GAME 38 - May 11: Who ARE These Guys???

Houston 8, LA 5

Word for the Day: Suharashii. Excellent (Japanese)

This is definitely a different Astros team. It's not just the new faces - they have all become familiar since Spring Training. It's just a whole different game. The Astros of the past few years were not a come-from-behind kind of team; if they were behind after 7 innings, they nearly always lost. The run production often sucked; their game was based on great pitching and good fielding. With Oswalt, Clemens, and Pettitte on the front, and Qualls, Wheeler, and Lidge on the back, who needed to score many runs? The defensive qualities of Everett and Ausmus (as much his brain as his arm) more than made up for their weak batting. And under the leadership of Bagwell and Biggio, it really was a team that you could call "The Good Guys" without being embarrassed. Maybe just a little evangelical for my taste, but you could pretty much bet that that their individual press coverage would be more likely to say "good citizenship" than "bad sportsmanship."

So who are these 2008 Astros? The starting pitching is a big question mark, but the much maligned bullpen has actually been pretty good. The offense is finally showing off its expected power explosion, with Tejada, Berkman, and Lee the scariest heart of any order in the league. We haven't yet seen Pence at his best, but he's getting there, and Towles and Bourn will get better too if they are allowed to keep playing. The running game is fantastic - the Astros already have more steals than they did all season last year. It's not just Bourn and Matsui and Pence who are running; Berkman's stealing bases, and even Lee has one. The defense has been quite good - very few errors and lots of double plays go a long way in helping the pitchers.

So, after a long preamble to this Game 38 writeup, who are these guys? They are the 2008 Astros team who can come from behind in the eighth inning to decisively win a series-sweeping game on the road against a LA team that just one week ago was the hottest team in baseball. They are the 2008 Astros team who had two outs in the seventh inning before spoiling the opposing starter's no hitter, and then went on to spoil his whole day. And very puzzling, they are the 2008 Astros team whose #4 pitcher has a 3.53 ERA, and not one single decision - win or lose - to show for his first eight starts of the season - while the closer leads the team in wins.

Chacon's latest redefinition of a no-no was already a sure thing when I had to turn off the game after the seventh inning to go to my son and daughter-in-law's place for a family Mothers' Day dinner. The Astros were down 2-0, when Pence's 2-out single broke up LA's Hiroki Kuroda's no hitter. Pence managed to score the Astros' only run, as Kuroda and his replacement Joe Beimel went on to walk the next 3 batters. The RBI walk was Loretta's, pinch hitting for Chacon. Bourn hit a long fly ball, which was just barely caught in center to end the inning disappointingly, with the bases loaded.

Wesley Wright came in to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, leaving Chacon in line for the loss but not a win. Wright gave back the run to LA, without making an out. Geary finished off the inning by pitching to only two batters, inducing a fielders' choice and then a double play.

At that point, I had to pick family over baseball; I closed the computer and left for the dinner party. Just before we arrived at their place downtown about 40 minutes later, my second son called to say "Happy Mothers' Day - and oh, by the way, your team is winning." I couldn't believe that they were still playing, but they were still in the eighth inning, and the Astros had a big fat lead.

Six runs in the eighth, come from behind, on the road no less - this is definitely a new Astros team. Matsui singled, then Tejada, then Berkman, scoring Matsui. Lee singled, scoring Tejada. Pence singled, scoring Berkman. Five consecutive singles to open the inning put the Astros ahead 4-3. Pence stole second as Wiggington struck out, taking away the double play opportunity. Then Ausmus singled, scoring Lee and Pence. Erstad's double moved Ausmus to third, and Bourn's sac fly pushed across the sixth run of the inning. Matsui, up for the second time, flied out to end the fun. But the Astros were ahead 7-3.

Brocail came in to pitch a scoreless eighth. Then the Astros plated another run in the top of the ninth, on Tejada's infield single, Brocail's sac bunt, and Pence's RBI double. Brocail gave back a pair of Dodger runs in the bottom of the ninth. With Andre Ethier coming to bad (3 hits already), Coop went for the Papa Grande. It took Valverde 9 pitches and a full count, but Ethier popped out to end the game. Save #8 for Valverde.

Meanwhile, it was no decision #8 for Chacon. Hopefully Chacon won't try to pace Valverde for the rest of the season! He pitched another terrific start. After a 2-run homer in the first, he held the Dodgers scoreless for the next 5 innings, giving up 7 scattered hits and 1 walk, striking out 3. But all for naught - Geary, who pitched to just 2 batters in the bottom of the 7th, was the pitcher of record when the Astros batters finally woke up in the eighth. The only consolation Chacon might take from this is one for the records books: He's now tied for the major league record of most no-decision games to start a season. Chacon seems puzzled about whether this is a record that he wants. After the game he said, "I don't know how excited I am about it, but I can't do anything but keep trying to pitch well and keep our team in the game. If the relievers get all my wins, fine. They can take them. But I definitely want to get a win before I get a loss.""

Other special features of the game, besides the come-from-behind win: Bourn made an spectacular catch in the ninth inning, crashing into the outfield wall but keeping the ball in his glove. The runner on third tagged up and scored, but Bourn turned a for-sure extra base hit into a sac fly.

Pence went 3 for 4, with 2 runs and 2 RBIs, and a pair of steals for good measure. He's pulled his BA up to a much more respectable .273. For the first time in more than a week, it was not the Lance Berkman Show - in fact, he lowered his BA in this game, with only 1 hit in his 4 at bats. (He's still batting .382.) This win was much more of the Total Team affair: The Astros scored their 8 runs on 10 hits - 8 singles and 2 doubles.