Marlins 5, Astros 4 (11)
WP: Gaudin
LP: Carpenter
I know it’s early, I know, and early or not these games count. It’s tough to lose one when you’ve battled back to take a lead late, but as frustrating as this is, the 2012 Astros are a lot more interesting to watch than the 2011 vintage was.
Blue skies above
and sun on your arms
strength in your stride
And hope in those squeaky clean eyes
Maybe this is a mirage; maybe it’ll all come crashing down to sub-mediocrity soon and casual fans will drift away to other things. Perhaps. I want to view this as something else though, as real growth for a team that was so shitty last year that getting close to the pack of all the other teams feels like progress.
They battled hard the whole series and had numerous chances to win every game. Miami isn’t going to win any championships this year, but they’re decent and the Astros were right there with them the whole way, taking it to them when last year’s club would’ve folded the tent early.
Happ pitched well, going six innings while scattering five hits and giving up two runs. Martinez had two doubles, Bogusevic finally got a couple of hits, as did CJ and The Altuve, who drove in a pair.
The word is that the hunted one is out there on his own
You’re alone for maybe the last time
And you breathe for a long time
Then you howl like a wolf in a trap
And you daren’t look behind
The 4-2 Good Guy lead was erased in the eighth, when Wright, who was brought in to turn Bonifacio around, walked him instead. The mighty blast off of Ramirez’ bat to deepest center field tied it up. In the 11th, Carpenter gave up a single to Buck. After a sac bunt Reyes was walked and a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Bonifacio was walked to load them up, and Ramirez hit the game-winner past the drawn-in outfielders in right.
The yang of today’s performance was a mixture of coltish stumbling and rolls of the dice. A missed called strike three that led to a run and some undeniable hitting by the Marlins combined with a brutal 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and some weak defense from barely-not-a-rookie Castro, who is not having the early season he’d like to have. I still think they’re going to grow out of most of this and I’m looking forward to watching that. Looking forward to watching them learn how to fight once they’re in the pack, and not trying to catch up to it.
You fall to the ground
like a leaf from a tree
And look up one time
at that vast blue sky
Scream out aloud as they shoot you down
We’re midwives to history. Put on your bloody robes.