Astros 7, Marlins 1
April 10, 2011
Minute Maid Park
W: J.A. Happ (1-1)
L: A. Sanchez (0-1)
J.A. Happ became the next Astro starter to perform well and the first to get a win in the 2011 season with the gem he pitched against the Marlins. After giving up a double and run-scoring single in the first, Happ was able to negotiate the vagaries of Jim Joyce’s enigmatic ‘strike zone’ and hold the Fishmen to just two hits and four walks before leaving the game in the eighth with a 7-1 lead.
This one was truly a team effort. Every starter had at least one hit; Happ became the third Astro pitcher to have two and he knocked in the go-ahead runs with a ringing double off of the Jut of Eternal Peril in the fourth inning. All told, the Astros slapped 16 hits and reduced Marlin CF Chris Coghlan to diving for balls like Flipper.
It wasn’t all a hit parade though. Threatening in the fifth, the Marlins had runners on first and second with no outs and the pitcher up, trailing 3-1. Expecting a bunt, Happ threw a fastball up and away, where Q took it and lasered a throw to catch Helms easing back to the bag for an electric pickoff that took the steam off of the Fish. Sanchez bunted foul to strike out and the threat was done.
The performance on the mound by Happ was the real story of the game. From midway in the second he was able to tease the hitters with his high fastball, then come in and down with the curve or cutter, tying them up and making them try to hit his pitches. Despite his four walks, Happ never gave in and he was comfortably pitching his game all the way through.
Hilarity and hijinks ensued in the bottom of the seventh in true Joycean fashion. Puzzling strike zone notwithstanding, HP Ump Jim Joyce felt the need to show us that it really wouldn’t be a game without an umpire when Marlin reliever Edward Mujica plunked Bill Hall on the ass with his first pitch. Confident that this was two-day-old retaliation for Hall’s slide into Hanley Ramirez, Joyce immediately ran Mujica to the consternation of many. In the ninth, Aneury Rodriguez put one on Gaby Sanchez’ posterior on a 2-2 pitch, his second one inside, and was ejected as well. Fortunately, the Iron Hand of Jim Joyce was there to Preserve Order and Safety, and the game continued with no further incident, except that both teams had to burn another reliever.
Next up are those whiny losers the FTC. Follow the fun in the Game Zone.