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?