White Socks defeat Astros 4-3
L: Bedard (3-10)
W: Uh… Buehrle?
Contributed by Reuben
Ah-ha! Looks like the tables have turned now, eh? Eh, Mr. Clemens? Earlier in this season there were probably at least a couple games where Eric Bedard pitched a solid, steady 6 innings and left with a lead, only to watch Clemens implode and lose it in the 7th or 8th. But this night, the roles were reversed.
According to Ford and Sparks, Clemens was impressive, sounded like he mixed in just enough breaking balls and changeups to keep the Pale Hose off-balance. Matty D had another couple big RBIs, Carter drove in an insurance run, Grossman kept hitting… Unfortunately Bedard was left on the mound to pitch to a couple of key righties with the game on the line, with predictable results. Hoes grounded out with the tying run on 2nd to end another disappointing come-from-ahead loss.
You’ll have to pardon me; I’m in a bit of a stupor right now. We’ve been visiting my in-laws for the past 5-6 days here in Orange County, CA and are now preparing to board the 2nd leg of our red-eye flight back to NY via Atlanta and Detroit. It was a nice trip but fairly exhausting, too, and the periodic bursts of sleep I got during the 4-hour flight to Atlanta didn’t quite suffice.
The good news is my softball team made the league finals, and after losing Game 1 while I was gone, Game 2 (of 3) was rained out in the 3rd inning, postponed til Wednesday night. So not only will I get to play, assuming I can stand up, but the 10-4 Them score in effect at the time will be reset to 0-0, top of the first. If I’m not mistaken, one more inning would’ve made the game official, so that was some extremely timely rain.
By the way, I wanted to make a joke about Clemens, pitching against the White Sox in Chicago, coming up with a mysterious hammy strain after getting ambushed, but I couldn’t think of a way to work it in. Ah, bittersweet ’05 memories.