May 30, 2007
Astros 3, Dickities 4
W: Aaron Harang | L: Wandy Rodriguez
Interminable, Plodding Death March: 2,974 (1-4)
Relive the magic, heartache in the GameZone thread
Pick one of the 3 available lines of discussion in the Talk Zone:
- Call out a particular player, because you don’t like a particular player
- Suggest new lineups and trades, beg the Count to take action
- Tell everyone how hard it is to watch right now
Other coverage:
AP recap for the unwashed
Astros.com recap (Ben DuBose)
The Other Side of the Coin:
Pissing excellence 10 times in a row. With bonus celebration.
This loss – the 10th in a row, if it hasn’t been mentioned yet – looked like it was going to get damn ugly, damn fast, but ultimately settled into a tight contest. Wandy got smacked around in the top of the first, with the Dickities going double, single, double, flyout, single to open the game. At that point, it was 3 runs to 1 out in the game, putting the cocksuckers on pace for a comfortable 81 runs on the evening.
Skipper/Diabolical Mastermind Jerry Narron apparently felt like the win was in hand out of the gate, getting hisself tossed after an economical 6 pitches. You say small sample size, I say he’d been getting screwed all night.
Following the explosive opening frame, Wandy actually settled in pretty well, going just 5 but not allowing any more damage. Along the way, there were some jams to get out of, too – not the least of which being a Pigpen error that turned a possible inning-ending DP into a bases-loaded, 1-out situation. Bidge had a pair of E’s on the night to go with Berkman nailing Dunn in the back on a caught stealing. The ragged play didn’t lead to any runs, but certainly contributed to a bunch of extra pitches needing to be thrown by Wandy.
The Good Guys mustered only 6 baserunners on the night, a miserable stat, but with the silver lining that they plated 3 of them. Efficiency counts for something when you’re scuffling, I suppose. Lee got a run back in the bottom of the 1st, driving in Mo from 1B with a double off the bottom of the visitor’s bullpen. Lee later scored from second on a Field General single up the middle, in part because Hopper is incapable of hitting the broad side of a barn from shallow center. The scoring concluded in the 8th with Pigpen scoring from third on a Twinkie groundout. The inning looked so full of hope and promise, but our cruel Dickity overlords crushed the Good Guys’ dreams by flashing solid leather on well-hit balls by Moberg and Maybelline, leaving the hometown nine a run shy of stasis. Lurch notched a complete game in the victory, but is still weird looking.
The bully worked a good one, giving up just one run in 4 innings to keep it in reach. Unfortunately, that run turned out to be the game winner, coming in the 1st of Bork’s 2 innings of work. Qualls and Lidge would toss a perfect frame each to close the book.
The much-maligned Woody Williams takes the mound tonight to hurl the pill, preferably near Junior’s ribs. It would be just super if the sticks came back to life, and Woodrow had the luxury of giving up 3 runs without being crucified afterwards.
Miscellaneous Game Notes:
Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti was in the booth last night, presumably saying something about something. I’d have transcribed it for you, but I was too busy rewinding to repeatedly watch Ashley Judd in a sundress, jumping up and down in the rain. Sorry about that.