GAME 14 - April 15: Cheated!

Philadelphia 4, Houston 3

Quote of the Day: "I made a good pitch." (Valverde)

Unfortunately Valverde made 19 other pitches, and they were not all good.

Perhaps Wandy Rodriguez and Shawn Chacon can start a new club for Astros' pitchers whose best start of the season was literally thrown away by struggling closer Jose Valverde. Chacon was beautiful - he pitched 8 shutout innings, giving up only 4 singles and 2 walks, while striking out 5. Fans and sportswriters will likely argue over whether Cooper should have left him in for the 9th. With a 3-0 lead, and Chacon at 109 pitches and coming up to bat in the 9th, Coop made the same decision that most manager would probably make: He pinch-batted for Chacon and went to his closer.

It's ironic that the Astros were playing in Philadelphia, where Brad Lidge sat watching the game with his Phillies' teammates in the bullpen. From there, Lidge had a good view of his replacement screwing up. The mood was set on Valverde's first pitch to pinch-hitter Chris Snelling: BOOM! Right over the right field wall. The mood was reinforced on the second pitch: Chase Utley was hit by the pitch. Then for the poetic interlude: Howard struck out on 3 pitches. There was a moment to hope that the Astros could pull this out with a third double play of the game... and then Burrell hit a two-run homer to tie the game at 3-3.

At this point I was thinking that recent history would repeat, that the Astros would come back in the next inning to win the tied game and Valverde would get another unfairly earned "W." A repeat of the game the week before, when he stole Wandy's second start. But then when Valverde struck out Jenkins, and the ball got past Ausmus to put a runner on first, a darker thought crept in: They are going to lose this one. Pedro Feliz doubled to the left field corner, and Jenkins dashed for home, ignoring the third base coach with the stop sign on. He barely beat the tag, and the game was lost.

Some game notes: Berkman and Lee each got a pair of hits, and scored all of the Astros runs. Bourn got another stolen base (#7). Hunter Pence, still batting 7th, got an RBI for his 6th inning sac fly; otherwise, he continued his hitting slump. His BA is higher than Ausmus' - but just barely. It was nice to see Eric Bruntlett on the field, after his off-season trade to the Phillies - at least he's getting some playing time.

Fashion News: Each team had designated one player to wear Jackie Robinson's otherwise-retired jersey number. For Houston, it was Bourn wearing #42. Cooper wore Robinson's number also.