GAMES 57-59:Finishing the Homestand in Fine Form and High Definition

June 9: Cubs 7, Astros 1

June 10: Astros 2, Cubs 1

June 11: Astros 2, Cubs 1 [13 innings]

After a grueling first day back in the office, I rushed to be home in time to catch a live (!) ballgame. However, my not-cousin Ted Lilly apparently wasn't in on the playbook - he didn't read the part where it said that the Astros were going to win a big blowout to celebrate my return. Instead he shut Houston out into the seventh inning, allowing only 3 measly hits and a pair of walks. The Astros didn't manage to get on the board until the ninth inning, when Berkman's solo homer scored their lone run.

Meanwhile, Astros starter Brian Moehler was a lot more generous with the Cubs. He started off on the wrong foot, giving up 3 runs on 2 doubles and 4 singles in the first inning. It didn't get much better after that - he allowed runs in both the second and third innings before he got the hook. Reliever Brandon Backe (welcome back, I guess) struck out the first two batters he faced, and then was in constant trouble after that. He squeaked out of it in the fourth and fifth before succumbing in the sixth, allowing another pair of runs to score. Arias pitched two scoreless innings and Byrdak finished up the ninth with the bases loaded, but no runs scored.

Cubs pitchers continued to stymy the Astros batters throughout the series, but Houston hurlers outmatched them in Games 2 and 3. Both of these 2-1 walkoffs had the same ending: Runner in scoring position, Berkman intentionally walked, brining Geoff Blum to the plate. One might remember Blum's place in Astros history in a negative way - as a spoiler in one of the World Series games back when he played for the White Sox. I won't say his part in these two games makes up for that, but every little bit helps. In both games, Blum singled to score the winning run, resulting in the usual head-pounding by his joyful teammates. Blum ended up in the interview box two games in a row, minus a couple of IQ points, looking a bit like a tall blond porcupine. I suspect that his friends on the White Sox rejoiced in his success - anything to stick it to their cross-town Cubbie rivals.

Game 2 seemed like a continuation of Game 1, from the Astros hitting perspective: With Zambrano on the mound, Houston was held to 3 hits for the first 8 innings. This time, however, he was matched by Wandy for 7 innings, and Sampson right behind him to hold down the fort. After several miserable outings (causing the pitching team to scour the tapes for evidence of tipping), Wandy was back in his earlier form. He gave up only 1 run on 5 hits, striking out 6. However, with no help from his batting comrades, he left the mound after 7 with his team behind 1-0. The Astros scored in the bottom of the inning to tie it up, taking Wandy out of contention for the decision, on Blum's RBI groundout to score Pence. That left Sampson, who pitched the last 2 innings, in place to garner the win. It was another nice performance for him, in a string of scoreless outings - he shut out the Cubs on 2 hits, ending with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Game 3 - more of the same... Cubs starter Ryan Dempster allowed one run in the first inning (Bourn scored from third on Lee's sac fly). He then held Houston scoreless for 6 more innings, Meanwhile, the Astros pitchers - Ortiz, Byrdak, Arias, and Sampson - shut out the Cubs to preserve that 1-0 lead all the way into the ninth inning, when Hawkins gave up a solo homer to Derrek Lee to tie it up. Fulchino was nearly perfect in extra innings to earn the win, allowing only one baserunner (a single) in three innings. Let's jump directly to the good part: Pence got a 1 out walk, then stole second on Michael's strikeout. Berkman was intentionally walked to get to Blum, who once again singled to score Pence and win the game.

I watched this day game Thursday night when I got home from work. Besides the win - of the game and the series - I had another reason to enjoy watching this game: There has been a major upgrade in my baseball watching ability. On returning from Israel, where I had used my daughter's Mac for 2 weeks, I was no longer satisfied watching and writing about ballgames on my 12" Dell with the broken "?" key. A 30 minute trip to the mall resulted in a 24" iMac, dwarfing my puny laptop. With this giant screen (larger than the TV set we have somewhere in the house), baseball-watching should have been awesome. But it wasn't - our DSL service was "starter" level, too slow to even keep up with basic MLB.TV streaming. A call to Verizon fixed that - FIOS is 100 times faster. Then $20 to MLB.com for my upgrade, and presto! I am having a fine time watching ballgames now! If only the Astros can keep winning - I don't need HDTV to watch them lose!