ASTROS 5, ARLINGTON 3
June 22, 2011
Ballpark at Arlington
WP: Melancon (5-1)
LP: Feliz (0-1)
ARLINGTON (SnS) – The Houston Astros defeated the Rangers here Wednesday night in the Trailer Park at Arlington, 5-3. The Astros starter Brett Myers pitched well, overcoming an Arlington offense geared to take advantage of the steamroom-like atmosphere in the AA-sized joke of a ballpark they play in. He was matched by Arlington starter Colby Lewis.
As is typical of most AL contests (and interlegue games played in AL parks), the game lost steam some time before the middle, and dragged on and on after that. A bunch of stuff happened, I guess, but it was mostly a blur – a blur not caused by anything resembling speed or rapidity, but rather the blur of half-watching something through half-lidded eyes. At least Houston area fans could enjoy the commentary of Bill Brown and Jim Deshaies on the Astros broadcast, thus being spared the sleep-inducing stream of unconsciousness spewed forth by some dude and Tom Grieve on the Arlington broadcast side.
Speaking of which, Monday night’s contest must have been particularly soporific – this reporter fell into a deep slumber sometime in the third inning, and never woke up. Hence, no recap for yesterday’s game.
Tonight promised to be no different. Arlington fans crave a rivalry with Houston, to save face and give them some legitimacy. The Astros have been in the NL 50 years, and have developed numerous bitter rivalries over the years. The Senator-Rangers have been in the AL for 50 years, and are so suck-ass they have never developed a rivalry with anyone. That is why, overhype it as they might, the forced “rivalry” with Houston will never catch on. You have to possess some compelling qualities for anyone else to consider you as a rival. The Arlington team fails miserably there; it must sting to have a team you just beat, whose W-L is a joke compared to yours . . . it must sting to have that team sneer at you with disdain on their way out of town as you tag along behind them, saying, “What about our rivalry, huh? Don’t we have a great rivalry?” Umm . . . no, dickheads, we don’t.
Tonight’s AL-tinged borefest at least had some solid pitching, saving us from one of those mind-numbing 15-11 specials the Arlington club is known for. Myers and Lewis both pitched admirably, with Lewis getting the best of it. When Myers left after the sixth trailing 2-0, most Astros fans could be forgiven for assuming the game was essentially over. The Houston bullpen is not exactly known for “holding the line” in the late innings; not that the offense is likely to catch up, anyway.
They didn’t hold it tonight, either. After the Astros scratched out their first run in the top of the eighth – emblematic for their offensive efforts of late, it was driven in on a 6-4-3 double play – the bullpen began the inevitable bleeding that has killed the team so many times already this season. The culprit tonight was Melancon, who gave up an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th on a couple of walks and a base hit.
This surprisingly led to the one good thing to happen in these three games. The top of the ninth inning was the scene of this one. Holding a 3-1 lead, Arlington skipper Washington called in closer N. Feliz to finish it out, despite the fact the latter had thrown 30+ pitches the previous evening and was due a night off. Carlos Lee smashed a double down the left field line to start things off. After Wallace popped out to short, Chris Johnson hit one more-or-less in the path of Lee’s double, scoring Carlos and bringing the score to 2-3. J-Mike dribbled an infield single, sending Johnson to third. A passed ball scored CJ, tieing it up. Then Matt Downs launched a bomb into the left field stands to put the Astros up 5-3. Another vaunted closer blown up. Always a nice thing to see.
Melancon shut down Arlington in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the win.
Thankfully, this series is over. The rival-less Rangers won it, but who cares? Happiness is the Metroplex in my rear view mirror. Fuck Dallas. Fuck the Rangers and their piece-of-shit ballpark. And most of all, fuck the AL. If I am having trouble sleeping, I’ll wash down a handful of Seconal with some Jack Daniels, thanks. The side effects of those are much less painful than watching a series of AL “games.”
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