Never Give Up | OrangeWhoopass

Astros 3, Cardinals 2

W: Dequam LaWesley Wright , L: Jason Isringhausen, S: Jose Valverde

“Never give up,” Carlos Lee told Greg Lucas after the game. And boy was he right tonight.

Shawn Chacon had a bit of trouble in the first two innings but finished strong in his other five innings of work. Wesley Wright pitched a good 8th inning and Jose Valverde nailed down a safe, his fourth, in the ninth. Chacon said in his post-game interview he was aiming his pitches in the first couple innings then got loose in the third and started pitching more agressive and mixing in other pitches. He praised the defense for a good job. Chacon has had four starts with 3ER or less, for a 2.45 ERA. He has been a welcome addition to the pitching staff to date. Let’s all hope this lasts.

The offense was pretty much non-existence while Braden Looper was pitching. Thanks to this team’s never-give-upness though they got to Jason Isringhausen in the 9th. Darin Erstad started the magic with a single. Miguel Tejada hit a triple on one of the few outside pitches he saw all night, scoring Erstad.

So, standing at third Tejada waited for the sacrifice/hit from Lance Berkman. Berkman hit the sacrifice to left allowing Tejada time to tag and score. Game tied. Carlos Lee was up to bat next. Carlos is hitting well at .278 but has been outshined of late by Tejada and Berkman. But not tonight, first pitch was hit a very long way to give the Astros their first and only lead of the game.

Valverde came in to finish the game for a save in the 9th. He had a bit of a challenging inning, but there was absolutely no doubt that Alberta Pujols was going to be walked. Instead Christie Duncan would have to be the heroine for the Cardinals. Thankfully, the BBGs did not want to ruin Carlos’ big day.

Astros win a long-anticipated, exciting game.

Bench Tidbits:
If anyone would like to support me taking surf lessons at Tide Beach, please let me know. It seems like a beach with great waves and scenery.

The San Antonio Spurs are now 3-0 against the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Stars are 1-0 against the San Jose Sharks in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Stupid New Orleans Hornets lost to the Dallas Mavericks. The Rockets were not scheduled today.

I was reading a Cardinal Message board earlier today and there was a thread about Roy Oswalt wanting to be traded. Of course, what these yahoos had was that Roy wouldn’t go to the New York Yankees, he’d only go to the Boston Red Sox, the St. Louis Cardinals, and one other team that I obviously didn’t care to remember. The interesting thing about their thread was that some did not want Roy on their team because he’s obviously not the same pitcher of the past because of his start this season. There are some that think the way he pitches is not good for a long career (some thing to do with how hard his finish is on his pitches). Yet, there were some that thought he’d be a great #2 to Chris Carpenter (who has been on the 15-day DL since March 21st). At least give the healthy player the #1 spot. I have not gone back to see how they handled Izzy’s blown save.

Tomorrow is the NFL Draft, but I would be surprised if many of us care since the Astros have another early start at 11:35AM. Hopefully the weather will be a benefit to the Astros. tomorrow/today.

Just a reminder that Roy Oswalt will be taking on Adam Wainwright in the second game of this series at 11:35AM.