 6 runs (5 earned) in 4 1/3 innings. It was a dreary game that featured a seventh-inning drench - a two-hour rain delay before the last two innings. I was hoping that the arrival of May would herald a big turnaround for Berkman. He went 1 for 5 - of course, given his slump, that hit actually raised his batting average. The Astros' two runs were both scored on non-hit plays: Berkman's RBI groundout in the first and Hampton's fielders' choice in the fourth. All in all, a dreary game. If the Astros could just manage to reserve Friday nights (when I'm offline for Sabbath observance) for their dreary games, that would be great.
By the time the Sabbath was over, Saturday's Game 2 had already ended, rain delay and all. Astros' starter Roy Oswalt had only pitched one inning when rain interrupted the game for over an hour and a half. When it resumed, Oswalt was replaced with Paulino. I am the unlikely beneficiary of this - Oswalt has been rescheduled to start on Tuesday afternoon against the Nationals. Since I did not get to see Roy O at Spring Training, due to his WBC stint, this will be my chance to get some 2009 photos of him.
Berkman got the Astros off to an early lead with a first-inning solo homer. He finished the game with a 1 for 5 line, but it was amended to 2 for 5 on Sunday, when the scorer changed a Braves error to a hit for Berkman. No problem! When the Puma's BA is in the 100's a month into the season, he'll take anything he can get.
Paulino lost the lead in the second inning, when the game resumed from the rain delay. It took him a bit to settle down - a lead off double and a bunt single put runners on the corners with no outs. He struck out the next two batters, before allowing the runner on third to score on a wild pitch, then struck out the third batter to end the inning. It took four additional Astros pitchers - Byrdak, Sampson, Brocail, and Hawkins - to close out this game. They combined for 4 scoreless innings, with only 4 hits among them. Byrdak got the win.
The Astros Big Inning (sadly, a 3 run inning is a Big Inning for them this season) came in the fourth. Lots of players contributed a lot of little pieces, but Braves' third baseman Chipper Jones contributed the most: With Lee on first and no outs, Jones booted Tejada's double-play ground ball, and both runners were safe. Three singles and a sac fly later, the Astros had put three runs on the board. Jones almost got the Astros back though. Batting with two outs in the seventh, he smacked the ball into pitcher Chris Sampson's ankle. Sampson was able to field the play, ending the inning, before limping off the field. Later reports say that nothing's broken, just a deep bruise, but it could put Sampson out for a day or two. (We don't need a replay of Valverde's heroics - and stint on the DL!)
The Astros got one more run in the ninth inning, when Pudge led off with a double and scored on Bourn's triple. Other notable offense: Pence went 3 for 4 with a trio of singles. I watched this game late Saturday night, when it became available on the mlb.tv archive
I went to DeBaggio's Herbs with my friend Ev this morning. We shopped for basil and chiles and tomato plants in the same pouring rain that caused today's Nat's home game to be cancelled. I've bought my herbs and salsa vegetables seedlings at DeBaggio's for about 20 years - their selection of heirloom varieties is truly amazing. (No, it is not true that I favor them because of the blending of Bagwell and Biggio's names.) In the spirit of SABR I am obligated to report that I scored 16 chile plants, 4 sweet peppers, 8 tomatoes, 2 tomatillos, 4 eggplants, 6 basils, and 3 perennial flower plants. I dragged my haul of seedlings into the house, and fired up the laptop just in time for the first pitch of Game 3.
Given the wear and tear on the bullpen over the past few days (see the numbers below), this would have been a good time for Wandy to pitch a complete game - or at least 7 or 8 innings. After 3 innings, he was off to a pretty good start; he'd only thrown 40 pitches and had not let anyone score. But in the fourth, he started to unravel a bit. Francour led off with a single, then Prado doubled. Lee fielded the ball very quickly, zipping it to Tejada, who threw to Pudge, who tagged out Francour at the plate. (This play caused Alyson to tweet: "this proves it -- Carlos Lee CAN move quickly when he wants to.") But Wandy hit the next batter with a pitch, then gave up a RBI single that tied the game 1-1. He got out of the fourth inning without further damage, but the fifth was more of the same. A leadoff walk and bunt single put two runners on; both moved up into scoring position on a sac bunt. Wandy intentionally walked Chipper Jones to load the bases and set up a double play. But instead he balked in a run, then gave up a sac fly that scored another.
Despite not being at his best, Wandy only had 86 pitches after five innings and the pen was stressed. So I expected to see him back for the sixth inning. Instead Cooper replaced him with Fulchino - but not for long, as Coop seemed determine to give everyone in the pen a say in the outcome of this game. By the end of the sixth, Coop had used Fulchino, Wright, and Geary. Geary came back for the seventh. Brocail, who'd pitched an inning on Saturday, started the eighth. But fielding a ground ball, he stumbled over first base, went down face-first and didn't get back up right away. He had to be taken off the field in a cart. In the replays, it looked like he had started to fall before he even got to the base, and later reports said that it was a hamstring problem. (Another reliever to the DL?) With the bullpen almost empty, Coop brought in Ortiz - normally a starter. Poor Ortiz - half of his game appearances this year have been in relief. He didn't stay long, though: Before the inning was over, Hawkins was on the mound. Happily, the Astros held on to a slim lead, and Hawkins finished off the game without extra innings, earning his third save. Geary got the win.
In between all of the pitching changes, the Astros somehow managed to score seven runs on 10 hits (one double and all the rest singles), 5 walks, and quite a combination of sacrifice moves. In fact, nearly everyone in the lineup (except for pitchers, oddly) contributed to the sacrifices: Berkman, Lee, Pudge, and Blum all hit sac flies, and Matsui, Bourn, and Erstad hit sac bunts. It is not really clear to me how Coop's small-ball approach goes with his admonition to the team before yesterday's game: "Our big horses have got to hit. If they don't hit, the wagon don't move! We've got Clydesdales. Our Clydesdales have got to pull the wagon." It's hard to imagine a Clydesdale bunting. Meanwhile, our racehorse Bourn is doing a lot of the pulling - he went 3 for 5 with a triple Friday night, hit another triple on Saturday afternoon, and went 3 for 4 with 2 stolen bases on Sunday. His batting average - .301 - is higher than his on-base percent last year. (So when does he get to hit leadoff?)
One might say that, given the successful outcome (the Astros did win the game and the series), Coop had made the right decisions. But at what cost? The Astros are coming to Washington wet and mildewy with a tired and injured bullpen. Here's how the weekend's work added up for the relief staff:
Geary - Fri 1.2 innings (21 pitches); Sun 1.1 innings (26)
Fulchino - Fri 1 inning (21), Sun .1 (6)
Wright - Fri 1 inning (20), Sun .1 (7)
Paulino - Sat 2 innings (35)
Byrdak - Sat 2.1 innings (43)
Sampson - Sat 1.2 innings (19) - left with deep bruised ankle
Brocail - Sat 1 inning (13), Sun .1 inning (5) - left with hamstring injury
Hawkins - Sat 1inning (17), Sun 1.1 inning (28)
Ortiz - Sun .1 inning (12)
I guess it's too much to hope for two complete games here in Washington? Do we really expect Hawkins - closing in place of Valverde who's on the DL - to pitch again tomorrow?
I'm actually a bit skeptical that there will be a game here tomorrow. The weather report calls for rain all day and into the night, a continuation of the cold wet weather pattern that caused today's Nationals game to be cancelled. If they do postpone Monday's game, I'm hoping for a double-header on Tuesday. As long as I'm taking off of work, might as well make a day of it.
Meanwhile, don't look for me on Twitter for the next couple of days. I'm going to be there in Real Life, snapping pictures instead of tweeting.
May 2: Astros 5, Braves 1
May 3: Astros 7, Braves 5
The Astros followed up their disappointing home stand last week with a good start to the road trip, notching back-to-back series wins in Cincinnati and Atlanta. Granted, the Braves aren't what they used to be - they only have one fewer loss than the Astros. But let's not quibble - a win's a win.
The Atlanta series did not get off to a very promising start - Game 1 was a 7-2 loss as Hampton's former team tagged him for 6 runs (5 earned) in 4 1/3 innings. It was a dreary game that featured a seventh-inning drench - a two-hour rain delay before the last two innings. I was hoping that the arrival of May would herald a big turnaround for Berkman. He went 1 for 5 - of course, given his slump, that hit actually raised his batting average. The Astros' two runs were both scored on non-hit plays: Berkman's RBI groundout in the first and Hampton's fielders' choice in the fourth. All in all, a dreary game. If the Astros could just manage to reserve Friday nights (when I'm offline for Sabbath observance) for their dreary games, that would be great.
By the time the Sabbath was over, Saturday's Game 2 had already ended, rain delay and all. Astros' starter Roy Oswalt had only pitched one inning when rain interrupted the game for over an hour and a half. When it resumed, Oswalt was replaced with Paulino. I am the unlikely beneficiary of this - Oswalt has been rescheduled to start on Tuesday afternoon against the Nationals. Since I did not get to see Roy O at Spring Training, due to his WBC stint, this will be my chance to get some 2009 photos of him.
Berkman got the Astros off to an early lead with a first-inning solo homer. He finished the game with a 1 for 5 line, but it was amended to 2 for 5 on Sunday, when the scorer changed a Braves error to a hit for Berkman. No problem! When the Puma's BA is in the 100's a month into the season, he'll take anything he can get.
Paulino lost the lead in the second inning, when the game resumed from the rain delay. It took him a bit to settle down - a lead off double and a bunt single put runners on the corners with no outs. He struck out the next two batters, before allowing the runner on third to score on a wild pitch, then struck out the third batter to end the inning. It took four additional Astros pitchers - Byrdak, Sampson, Brocail, and Hawkins - to close out this game. They combined for 4 scoreless innings, with only 4 hits among them. Byrdak got the win.
The Astros Big Inning (sadly, a 3 run inning is a Big Inning for them this season) came in the fourth. Lots of players contributed a lot of little pieces, but Braves' third baseman Chipper Jones contributed the most: With Lee on first and no outs, Jones booted Tejada's double-play ground ball, and both runners were safe. Three singles and a sac fly later, the Astros had put three runs on the board. Jones almost got the Astros back though. Batting with two outs in the seventh, he smacked the ball into pitcher Chris Sampson's ankle. Sampson was able to field the play, ending the inning, before limping off the field. Later reports say that nothing's broken, just a deep bruise, but it could put Sampson out for a day or two. (We don't need a replay of Valverde's heroics - and stint on the DL!)
The Astros got one more run in the ninth inning, when Pudge led off with a double and scored on Bourn's triple. Other notable offense: Pence went 3 for 4 with a trio of singles. I watched this game late Saturday night, when it became available on the mlb.tv archive
I went to DeBaggio's Herbs with my friend Ev this morning. We shopped for basil and chiles and tomato plants in the same pouring rain that caused today's Nat's home game to be cancelled. I've bought my herbs and salsa vegetables seedlings at DeBaggio's for about 20 years - their selection of heirloom varieties is truly amazing. (No, it is not true that I favor them because of the blending of Bagwell and Biggio's names.) In the spirit of SABR I am obligated to report that I scored 16 chile plants, 4 sweet peppers, 8 tomatoes, 2 tomatillos, 4 eggplants, 6 basils, and 3 perennial flower plants. I dragged my haul of seedlings into the house, and fired up the laptop just in time for the first pitch of Game 3.
Given the wear and tear on the bullpen over the past few days (see the numbers below), this would have been a good time for Wandy to pitch a complete game - or at least 7 or 8 innings. After 3 innings, he was off to a pretty good start; he'd only thrown 40 pitches and had not let anyone score. But in the fourth, he started to unravel a bit. Francour led off with a single, then Prado doubled. Lee fielded the ball very quickly, zipping it to Tejada, who threw to Pudge, who tagged out Francour at the plate. (This play caused Alyson to tweet: "this proves it -- Carlos Lee CAN move quickly when he wants to.") But Wandy hit the next batter with a pitch, then gave up a RBI single that tied the game 1-1. He got out of the fourth inning without further damage, but the fifth was more of the same. A leadoff walk and bunt single put two runners on; both moved up into scoring position on a sac bunt. Wandy intentionally walked Chipper Jones to load the bases and set up a double play. But instead he balked in a run, then gave up a sac fly that scored another.
Despite not being at his best, Wandy only had 86 pitches after five innings and the pen was stressed. So I expected to see him back for the sixth inning. Instead Cooper replaced him with Fulchino - but not for long, as Coop seemed determine to give everyone in the pen a say in the outcome of this game. By the end of the sixth, Coop had used Fulchino, Wright, and Geary. Geary came back for the seventh. Brocail, who'd pitched an inning on Saturday, started the eighth. But fielding a ground ball, he stumbled over first base, went down face-first and didn't get back up right away. He had to be taken off the field in a cart. In the replays, it looked like he had started to fall before he even got to the base, and later reports said that it was a hamstring problem. (Another reliever to the DL?) With the bullpen almost empty, Coop brought in Ortiz - normally a starter. Poor Ortiz - half of his game appearances this year have been in relief. He didn't stay long, though: Before the inning was over, Hawkins was on the mound. Happily, the Astros held on to a slim lead, and Hawkins finished off the game without extra innings, earning his third save. Geary got the win.
In between all of the pitching changes, the Astros somehow managed to score seven runs on 10 hits (one double and all the rest singles), 5 walks, and quite a combination of sacrifice moves. In fact, nearly everyone in the lineup (except for pitchers, oddly) contributed to the sacrifices: Berkman, Lee, Pudge, and Blum all hit sac flies, and Matsui, Bourn, and Erstad hit sac bunts. It is not really clear to me how Coop's small-ball approach goes with his admonition to the team before yesterday's game: "Our big horses have got to hit. If they don't hit, the wagon don't move! We've got Clydesdales. Our Clydesdales have got to pull the wagon." It's hard to imagine a Clydesdale bunting. Meanwhile, our racehorse Bourn is doing a lot of the pulling - he went 3 for 5 with a triple Friday night, hit another triple on Saturday afternoon, and went 3 for 4 with 2 stolen bases on Sunday. His batting average - .301 - is higher than his on-base percent last year. (So when does he get to hit leadoff?)
One might say that, given the successful outcome (the Astros did win the game and the series), Coop had made the right decisions. But at what cost? The Astros are coming to Washington wet and mildewy with a tired and injured bullpen. Here's how the weekend's work added up for the relief staff:
Geary - Fri 1.2 innings (21 pitches); Sun 1.1 innings (26)
Fulchino - Fri 1 inning (21), Sun .1 (6)
Wright - Fri 1 inning (20), Sun .1 (7)
Paulino - Sat 2 innings (35)
Byrdak - Sat 2.1 innings (43)
Sampson - Sat 1.2 innings (19) - left with deep bruised ankle
Brocail - Sat 1 inning (13), Sun .1 inning (5) - left with hamstring injury
Hawkins - Sat 1inning (17), Sun 1.1 inning (28)
Ortiz - Sun .1 inning (12)
I guess it's too much to hope for two complete games here in Washington? Do we really expect Hawkins - closing in place of Valverde who's on the DL - to pitch again tomorrow?
I'm actually a bit skeptical that there will be a game here tomorrow. The weather report calls for rain all day and into the night, a continuation of the cold wet weather pattern that caused today's Nationals game to be cancelled. If they do postpone Monday's game, I'm hoping for a double-header on Tuesday. As long as I'm taking off of work, might as well make a day of it.
Meanwhile, don't look for me on Twitter for the next couple of days. I'm going to be there in Real Life, snapping pictures instead of tweeting.
Friday, May 1, 2009
GAMES 20-22: Taking on the Red(s) Menace
April 27: Astros 4, Reds 1
April 28: Astros 8, Reds 3
April 29: Reds 3, Astros 0
The Astros' odd love affair with Great American Ball Park continued this week with a series win over the Reds. It would have been nice if the Astros could have squeezed a sweep out of this strange away-team advantage, but they were shut out in the third game of the series - their first loss at GABP since 2007. Houston's total domination of the Reds in their own ballpark makes me wonder: Perhaps they should reconfigure the field at Minute Maid Park to match?
In Game 1, Monday night, Oswalt kept up his domination of Cincinnati batters. While he did not get a decision - Houston didn't really go to bat for him until the ninth inning, it was Roy O's typical-day-at-the-office start: Seven innings (98 pitches), 1 run on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. It was a matching performance for his last start against the Reds, last week in Houston, which also resulted in a no-decision for Oswalt. He's pitched pretty well this year but still hasn't managed to notch that elusive first "W."
Berkman (still in a -- shhhh! -- slump) managed to swat yet another home run in this game, his 20th in this ballpark. This homer in the sixth inning was Houston's only run on Oswalt's watch, as the Astros waited until the ninth to break the game open. While they couldn't do much of anything against starter Johnny Cueto, they had some fun against the Reds' closer Francisco Cordero. Lee and Tejada kicked off the last inning with back-to-back singles, setting the table for Pence, who hit them in with a double. Pence then scored on Blum's sac fly, to give the Astros a 4-1 lead.
Byrdak relieved Oswalt in the eighth, with Sampson finishing out that inning and pitching the ninth for the win. Valverde, unavailable due to his fielding mishap last week, is still on the mend. By the end of the series, he ended up on the DL, with Fulchino called up to take his roster spot.
In Game 2, Wandy stymied the Reds. He pitched 7 innings (99 pitches), giving up only 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5. The performance earned him his second win of the season, and lowered his ERA to 1.69 - third among NL starters. Wandy's been good this year both home and away, and I still predict that this will be the year that he finally gets (earns!) some Respect.
Unlike Oswalt, Wandy had plenty of help from his teammates. The fun started in the first inning with leadoff hitter Matsui - he singled, stole second, and the scored on a throwing error by the Reds' #1 hero Joey Votto. The Reds came back in the bottom of the inning to tie it up, but Pudge Rodriguez's second inning solo homer put the Astros ahead for good. In the fifth, the Astros had a rare Big Inning, scoring 4 runs on Blum's single, Pudge's double, Matsui's single, and then Lee's double. Just for good measure, they scored another pair in the eighth on Tejada's double, Pudge's walk, and consecutive RBI singles by Erstad and Matsui.
Geary and Wright, pitching the last two innings in relief, each gave up leadoff homers to account for the Reds' other two runs in the 8-3 Astros victory. Matsui was the numbers star of the game, going 3 for 5 (all singles), 2 RBIs, scoring twice. He also stole 2 bases, as did Michael Bourn. Pudge was the power star of the game, with a double and a homer, scoring 3 runs. Berkman was 0 for 4, dropping his batting average to a very depressing .164. Everyone knows that it's just a temporary slump, and that he'll be back to his usual greatness at the plate before long (remember last May!). But for now it's a bummer.
It's too bad that the Astros couldn't have saved up a few of those extra runs for Game 3. Instead, they wasted another terrific pitching start - this time by Paulino. The youngster pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up only 1 ER (see the trend?) on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. But he was way outdueled by the Reds' Volquez, who limited the Astros to a single hit, no runs, in his 8 innings on the mound. I hoped for a repeat of closer Cordero's Game 1 meltdown, but no such luck. He threw a perfect ninth.
The Astros only hit was a single by Tejada. Berkman, who had the night off unfortunately, pinch hit with Michaels on first (walked) and two down. He lined out. Sampson pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief. Brocail threw a messy eighth, loading the bases on an infield single and a pair of walks. One runner scored on a sac fly before Brocail worked out of the mess.
So the Astros 4-game winning streak ended, as did their 11-game streak in GABP.
Thus ends the month of April: The Astros are in last place in their division, 6 1/2 games behind the Cardinals. Houston's 9-13 record is tied with the D-backs for third worst in the league. The Nats, at 5-16, are much worse than everyone, and the Rockies are just a loss behind. The only good news is that the Astros are even for their last 10 games, which represents a significant improvement over their first 10 games. Let's hope the Nats can stay the course, as the Astros are heading this way for two measly games next week. But first, a weekend in Atlanta. The Braves have only one win more than the Astros this season, so we should have a fighting chance. Meanwhile, the Cards are in Washington; the implications are obvious.
April 28: Astros 8, Reds 3
April 29: Reds 3, Astros 0
The Astros' odd love affair with Great American Ball Park continued this week with a series win over the Reds. It would have been nice if the Astros could have squeezed a sweep out of this strange away-team advantage, but they were shut out in the third game of the series - their first loss at GABP since 2007. Houston's total domination of the Reds in their own ballpark makes me wonder: Perhaps they should reconfigure the field at Minute Maid Park to match?
In Game 1, Monday night, Oswalt kept up his domination of Cincinnati batters. While he did not get a decision - Houston didn't really go to bat for him until the ninth inning, it was Roy O's typical-day-at-the-office start: Seven innings (98 pitches), 1 run on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. It was a matching performance for his last start against the Reds, last week in Houston, which also resulted in a no-decision for Oswalt. He's pitched pretty well this year but still hasn't managed to notch that elusive first "W."
Berkman (still in a -- shhhh! -- slump) managed to swat yet another home run in this game, his 20th in this ballpark. This homer in the sixth inning was Houston's only run on Oswalt's watch, as the Astros waited until the ninth to break the game open. While they couldn't do much of anything against starter Johnny Cueto, they had some fun against the Reds' closer Francisco Cordero. Lee and Tejada kicked off the last inning with back-to-back singles, setting the table for Pence, who hit them in with a double. Pence then scored on Blum's sac fly, to give the Astros a 4-1 lead.
Byrdak relieved Oswalt in the eighth, with Sampson finishing out that inning and pitching the ninth for the win. Valverde, unavailable due to his fielding mishap last week, is still on the mend. By the end of the series, he ended up on the DL, with Fulchino called up to take his roster spot.
In Game 2, Wandy stymied the Reds. He pitched 7 innings (99 pitches), giving up only 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5. The performance earned him his second win of the season, and lowered his ERA to 1.69 - third among NL starters. Wandy's been good this year both home and away, and I still predict that this will be the year that he finally gets (earns!) some Respect.
Unlike Oswalt, Wandy had plenty of help from his teammates. The fun started in the first inning with leadoff hitter Matsui - he singled, stole second, and the scored on a throwing error by the Reds' #1 hero Joey Votto. The Reds came back in the bottom of the inning to tie it up, but Pudge Rodriguez's second inning solo homer put the Astros ahead for good. In the fifth, the Astros had a rare Big Inning, scoring 4 runs on Blum's single, Pudge's double, Matsui's single, and then Lee's double. Just for good measure, they scored another pair in the eighth on Tejada's double, Pudge's walk, and consecutive RBI singles by Erstad and Matsui.
Geary and Wright, pitching the last two innings in relief, each gave up leadoff homers to account for the Reds' other two runs in the 8-3 Astros victory. Matsui was the numbers star of the game, going 3 for 5 (all singles), 2 RBIs, scoring twice. He also stole 2 bases, as did Michael Bourn. Pudge was the power star of the game, with a double and a homer, scoring 3 runs. Berkman was 0 for 4, dropping his batting average to a very depressing .164. Everyone knows that it's just a temporary slump, and that he'll be back to his usual greatness at the plate before long (remember last May!). But for now it's a bummer.
It's too bad that the Astros couldn't have saved up a few of those extra runs for Game 3. Instead, they wasted another terrific pitching start - this time by Paulino. The youngster pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up only 1 ER (see the trend?) on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. But he was way outdueled by the Reds' Volquez, who limited the Astros to a single hit, no runs, in his 8 innings on the mound. I hoped for a repeat of closer Cordero's Game 1 meltdown, but no such luck. He threw a perfect ninth.
The Astros only hit was a single by Tejada. Berkman, who had the night off unfortunately, pinch hit with Michaels on first (walked) and two down. He lined out. Sampson pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief. Brocail threw a messy eighth, loading the bases on an infield single and a pair of walks. One runner scored on a sac fly before Brocail worked out of the mess.
So the Astros 4-game winning streak ended, as did their 11-game streak in GABP.
Thus ends the month of April: The Astros are in last place in their division, 6 1/2 games behind the Cardinals. Houston's 9-13 record is tied with the D-backs for third worst in the league. The Nats, at 5-16, are much worse than everyone, and the Rockies are just a loss behind. The only good news is that the Astros are even for their last 10 games, which represents a significant improvement over their first 10 games. Let's hope the Nats can stay the course, as the Astros are heading this way for two measly games next week. But first, a weekend in Atlanta. The Braves have only one win more than the Astros this season, so we should have a fighting chance. Meanwhile, the Cards are in Washington; the implications are obvious.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
GAMES 17-19: Slowest. Game. Ever...?
April 24: Brewers 5, Astros 2
April 25: Brewers 9, Astros 8 [11 innings]
April 26: Astros 3, Brewers 2
"Slowest. Game. Ever."
That was the tweet from Alyson Footer during the seventh inning of today's game. Her game writeup on Astros.com started out: "This wasn't the quickest game in team history, nor was it the prettiest." She explained that comment on Twitter as well: "'This wasn't the quickest game in history, nor was it the prettiest,' actually means, 'the game was so slow i wanted to gouge my eyes out.'" Wow, that's pretty slow.
But was it really the slowest game ever?
Maybe Alyson just had a hot date, or an appointment to have her hair straightened, or some other good reason to be in a rush to get out of Minute Maid Park? So I took a look at the numbers. At 3:26, today's game was almost a full hour shorter than last night's 11-inning ping-pong game. Just for grins, I compared the game length to the other NL games today:
2:35 : Pittsburgh's 8-3 win over the Padres: 6 pitchers, 282 pitches
2:36 : Atlanta 8-2 win over Reds: 6 pitchers, 258 pitches
2:42 : Rockies 10-4 over the Dodgers: 7 pitchers, 282 pitches
2:52 : Nats 8-1 win over Mets: 8 pitchers, 312 pitches
2:57 : Cubs 10-3 win over Cards: : 9 pitchers, 317 pitches
3:22 : Phillies 13-2 win over Marlins: 8 pitchers, 371 pitches
3:26 : Astros 3-2 win over Brewers: 10 pitchers, 320 pitches
3:45 : Arizona 5-4 win (12 innings) over Giants: 11 pitchers, 358 pitches
Okay, it was a long game, only 19 minutes shorter than the 12 inning game in Arizona. Notably, there were significantly fewer total runs scored in the Astros' game (5) than in all the others - no other NL game today had less than 9 combined runs. Perhaps long games with lower scoring just seem even longer? An exception might be when one of the teams has a starting pitcher with a great game going; who'd get bored during a no-hitter? In this case, the Astros used 5 relievers over 4 innings, which may be less compelling. (The exception, of course, would be the Astros' 7-pitcher no hitter against the Yankees.) On top of the relatively high pitch count in the Astros-Brewers game, there were 13 pickoff attempts (12 by Milwaukee pitchers), including 9 in the bottom of the eigtht just trying to get Pence on first. All of which slow down the game...
So there may be reason to complain that the game went long. However, it was not the "Slowest. Game. Ever." I know that for a fact, because I was at the Astro's Slowest Game Ever: It was April 15, 1968, when the Astros and Mets went at it for 24 innings, with the score tied 0-0. Alyson was not actually at that game, since she wasn't born yet. (Jeff Bagwell wasn't born until a month later.) The game was so slow that after about 16 innings, the lightbulbs that made up the Astrodome's wonder-of-the-world scoreboard started flashing funny messages, like:
THE JUDGE WANTS TO GO TO BED (referring to owner Judge Roy Hofheinz, who had an apartment in the Astrodome)
And my favorite, after the 3rd out of the 17th or so:
I THINK I'M GOING TO THROW UP.
Understand, this was in the tamer days before Wayne and Garth's 100 terms for vomiting, and we kids laughed our heads off to see a reference to spewing on the scoreboard.
Since we were young kids, my dad made us leave at midnight after 18 innings. So we were not actually there to see the biggest event of the evening, when Bob Aspromonte's ground ball went through the Mets' shortstop's legs, scoring Norm Miller from third. My mom was pretty pissed off when we got home so late on a school night. But - even though this was surely the Astros' Slowest. Game. Ever - we didn't want to leave. We were having a great time.
I am not generally impatient for the game to be over, especially on the few occasions that I'm actually there in person. Usually it's just the opposite - the games seem to be over so quickly. Maybe when the Astros are playing on the West Coast, and I'm up till 1 AM Eastern time, falling asleep at the computer. But for normal games, like today's, I don't really mind slow games - at least when the Astros are winning.
For my anniversary present in 2006, I requested that my husband (a Hebrew poet from Lubbock - don't ask) give me a unique gift: A Hebrew translation of Take Me Out to the Ballgame that was true to the rhyme and the rhythm (so I could sing it at games) and the sense of the song. Knowing how much I enjoyed watching games for hour after hour, he translated "I don't care if I never get back" as "Inshallah yiyu sham meah sivuvim" - I hope there will be 100 innings. Okay, it's an exagerration, and a bullpen nightmare. But it rhymed well and the basic idea is there: A long game is a good thing. (One has to assume that the lyracist Jack Norworth did not mean that he'd "never get back" because he'd be mugged on the subway coming home from the game.)
So, sorry Alyson, hope you weren't late for your evening plans, but I enjoyed the s...l...o...w game today, especially because the Astros won.
How they did it: Astros starter Russ Ortiz pitched 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, 4 walks, and striking out 3. Not a long start, but enough to qualify for the win. He was backed up by a terrific quintet from the bullpen: Wright, Sampson, Brocail (welcome back!), Hawkins, and Valverde. One night after blowing a save by giving up a two run homer to Fielder, Valverde was back on the mound, visibly limping from his injury last week. But this time he was on target, and it ended with Fielder making the last out of the game.
The Astros scored all 3 of their runs in the first 4 innings, and that was all they could muster. One run came from a fielding error (we'll take it!), another from Lee's RBI single. The go-ahead run was courtesy of Pudge's fourth inning solo shot. Pudge also looked good behind the plate, throwing out two Brewer runners who had the audacity to attempt base thefts. Blum celebrated his 36th birthday by going 2 for 4. Berkman went 0 for 4 (when do we get to call it a "slump"?).
So the Astros pulled one out of the hat today, avoiding a sweep by the Brewers. Friday night's game, which I missed because of the Sabbath, was one of those gloomy games where the Astros get behind and just can't come back. (But at least it had a quick 2:14 game time - it wasn't slow!) The Astros had a short-lived 2-0 lead, thanks to Lee's 2-run homer in the fourth inning. Astros' starter Paulino got off to a good start for the first 4 innings, then the wheels came off in the fifth when he gave up 4 runs on 6 singles. But his teammates couldn't seem to do much else offensively. The notable play of the game had this innocuous line on the pitch-by-pitch:
J.J. Hardy:Ball, Strike looking, Ball, Hardy singled to right, Cameron out at home.
It looked a whole lot worse on the video: Pence did a great job with an outfield assist from right, shooting the ball to Quintero well upline from the plate. Q was there with the ball in hand to tag Mike Cameron, who came barrelling into him, knocking him flat. Quintero held on to the ball for the out, but it cost him a trip to the DL. (The fair-haired JR Towles was called up from Round Rock to fill in.)
I tuned into Saturday night's game as soon as the Sabbath ended - just in time to see the Astros blow a 4-1 lead on Bill Hall's 3-run homer in the sixth. The Astros had taken the lead in the fourth inning on Lee's 2-run home run, followed by starting pitcher Hampton's RBI single. Bourn added one more in the fifth with a solo homer, his first of the year.
The game stayed in a tie until the bottom of the eighth, when Hawkins gave up a pair of runs on a walk, three singles, and a sac fly. That's when it turned into a ping pong game. The Astros came right back in the bottom of the inning to score 3 - the first of which was JR Towles' (fresh up from the farm) RBI single. Matsui hit a 2-RBI double to retake the lead, 7-6.
But Valverde - who does not really look okay after his injury last week - blew the save opportunity, giving up a 2-run homer to Prince Fielder in the top of the ninth. The Astros came back again in the bottom of the inning, when Berkman (who had gotten on after being hit by a pitch) scored on a throwing error that should have ended the game. All tied up at 8-8 - extra innings.
The Astros loaded the bases in the tenth, but failed to score. Geary, who had pitched a scoreless 10th stayed in for the 11th with less luck. He gave up a leadoff double, followed by a single to put the Brewers ahead 9-8. Geary went on to load up the bases with no outs, but worked his way out of the mess without any additional damage.
That brought the Astros to the bottom of the inning, down by one. Pence led off with a single, Smith failed to advance him attempting unsuccessfully to bunt, and the game ended, as the poet said, not with a bang but a whimper.
The other entertainment in this game was the Astros' annoyance with the way home plate ump Mark DiMuro was calling balls and strikes. After several players (notably Berkman, who's having serious woes at the plate) complained, Pudge got into a spat when he was catching. He was ejected and Cooper, to be supportive, got himself tossed out too.
Coming from behind is a good thing, and the Astros' being able to do it a couple of times in Saturday night's game gives me hope. But a loss is a loss. In the end of the season, it will just be another April loss that contributed to a big hole that the Astros dug. Let's hope they don't wait until August this year to start digging themselves out!
April 25: Brewers 9, Astros 8 [11 innings]
April 26: Astros 3, Brewers 2
"Slowest. Game. Ever."
That was the tweet from Alyson Footer during the seventh inning of today's game. Her game writeup on Astros.com started out: "This wasn't the quickest game in team history, nor was it the prettiest." She explained that comment on Twitter as well: "'This wasn't the quickest game in history, nor was it the prettiest,' actually means, 'the game was so slow i wanted to gouge my eyes out.'" Wow, that's pretty slow.
But was it really the slowest game ever?
Maybe Alyson just had a hot date, or an appointment to have her hair straightened, or some other good reason to be in a rush to get out of Minute Maid Park? So I took a look at the numbers. At 3:26, today's game was almost a full hour shorter than last night's 11-inning ping-pong game. Just for grins, I compared the game length to the other NL games today:
2:35 : Pittsburgh's 8-3 win over the Padres: 6 pitchers, 282 pitches
2:36 : Atlanta 8-2 win over Reds: 6 pitchers, 258 pitches
2:42 : Rockies 10-4 over the Dodgers: 7 pitchers, 282 pitches
2:52 : Nats 8-1 win over Mets: 8 pitchers, 312 pitches
2:57 : Cubs 10-3 win over Cards: : 9 pitchers, 317 pitches
3:22 : Phillies 13-2 win over Marlins: 8 pitchers, 371 pitches
3:26 : Astros 3-2 win over Brewers: 10 pitchers, 320 pitches
3:45 : Arizona 5-4 win (12 innings) over Giants: 11 pitchers, 358 pitches
Okay, it was a long game, only 19 minutes shorter than the 12 inning game in Arizona. Notably, there were significantly fewer total runs scored in the Astros' game (5) than in all the others - no other NL game today had less than 9 combined runs. Perhaps long games with lower scoring just seem even longer? An exception might be when one of the teams has a starting pitcher with a great game going; who'd get bored during a no-hitter? In this case, the Astros used 5 relievers over 4 innings, which may be less compelling. (The exception, of course, would be the Astros' 7-pitcher no hitter against the Yankees.) On top of the relatively high pitch count in the Astros-Brewers game, there were 13 pickoff attempts (12 by Milwaukee pitchers), including 9 in the bottom of the eigtht just trying to get Pence on first. All of which slow down the game...
So there may be reason to complain that the game went long. However, it was not the "Slowest. Game. Ever." I know that for a fact, because I was at the Astro's Slowest Game Ever: It was April 15, 1968, when the Astros and Mets went at it for 24 innings, with the score tied 0-0. Alyson was not actually at that game, since she wasn't born yet. (Jeff Bagwell wasn't born until a month later.) The game was so slow that after about 16 innings, the lightbulbs that made up the Astrodome's wonder-of-the-world scoreboard started flashing funny messages, like:
THE JUDGE WANTS TO GO TO BED (referring to owner Judge Roy Hofheinz, who had an apartment in the Astrodome)
And my favorite, after the 3rd out of the 17th or so:
I THINK I'M GOING TO THROW UP.
Understand, this was in the tamer days before Wayne and Garth's 100 terms for vomiting, and we kids laughed our heads off to see a reference to spewing on the scoreboard.
Since we were young kids, my dad made us leave at midnight after 18 innings. So we were not actually there to see the biggest event of the evening, when Bob Aspromonte's ground ball went through the Mets' shortstop's legs, scoring Norm Miller from third. My mom was pretty pissed off when we got home so late on a school night. But - even though this was surely the Astros' Slowest. Game. Ever - we didn't want to leave. We were having a great time.
I am not generally impatient for the game to be over, especially on the few occasions that I'm actually there in person. Usually it's just the opposite - the games seem to be over so quickly. Maybe when the Astros are playing on the West Coast, and I'm up till 1 AM Eastern time, falling asleep at the computer. But for normal games, like today's, I don't really mind slow games - at least when the Astros are winning.
For my anniversary present in 2006, I requested that my husband (a Hebrew poet from Lubbock - don't ask) give me a unique gift: A Hebrew translation of Take Me Out to the Ballgame that was true to the rhyme and the rhythm (so I could sing it at games) and the sense of the song. Knowing how much I enjoyed watching games for hour after hour, he translated "I don't care if I never get back" as "Inshallah yiyu sham meah sivuvim" - I hope there will be 100 innings. Okay, it's an exagerration, and a bullpen nightmare. But it rhymed well and the basic idea is there: A long game is a good thing. (One has to assume that the lyracist Jack Norworth did not mean that he'd "never get back" because he'd be mugged on the subway coming home from the game.)
So, sorry Alyson, hope you weren't late for your evening plans, but I enjoyed the s...l...o...w game today, especially because the Astros won.
How they did it: Astros starter Russ Ortiz pitched 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, 4 walks, and striking out 3. Not a long start, but enough to qualify for the win. He was backed up by a terrific quintet from the bullpen: Wright, Sampson, Brocail (welcome back!), Hawkins, and Valverde. One night after blowing a save by giving up a two run homer to Fielder, Valverde was back on the mound, visibly limping from his injury last week. But this time he was on target, and it ended with Fielder making the last out of the game.
The Astros scored all 3 of their runs in the first 4 innings, and that was all they could muster. One run came from a fielding error (we'll take it!), another from Lee's RBI single. The go-ahead run was courtesy of Pudge's fourth inning solo shot. Pudge also looked good behind the plate, throwing out two Brewer runners who had the audacity to attempt base thefts. Blum celebrated his 36th birthday by going 2 for 4. Berkman went 0 for 4 (when do we get to call it a "slump"?).
So the Astros pulled one out of the hat today, avoiding a sweep by the Brewers. Friday night's game, which I missed because of the Sabbath, was one of those gloomy games where the Astros get behind and just can't come back. (But at least it had a quick 2:14 game time - it wasn't slow!) The Astros had a short-lived 2-0 lead, thanks to Lee's 2-run homer in the fourth inning. Astros' starter Paulino got off to a good start for the first 4 innings, then the wheels came off in the fifth when he gave up 4 runs on 6 singles. But his teammates couldn't seem to do much else offensively. The notable play of the game had this innocuous line on the pitch-by-pitch:
J.J. Hardy:Ball, Strike looking, Ball, Hardy singled to right, Cameron out at home.
It looked a whole lot worse on the video: Pence did a great job with an outfield assist from right, shooting the ball to Quintero well upline from the plate. Q was there with the ball in hand to tag Mike Cameron, who came barrelling into him, knocking him flat. Quintero held on to the ball for the out, but it cost him a trip to the DL. (The fair-haired JR Towles was called up from Round Rock to fill in.)
I tuned into Saturday night's game as soon as the Sabbath ended - just in time to see the Astros blow a 4-1 lead on Bill Hall's 3-run homer in the sixth. The Astros had taken the lead in the fourth inning on Lee's 2-run home run, followed by starting pitcher Hampton's RBI single. Bourn added one more in the fifth with a solo homer, his first of the year.
The game stayed in a tie until the bottom of the eighth, when Hawkins gave up a pair of runs on a walk, three singles, and a sac fly. That's when it turned into a ping pong game. The Astros came right back in the bottom of the inning to score 3 - the first of which was JR Towles' (fresh up from the farm) RBI single. Matsui hit a 2-RBI double to retake the lead, 7-6.
But Valverde - who does not really look okay after his injury last week - blew the save opportunity, giving up a 2-run homer to Prince Fielder in the top of the ninth. The Astros came back again in the bottom of the inning, when Berkman (who had gotten on after being hit by a pitch) scored on a throwing error that should have ended the game. All tied up at 8-8 - extra innings.
The Astros loaded the bases in the tenth, but failed to score. Geary, who had pitched a scoreless 10th stayed in for the 11th with less luck. He gave up a leadoff double, followed by a single to put the Brewers ahead 9-8. Geary went on to load up the bases with no outs, but worked his way out of the mess without any additional damage.
That brought the Astros to the bottom of the inning, down by one. Pence led off with a single, Smith failed to advance him attempting unsuccessfully to bunt, and the game ended, as the poet said, not with a bang but a whimper.
The other entertainment in this game was the Astros' annoyance with the way home plate ump Mark DiMuro was calling balls and strikes. After several players (notably Berkman, who's having serious woes at the plate) complained, Pudge got into a spat when he was catching. He was ejected and Cooper, to be supportive, got himself tossed out too.
Coming from behind is a good thing, and the Astros' being able to do it a couple of times in Saturday night's game gives me hope. But a loss is a loss. In the end of the season, it will just be another April loss that contributed to a big hole that the Astros dug. Let's hope they don't wait until August this year to start digging themselves out!
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