Hank the Tank in his replica Mets uniform
Astros 4- steM 3
W – Melancon, L – Dickey, S – Lyon
When the game is on the line, you want a superstar at the plate. A guy who rattles the pitcher. A hitter – a pure hitter – who will do everything in his will to draw that walk, slap one to right, work the count. The “if” is thrown out of the equation – all you’re waiting for is the “how” and “when.”
And lacking such a player, the Astros turned to Hunter Pence in the 8th. Yep, ol’ Thunderpants hit the go-aheader, a solo laser shot to left that put the Good Guys up one for good. And thus the season’s first two-game winning streak was born.
Beeker’s homer was hardly the game’s only highlight. Bill Hall accidentally caught a foul ball on his way to punch a steM fan in the ‘nads in the 2nd, atoning for his 4,816 k’s this season. Downs later replaced him due to a strained right ankle. Hall’s day-to-day, unless somebody actually looks it up and corrects me.
Norris escaped multiple jams and left with 3ER, 10 hits in 6IP.
Lyon induced a crucial double-play in the 9th and no outs.
Carlos caught a ball.
But the most impressive play of the night was in the bottom of the 8th, when Jose Valdez executed the classic strike-em-out, toss-em-out double play at the plate to end the inning. steM douchebags on the corners, 1 out. Some other steM douchebag strikes out swinging, but the ball boinks the Rodeo Clown in the shin guard and dribbles away. The steM douchebag on third breaks for home and gets tagged out on a bang-bang play. K, 2-1 for those of you scoring retroactively at home.
And that was about it. A fun, relatively meaningless game for a warm night on the couch. A night when the Astros turned to their homegrown Bud, who often pitches high and outside, while they cheered from the dugout.
Next Game: Thurs, 7:05pm.