Pirates 6, Astros 3
W: Paul Maholm, L: Brian Moehler, S: Matt Capps
I am beginning to think I am the jinx or the Astros are a bunch of scaredy cats when it comes to getting to .500 baseball. I believe last Tuesday the Astros were one game of .500 baseball, I was scheduled to do the recap. Now, Tuesday’s game I am recapping and the Astros were one game of .500 baseball. I’ve had at least two chances to recap the Astros getting to .500 and again I get to recap a loss. It does not give me confidence in this team.
Astros Highlights:
Brian Moehler pitched 6.1 innings of baseball. He gave up 4 runs, 3 earned, but I think he pitched better than that. Tim Byrdak and Chris Sampson were not able to help the two runners inherited from scoring.
Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez went 3 for 4 on the night. Got his average up to .250. Keep it up young man.
Kazuo Matsui went 1 for 2 on the night with 2 walks. Hope he keeps earning that $5 million.
Pirate Highlights:
Garrett Jones, playing left field, went 2 for 3 on the night. He stole two bases also. One of those stolen bases, in the 7th inning led to the 4 runs being scored. Bad Garrett Bad.
Game Analysis:
This game seemed to be like a lot of Astros games for me this season. They give me some hope in parts of the game then take it away somewhere else. (Berkman’s throw to home in the 7th.) I’m sure they’ll end the season at .500 or maybe above it. But they need something to bring it all together.
Bench Tidbits:
I was not going to link to the rest of the series in JaneDoe’s preview but then decided I should give props where props are due.
The GameZone was a bit of a snoozer, but there is some stuff there.