astros 0, giants 13

mctaggert’s take

chron’s boxscore

so, what was that? 

if you made it through the first third of the game the astros played against the giants on friday night, you know exactly what i am talking about.  you were saying it, too. 

but, a scant three innings earlier, as the game was starting i found myself singing thinking… 

maybe he’ll win

and why not?  paulino pitched extremely well in his last start against the tigers.  he’s shown some great stuff.  the astros have been putting together wins on the road.  it’s the last series before coming home to the weak loving arms of the pirates and nats.  the astros could go out, get the first one of three against the giants with a nice outing by felipe, and end the night with a .500 record.  no high expectations, mind you.  just some good-looking possibilities. 

loaded with danger   

it was obvious that paulino forgot to bring his location with him to the mound last night.  he was up in the zone.  no breaking ball to speak of.  hitting his spots?  uh, no.  the giants saw this, took advantage of his ineffectiveness, and waylaid him.  nine runs on nine hits in two innings.  with an eye toward saving the bullpen, coop let him twist in the wind for as long as possible, before bringing fulchino in to try and stop the bleeding.

conquering the space around him   

“I was like, ‘Wow, this is unbelievable,'” Paulino said. “I threw all my pitches, they hit everything I threw up there.”

the reality is, these kinds of games happen sometimes.  everyone knows and understands this.  even felipe paulino.  but the thing is, when you are part of a temporary 6-man rotation, and your team is trying to gear up to make their patented second-half run….well, you just can’t afford to have these things happen now. 

if paulino wants a spot in the rotation when it goes back to 5-man after the all-star break, he’s got to do a much better job of showing the astros that he can be counted on as a consistent number 4 or 5.  time is running out for him to get it together.  maybe getting smacked around by the giants will do him some good.  depending on how well ortiz pitches, paulino’s next outing has the potential to seal the deal. 

one thing leads to another

“You’ve just got to battle through it,” manager Cecil Geoff Blum said. “After two innings, you still have plenty of innings left to scratch back. But we didn’t put anybody on base.”

“We know that we’re down by nine, but we still have to keep the same approach we’ve had during the game,” Blum said. “We had scored a lot of runs the last couple of games, so I don’t think that any of us really wanted to push any harder than we needed to or panic too much. I still think we wanted to have some good [at-bats] and do the best we could when we got a pitch to hit.”

what blum said.  but the offense just wasn’t able to get anything going to combat the huge deficit they faced.  however, it should be noted, the kid that started for the giants was pretty exceptional.

the impression that you sell

despite the loss, the astros still find themselves very much in contention and poised to climb to the top of the standings over the next week.  and if they can find a way to hit lincecum and johnson, things look even better for the astros as they make their way back to houston for the final homestand going into the break. 

gbb’s series preview

the incredulousness of the GameZone

tigers 4, astros 5

astros.com recap

my apologies in advance.  this recap is in no way going to even come close to doing justice to the game that the astros played on saturday against the tigers.

because that game?  that game we played? that game right there?  was the sparkly little gem that you hope to see at this point in the season. one of those all too rare games, when all the little pieces and fragments come together and fit just as they are supposed to, with the end result being great baseball.

bright and shiny

ladies and gentleman, introducing your 2009 houston astros – now with MORE! winning series, IMPROVED! pitching and BETTER! division standing – the same great team you’ve come to love, with an all NEW! look 

that’s taking it too far, sure.  and the astros have looked less than superb at times lately. but the suck hasn’t become an epidemic.  in fact, it hasn’t even become a trend.  there seems to be more of a sense of balance to these games –  even the ones that are lost.

for instance, when the team has made some pretty silly mistakes defensively (see berkman, lance) they are doing a much better job of making up for it offensively (see puma, the).

tejada continues to be hotter than your local heat advisory, and michael bourn is burning (and increasing his obp) for you.  berkman’s looking more like berkman. pence!!! is a golden god.  there seems to be an eye toward fixing the pitching situation (please see a fired-up brandon backe for more details) and more and more, you are seeing the bench is starting to come through for this team in some big situations.

rose colored glasses

could be the heat talking.  could be the eternal optimist in me.  could be the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol.  but i like this team. i do.  they aren’t the prettiest looking on paper.  they aren’t causing the teams ahead of them in the division to lose any sleep.  but they are trying to show some scrap, and dangit, that’s what i expect from this team.   

cooper? i’m over it.  he’s of no concern to me any longer.  i’m also not worried about what does or doesn’t happen with the players that we likely won’t see after this season.  a trade? sure – why not?  no moves made until the astros are mathematically eliminated? another lovely choice. i’m with you.

only, keep playing the fire-in-the-belly baseball.  lose a game. lose a series. but play the remaining ones with heart. with passion. with intensity.

it’s been one dry season.  saturday found the astros en fuego.  may it spread as far and wide as possible before the all-star break.

actual game info

please see the GameZone

Astros 6

Twins 5

taggert’s recap

footer’s twitterings

There was plenty of good in this game.  Some bad, too.  But there was an overwhelming sense of ugliness to this one…

Ugly mainly because of the many, many less than attractive fans in MeMawsota. Some choosing to enhance the fug by wearing those hideous “cowboy hats” Saturday night.   (seriously – those have got to be some of the most scrofulous fans in baseball) 

But there were other aspects of the game that were U-G-L-Y.  And by other aspects, I mean Cecil Cooper.

He ain’t got no alibi

I don’t want to beat a dead horse (sorry carlos), but COME ON!  It’s as if Cooper isn’t watching the same games that the rest of us are.  It’s hard to shake loose of the image of Pudge practically begging for help from his skipper after not getting the call on what appeared to be both a swing and foul tip by Gomez in the bottom of the 5th.  Pudge saw it.  We saw it.  Hell, even Alkie heard it. 

How did Coop choose support his player?  He sat.  And sat.  And he continued to sit, while Pudge passionately tried to argue the call.  Homeplate umpire Jerry Lane must have been as annoyed with Cooper’s lack of leadership as the rest of us, because (ostensibly before Blum could come out there and take charge of the situation) he ejected Coop from the bench**.    

Of course once he was thrown out, Cooper found his legs actually were working and proceeded to agrue THAT call on the field for approximately 37 minutes.  Meanwhile, Moehler waited…

And waited.

And waited.

The Astros seemed a little rattled after their “manager” left the game.  Moehler ended up walking Gomez, who was then almost caught in a pick-off attempt, which resulted in a horribly executed rundown between 1st and 2nd, which gave the Twins a man on 2nd with one out.

They recovered, and got the next two outs to escape the inning.

That type of leadership is absolutely unacceptable unsatisfactory unbearable  intolerable (thanks, andy).  I’m finished trying to understandany logic behind Cooper and what he does/doesn’t do.  He needs to go away.  Soon.

The Good News

Moehler didn’t suck.  Yes, he gave up three solo homeruns.  Yes, he engaged in some sort of male machismo ritual with the Twins’ starting pitcher to see who would be the first to break their ankle on a comebacker.  But otherwise, he looked pretty good through his 6 innings, and deserved to get the win (that Hawkins and Valverde tried to give away in the eight and ninth.  residual ugliness).

The Puma caught a break and launched career HR #999 batting lefty in the top of the eighth.  He looks much more solid at the plate, and is hopefully beginning to truly bust out of his season-long funk.

Kata had an amazing defensive game, and did great job at second base.  Offensively, he was a little kaka.

Sampson pitched a scoreless inning of relief. 

Jason Michaels had a huge PH in the 7th, which tied the game, and kept the rally going for the Astros to add another 2 runs to take the lead.

He’s so 3000 and 8 

The absolute best highlight of the game was young Michael Bourn.  He continues to play like a freaking rock star, and was an integral part of the Astros 7th inning rally when he turned on an inside fastball and smashed one over the right field wall for his second homerun in 2 games.  That took the Astros to a 5-3 lead, and set the stage for the win.

It’s great to be able to watch a player like him develop the way that he has, and enjoy the success that he is obviously working hard to achieve.  Give Ed Wade a pat on the back the next time you see him.  The only thing that could possibly be better than Bourn being the future of the Astros, is if Cooper were made a permanent part of the PAST.

Hopefully the Astros can continue to find ways to win series despite the best efforts of Coop to derail their chances of getting on track.

what you missed in the gamezone

**The best call made from behind the plate all evening