Thursday, June 11, 2009
FTC 1
Astros 2
F-13
W: Fulchino (2-1) | L: Ascanio (0-1)
astros.com
AP via Yahoo!
Game Zone
“It’s fair! Holy shit!” The exact words that came out of my mouth as I’m having a discussion with my boss about something I can’t remember. He’s a pretty cool guy and I have a pretty cool job but even he was a bit taken aback. He knows that every so often I have to keep an eye on an afternoon game to write about later and unless I have clients in the office, he has no problem with it. The reason I’m telling you all this is that I never would have had my expletive exclamation at the time I had it had events in the game turned out the way it was headed. 9 innings. Pitcher’s duel. Over by 5. Recap by 6. Meeting with boss. BAM!
Enough about me, here’s the story. Russ Ortiz had a hell of an outing. He kept the mighty FTC in check to the tune of 3 hits and 3 walks through 5.1 without allowing a run. It was precarious at times, 1st and 3rd with 1 out in the 2nd after the Good Guys got 1 in the 1st was worrisome but the well-turned DP took care of things.
Dempster settled in and had the Astros on their heels, never able to capitalize on men-on-base situations. He effectively shut ’em down the rest of his 7. 1-0 Astros.
As Ortiz approached 90 pitches into the 6th, he walked fucking Dempster to leadoff the inning, then gave up a double-play ball to Miggy’s left, who flipped to Kepp for 1, then on to Twinkie for 2 single into CF to the Temper Tantrum to leave 1st and 3rd with no one out. Coop kept his faith in Ortiz and it paid off with a big K of Terry-o to put the inning-ending DP back into play. Then Coop went match-up, bringing in Byrdak to face Fuku. Tim slidered him into submission then blew the FB by him for out #2. Arias was next to face Lee, who grounded sharply to Kepp to FUCK THE CUBS!!! Sorry, that just came out.
If you haven’t seen this, do yourself a favor and click the link. That WAS the 7th inning.
Sampson ho-hummed the 8th.
LaTroy jogged out to the mound to save a 1-0 lead in the 9th and he faced the heart of the FTC order. Fuku made him work, fouling off 4 before grounding out to 2nd. Next batter Lee turned on a high slider and deposited the ball into the RF seats. Shitfuck!
We gotta fast forward here. Bottom 13 and the FTCs Ascanio is on his 2nd inning in relief. First batter Miggy is out on a nice play by Scales off of Ascanio’s foot. Tejada’s slide into 1st made it look more routine than it should have. Next up, newly patient Beaker takes a pass, then steals 2nd as Michaels Ks. 2 out for Twinkie, who’s put on intentionally to bring up interim manager Blum, with last night’s heroics still dancing around in his spiked 80’s ‘doo.
