Astros 2 Halos 0
contributed by Mr. Happy
I listened to part of last night’s game at Fifth Third Field, the home of the Toledo Mudhens, who entertained the Louisville Bats last night, courtesy of my At Bat app on my trusty Samsung Android phone. The Tigers, who are the parent club for the Mudhens, have nothing but journeymen AAAA players here right now as far as I can tell. Phil Nevin manages the Mudhens, and Leon “Bull” Durham is the hitting coach. University of Toledo icon A.J. Sager is the pitching coach. They have some good looking gear. However, I resisted the urge to take one of those jerseys home last night, but I strongly suspect that it is only a matter of time.
Norris apparently had command problems early, but he wasn’t missing over the plate like Matt Cain did in yesterday’s horrific third inning against the Terdinals. I am convinced that Cain has started tipping his pitches out of the stretch because his stretch numbers are awful this season and are vastly different from his historical line with runners on base. Those wascally Terdinals (and some other clubs) are on to something about Cain when they have him in the stretch. Cain threw five perfect innings yesterday in addition to the forgettable seven run third inning. Cain has 14 innings this season where he’s allowed four or more runs. That’s about one Oswalt inning per outing.
Last night, Norris gave us six shutout innings, giving way to a bully that somehow did the job again, throwing 100 pitches, 60 for strikes. Cisnero, who gave us two solid shutout innings last night, has pitched to a 2.88 ERA this season.
Some of you have been rather hard on closer Jose Veras. However, the facts are that Veras has converted ten of 13 chances, which, while that’s not great, could be worse. I like his arm. He’s got two plus pitches.
The Astros got all of the runs they needed in the seventh inning courtesy of Chris Carter’s 11th home run, which was a two run shot.
I always look forward to NeilT’s Friday night game recaps. I learned about Astroleena and am convinced that she’s a messenger from the BBG’s.
The Good Guys make the drive for five in a row against the Halos on Sunday. Young Jordan Lyles toes the slab against crafty portsider C.J. Wilson. Come join us in the Game Zone. You might learn what a footy is, as well as other important things.