Disappointed in Steamy DC

GAME 72: Nationals 6, Astros 5
GAME 73: Nationals 6, Astros 5  

After weeks of looking forward to seeing the Astros in person in DC, all it took was a little heat to spoil the fun. A little heat, as in, heat index in the triple digits. I prudently decided to avoid being baked in the stands, and moved the game to my living room. A nice bottle of wine, a kosher meal that did not include hotdogs, and air conditioning made the games quite enjoyable.

Well, except for the outcome...

The Astros historically have a hard time with the Nationals. This year, with the Astros still in last place in their division and the Nats in first place in theirs, conditions weren't ideal for winning. Still, Houston's been playing well (the best record in the AL over the past few weeks) and the Nats were coming off a losing streak. So you never know.

Tuesday night's game was a huge disappointment. For one thing, before the game, I was thinking that by my not going in person, this would be the night that Dallas Keuchel would throw that no hitter that's on my list of goals for the 2014 Astros. As it turned out, Keuchel gave up a weak hit to the very first Nat he faced, so the pressure was off. It was mostly downhill from there. By the time that the Astros tried to make a serious rally in the 8th inning, Keuchel was long gone. He had an uncharacteristically weak start, giving up 4 ERs on 6 hits and 4 walks, striking out 4. He hit his 100 pitches before 5 innings were done, and that was it for the night. Downs put a couple of runners on in the sixth, both of which scored when Farnsworth inherited them. Williams, Sipp, and Zeid combined for nearly perfect work for the remainder of the game. And no, Sipp did not play in the outfield, even though this was an NL game.

The Astros came into the eighth inning down 6-1, after some disappointing failures to capitalize on scoring opportunities. They loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning on consecutive singles by Altuve, Springer, and Singleton, and then only managed to eke out a single run on MattyD's infield single. Come on - this was supposed to be one of those Big Innings! In the top of the eights, Castro singled, and MattyD doubled to put runners on the corners, no outs. Villar got an RBI single. But then Carter and Presley struck out to mute the rally. Back to the top of the lineup. Fowler got an RBI single to make it 6-3. Then Altuve doubled, scoring two, to make it 6-5. Sadly, Springer lined out to end the fun. The Astros failed to score in the ninth, losing the first game of the series. All in all, a very disappointing loss, despite having our ace on the mound, and 14 hits (2 each for Fowler, Springer, Dominguez, Villar, and FOUR -- 2 singles, 2 doubles -- for Altuve).

Wednesday night's game was a slightly shuffled version of the same thing. Astros starter gave up early runs, Astros have a big inning, Astros lose by 1 with a runner on base in the ninth. In this game, the Astros went as far as taking a 2 run lead with a 4-run fourth inning, but only managed to score one more run (on a wild pitch). Meanwhile, the Nats chipped away at the bullpen until they went ahead in the seventh.

Another common feature of the two DC games: In both games, Farnsworth came in with 2 runners on base and allowed them to score for the 5th and 6th runs. He gave up the 5th and 6th runs in the first game of the Rays series too... Hmmm. See a pattern? You know, I know the guy has had a good pitching career, but I'm just not warming up to him. His ERA is a mediocre 4.13, and that doesn't count the runs scored by inherited runners, which were tagged to the previous pitcher. It just seems like if Farnsworth's on the mound, runners score. If the young guys do this, they swap them back down to Oklahoma City. Are veterans somehow exempt?

Anyway, more disappointment in DC. And with 3 consecutive losses, we're losing ground in the Dust Eaters count.

DUST EATERS COUNT: 4! 

The Astros record is now 32-41 (.438). The Red Sox, who won their last 3, have pulled ahead of us, as have the Phillies and Mets. There are just 4 teams worse than the Astros, including the Rays (.384), Cubs (.429), Padres (.408), and Diamondbacks (.405).

2005-2014 ASTROS COMPS

2005 Game 73 W/L record: 33-40 (.452) (4th worst in the NL); 13 games behind in NL Central
2014 Game 73 W/L record: 32-41 (.438) (2nd worst in the AL); 12 1/2 games behind in AL West