July 18, 2007
Astros 6, Gnats 7
W: Bergmann (2-5) | L: Jennings (1-6) | S: Cordero (17)
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TZ: Lesbians, oil, inflatable amusements, healthcare, license plates
GZ: Keen observation, plus something about taxes
The action came in bunches, as the Good Guys blew their collective foot off with a shotgun came up just short with a furious late-inning rally to fall to 1-5 on the current roadie. Jason Jennings demonstrated that he does not want to be traded, giving up all 7 runs in just 5 innings, as his ERA ballooned to a robust 4.76, a number nearly as voluminous as his ample, Hildalgian can.
The hurting started in the bottom of the first with two down and nobody on, when Jennings walked Zimmerman and Young. Church and Kearns followed with back-to-back doubles, pushing 3 across for the early lead. Clank answered with a jack to left center in the top of the 2nd to make it 1-3 The scored stayed that way for the next several outs, all the way until Belliard scored Flores with a double in the bottom half of the frame.
In the 5th, The Ninja pared the lead back down to 2 again with a solo pat to right center. Fearing a possible comeback, Jennings walked two ahead of a Langerhans smokey to put this thing seemingly (and as it would turn out later, actually) out of reach at 7-2. It should be noted that Langerhans is batting a crisp .161, and is with his third team so far this season. Not that I’m upset, just making some notes. That’s all.
From there, Albers, reverT and Dot tossed 3 scoreless innings of 1-hit ball, giving the offense at least a chance to get back in it. That chance came in the 7th, with a carousel that seemed to have no end. Clank got it started with a single, followed by another single by Scott, this one to right, pushing Lamb to 3rd. Munson knocked a ground rule double way out to left center, scoring Lamb and leaving Scott at 3rd, still no outs. Pigpen came in to pinch hit, and plated Scott on a sac fly to left to pull to 7-4. Mr. Peepers walked and Munson took third on a wild pitch before Thunder Pants K’d swinging for the second out. Twinkie came through with a double to right, knocking in Munson and moving Peepers over to third. Flapjack then grounded to 3rd, but reached when the throw pulled noted glove man Dimitri Young off of the bag at first. Burke scored to make it 6-7, but unfortunately Twinkie again grabbed the game by the basepaths and violently strangled the life from it, ostensibly attempting to score from 2nd on an infield single. The play at the plate was not what one would term “close”, in any conventional sense of the word. It is entirely plausible that Berkman was too engrossed in the moment to notice Manso’s stop sign, though it’s not immediately clear what he did see that made him believe that running home was a good idea there.
In the bottom of the 9th, there was one last chance, as Burke made it to 3rd with 2 down following an error and a wild pitch, but Cordero coaxed a groundout from Gunther, and that was that. Tomorrow is an off-day, so steel yourself against what is sure to be a shitstorm of randomness in the TZ. I’d like to seed a couple of threadjack ideas here… these are on the house, sprinkle them in at your discretion:
- Monkeys… they’re just like tiny, hirsute people!
- What’s the deal with corporate tax code, anyway?
- That nightmare you once had about a clown
- Words that make you uncomfortable, like pustule or moist