GAMES 50 - May 23: A Scary Squeaker

Houston 4, Philadelphia 3

Quote of the Day: "I felt a little dizzy. I said you know what, I have to be in the game. Thank God it hit my glove first. If that didn't happen, I don't know where I would be right now." (Valverde after being drilled in the face by a line drive - and then finishing the game)

The Astros and the Phillies came into the Friday night game well matched, with identical 27-22 records. Their run totals for the season matched at 293, and they even had the same number of hits - 442. So it's not surprising that the Sabbath games were close ones. Happily, this week Houston came up on the winning end. Last week when the Sabbath ended, I had a pair of losses to choose between; this week I watched both games end-to-end on Saturday night, and went to bed happy in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

The Sabbath games had another similarity: Both went down to the very last pitch, in extremely tense ninth innings, before the Astros were able to do their victory dances and ritual head-bashings on the field. (If I were a Phillies fan, I would have called this blog entry "A Pair of Heartbreakers.")

For a few minutes on Friday night, though, events went beyond tense, to just plain scary. Jose Valverde is an emotional pitcher, with a dramatic flair. But he's taken drama to a new level with his performance in the ninth inning on Friday. With a comfortable 4-1 lead, Valverde gave up a lead-off single to Burrell, which stretched to an extra base on Bourn's fielding error. The next batter grounded out, moving the runner to third. On a 1-2 count, Feliz hit a hard line drive straight at Valverde. Quick reflexes deflected a bit off the power, but the ball smacked Valverde hard on the side of his face, flattening him. The runner scored from third, while Rex Jones and the Astros players rushed to the mound to check on Valverde, who was face down and not moving much. After a few minutes, Valverde got up, looking a bit dazed, and making facial contortions to check that his jaw was still intact. Unbelievably, he convinced Coop to let him stay in the game.

The on-field drama continued as the next batter singled, putting runners on first and second, with one out and a two-run lead. Chris Coste came in to pinch hit - his BA as a pinch hitter is over .500 with a slugging percent above .800. Valverde got him swinging for the second out. Then Rollins whacked his third hit of the game, a double to deep right field, scoring the runner from second. That hit could have tied the game but Pence made a great throw and held pinch runner (and ex-Astro) Eric Bruntlett on third base. Victorino hit a fly ball to center for the third out, the Astros won 4-3, and the party began. Big Papa managed to escape without any head bashing from the mob, given his injury, but his fist pumping over his league-leading 15th save was more emphatic than ever.

With all of this focus on the excitement last moments of the game, I would be remiss not to relate how the Astros got to the ninth inning with a lead to protect. Hero #1 was Brandon Backe. For the second start in a row, Backe pitched his "best game of the season." After a second inning home run to Burrell, he treated the Phillies very cruelly, with perfect 1-2-3 innings from the fourth through seventh. He exited the game in the eighth, with one out, to a well-deserved standing ovation. Backe pitched 7 1/3 innings, giving up only 1 run on 6 hits, 1 BB, and 6 Ks. Brocail had a few hairy moments in relief, when the runner on first stole, putting runners on second and third with one out. He struck out Victorino, and intentionally walked Utley, loading the bases. But he induced Howard to ground out to end the threat.

Hero #2 of this game was Hunter Pence, who connected for two solo homers - including a tape-measure blast to the railroad tracks. Berkman only had one hit, but it was a good one - a one-out triple in the eighth. He scored on Lee's sac fly. The other Astros run was scored in the seventh inning on hits by the Astros' offensive problem children, Towles and Bourn. This time they came through, and that extra run made the difference in this close game. Wiggington had two hits in this game, including another double. He's really been on a tear since coming back from his bruised rib injury.