GAME 156 - September 23: This Has Got to be the Last Loss

Cincinnati 2, Houston 1

Understatement of the Day: "We are disappointed that we let a golden opportunity slide tonight." (Cooper)

When Wandy got tagged with a pair of unearned runs in the first inning, the kickoff of the last week of the season was not off to a good start. But Matsui's leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning gave hope that the bad start was just a minor glitch on the way to a big win. Wandy and a quartet of relievers went on to throw 8 shutout innings to hold the Reds to just those two runs. That should have been plenty of help from the mound to get this critical win. But the Astros never scored again after Matsui's leadoff homer.

It's not like they didn't have opportunities, even with the Red's boy wonder Edinson Volquez throwing fire from the mound. The most painful blown chance came in the sixth inning: With one out and Bourn on second, Tejada singled to left. Confused about his signals, Bourn rounded third - and stopped. Tejada got into a rundown between first and second, and Bourn should have been able to score easily to tie the game, but ended up stranded on third at the end of the inning. They got a runner in scoring position in the ninth, but he was doubled off second in a call so close that the other umps overturned the initial safe signal, ending the game as the poet says, "not with a bang but a whimper."

The Astros dug a huge hole in the post-hurricane fiasco. But without stupid losses to the Pirates and to Cincinnati, they would not be quite to the brink of elimination.