GAME 6 - April 5: On the Seventh Day...

Chicago 9, Houston 7

Word for the Day: Sabbath. A time of rest.

Although my family, friends, business colleagues, and acquaintances generally consider me to be over the top in my passion for the Houston ball club, I actually do have priorities. One of my priorities, which will soon be quite evident from this series of postings, is that I am Jewish and religiously observant. That means that I don't eat hotdogs at baseball games. More importantly for a Fan in Exile - who doesn't actually have much opportunity to consume stadium hotdogs - I don't use the computer to watch games on mlb.tv on the Sabbath, from Friday at sunset until Saturday at dark. I also do not watch the games on Jewish holidays - in a good year, that includes not only Passover (spring) and Shavuot (summer), but also the High Holidays, Succot, and Simchat Torah (fall/playoffs). I don't know the results until Saturday night, when I rush to Astros.com to find out what happened the moment the Sabbath ends. (With Rosh Hashanah starting September 29 this year -- the day after the Astros' regular season finale -- I'll be pretty much going crazy in October if (when!) Houston makes it to the playoffs.)

So I missed Saturday's afternoon loss to the Cubs, as I will miss one or two games a week for the rest of the season. I like to brag that "I watch every game of the season," but that's not totally true. Every week, after the Sabbath, I have to make the hard decision: Should I spend time watching the archived game(s) on mlb.tv, or should I just read Footer and McTaggert's game reports and move on?

Generally, it depends on what happened in the game. If the Astros won, I always watch a good part of the game - the first inning to see the starting pitchers, innings with runs or interesting defensive plays, the end of the game. If the Astros lost, I might watch the interesting parts (but maybe not the end of the game). It was an especially hard decision this week: I never want to miss watching Oswalt pitch; on the other hand, I didn't have the heart to watch him lose his second start of the season. In the end, I passed on it.

Here's what I missed, courtesy of Footer, McTaggert, the box score, and the play-by-play:

Oswalt got another loss, after giving up 6 runs (5 ER) on 10 hits, 1 BB, and no strikeouts(!) in 6 2/3 innings. Four of the hits were for extra bases, including an RBI double by Jason Marquis - Oswalt seems to have a particular problem getting out the opposing pitcher this year. As in his first game, his curve ball doesn't seem to be there. He was peppered with hits, including infield/bunt hits. The relief pitchers didn't do much to help him out of the 7th inning; Villareal, Wright, and Geary combined to give up a walk, a balk, and two doubles, allowing 3 more runs to score before making that elusive third out. Brocail also gave up a run in his inning of relief.

With 7 runs on 12 hits, the Astros offense was good - just not good enough to overcome the Cubbies. Carlos Lee was the hitting leader for the Astros, going 3 for 4 with two doubles and a home run. (Unfortunately, the Cubs' Derek Lee was 4 for 4, with a home run, double, and pair of singles, 3 runs, 2 RBIs.)

Bourn continues to make Ed Wade look like a genius - he was 2 for 5 with a triple, another stolen base (#4), and an outfield assist.

On the bad news side, Berkman and Wiggington left the game with injuries. Berkman has a stiff neck, hurt in Friday's game; he's day to day. Wiggington has a broken thumb, apparently spiked through his glove by Marquis' attempted slide into third.

Pence had a disappointing day at the plate - he was 1 for 5 with an infield single. He's off to a pretty slow start, just batting .185. Unfortunately, he's in good company in that regard.

An observation: Although Cooper has stated that there are no "personal catchers," he's still having Ausmus catch for Oswalt. I'd expect that Oswalt, as the ace, can have whoever he wants as a catcher. However, with Ausmus not hitting (and allowing a run on a rare passed ball in this game), perhaps Oswalt will be amenable to considering having the blond kid catch for his next start? Just a thought...

Just one more game of the opening road trip, and then back to Houston. I'll write up my season prediction after the Sunday game.