Little Buddy!
After all the moaning and groaning about the quality of the Astros’ starting pitching, and the subsequent abuse of the bullpen that’s followed, the team has strung together four wins on the back of strong outings by the erstwhile slags in the rotation. On Saturday night, Brian Moehler lead the entire Astros cast in a team win in front of a huge crowd of Houstonians who mistook MMPUS for the much-advertised grand re-opening of Second Baptist Church on Faith & Family Night. In their defense, there are many architectural similarities between the ‘stros home field and the Repentagon, and there was a save at Minute Maid last night, but it was by LaTroy Hawkins, not Ed Young.
Moehler started out the game by giving up two dinky runs in the first before working out of the jam with a dp. From there on out, he was stellar for the next four innings, before Coop’s itchy trigger finger pulled him in favor of Byrdak with the bases juiced in the fifth. Byrdak pitched an effective 1 2/3 innings, before yielding the mound to Sammy Gervacio, who struck out the only batter he faced before Coop realized he’d accidentally given a rookie some playing time and yanked him for Fulchino.
On the other side of the box score, Blum got the offense going in the 2nd, driving in Caballo with a double and was subsequently driven in by Matsui’s fortnightly extra base hit to tie the game. Sweet Baby Bourn started another rally in the fifth, scoring on a shallow sac fly to center by Lee. Tejada and Berkman followed with singles, and Blum’s single brought Miggy home, giving a two-run lead that would remain unchallenged. Blum continues to contribute, even on a night when Coop said he’d be unavailable. Apparently, he slipped himself into the lineup when Coop wasn’t paying attention. Which isn’t that hard, when you think about it.
LaTroy tossed a nearly-perfect ninth in place of the shelved Valverde, who has thrown more pitches than Yorman Bazardo this week. Seriously.