Contributed by 94CougarGrad
Rangers 5, Astros 4End 10
WP: Ray (2-0), LP: Daigle (0-1), SV: Feliz (19)
A Happy Father’s Day it was at 1:05 pm, with plenty of Dads and kids strewn around the ball park, a hopeful gleam of “Astros win?” and “I want another hot dog!” in their eyes. Three and a half hours later, the jack-booted thugs from Arlington tossed their brooms into the storage compartment of the team bus and gave the Astros and their fan-Dads big, honkin’ boots in the junk, extending their record road game winning streak to 8.
You just knew the day would be interesting when you heard the first “stri-YEEEEEK!” call from behind the plate. Things indeed started out promising, as the Good Guys scored two runs in each of the first two innings (including one on a Vlad Guerrero error), and the stRangers got one lone run in the second. Then, okay-no-big-deal, one in the third. And then, too-close-for-comfort, one in the sixth. And then, ohhhhh-shit, the tying run in the top of the ninth.
Mills utilized his bullpen to the best of his ability in an attempt to preserve the win, going through Lopez, Byrdak, Lyon, Lindstrom, Daigle, and then Chacin.
Take Josh Hamilton out of yesterday’s lineup and the Astros would have won the damn game. 6 at-bats, 5 hits, 2 RBIs- the second of which scored the go-ahead in the top of the 10th. At some point the guy’ll have to head into the shop for an oil and filter change, but right now, he’s on a skeery-good roll.
A full onslaught of in-game entertainment was provided by JD and Brownie, who waxed poetic about the biggest afro in baseball, pierogies having Facebook pages, and likening baseball games to prime rib buffets. Wilton Lopez was complimented by both for his “charge” from the bullpen every time he’s called into action.
The excitement of the day came not from home runs or fantastic defensive plays, but from shock and worry. In the top of the 4th, the Rangers’ Blanco followed aaaaall the way around on a hard swing, striking Quintero in the right side of the head. Q clutched at his helmet and collapsed, and I could hear the “oh!” from the spectators loud and clear over the FSAstros network. The good sign was that Q was moving, so he apparently wasn’t out cold. The bad sign was that after his helmet was removed, the athletic trainers donned latex gloves, signaling to Brownie that blood was involved. The Wizard helped his teammate by delivering towels to the trainers, and a contrite Blanco hovered on the edge of the milling crowd while Keppinger attempted to comfort him. In the end, Q, sure on his feet and looking agitated (he brusquely waved off the apologizing Blanco), was helped off the field to great applause for stitches and testing.
After the game, Ed Wade announced that Cash, Daigle, and Sullivan were DFA’ed, to be replaced with Jason Castro, Jason Bourgeois, and Chris Johnson. A post-game locker room interview with Q revealed that he had 7 stitches because something inside his helmet cut his head when the bat hit him, and no concussion. Q announced himself “ready to play on Tuesday” and grinned. I didn’t agree, however, with asking Q if he’d heard that Cash had been DFA’ed. Q blinked in surprise and recovered as best as he could, saying that nobody had told him anything because he hadn’t been there.
The Astros are back in action at MMPUS on Tuesday for a 3-game series with San Francisco and get-an-effin’-haircut Lincecum vs. Oswalt, Parte Dos. Next weekend the team can look forward to visiting the Ballpark in Arlington, because they just can’t wait to see the other Texas team again. I guess they took the phrase, “Don’t be a stRanger” to heart.