Tuesday, April 21, 2010
Astros 7
Fish 5
W: Lyon (1-1) | L: Wood (0-1) | S: Lindstrom (3)
Oh, shit. I write these things for Tuesday games now? Terrific. Let’s go…
The hottest team in baseball, Vegas favorites and inevitable World Series champions – YOUR 2010 HOUSTON ASTROS – kept the good times rolling with a late comeback victory last night against the hated rival extant Marlins of Florida. The game saw the restoration of order and reason to the lineup, with Berkman’s return to the snack corner and the three-hole in the order. He looked just as nimble and spry as he’s capable of looking, driving in two (on groundouts, yeah, but still…), doubling to left and diving all over his designated chat zone in the field. Let the record show that the first opposing player chatted up on defense was Cameron Maybin in the 1st, the first while standing on base was Dan Uggla in the 3rd, and Fat Elvis did not see his shadow.
The Fish struck first on a barrage of singles to open the game, plating two in the 1st. The Good Guys got one back in the bottom half, with Bourn walking, thieving his way around the diamond, and scoring on a slow Puma groundout to third. Scoring went back and forth all game long, with the Marlins holding a 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th.
Blum and Bourn both reached with no outs, and Kepp moved them into scoring position with a sac bunt. Twinkie plated Blum with the tying run on a sharp grounder to second, before the inning ended on a Flapjack pop-up. In the 8th, Thunderpants doubled to left, then moved to third on a Feliz single. Kaz broke the tie with a damn fine sac bunt down the first base line, after showing bunt on the previous pitch. Michaels came in to pinch hit in the next at-bat, and crushed a smokey to deep left, extending the lead to 7-4 and providing the crucial cushion.
Lindstrom came in to seal it, and notched his third save in three games, after allowing one run on a couple of singles and a wild pitch. Lyon picked up the win with a perfect 8th, leaving Myers with a no-decision after seven pretty decent innings of not punching anyone in the face. The ‘Stros have now won 4 of 5, and are clearly bound for the postseason. The presumptive victory tour continues tonight with Bud Norris squaring off agin Josh Johnson at 7:05, in which Carlos Lee drives in three runs because I said so that’s why.