Astros at Cubs, 4/9/07
Score: Good Guys 5, Cubs 3
W: Chad Qualls (1-1) L: Bob Howry (0-2) S: Dan Wheeler (1)
Homeruns: Adam Everett (1)
March to 3000: 2,938 (2×4, 2 2b, SAC)
Read Alyson’s Report Here: Footer
Or ESPN’s report here: ESPN
Officially, the winds were only 9 mph, so it must have been the 39 degree cold keeping the ball in the park. But mark my words – by June, Ted Lilly will be giving up 3-4 dingers a game.
Biggio and Burke got everyone’s hopes up with back-to-back doubles to start the game, but after Berkman smacked one off of Lilly (literally), Flapjack and Iceberg were able to shut the rally down in short order. More ugly ABs and some ugly bloop singles for the Cubs made the general mood through the 3rd pretty sour.
Flapjack rumbled his way to a one-out double in the 4th, with more than a little help from Jacque Jones and his impression of a statue. Iceberg actually came through with an RBI single, but Lane followed with yet another popup. An AE walk and a Q HBP made this interesting, but not even the home-plate umpire could prevent MF Barrett from catching Woody’s pop foul to end the inning.
The good guys tacked on another in the 5th, by the book: Biggio led off with a double down the line, Burke bunted him over, and Berkman’s SF to right brought him home.
The Cubs got 2 in the bottom of the 6th, and Wuertz pitched them out of a second and third / one out jam (with help from a Burke AB that JimR said “competes with Carl Everett’s”).
Enter Qualls for the 7th, and the wheels threatened to come off. A leadoff walk to Izturis was followed by a Theriot K and a Soriano FC. This is where Soriano shows off his skills: a steal of second, and scoring on an infield hit (plus an error due to Biggio’s inexplicable decision to throw after barehanding.) Fortunately, Big Derek Lee flied to right to cap it at a tie game.
Iceberg’s leadoff double in the 8th was followed by the worst of many bad AB’s, with Lane striking out on a pitch that Ralph Sampson would have called high. A wild pitch by Howry brought the infield in, but to no avail. After all, the Astros’ newly minted all-time leader in home runs by a shortstop was at the plate! Yes, in the miserable conditions, Adam Everett was the lone soul to go yard, and the 5-3 score was on the board.
Rick White and his beard combined with new closer Dan Wheeler to move the Astros to a dominant 1-0 on the road for the season.
Read the whole, profanity-laced reaction from the GameZone: [url”>http://www.orangewhoopass.com/forums/index.php?topic=101565.0
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