The Astros completed the 4 game sweep of the listless Reds. But the Sunday game, preceded by eulogies for the season because of What Happened on Saturday, had a definite posthumous aspect.
The pall was enhanced by the size of the Cincinnati crowd, more appropriate for the funeral of a distant and reclusive relative who left no legacy that could be hawked on EBay.
But the Astros themselves weren’t sitting around moping. There is a phrase in baseball “pick me up”. For one game Carlos Lee’s teammates provided the pickup. Doubles by Tejada and Blum and a 3 run homer from Bourn gave Wandy a 5 run lead going into the bottom of the 1st. Rodriguez challenged the Reds hitters and they proved not up to the challenge.
4.2 innings of perfect results were ended by an Encarnacion homerun. One Red refusing to lie down. Once they got the hang of it though they put something together. With 2 outs in the 7th, and the bases loaded, the score 8-2, Wandy exited. But the Astros escaped unscored upon when Erstad charged the inning ending liner. Erstad made two plays in left during the inning, one going back to the wall and on the liner in, saving at least 3 runs. Lee would have made neither play.
That was the high water mark for competitiveness for this game. Blum, Pence, Bourn, Quintero (another scary hbp on his elbow), Wigginton, Matsui, and Erstad, aided by a wild throw on an attempted back door dp, knocked around the Reds relievers to put up 5 more runs in the 8th.
A wise man, well, a smart man, well, maybe just a man, once said, “If you cant walk then crawl, if you cant crawl then get someone to carry you.”