Sunday, May 3, 2009
Astros 7
Braves 5
W: Geary (1-3) | L: Moylan (1-2) | S: Hawkins (3)
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It was an exciting game to watch, although I kept being interrupted. See, I was preparing myself for one of those tests men have to get after they turn 50 so my attention span was less than what’s required to watch a baseball game. I did, however, see some gutty performances, real intestinal fortitude by the entire crew today as they took game three 7-5 and a road series win from the Braves.
Wandy continued to pitch well on the road, though Coop wouldn’t let him return for the 6th after giving up 1 run in the 4th and 2 in the 5th. In the 4th, things could have been worse for Wandy were it not for a nifty Lee/Tejada/Pudge relay to nail Francouer at the plate trying to score on a double by Prado. In the 5th, a walk, single, sac bunt and intentional walk loaded the bases. With Francouer up, Wandy turned his foot on the rubber to prepare his delivery then stopped and stepped back, with no apparent deception. “That’s a BALK!!!” bellowed from Phil Cuzzi’s piehole as the runners rotated and the go ahead run scored. JD summed the balk rule up as “institutional stupidity.” A sac fly on the next pitch scored Infante to put the Braves up by 2. Wandy got out of both the 4th and 5th innings with Ks.
Matsui’s lead-off double led to the Astros 1st run on the 1st on a sac bunt by Bourn and a sac fly by Berkman. After the Braves 5th gave then a 3-1 lead, the Astros strung together 4 straight singles from Bourn, Berkman, Lee and Tejada to tie it up, then a sac fly by Pudge put the Astros up again.
The lead was short-lived as a bottom 6 leadoff triple led to another game-tying run for the Braves. But timely hitting and baserunning in the top of 7th netted 2 more for the Astros that put the up for good. The depleted bullpen hung on with Fulchino, Wright and Geary handling the 6th and 7th and giving up a run in each.
Brocail came out for the 8th and made a nice play covering 1st to get the 1st batter of the inning but came down on the bag awkwardly and ended up in a heap. Strained hamstring is the diagnosis and he’s expected to hit the DL again soon. Ortiz stepped up and got the second out but walked 2 and Coop brought in Hawkins to finish the 8th with a K of Francouer. LaTroy got a ground out and 2 Ks to earn his 3rd save of the season.
Up to DC for 2 with the Nats. Moehler expected to start vs. Lannan.