W: Brian Moehler
L: Derek Lowe
Astros Recap
Yahoo Recap
Box Score
Tonight was a night full of good things. Pitching, Defense, Offense, and an outstanding job of pbp and color by Bill Brown and Jim Deshaies. Brian Moehler did a great job for his spot start.
Moehler pitched 5 scoreless, allowing 5 singles and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts (81 pitches). As he told Greg Lucas after the game, “great defense,” “Ausmus phenomenal behind the plate,” “pitching to contact,” and “will do whatever they want him to do.” Good attitude for someone who had not pitched since April 27th.
Derek Lowe, his opposing pitcher, allowed six runs through 5.1 innings and got the loss. The Dodger bullpen did a good job, they pitched 3.2 innings only giving up 1 run (by Scott Proctor).
The Astros bullpen pitched 4 innings (Tim Brydak 1 scoreless inning, Geoff Geary 2 scoreless innings, and Dave Borkowski 1 run in 1 inning) to finish the game for Moehler.
But tonight, on the field was all Astro. Michael Bourn and Kaz Matsui were 3 for 9 with a walk. Bourn recorded his 16th stolen base to lead the league.
Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, and Carlos Lee are arguably the best 3-4-5 line up in baseball right now. Berkman must be seeing beach balls with the way he is hitting, he only made one out tonight. His defense is also good right now.
The bottom three (excluding Moehler) were good also, with a few exceptions. 3 for 11, with 2 walks. Brad Ausmus only hit into one double play on the night.
Not much to say about the Dodgers offense. One exception is James Loney who went 2 for 4, but the young man (who just turned 24) has a great swing and will probably become a marquee player for the Dodgers. Joyce Dewitt’s brother Blake DeWitt was also 2 for 4. Of course, Lowe did get a hit. But overall, the offense couldn’t get anything going until the 9th for 1 run.
This game seemed to be controlled by the Astros since the 2nd inning. And control it they did, scoring in 4 different innings.
Bench Tidbits:
Chin-lung Hu jokes were popular by those in the GameZone tonight. If you have the opportunity to listen to Bill Brown and Jim Deshaies, it is highly recommended. Whatever those chocolate dots were Brownie and JD ate made for some great commentary.
Ausmus may have a new song to come out to bat. Here’s musical verson of it.
Kaz Matsui is apparently learning to speak Spanish.
Lakers lost.
Tejada article by Tim Brown.
Andruw Jones got booed by Dodger fans. I’m thinking it might have something to do with his .174 batting average. (That’s worse than Ausmus.)
Chris Sampson will have the next opportunity to salvage his position in the starting rotation tomorrow. Start time is 9:10 pm (Houston time.)