Reds 2, Astros 1
W: Volquez (17-6) | L: Rodriguez (7-6) | S: Cordero (34)
Molony game wrap
In this must-win late season game, the home dwellers of Minute Maid Park let victory slip through their grasp as a heaping pile of baserunning blunders sunk the good ship Astros on this night, losing to the lowly Reds 2-1 and basically eliminating themselves from playoff contention.
Wandy Rodriguez, who had one inning pitched (in one start) in September before tonight, was entrusted to start this game and he promptly gave up a pair of runs in the first on two hits, a walk, and a questionable three-base error. Both runs were tallied as unearned, but that hardly mattered as the Astros could not outscore the damage done in this classic display of sinking down to the level of competition.
They had chances.
After Kazou Matsui lined a leadoff homer into the Crawfords, Miggy Tejada sliced a double to right with one out, but he was stranded after yet another pathetic at-bat by slumping slugger Lance Berkman.
In the third, Ty Wigginton had a one-out double but could not advance. Same result in the 5th after a visibly pissed Brad Ausmus was nailed by a pitch. Pinch hitter Darren Erstad swung at ball four in the dirt as Ausmus was doubled up on the botched hit-and-run play.
It only got worse in the sixth. Kaz singled and was forced out at second base by Michael Bourn. After stealing second, Bourn rounded third with a horribly wide turn on a single to left by Tejada, and despite third base coach Ed Romero waiving him on, he stopped. Tejada rounded first and tried to force the issue with a rundown, but Bourn stayed put watching Tejada as he was tagged out. Absolutely no excuse for the idiotic display of baserunning, so I have dubbed this particular play as ‘Bourn’s Boner’, a unique clusterfuck of several baserunning mistakes in a period of about 3 seconds.
In the eighth, Berkman once again had a chance to tie the game with a runner in scoring position, but hit a weak grounder to second. Tell me again why I should cast a vote for him? He is ‘hitting’ .260 with 6 home runs and 29 RBIs post AS break. He may have been a Puma in the first half, but he reverted to simply being Puny in the second half.
Their tough luck continued in the ninth as Wiggy lined into a DP to end it.
Other notes: There was a 7 minute delay in the top of the seventh inning so the umps could look at a replay of a ball hit by Joey Votto that appeared to hit off the yellow line in right field and bounce back into play.
Reliever Chris Sampson left the game in the seventh inning with right lateral epicondylitis, or tennis elbow. He is day-to-day. Too bad the same can’t be said for the Astros.
It’s been a sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating season in 2008, but overall this will be their best record for the past three years. Sure doesn’t seem like it, right at this moment.