PITTSBURGH 7, HOUSTON 3
June 15, 2011
MMPUS
WP: Morton (7-3)
LP: Del Rosario (0-1)
SV: Hanrahan (19)
A – 29, 866 (7.7 on the Gullibility Index)
T – 3:47
HOUSTON (SnS) – The Houston Astros built up an early lead against the Pittsburgh Pirates here Wednesday evening, only to once again have the game get away from them late, losing this time by the score of 7-3.
After Houston starter J.A. Happ had careened through the first five innings, giving up six hits and four walks but somehow only two runs (he was working out of some conundrum or other for the entirety of his mound stint), Astros skipper Mills decided, wisely I think, that Haap had likely already gone through 8 ½ of his 9 lives for this night (and had thrown 100+ pitches already), and it was time to get the lanky lefty out of there. At that point the home team had a precarious 3-2 lead over the swashbuckling club from the Mon Valley and, unfortunately, removing Haap meant a call to the woebegone Houston bullpen corps.
And the Astros ‘pen, true to form, started giving away runs like they were miniature New Testaments. The Pirates put up a three spot in the 6th (off of the hapless Del Rosario); and added another two in the 7th, on a two-run blast by X. Paul (off of Fernando Rodriguez.)
And the game was gone. The ‘Stros admirably kept fighting, and mounted just enough of a challenge in the ninth that Pirate closer Hanrahan could rush in at the end and chalk up a somewhat cheapo save (by having the tying run in the on-deck circle upon his entry), his 19th on the season.
Watching these games is starting to remind me of watching the last couple of seasons of the original Hawaii 5-0 television series, back in the early 1980s. By then, that show had been on in prime time a dozen years, and the writing was getting very predictable, the characters a bit shopworn; not to mention the star, the monolithic Jack Lord, was getting so far along in years it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the illusion that his wonderfully weird McGarrett character was still able to drive the shit out of that big-ass Lincoln Continental of his, all over the “big island”, in pursuit of the bad guys (not to mention the young ladies.)
Still, I watched. That show had taken me through most of my childhood – it was a favorite at our house – and even though I was grown up and nearing age 20 by then, I still retained a strong sentimental/nostalgic tie to this action-adventure show I’d been watching since I was a pre-pubescent. When the 5-0 team finally wrapped it up for the last time, and Lord/McGarrett disappeared into the mists of history, I felt a weird emptiness. Not overwhelming, but it was there, I could feel it. There was a hole in my soul where Steve McGarrett used to be.
Watching these Astros . . . it’s not the losing record so much – most of us have been through that before – but the overall listlessness of the team and seeming lethargy of the franchise leaves me with an empty feeling I am not used to.
It is probably the winding down of the McLain era I am sensing. I’ll be glad when the sale is final and Drayton moseys on down the road, I suppose in the direction of Temple, his wandering bootheels kicking up a wisp of dust as he finally disappears from view entirely. Hopefully the new guy, Crane, will bring in some new life when he takes over.
****************************