Fields of rippling heat. Heat. All there is in life is heat. Oh, heat! Lots of heat! Fields of heat.
Fans, lots of waving, fanning, none of them oscillating, fans.
The heat, my god the heat!
Seriously, that was the hook, 89 degrees. All they talked about was the heat. Josh Hamilton couldn’t take it. He was held out the game due to “soreness” and the expectation that he was being called up to whatever league is higher than the Majors. The Astros probably weren’t complaining.
Pitchers duel until the 4th , it ended when Tejada bounced a grounder off the mound that sailed into center. Berkman, solid single to left, and Pence legged out a poke to 2nd that JD observed had “funky spin”. He was correct, extra funky. Loretta worked an RBI walk, Wigginton rolled one that didn’t have enough on it to get the dp, and then Towles broke out and drove a double over the drawn in outfield. Backe had himself a 3 run cushion.
This caused Ian Kinsler to panic in the bottom of the 4th. He was on 3rd, another runner 1st, and there were no outs. A pop up to deep 2nd, Kinsler broke for home. He was out. Very out.
The Astros scored 2 more in the 5th, the big hit Tejada’s double, and Backe had a 5 run lead. Backe took that lead an out into the 7th but was chased after back to back homers. His big secret of the day, no walks.
But what’s a game with Angel Hernandez in the umpiring crew that Cecil Cooper doesn’t get tossed?
Bourn got called out stealing 2nd in the 6th. He definitely stole it, the tag Angel Campos thought he saw on Bourn’s shoulder missed by a good foot. No matter, Cooper barely got “excuse me Mr Ump”, out of his mouth before being ejected by Campos, who panicked when he saw crew chief Angel Hernandez walking up behind Cooper. CREW CHIEF? The world is in sad shape when Angel Hernandez can rise to any level of authority. Why is it acceptable for the ump to be an idiot but not acceptable for Cooper to notice it?
Valverde relieved Brocail with 2 outs in the 8th and gave up a first pitch double, scoring the runner from 1st. But was able to slam the door, striking out the side in the 9th, not before giving up a 2 out single and putting everyone in a tizzy. Or maybe it was the heat.