A generic last game of the season ended in typical Astro fashion, 3b Jose Castillo chasing a foul ball to the Braves dugout, flipping over the rail and hanging on.
The Astros topped off this turnaround season, winning the second meaningless game and finishing up in 3rd place in the division.
The game was enlivened by the fair well to Brad Ausmus. His daughters threw out the first pitch. Ausmus, insisting on a proper respect for the game, and displaying confidence in his young girls, pushed them back up to the rubber to make the pitch. They did not disappoint Dad.
The game progressed through a collection of ground balls and lazy pop ups; typical for both Rodriguez and Hampton, who were both pretty sharp. Ultimately though this devolved into an ST game. Valverde had to come in for the 9th to nail down the 3-1 win, getting the save that tied him for the team’s season record.
Cecil Cooper choreographed several curtain calls early for Tejada, Berkman, and also Wigginton. He took Ausmus out in the top the 6th as he was squatting behind home for the warm ups. Significantly Brad left the field in full catchers’ gear, waving his mask to the crowd in salute.
Ausmus homered on the first pitch of his first at bat. A suspiciously high fastball from Hampton that he banged off the wall behind the Crawford Boxes. His wife Liz was shown wryly grinning as he rounded the bases. Brad might have been thinking he could have done that all along, but then we would have come to love him for all the wrong reasons.