GAMES 78-79: A Brew with a Nice Finish

GAME 78 - June 29: Brewers 7, Astros 5
GAME 79 - June 30: Astros 5, Brewers 1

After Tuesday night's big come-from-behinder, I was suckered into believing up until the last out, that the Astros would somehow heroically win last night's game. Myers, uncharacteristically, had given up 7 runs on 4 homers and the odd double to put the Astros in a hole. He hung on for 6 innings, keeping his streak of 6+ inning starts going, but it was hardly a quality start. But the Astros had some pop of their own, scoring 3 runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, thanks to a homer from Feliz, a 3 for 5/2 RBI night for Berkman, and 2 for 4/2RBI game for Bourn. All in all, a respectable performance against the Brewers' ace, Yovani Gallardo. Coming into the ninth inning 3 runs down was a bit of a bummer, but once you get that come-from-behind mojo going, you believe anything is possible. The inning didn't start auspiciously: Bourgeois was a statue, past which one ball and three called strikes whizzed by. Bourn singled, and (of course) stole second, his second SB of the game. Keppinger, however, struck out for the second out. Berkman kept the hope going with a double, scoring Bourn. Lee walked, bringing up Pence - and the go-ahead run - to the plate. Homer, homer, homer, I chanted from my bed, where I was watching the game on my iPod touch and earphones.  He grounded out to end the game.

This afternoon I was sitting in a long meeting at the office, getting a little grouchy. At the end the meeting, my colleague Ann P. (a huge Twins fan) remarked that my mood was understandable since my team had lost. The Astros were playing an afternoon game, which had started around the same time at the meeting. But Ann had been in the meeting the whole time, with no sign of a Blackberry or other internet-accessible device. So how did she know the Astros lost? Turned out that she was just giving me the business. I ran back to my office and checked the score online -- the Astros were leading late in the game. So here I am now, eating my dinner with mlb.tv on my iMac, watching Wandy have a good start, and knowing that there's going to be a happy inning. I'm going to pour a glass of wine now and then I'll finish this blog post up when the game's over. Here are some pictures of Wandy from Spring Training to tide you over until I come back...

This game was largely the Wandy Show -- good pitching, good fielding, and (what I always love) supporting himself at the plate. In the pitching department, Wandy threw 7 innings, giving up only a single run on 7 hits, a walk, and 6 strikeouts. With base runners in every inning, he kept his cool, pitched out of trouble, and kept them Brewers from scoring. His best fielding move came in the sixth inning with a runner on second. Wandy he fielded a ground ball, faked a throw to first, and then whirled and threw out the runner, who decided to make a try for third. Sweet. Helping himself at the plate, Wandy put down a perfect bunt for a suicide squeeze, scoring Blum from third. The RBI put Houston ahead 2-1, and they never gave up the lead. The Astros added a trio of runs in the seventh, but it was all insurance, since Wandy and the bullpen had things under control. Lindstrom and Lyon pitched two hitless innings in relief to keep Wandy's "W" intact.

Wandy got some nice support from his teammates, both in fielding and at the plate. Bourn had another terrific catch, leaping at the wall to catch a ball that appeared to be heading out of town. Chris Johnson had another 4-hit game, his second of the roadtrip. Blum got on base in every at bat, with a double, a single, and a pair of walks. Berkman hit a double and walked twice. All in all a fun game, once with very little stress -- especially since I watched it knowing the outcome ahead of time. :-)

So that's it for June - a fantastic month for the Astros! Hey, it's all relative. When you start the first two months of the season as miserably as the Astros have, a .500 month is a huge improvement. We're a long way from getting back to an overall .500 record (still 17 games under), but the overall direction is positive.  I'm off to Seattle for a long Fourth of July holiday weekend with my folks and siblings, planning to celebrate my mother's birthday belatedly with a weekend of mah jongg and good food. And maybe some baseball watching too. Tweet me.

GAME 77: A Weeknight Double Header Surprise

GAME 77 - June 28: Astros 9, Brewers 5


Bonus Game: Braves 5, Nationals 0 (Nats leave Stras hanging out to dry)

Somewhere around 8:30 PM last night, I tweeted:

   Guilty admission: the Nats game is much more entertaining than the Astros game tonight

Well, it was! At the end of 6 innings, Strasburg had just struck out the side against the Braves, with a 0-0 score to testify to the quality of his pitching match with Tim Hudson. Meanwhile, the Astros were down 4-0 at the end of  2 innings, after having their own side struck out by Manny Parra. A hard night for Bud Lite Norris, who was just returning to the rotation after his trip to the DL. I was lying on the couch in the family room, watching the Nats game on my TV, with my ancient 12" Dell laptop on my lap (where else?) for the mlb.tv broadcast of the Astros game. And tweeting about both games.

And then things took a mighty spin. Down in Atlanta, Strasburg walked Chipper Jones on 4 pitches to lead off the seventh. The next batter singled. The next batter hit into what looked like a double play, but the Nats shortstop blew the play and both runners were safe. Bases loaded, no outs. Trouble. A sac fly gave the Braves a 1-0 lead. Would have been nice if that were the third out, not the first, but it was just the start of trouble for the Nats. Strasburg lasted one more runner, giving up a single that allowed the second runner to score. But his replacement, Sean Burnett, gave up two hits (one on a ground ball that both the Nats SS and third baseman couldn't handle) for 2 more runs. Down 4-0 now, the Nats switched to Drew Storen. Sac fly made it 5-0. Braves batted around and then some before Chipper Jones struck out to end the mess. Of course, like the last game in which Strasburg pitched, the Nats failed to score at all. So after that first sac fly run that Strasburg gave up, the game was over anyway.

Once Strasburg was pulled, I shut down the stinky old Dell, and came upstairs to resume watching the Astros losing to the Brewers on my nice big iMac with the HDD broadcast. Only something weird happened. Our guys scored a pair of runs in the third to cut the Brewers' lead in half. Then three runs in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and another two in the eighth! Came from behind! Lots of runners (14 hits and 6 walks). Bourn hit his first homer of the year, plus 3 singles, and a stolen base. Pence went 3 for 5, Lee went 2 for 4, Feliz went 3 for 5! It was a bonanza of bases for the Astros, a momentary rise from the cellar of nearly every offensive stat category. And just to make sure that they didn't blow it, the bullpen was excellent. Chacin, Lopez, Brydak, Lyon, and Fulchino combined for 4 scoreless innings, giving up only 3 hits and no walks between them. Lyon struck out all 4 batters he faced, and Fulchino struck out 2 more in the ninth to end the game.

Now THAT was a Great Game! (When was the last time I actually wrote a blog just for one game?) Can they do it again tonight? Brett Myers is going to try. First pitch in about 45 minutes. I'll be tweeting - see you there?

GAMES 71-76: A Hot Week in Texas (Fahrenheit)

GAME 71 - June 22: Giants 3, Astros 1

GAME 72 - June 23: Astros 6, Giants 3

GAME 73 - June 24: Astros 7, Giants 5

GAME 74 - June 25: Astros 7, Rangers 4

GAME 75 - June 26: Rangers 7, Astros 2

GAME 76 - June 27: Rangers 10, Astros 1

Bonus Game: June 23: Royals 1, Nationals 0 (Strasburg's first loss)

I wasn't the only one who was excited, watching Tuesday night's game as the Astros fielded their new "young" team with Roy Oswalt on the mound facing Tim Lincecum for the third time this season. Alyson Footer tweeted that she was excited too, and some of the usuals I hang out with on Twitter chimed in. We were all hoping that fresh blood, plus Oswalt's reliable arm, would translate into at least a little more fun from the limping Astros. Or better yet, a win for Roy O, who had lost to Lincecum in both previous starts, despite quality starts. Alas, it turned out to be much ado about pretty much nothing that night, as the Astros failed to turn 7 hits (including Jason Castro's first ever), 2 walks, and 3 Giant errors into any meaningful run support for the Wiz. Chris Johnson, Jason Castro, and Tommy Manzella were all in the starting lineup, but other than that, the game went just about the same as so many of Oswalt's starts -- quality pitching, no offense, a loss. Adding injury to insult, Manzella broke his finger on a diving fielding play, and he'll be out for at least six weeks on the DL. It was the seventh loss in a row against the Giants this year, and the fifth game in the Astros latest losing streak. Things were not looking good for this series.

However, the rest of the series was a lot more exciting, as the Astros pulled out a series victory on a pair of sloppy but ultimately winning games. In these two games, Houston players made 6 errors (3 in each), not to mention other fielding miscues that didn't wind up getting the honor of being called errors. Of the Giants' 3 runs on Wednesday and 5 on Thursday, 6 were unearned, courtesy of the Astros' unusually messy fieldwork. Although the newbies accounted for some of the mess (Johnson made 2 fielding errors at third  and Castro had a passed ball on Wednesday), it wasn't all their fault. Myers sailed a pickoff, Feliz threw astray, and Blum made two fielding errors from his not-best position at short stop (substituting for Manzella). There was an odd tossing match that turned what looked like a double play into two safe runners. Not that I ever insult the Astros, but there was some tweeting by others that used terms like "little league."

Despite all this mess on the field, the Astros managed to come through with a boatload of base runners, and enough of them crossed the plate to beat the Giants. Houston managed 11 hits plus 3 walks on Wednesday, including doubles by Berkman, Kepp, and Johnson. Myers threw another nice start - 7 innings, giving up 3 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts, and tried to ensure his win with a pair of singles, an RBI, and a run of his own. Lyon and Lindstrom came in behind him to pitch scoreless eighth and ninth innings for the save.

On Thursday, the Astros made sure Wandy had a chance to return from his recent malaise by scoring 7 runs in the first 3 innings, including a 3-run homer by Pence in the first, and Castro's first major league dinger, a solo bomb in the second. They didn't manage to pull off any more scoring after the third inning, but Wandy looked more like his old self from last year. He threw six innings, giving up 2 unearned runs on 4 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. Sampson, Brydak, and Lopez combined to pitch the seventh inning, resulting in 2 more unearned runs, before Lyon and Lindstrom came in to finish. Our closer wanted to make sure we were properly hepped up for the series win, so he gave up a run on 3 hits in the ninth before ending the game with a 3 pitch strikeout. 

On that cheerful note, the Astros zipped off to spend a very hot and humid weekend in Arlington to resume their annual loss of the Silver Boot to the Rangers. After being swept last weekend, it would only take one loss to accomplish this milestone and the Rangers were on an 11 game tear. But the Astros didn't just give it away. When I turned on my computer after the Sabbath ended last night, I expected to see the usual pair of Friday/Saturday losses. I had even saved a Samurai Sudoku for a baseball free evening. But to my surprise, the Astros had beat the Rangers on Friday night. The Rangers had 13 hits, three walks, and a pair of Houston errors to work with, but amazingly, the Astros pulled off a win. They did it with 14 hits of their own, including the Puma's first home run in recent history, and a little help from 3 Giants errors. All in all, it was quite a messy game on a rainy night, lasting almost 4 hours. (Watching the game after the Sabbath ended, I didn't get to bed until almost 2 AM.) It was a very good night for our newbie third baseman, Chris Johnson -- he went 4 for 5, driving in 3 runs. Jason Bourgeois got his first start in left field, with Carlos Lee at DH. He went 1 for 4, with a walk and a stolen base.  Quintero was back behind the plate, with no apparent problem from being hit in the head with a bat last week. With all this fun, Moehler managed to eke out a win, his first of the season, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) in 5 innings on the mound. Sampson, Chacin, Lopez, and Lindstrom combined to keep the Rangers from stealing the win.

Saturday afternoon's scorcher of a game (around 100 on the field for the afternoon match) ended the contention for the Silver Boot. The Astros fielded their junior team, with Johnson, Castro, Bourgeois, and Navarro in the starting lineup, and Josh Banks (just up from Triple A to replace Paulino) on the mound. Bourgeois,  leading off in place of Bourn, went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a pair of stolen bases. Jason Michaels, starting in left (with Lee still DHing), hit a 2-run homer in the fourth for Houston's only scoring action. Banks had all the fun he's going to get on this trip to the bigs -- he only lasted 4 innings, giving up 6 earned runs on 8 hits and 4 walks. After the game, Mills charitably summed up the outing by saying "He gave us an outing that at least kept us in the ball game and gave us a chance to win." But really, how often do the Astros win when the bad guys score 6 or more? Maybe it was just the heat. However, with Bud Norris back from DL, Banks was designated for assignment.

Today's game didn't start until 8 my time, when the temp in Arlington had dropped down to about 98 degrees. I looked forward to watching Roy O pitch all day, thinking that we might pull another series win out of the hat and end this week with a net plus. But after a nice quick 1-2-3 first inning, the Wiz melted down, allowing 8 runs in under 5 innings. The Rangers basically treated the Astros pitchers like they were throwing batting practice, while Houston couldn't do more than 6 scattered singles. Final score 10-1. Enough said.

Happily this concludes inter-league play for the season. Another losing record, after being stuck playing the Yankees and the Rangers (twice) -- the two top teams in the American League. There's something seriously unfair about inter-league schedules. 

In other baseball news, my favorite non-Astro player Stephen Strasburg got to experience the reality of playing for a losing team. After a no-decision in his last start, he pitched a terrific game on Wednesday -- 95 pitches over 6 innings in a blazing late afternoon game, giving up 1 run on 9 hits and 9 strikeouts, with no walks. What in the world are the Nats thinking, starting the game at 4:30 instead of 7, when it's in the high 90s? Who wants to sit outside and bake, even to see Strasburg? Apparently lots of people - the paid attendance was almost 32,000. Compare that to 21,000 the night before. Unfortunately, those who braved the heat to see Strasburg win were disappointed. The Nats didn't manage to score at all. After a day off, they managed to be swept by the Orioles (!!!) over the weekend. Now that's BAD.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Well, now for something kind of different. The Astros are bringing up some of their players from Round Rock. Chris Johnson, Jason Castro, and Jason Bourgeois will all be coming up to the big leagues, while journeymen Cory Sullivan, Casey Daigle, and Kevin Cash have been designated for assignment. According to Alyson Footer, Johnson and Castro will be getting most of the playing time at third and catcher respectively. The Astros can really use an infusion of pop at third base, and Johnson has been doing well in Triple A - batting over .325 with an OPS around .930. Outfielder Bourgeois has also been batting well in Round Rock, and will be a good addition to our short bench.

Here are a couple of my pictures of Johnson from Spring Training:

Here's Bourgeois sliding into third with a triple:

And here's Castro batting:

It's especially good timing for getting Castro up here, after Quintero's head bashing in Sunday's game. He ended up with seven stitches in his head, but apparently did not suffer a concussion or worse. I went back and watched the start of the fourth inning, when the Rangers' shortstop, Andres Blanco, whacked Q in the head with a mighty backswing. The blow knocked Q to the ground, where he lay for a few minutes, before walking off the field accompanied by a trainer holding a bloody pad to his head. At least the umpire didn't call catcher interference on him this time.

When the accident took place, the Astros broadcast wasn't even focused on the field. It was one of those in-case-they-get-bored-with-baseball, let's-entertain-them excursions into the stands to interview fans. I really, really hate fan of the day interviews in the middle of an inning, almost as much as the stupid hotdog or President races and all the guessing games on the scoreboard. Some of us actually want to watch the ball game. Anyway, after Quintero was already down on the ground, the broadcasters managed to get the audio away from the babe in the stands. Luckily Q appears to be okay, but having Castro join the team now is timely.

No word on what will happen to Sullivan, Cash, and Daigle. Neither Sullivan or Cash had been much help offensively (although Cash did pitch an inning in relief). Daigle had a few good relief appearances when he first came up, and then went into a tailspin after allowing a grand slam last week against the Yankees. He's given up runs in the last 5 games he's played.

Adding to the youth movement, it looks like Bud Norris will be back with the Astros after one more rehab start in Round Rock on Tuesday. And Chris Sampson is also due to return from the DL this week.

We may not start winning games, but at least we'll have some new guys to look at while we're losing.

GAMES 65-70: The Thrill of Defeat...

GAME 65 - June 15: Royals 15, Astros 7
GAME 66 - June 16: Astros 4, Royals 2

GAME 67 - June 17: Royals 5, Astros 2

GAME 68 - June 18: Rangers 9, Astros 3

GAME 69 - June 19: Rangers 5, Astros 1

GAME 70 - June 20: Rangers 5, Astros 4

Late yesterday afternoon, with another hour still left before the end of the Sabbath, I decided to address  the tug-of-war between anticipation of hope vs disappointment. So instead of waiting until after dark to find out the outcome of the two Sabbath games I'd missed, I walked home with neighborhood guests who still subscribe to the print edition of the Washington Post. I only stayed for a few minutes -- just long enough to take a glance at the Astros-Rangers box score from Friday night. It was another high score by the opposing team. Another low score by the Astros. In short, another loss. 

Actually, I stayed an extra couple of minutes to take a look at the outcome of the Nats game. I'd actually listened to the first 5 innings of that game on the radio before the Sabbath started, while waiting for my dinner guests to arrive. (Sundown's really late this time of year.) It's discouraging when I am taking more interest in every fifth Nationals game -- the ones when Stephen Strasburg pitches, of course -- than the Astros game taking place at the same time. Strasburg did not get a win Friday night - the Nats gave him a lesson about run support (or lack thereof) - and he ended up with a no decision when they lost in extra innings. But he did pitch 7 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits, ten more strikeouts, and (unlike his last game) no walks. His 32 strikeouts in his first 3 starts sets a new record - no doubt one of many records he'll break in his rookie year, and in his career. I have never been so excited about a player before. Of course I'm in good company - everyone is nuts for Stephen Strasburg. 

Perhaps there is a connection between the Astros' horrible season and Strasburg's rookie year. It's pretty clear that this is not going to be a replay of 2005's bad start and miracle turnaround. Too little, too late... So why not take this pattern all the way -- let's just be this year's version of the Nats from the past couple of seasons. Let's be the worst team and get the first pick. Let's get our own Strasburg. Of course there's a small glitch in this plot: While there's a first pick in every year's draft, there may only be a prospect like Strasburg once in a generation. We'd have to be horrible and then extremely lucky. 

So far we're pretty horrible.

We should have had a chance to rebound from last weekend's NY humiliation with a trip to Kansas City. The Royals are barely better than the Astros, record-wise, with poor home turf performance. But we got off to an ominous start: In a game where the Astros batters scored 7 (count 'em - SEVEN! a blowout!) runs, their pitchers gave up 15 to the mediocre Royals. Oops. Luckily, we have Oswalt pitching every fifth day, giving us a rare chance to win. He came through with another quality start in Game 2, typical Wiz style: 100+ pitches, 7 innings, 2 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts. Lyon and Lindstrom threw a scoreless inning each, and the Astros won. Did I mention that they scored more than 2 runs?! Kudos to Jason Michaels, who got the start in left field as El Cab DH'ed. JMike was responsible for 3 of the Astros' 4 runs. In Game 3, Brett Myers looked to be on the path for a pretty hot game of his own, holding the Royals scoreless for 6 innings, while the Astros sat on a pair of first-inning runs. Myers started out the seventh with two quick outs, and then the wheels came off: Three singles and a home run later, the Astros were behind and never came back. Another series loss. Ho hum.

Even in a bad game, there can be interesting moments. In the case of the Game 3 loss, it was a bizarre play in which the umps called an out that never occurred, reversing a double play that should never have happened. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, the Royals had a runner on second base. The batter lined towards short, and Blum was there to field the ball that hit the dirt at his feet. It should have been a simple ground-ball play, but the umpire oddly called it an out, as if Blum had caught the ball. Blum then stepped on second to double up the runner, who had taken off towards third. The Astros fielders, recipients of a lucky bad call by the ump, left the field after the third out had apparently been made. 

But in a rare (unheard of?) event, the umps got together and decided to reverse the call, determining that Blum would have made the play at first if the original out call had not occurred. They called the batter out at first, although there had never been a throw, and awarded the runner third base. After a long delay and much arguing by both teams' managers, the game resumed. Ironically, the next play was a liner straight to Blum, who actually did catch the ball this time, for the third out. So no harm done, and the outcome was probably as fair as it could have been. But it did open up a whole can of worms about whether the umpires can get together and just reverse a wrong call. And if they can, why didn't they do that in the botched no-hitter a couple of weeks ago? (I bet Jim Joyce wished they did!) 

Meanwhile, it was time to come back home to take on a more formidable opponent in the annual Silver Boot matchup. The Rangers are leading their division, and came into this series on a winning streak. Of course the Astros wanted to be hospitable to their guests, so they allowed them to continue the streak in peace. Friday night's game -- the one I read about in a Washington Post box score -- was another in an ongoing series of really bad starts for Wandy. He's definitely not the same Wandy as last year! This was not just a case of poor run support. Wandy threw two easy innings and then fell apart in the third, giving up 6 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. That was it for him for the night. Wesley Wright gave up another couple of runs in his two innings, and Daigle gave up another.  But the Astros had already lost it back in the third, never coming back out of the hole Wandy dug. He was rewarded with a loss - his league-leading tenth of the season. 

Moehler, pitching on Saturday night, had more to complain about in earning his loss. He pitched six innings, allowing a pair of runs on a 2-run homer -- the only hit he gave up. But his pals only eked out a single run (Bourn scored on a wild pitch), to earn poor Moe his 4th loss of the season. Lyon gave up 2 runs in the eighth, and Daigle gave up a his usual run in the ninth, but that was all just window dressing for the Rangers fans. 

On Sunday I went to an engagement party for some wonderful young friends. Between toasts and speeches, I took peeks at my Blackberry, happy to see that the Astros were maintaining a lead they'd grabbed with 4 runs in the first two innings. Nice for Paulino, who's been plagued with poor run support for most of the season. I got home just in time to see the Lindstrom blow a save opportunity in the ninth inning, setting up for Daigle to come in to pitch in the tenth. This was clearly going to be the kiss of death.  After four good appearances to start off his Astros career, Daigle had allowed runs in his last 4 games, starting with the grand slam he gave up to the Yankees and ending with the previous two games this weekend. He managed to put on the go-ahead run for the Rangers, and earned the loss when Chacin allowed that inherited runner to score. (I'm wondering if perhaps we shouldn't have signed Daigle's wife - softball pitcher Jennie Finch - instead?) I sure hope Chris Sampson is coming back from the DL soon. Anyway, foolish me to think that the Astros would end the week on a high note.

The Diamondbacks have now pulled ahead of us, leaving only the Pirates below us in the race to the NL Center. In the American League, the Orioles have a slam dunk claim on last place. Even if the Astros continue to play this kind of stinky baseball for the rest of the season, it may be a challenge to catch up with Baltimore for the worst-of-the-worst title. 

Remind me,  when is Strasburg pitching next? 

GAMES 62-64: I Don't ♥ NY

GAME 62 - June 11: Yankees 4, Astros 3
GAME 63 - June 12: Yankees 9, Astros 3
GAME 64 - June 13: Yankees 9, Astros 5


SPECIAL FEATURE: Nats 9, Indians 4

There's always this great anticipation, as my family is making Havdalah on Saturday night, wondering: Which of the Sabbath games did the Astros win? My late Saturday night entertainment is almost always an archived game that I know the result of. Since I cancelled my subscription to the Washington Post a few years ago, I no longer know the outcome of Friday night's game until I turn on the computer after the Sabbath ends. Maybe they won both?  Then I could watch one Saturday night and the other Sunday morning before the afternoon game starts. Or, maybe, on a bad weekend, they lost both games? I used to be more of a masochist, forcing myself to watch every game even if I knew it was a stinker. But now, I'm more pragmatic and kind to myself: When I know ahead of time that it's a real loser, I just don't watch it. Or at the most, I watch the good parts -- a half inning here or there that sounds interesting from the game reports. Could be the inning where the Astros scored runs, or a great play, or just an oddity, like the time our backup catcher Cash pitched an inning in a blowout loss.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was lying on the couch reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (finale of the best-selling Swedish trilogy), I was looking forward to a nice evening of baseball, wondering which of the games in NY would be the most entertaining demonstration of the Astros kicking some Yankee butt. I had already warned myself that the Yankees are a tough team, and it's in their billion dollar palace, so don't get too hopeful - it's not likely the Astros can sweep them. So I was cautiously optimistic, and not exactly shocked, to find that the Astros lost both Shabbat games. I spent the evening doing a super sudoku, the 5-in-1 kind.

That's probably how I should have spent this afternoon, instead of watching a parallel double header. On my antique 12" Dell laptop I watched the Astros @ Yankees game on mlb.tv, wearing headphones. At the same time, on my TV, I watched the HDD MASN broadcast of the Nationals @ Indians game. Or more specifically, I watched Stephen Strasburg pitching that game. It was a little tricky to coordinate the two -- I only wanted to watch the bottoms of the innings from Cleveland, while my bigger interest in the Astros game was the top halves, hoping the Astros would get some hits today.

The Nats game turned out pretty much as I'd hoped -- for the Astros. Strasburg had what any normal person would think was a nice start for a young rookie -- he pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up only 1 run (solo homer) on 2 hits, 5 walks, and 8 strikeouts. Switching from my earphones to the TV audio, I did hear one of the Nationals broadcasters bemoaning that Strasburg had not had a very good game today. That clearly is the danger of comparing everything from here on to his monumental debut. The main problem for Strasburg today was control -- he was having ongoing problems with the mound, and the groundskeepers had to come out twice to fill in a hole in his landing spot. An inability to work around that probably had something to do with all the walks. And, oh yeah, he's also just a 21 year old kid - he's not perfect. What he did have going for him today was the rest of the Nats team -- they got clutch hits, scored a bunch of runs, and pitched their way out of trouble (mostly). So, good game. Remind me again why I don't cheer for the Nats?

Oh yeah, it's because I'm an Astros fan. The Astros did not fare as well. They did get some runs -- one in the first inning (suckering me into thinking that they might have a big game) and 4 in the sixth (suckering me into thinking they might come-from-behind). But too little, too late. Astros pitchers gave up 9 runs on 9 hits including 2 homers (one a grand slam), 10 (TEN!) walks, a hit batter, and a fielding error. All in all, a big mess. The Astros broadcasters tried to pawn off the cause of the walks on the weather -- it rained through most of the game. But I'm still not certain how it was that the Yankee pitchers were not affected -- they only gave up 2 walks. Perhaps the Astros, with their retractable roof, just aren't used to playing in bad weather? Or maybe it only rained when the Astros were in the field?

At any rate, I don't really want to compare Moehler's bad start to Wandy's yesterday. It was a bad weekend for Astros baseball. Why couldn't we play the Orioles instead of the Yankees? Just to sum up, in case you missed it: I really hate NY. And the Yankees aren't even the NY baseball team that I like the least.

GAMES 58-61: Rocky Mountain High

GAME 58 - June 7: Rockies 5, Astros 1
GAME 59 - June 8: Astros 4, Rockies 3
GAME 60 - June 9: Astros 6, Rockies 2
GAME 61 - June 10: Astros 5, Rockies 4

This was a really big week for baseball lovers, with the 2010 Draft and Stephen Strasburg's ML debut competing with the Astros four-game series in Denver for my attention. I have to talk about Strasburg first, since everyone else is talking about him, from Jason Stark to David Letterman. I'm sure if I Googled, I might even find a congratulatory quote from President Obama. So here's my take...

I have a confession to make. If it had been the Astros playing the Nationals last Tuesday evening, I would have had to cheer for the Nats. I can't help it. With all the hype about Strasburg over the last year -- and especially in the last week or two -- it was such a setup for disappointment. Instead, it was an incredible pitching performance by a young man who's only one month older than my youngest daughter. It was not just an amazing start for a rookie -- it would have been a fantastic game even for an ace. While the 99 MPH fast ball and the 14 strikeouts in 7 innings garnered most of the headlines, I think I was most impressed with Strasburg's curveball. How was a kid like that throwing those nasty curves, with most of them coming in for strikes? No, actually, I was even more impressed with his composure. He just didn't seem to be fazed by it, and once or twice, he even allowed himself a small smile. I think the kid was having fun. I don't think that I'm going to change my allegiance from the Astros to the Nats, but I do plan to start watching more Nats games -- every five days when Strasburg is pitching. What a treat.

With the 2010 Draft taking place the same week, Strasburg's debut raised one idea in my head. I've been claiming that the Astros are going to turn this sinking ship around and start winning lots of games (and come back to win the Pennant - might as well be totally optimistic). But what if they don't? Would it really be so terrible to be absolutely, positively the worst team in the Major Leagues, if it meant that you could get the first pick in the first round of next year's draft? If you lucked out and there was another Strasburg to be had by the lucky first-pick team? And if you had, say, a spare $15 mil laying around to sign him with. Just a thought... Not a serious one - I get the impressing that players like Strasburg come along once in a decade (or a generation!), not every year. But somebody out of every draft is going to turn out to be a future superstar. If we're going to have a crappy season, may as well go all the way.

Now about this week's Astros games...

The Astros went to Denver with high hopes, anxious to keep their winning streak going. They got off to a  disappointing start to the four-game series against the Rockies, with another no-run-support game for Wandy. After pitching 7 innings, giving up 3 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks, with an unusually low 2 strikeouts, Wandy ended up earning the loss, his 8th of the season. It wasn't that the Astros didn't get any base runners -- they had 9 hits and 3 walks to work with. But they only managed to turn them into a single run, scored in the ninth inning. Too little, too late.

The rest of the series went much better. Each of the games was close, but the Astros managed to prevail at the end. The only one that doesn't look close was Game 3, whose 2-2 tie ended in the tenth inning with a two-out grand slam from Carlos Lee. It was the second night in the row that Lee had saved the game with his bat. In the eighth inning of Game 2, El Caballo had blooped a single into left to give the Astros their go-ahead run. While his batting average is still abysmally low (.224), it's creeping up. More importantly, Lee is starting to hit for power and to get RBIs, and is looking more like a Caballo than a Cabro all the time.

The Astros starting pitching was excellent in Denver, despite Mile High Stadium's reputation for being a big hitters ballpark. All of the Astros starters pitched quality starts. Moehler threw 8 innings on Tuesday night, giving up 3 runs in the first inning, and then shutting down the Rockies through the eighth. On Wednesday, Paulino had another terrific game, giving up only 2 runs and striking out 7 in his 8 innings on the mound. Due to the Astros' late-inning heroics in both these games, neither of them got a decision. On Thursday afternoon, it was Roy O's turn to shine. After two consecutive less than stellar starts, he was due for a nice game and he got it -- giving up 2 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings. This time, however, the Astros didn't have to play come-from-behind, and Oswalt managed to eke out a rare win. He's only got a 3.16 ERA with 11 quality starts this season, but unfortunately that only translates into a 4-8 record.

The outcome of this trio of wins is yet another series win for the Astros, pushing their record in June to 8-2. More importantly, they are no longer the worst team in the league -- not even tied! They are not even in last place in the Central Division - on a 5-game losing streak, that honor goes to the Pirates. The Astros now are ahead of two teams, and within half a game of the Brewers. So things are looking up, heading to New York for a weekend series against stiffer competition -- the Yankees.

All this good playing, amazing defense, clutch hitting, and good pitching may end up backfiring against the Astros long term, if it means that they don't get low picks in next year's player draft. The team had three picks the first day -- two in the first round, and one after for not resigning free-agent Valverde. They first picked a couple of high school: Delino DeShields Jr (a Michael Bourn type speedy outfielder whose Sr was a major league player for years) and Mike Foltynewicz (a hard-throwing right handed pitcher). They then selected a college-aged switch-hitting third baseman, Mike Kvasnicka, for their third pick. Supposedly these guys want to sign and play, and the Astros hope not to repeat the fiasco of the 2007 draft. I don't know much about these guys, or about any of the many other youngsters drafted in the rest of the week. Getting to know more about them will be something fun to do in the off season, in preparation for seeing new faces next March at Spring Training.

Time to shut down for the Sabbath. Hope to come back 25 hours from now to find that I have my choice of two Astros wins over the Yankees to watch tomorrow night. One can always dream.

Shabbat Shalom!

GAMES 55-57: Guess What! The Astros are NOT the Worst Team in the NL

GAME 55 - June 4: Astros 3, Cubs 1
GAME 56 - June 5: Cubs 8, Astros 5
GAME 57 - June 6: Astros 6, Cubs 3

By the end of the week-long homestand, in which the Astros won 5 of their 7 games, the team has attained a milestone of sorts: The Astros are no longer the worst team in the National League. They're tied with the Diamondbacks for that distinction. I know, it's a pretty dubious claim, but for a team that was alone in the cellar, it's one step at a time to get out. And with Pittsburgh and Milwaukee within a game's reach, the second step could be soon.

The two wins in the weekend series against the Cubs featured solid starting pitching, combined with a basic need that has eluded Houston all season: Good hitting from the heart of the order. All season, Bourn has been the leadoff hitter we've wanted him to be and Keppinger has been better than expected, while our power guys have been in a grotesque slump. Pence started coming back a few weeks ago, Berkman's starting to heat up, and Lee - well, he's improving, especially in the power department. In the past two weeks, Berkman's batting average has improved from .233 to .266, and Pence's from .250 to .277. These are semi-respectable batting averages, and given where these guys were a month ago, it shows a tremendous improvement. If they keep it up, at this rate, they'll be back where they ought to be by the All Star Game. (It's a pretty fair bet that Houston won't be represented there this year!) Lee's batting average is just .217, but given how long he spent under .200, it's at least headed in the right direction. More importantly, he's started to hit for power.

In the two games that Houston won in this weekend's series, the three went 9 for 18 with 4 walks and 2 stolen bases. In the game in the middle that they lost, they went 2 for 11, with 1 walk. It's kind of a "duh," but it shows the value of getting significant action out of the heart of the order. Now, if we could just get a big boost in the extra-base hit department...

The two games that Houston won also featured excellent starting pitching. Paulino, who went into Friday night's game with the absolute worst run support in the league, pitched another beauty. He threw 8 innings, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. His fastball is clocking at second highest average in the league. A bit of help from the offense (1 run scored in the first and another two in the fifth) was all he needed to finally (!) earn his first win of the season. When I watched this Sabbath eve game on Sunday morning, I noted one thing that was not apparent from the box score: In the first inning, Berkman hit an RBI single, but got hung up between first and second on a bad base-running move for the second out. This was followed by a double by Lee and a pair of walks to load the bases. Feliz flied out to right to end the inning. Had Berkman stayed on first, and the rest of the scenario played out, Houston would have gotten at least a couple more runs in the first inning. Happily the Astros won, but in a year where runs have been scarce, it's a shame to lose any on messy base running.

Myers had another solid start in Sunday's win - he pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits and a walk, striking out 6. In his usual fashion, he allowed a mess of base runners and then (for the most part) wiggled out of trouble without too much damage. Mills lifted him with 2 outs and 2 on in the seventh, bringing in Lopez to get the last out of the inning. I won't say Myers went out kicking and screaming, but he was clearly not happy to get pulled. For all that I've had misgivings about Brett Myers, from his off-the-field history, he's turned out to be quite a good addition to the rotation this year. He's pitched well, and he's a scrappy fighter. With his ERA right around 3, he's the only Astros starter with a winning record so far this season. Myers got good backup from the pen. Lopez gave up a run in the eighth, but Lyon and Lindstrom combined to finish it up. The Astros got off to a quick lead in the first inning, with base hits from the first 5 batters, including a homer by Lee.

In the losing record department, Oswalt made a mess out of the Saturday night game. When I turned on the computer after the Sabbath ended, the score was 8-3 in the eighth inning. I watched the rest of the game, as much to see and hear Jeff Bagwell (who's in the broadcast booth for Saturday home games) as anything. The Astros did eke out a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little too late. They got into trouble early and often in this game, with Oswalt's seven innings accounting for 6 runs on 9 hits, including a pair of homers. After ten solid starts to kick off the season, Roy ("Available to the Highest Contending Bidder") Oswalt has not fared well in this homestand. Last week he gave up 4 runs and was booted out of the game in the third inning - not his fault, really, but you could tell he was pretty pissed off. Last night, he just had a bad game. Can't win 'em all. Unfortunately, for Oswalt, he can't seem to win hardly any this season. It's not hard to see why he's looking for a change in scenery.

Astros are off to Denver for the next 4 games, and then to New York for a weekend series against the Yankees. Too bad I have to work - this would be a fun week to visit my sisters in Denver and then my sons and daughters-in-law in NY. It's going to be hard to decide which ball game to watch Tuesday night - the Astros or the Nats. I don't generally follow the Nationals, even though they are my "local" team here in Maryland, but for Stephen Strasburg's ML debut, I could make an exception.

GAMES 52-54: A Perfect Shame...

GAME 52 - June 1: Astros 8, Nationals 7
GAME 53 - June 2: Astros 5, Nationals 1
GAME 54 - June 3: Astros 6, Nationals 4

The Astros bounced back from a very depressing Memorial Day, winning the rest of the four-game series with the Nats. In all three of these games, the Astros played like a real baseball team - they got clutch hits and scored runs, made some fantastic defensive plays, and pitched well (or well enough). Two of the four games ended up with walk-off hits, after Lindstrom had blown the save. Happily, neither case resulted in an Astros player getting injured, like the Angels player whose leg was broken in the melee at the plate after hitting a walk-off grand slam last weekend.

Before I talk about the games, I want to make an observation about sportsmanship. Monday's Astros game was ugly - not only because of the blowout score, but also because of the bad feelings associated with the aggressive behavior of the plate umpire, Bill Hohn. A day after he ejected Oswalt, who had done nothing more than yell at himself for a bad pitch (not facing the umpire), he was apparently given a "stern" talking to by the powers that be in MLB. Replays of the inning didn't show any behavior on Oswalt's part that warranted being thrown out; Hohn seemed to be on the attack. If he apologized for this, I never heard about it.

Compare this to what happened Wednesday night, when another umpire, Jim Joyce, miscalled what would have been the 27th out of a perfect game for Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarraga. It was clear that the play at first, which he called safe, was actual an out -- it wasn't even really close. The players and the Detroit home-town crowd went berserk. The game ended with a Tigers win when the next batter made what should have been the 28th out. Joyce, admitting afterwards that he'd made a terrible mistake, was humble and clearly horribly upset by it. He apologized to Galarraga. The next night Joyce was scheduled to ump behind the plate -- a clear set up for ump abuse. He could have gotten out of it, but he's a pro, and didn't ask. The Tigers decided to have Galarraga carry the lineup card out to the umpires before the game, to set up the situation for a public face-to-face meeting and handshake between him and a visibly emotional Joyce.

So what happened here? The ump who should be unanimously reviled for a dreadful mistake ended up getting a lot of public sympathy for his tearful remorse, and the cheated pitcher was seen as exhibiting tremendous sportsmanship. It's times like this that one can gripe about the way that baseball handles umping errors, but still feel that they've seen the true grace of sportsmanship. That's baseball at its best - how can anyone not love this game? Meanwhile, back in Houston, a much lesser ump mistake (booting Oswalt for no good reason) ended up with just bad feelings all around. The bad guy in the perfect shame story might actually be Commissioner Bud Selig, who has the authority -- should he choose to use it -- to overturn the call and award the perfect game. Apparently, he's chosen not to use it.

One other interesting note from the near-perfect game: I heard a lot of comments about the erroneous call being "tragic." It was extremely unfortunate. It was a damn shame. But it wasn't a tragedy. It would have been tragic if that fateful pitch had resulted in a liner that hit a player (or ump) in the head and killed them. This was a game, played by professionals, not life and death.

Meanwhile, back to the Nats games. One could be snide about it and say that it was "just the Nationals." However, when you're as far down as the Astros, playing a Nationals team that's got a .500 record, a little respect is warranted. The Nationals are doing much better than anyone expected this season, and with super-prospect Stephen Strasburg coming up for his debut next week, they are a team to watch. The Astros played some good ballgames against the Nats, while Washington was sunk by errors and blown saves.

I'll talk about Tuesday and Thursday's games together, since they had similar patterns: In both games, Houston took an early lead, which they then squandered on bad pitching by Lindstrom in the top of the ninth. And in both games, the Washington closer Matt Capps got down to the last out before giving up a walkoff hit to a player whose problematical fielding had contributed to the Nats lead. Tuesday it was Berkman who had made a fielding error in the fifth that led to 3 unearned runs for the Nats. In the ninth, after Lindstrom had blown a save opportunity by giving up 2 runs, the Astros managed to load the bases (thanks in part to a Nats error). That brought up Berkman with two outs. On a 1-2 count, he "checked" his swing, according to the plate umpire. A strike would have been the third out, ending the game, but the appeal went to (who else?) third base ump Bill Hohn (the same!) who upheld the no-swing call. (The replay sure looked like a strike.) Puma knocked the next pitch into left field, scoring a pair of runs to win the game.

On Thursday, it was Carlos Lee who went from goat to hero on a single swing. He had made an unfortunate (but not erroneous) play on a 2 out blooper in the top of the ninth, which resulted in the Nats tying the game. Lindstrom allowed another run to score, giving the Nats the lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Berkman got lucky again - he hit a 2-out liner to right, which should have been caught to end the game. But the Nats' Guzman, who already had 2 errors at short before being moved to right field, lost the ball in the lights and it dropped. Then Lee the Goat went back to his Stallion status with a big fat walkoff homer. It was funny to watch him approach the plate after running the bases -- he had both hands out like he was pleading with his jubilant teammates not to clobber him. (I'm sure he was aware of the broken leg in Anaheim.)

Compared to these nail-biters, Wednesday's game appears (from the 5-1 score) to be a walk in the park. But it also had it's nerve-wracking moments. Wandy only gave up 1 run on 5 hits, 3 walks, and 8 strikeouts. But he threw so many pitches in the process that he was at 115 after just 5 innings.  Good run support (including a homer by Lee) and solid relief pitching by Lopez, Brydak, Daigle, and Chacin kept the Nats from stealing away Wandy's chance at his third season win. The Astros also benefited from Washington errors in this game - including a single play that resulted in TWO errors for Nats shortstop Ian Desmond. It was, by the way, Casey Daigle's first major league appearance since 2006. Daigle was called up that day to fill in for Sampson, who's on the DL.