GAME 28 - April 29: Rattlesnake - Tastes Just Like Chicken

Houston 6, Arizona 4

Quote of the Day: "In the bullpen they told me, 'You have to focus on these guys and strike out everybody.' I was just doing my job." (Valverde, on beating his old team by striking out the side)

Happily the Astros did not lose this game by one run. Otherwise, the ump's bad call on JR Towles' home run in the third inning might have hurt more than the young catcher's stats. The ball hit over the yellow line and then bounced back on the field, where the umpire called it in play; Towles got a double for his efforts.

Even more happily, it didn't matter because the Astros won the game. After getting used to success in their six-game winning streak, the Astros must have found three consecutive losses to be a serious bummer. Beating the D-Backs - the team with the best record in the league - was a nice turn.

So many things to like in this game, starting with timely hitting. The Astros got off to a fast start, scoring their first two runs in the first inning on Tejada's RBI double, followed by Lee's single. Cassel (still subbing for Wandy) gave it back in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer, to tie the game 2-2. The big inning for the Astros came in the third: With one out, Tejada singled, then Berkman hit a ground ball that was misplayed - everybody safe. Lee walked to load the bases, which Blum cleared with a double to left. Cruz struck out for the second out. And then came Towles' ill-fated home run, which went into the scorecard as an RBI double. Cassel struck out, leaving Towles stranded. Still, it was a four-run inning, giving the Astros a 6-2 lead.

I rarely get excited about anything wonderful that the opposing team does, but this game was an exception. There was something quite notable about Cassel's strikeout in the third: He was the first batter thrown to by a just-hatched rookie pitcher named Max Scherzer. Never heard of him? He just came up from Triple A and this was his Major League debut, in long relief for starting pitcher Edgar Gonzales, who couldn't make it through the third inning. When the announcers said that the new pitcher was a rookie, my first thought was: Oh good, Astros have a chance for a big blowout. That thought didn't last long, as Scherzer stayed in the game another four innings, and did not allow a single Astro to reach base. Thirteen up, thirteen down - seven of them on strikeouts, as Scherzer threw 96-to-99 MPH fastballs right past them. This could turn out to be a fluke, but on the other hand - who knows? - we might have been watching a historic debut of a future star.

Back to more traditional things to like about this game. Has anyone noticed that Valverde has stopped being a complete loser and is looking more like a closer? He was certainly psyched for this game - against the team that he played for last year, when he led the league in saves. Coming in with a 2-run lead to protect, he actually looked ferocious out on the mound - and his pitching was awesome. It wasn't 1-2-3; he allowed a one-out double just to make it interesting. But the other three batters in the ninth didn't find anything hittable as Valverde followed orders from his fellow relievers - he struck out the side. This was the rare case where I actually enjoyed the opposing team's broadcast of the game: The Arizona broadcast team, who know Valverde so well from previous years, went on and on about what a wonderful kid he is. After the vicious skewering that Valverde received in the Houston Chronicle - from both the writing staff and the so-called fans ranting on the blogs - it was really nice to hear someone talk about what a great guy Valverde is. Meanwhile, after his truly gruesome start to the season, Valverde has an ERA of 0.00 in his last 5 appearances - not lights out but certainly closerly. His ERA has dropped from over 12 to under 7. Still a way to go, but definitely in the right direction.

More good fielding -- Cassel can thank the infielders for saving him from worse than the 5 ERs he gave up. Two more double plays, no errors. Houston still only has 9 errors for the whole season. (Compare that to Pittsburgh's league leading 29!) Meanwhile, the Astros 29 season double plays is third in the league.

What's not to like: Pence, who has returned to struggling at the plate, was benched for this game. Cruz Jr played in his place - but his BA is the worst on the team for a position player - well under .100! Towles and Bourn are both hovering around .200. While the big guys have turned around much of their early-season batting woes, some of the younger players are still struggling at the plate. I am still thinking that with the pitching better than expected, plus the phenomenal fielding, when these guys start to add some hits and runs, this team is going to be good.

Fashion Statement: The Astros wore the rarely-used grey road unis for this game. They had to, since the D-backs wear red jerseys on Tuesday home games. It was very confusing; I kept getting confused about who was batting, seeing those red shirts at the plate. A couple of times I accidentally cheered for the wrong team.