Contributed by austro (who thinks he’s a jinx… burn the witch!)
Astros 2
Padres 3
WP: Bell (4-0) | LP: Lyon (5-3)
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Petco Park, San Diego
Sorry folks, but today you get my notes instead of a condensed account. After all, it’s a holiday!
Myers pitching for Houston, LeBlanc for San Diego.
San Diego breaks out the camo jerseys again.
Michaels in CF, Bourn gets the day off.
T1: Keppinger leads off (WTF?) and flies out to LF. Lance (batting 2nd! WTF?) hits his first RH homer of the year! Scoreless streak is broken! Pence (batting 3rd! WTF?) strikes out. Lee taps out to 2nd, 4-3.
B1: Gwynn flies out to RF. Jerry Hairston grounds out 6-3 (Navarro at SS today). Gonzalez fliest out to LF.
T2: Michaels flies out to RF. Feliz grounds out 6-3. Q flies out to RF.
B2: Scott Hairston flies out to LF. Headley singles up the middle. Torrealba grounds out 5-3, Headley advances to 2nd. Cunningham flies out to RF.
T3: Navarro grounds out 5-3. Myers flies out to CF. Kepp singles. Berk walks. Fucking Pence pops out to short.
B3: Cabrera grounds out 3-1; nice pickup by Berk, nice cover by Myers. LeBlanc Ks. Gwynn Ks looking.
T4: Lee pops out to short in shallow CF. Michaels flies out to CF. Feliz grounds out 6-3 and breaks his bat in the process.
B4: Jerry Hairston grounds out 5-3. Gonzalez grounds out 3-1. Scott Hairston bloops a single between Kepp and Pence in RF. JD: “The barrel [of the bat] is overrated sometimes.” Q with a snap throw down to 1st and very nearly gets Hairston. Headley walks, advancing Hairston to 2nd. Torrealba grounds to SS, Navarro takes his time and Headley beats the force at 2nd to load the bases. Cunningham singles to LF (a more agile left fielder would have gotten to it) and scores 2. This inning typifies everything wrong with the Astros this year. Cabrera grounds out 6-3. Myers got screwed by his defense.
T5: Q flies out to CF. Navarro walks. Myers sacs Navarro to 2nd. Kepp flies out to RF on a nice diving catch by the right fielder. Of course.
B5: LeBlanc grounds out 4-3. Gwynn flies out to LF. Jerry Hairston singles to RF. Gonzalez grounds out 6-3.
T6: Berk strikes out looking. Pence grounds out 1-3. Lee grounds out 5-3.
B6: Scott Hairston grounds out 5-3. Headley grounds out 4-3. Torrealba grounds out 5-3. Myers has been a tremendous pick-up this year.
T7: Michaels leads off with a double down the LF line. Feliz drives the ball to deep RF but it’s caught; Michaels moves up to 3rd. Padres bring the infield in for Q. In-fucking-credible: ground ball up the middle, off the pitcher’s foot, second baseman (Hairston) comes up and grabs the ball, Michaels isn’t moving on contact so he stays, and Hairston throws across his body for the out at 1st. Bourgeois in to pinch-hit for Navarro. He walks. Johnson in to pinch-hit (.452 in 8 games on the road trip!); Webb in to relieve. Grounds out 4-3. Myers fucked.
B7: Lopez in to pitch, Sanchez in at short (for Bourgeois, who pinch-hit for Myers). Cunningham grounds out 6-3. Cabrera strikes out on a very nice low and moving pitch. Salazar in to pinch-hit for Webb; he walks. Byrdak comes in to pitch. Gwynn grounds back to Byrdak, who botches the play, then grabs the ball and throws to 1st while flying through the air, bouncing it to Berk, who miraculously grabs it and then gets his glove stepped on by Gwynn. By some divine intervention, the out stands and the inning is over.
T8: Adams replaces Webb on the mound. Kepp leads off with a single. Lance hits a hard drive into the RF corner that bounces around and turns into a triple, scoring kepp and tying the game. Pence grounds out 5-3 (what a surprise!), and Berk can’t score. Lee strikes out looking stupid on an outside pitch; no balls out of the infield today for him. Michaels flies out to RF, stranding Berk at 3rd. At least they got one run.
B8: Lyon on to pitch. Jerry Hairston flies out to CF; Michaels made it a little exciting by breaking back at first, but in the end it wasn’t too bad. Gonzalez up (Keppinger out in RF, Sanchez back behind 2nd), Gonzalez takes it to deep left, but Lee grabs it on the warning track. Scott Hairston walks (third BB for Astros pitchers today). Headley gets jammed and pops up to SS.
T9: Bell replaces Adams on the mound. Feliz flies out to CF. Q strikes out. Sanchez pops out to 1B.
B9: Torrealba single to RF. Cunningham sacs Torrealba to 2nd. Cabrera is intentionally walked. Stairs pinch hits for Bell and walks to load the bases for Gwynn. Gwynn singles up the middle and the Astros lose 3-2.
Two runs in 27 innings. That’s not going to get it done, boys.