Thursday, September 25, 2008
Reds 6
Astros 8
W: Oswalt (17-10) | L: Cueto (9-14) | S: Valverde (43)
Roy and the boys did all they could do. A typically dominant performance by Oswalt against the Dicketies was stained by a zany 9th inning that saw a laugher turn into a save situation for Papa Grande. No matter. Save #43 was in the books and all that was left was to check the out-of-town scoreboard.
Shitfuck! Is there any more nauseating feeling than rooting for the goddamn Cubs? Perhaps watching them blow a 3-run lead to the motherfucking Mets. All I can hope for now is both teams catch pneumonia from playing in that cold slop. Worse yet, the Brewers’ last game with the Pirates was knotted at 1 in extras, only to be put away by a Braun walk-off slammy in the 10th.
So even though they are still alive, it doesn’t look good for the Astros. Any win by the steM or Crew or a loss by the Astros seals their fate.
Roy, pitching on short rest, was on. He gave up a solo shibby to Patterson in the 1st but went on to handcuff the Reds for 6 innings. Coop let him take the mound in the 7th but only so he could shake the hand of his pal and teammate Brad Ausmus on the field for possibly the last time. From Footer’s recap:
“I asked [Cooper] to go out there so I could shake Brad’s hand on the field,” Oswalt said. “We’ve been together seven, eight years. I wanted to give him a hand shake for being back there.”
It’s been a fun ride, this season. Ups, downs, hurricanes and lightning. Surprises and disappointments. “Holy shits” and “WTFs”. It’s why I love baseball. Winning is great but the real fun is watching the season unfold over 6 months. Some call that boring but I say they just don’t get it. Every day is a chance to redeem, to start to put it all together, to make a run. To me, that’s excitement. Every day there’s hope.
This is my last ’08 recap. Thanks as always to the SpikesnStars administrators for allowing me to give my take on the Astros once a week. Thanks as well to my fellow contributors who never disappoint when it comes to creativity, humor and utter whackness. Finally, thanks to everybody who reads this and all of our original content. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.
Go Astros! Let’s win out and see what happens!