GAME 29 - April 30: April Showers... Bring May Flowers?

Arizona 8, Houston 7

Quote of the Day: "We can't get the stinking pitcher out, we're in trouble." (Cecil Cooper, on the D-back's pitcher's game-tying home run)

Coop was steamed for good reason. This was a really crappy loss. When I checked the scoreboard from my office this afternoon, I saw that the Astros already had six runs in the second inning -- off of Randy Johnson, no less! I was already anticipating coming home tonight and watching the Astros' big blowout series-winning game against the best team in the National League. Instead, Houston managed to give up a run here and a run there, finally losing the lead on a two-run home run hit by -- you guessed it -- the opposing pitcher. To be fair, this pitcher - Micah Owings - is hitting over .400. But it's not like that was a surprise to the Astros. Ausmus went over the plan for how to pitch to him before the game. It just didn't quite work out according to plan - Borkowski's first pitch to him in the sixth inning was a hanging slider that ended up in the stands in right field. Oh yeah, it was an opposite field home run. Geez.

There were, of course, some good things in the game. Ausmus went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles. Lee hit a 3-run homer (#6). Tejada got two more hits. Pence was back in right field after a short stay on the bench - he had a pair of hits. Hopefully, he'll go back on a batting tear now that he's had a little time to patch up his swing. Qualls pitched a perfect 7th inning, maintaining his 0.00 season ERA. Whoops! Forgot for a moment that he's not one of ours anymore. (Wah!)

Good things notwithstanding, I'm not going to watch this game on the mlb.tv archive. Not even the first two glorious innings, when it looked like the Astros were headed for a big win. It's too much of a bummer. I'm with Coop - this was "by far, by far" the worst loss of the season. The Astros have lost games by much bigger scores, but they just plain shouldn't have lost this one at all.

In other news, Cassel was sent back down to Round Rock to make room for the return of Wiggington and Wandy from DL in the next day or two. And yesterday's D-back rookie sensation, Max Scherzer, is now in the Arizona rotation.

April is over. After the first sixth of the season, the Astros have a 13-16 record, three games under .500. They are in 4th place (better than two other teams!) in the NL Central, 5 games behind the Cards. The Astros spent exactly one day of the first month of the season at .500, before dipping back into a losing record. Oh well, April showers. I am predicting big improvements to come, along with the flowers, in May.

Coming up: A home stand! Milwaukee is coming to Houston for a weekend series.