The Good
The Bad
The Fugly

Tuesday night’s game was the only one the Astros could hold on to win. While they gave up 8 runs, they were able to score 9 and get a win. Giving up 4 runs in the 9th made things a bit to interesting. Thankfully Myers is usually well rested and was able to get the save.

Wednesday night’s game started off bad for Bud Norris. He gave up 3 runs in the first and the Astros were not able to pick him up – AT ALL. They left runners on base during most of the innings. So many chances and they did not take advantage of them. Marwin Gonzalez also twisted an ankle or something. They never announced what happened at the game and I have not had an opportunity to read about it either.

Thursday’s game. What an absolute shitfest? The Astros were horrible. Happ started out well, as did his teammates, but when the wheels flew off the bus, they couldn’t find ’em. Giving up 7 runs in the 7th. Ugh. There were only two redeeming things that happened at this game. #1 Carlos Correa was introduced to the crowd – and was received well. #2 Brian Bogusevic was able to pitch in a major league game. He didn’t do any worse than the rest of the pitching staff for the night. Plus, the Astros had the best defensive line up out there. Wallace was at third and Snyder was a first. Great job dropping a pop-up between Snyder and Altuve. Oh, and Altuve missed covering first again in this game. The Astros just got beat to a pulp.

I find this incredibly insulting. At the game Thursday night, Neil and I were finally excited about the game in the 9th. We were both hoping Bogusevic would have great success, especially after the previous 8 innings. I guess the know-it-all-Cardinal fan in front of us (who let’s his kid wear Pujols’ jersey) turned around and told us, “you know he pitched in college.” Yeah, we know, Neil then told him, “Yeah, Tulane” and I just said, “Yeah, we know.” If the know-it-all had listened to us the whole night, he would have heard us at the beginning of the 9th inning exclaim our excitement about Bogusevic pitching. The damm guy was a squatter too. Moving to that section at the end of the game. Neil wanted to call security to have them move him from the seats, but I told him not to overreact.

Over all, I had fun at the two games I went to see because the company was great.

Go Astros, better luck this weekend.

10. Recaps are for pussies.

Cubs 4, Astros 8 SnS recap Game Zone
Cubs 1, Astros 2 Game Zone
Cubs 1, Astros 5 Game Zone

How sweet is it to sweep the Cubs????!!! It’s awesome. While the Astros have won 6 of their last 10, the Cubs have lost 9 of their last 10. The Astros are 2 games back of .500 and 4 games out of 1st. The Cubs are 14 games back of .500 and 10 games out of 1st. The Cubs are on a 9 game losing streak and the Astros are on a 3 game winning streak.

Overall for pitching, the Astros are 3.44 and the Cubs are 4.26. For the month of May, the Astros are 2.75 and the Cubs are 4.31.

I know I should not get to excited and I’m not, but the Cubs have also been swept 5 times (1 two-game series) while the Astros have only been swept once, and it was a two-game series. This young Astros team has made a believer out of one person (which I won’t name because some might get upset – not that anyone really reads a recap anyway) so far. I think the majority of us are waiting for a larger sample size but hope they young guys continue to improve. You never know maybe next time they are at home, Astros fans might show up in a larger number than the opposing team fans.

Cubs 4, Astros 8
W: Bud Norris, L: Matt Garza

MLB Recap
Game Zone sponsored by Mr. Happy

Games like Monday’s are awesome. Anytime the Astros win and the Cubs lose is awesome. Seriously, I mean that.

Bud Norris pitched a good game, he had a couple troubled spots but worked his way out of them to give the Astros 7 innings of 5 hits, 3 walks and 8 strikeouts of baseball. I’m thrilled he went 7 innings because last night was the night the bullpen had a bad night. They (Del Rosario, Abad, and Lopez) combined for 7 hits, 1 strike out and 4 runs. Not a pretty outing for the bullpen. Again, I’m glad it happened on a night when they were spotted 8 runs to get the win and hopefully it does not start a trend into the future.

Jed Lowrie is slowly but maybe surely becoming a fan favorite. He really seems to be a solid player the Astros picked up in that trade for Melancon. I hope he continues to bring smiles to the fans of the Astros.

Last night, was also a night chock-full of technical difficulties. So, if you were watching at home you missed a lot of your usual commercials that drive you nuts.

I love this time of year, schools are letting out for the summer, days are longer and traffic is lighter. I can leave and only need 10 minutes to get to work. Woo-hoo! I have a graduation commencement to attend tonight. My cousin is graduating from Baylor College of Medicine. The family is quite proud of her.

Marlins 2, Astros 3
W: Lopez (3-0) L: Webb (1-1) SV: Myers (8)

MLB Recap
GameZone

For the most part, Tuesday was one of those days I could have honestly skipped. Then there were some good moments also. Let me share some of the shitty parts first. Work is just busy. Between travel, vouchers, expense reports, open records requests, lawsuits, compliance issues and all the other kind of administrative things I do, I get news that one of my dearest friends has stage 3 cancer, absolutely not the email I ever wanted to receive. That email, not surprisingly, put many things in perspective.

At the time, I really wasn’t feeling all that interested in going to a baseball game. But, I decided it was better to go than to sit at home and obsess. So, I go. I find a good parking spot, in a magical spot. Get into the ballpark without anyone getting in my way. I decide to spend some of my hard earned money on concessions. As some of you know, I rarely buy any concessions, especially beer. Well, I decided I needed a beer after that afternoon. So, I get my beer and soft drink (I always sign up to be the designated driver to get the free soft drink.) and go sit in the seat.

The friends who are joining me get there. As usual when I hang out with BatGirl and Bench I have a good time. The game was progressing well, we even noticed it is going by rather quickly. The bottom of the 6th inning comes, the bases get loaded and BatGirl chooses that moment to need to go to the bathroom. Of course, while she goes to the bathroom, the Astros score two runs and tie the game. Bench and I thought that maybe she should stay in there, but she came back.

Overall, An. Rodriguez did a good job pitching only giving up 2 runs in 6 innings. The bullpen, Lyons, Lopez and Myers pitched 3 scoreless innings. Bogusevic got the game-winning hit and Schafer got a lot of exercise in center during the first inning.

In between all the game fun, comments were made about Milo and his lack of a blue star (but there was some kind of blue light after a play), a lady in the stands with “signs” showing player names, parents giving their kids alcohol, and BatGirl doing the Air Guitar to get on the big screen. There was even a lady in the stands calling Myers “Myrsie,” personally I thought that was irritating.

All in all, the company at the game made the ending of a shitty day pretty damm good.

If you want to know about today’s game, read GBB’s series preview.

And here’s a picture of the young adolescent drinking Ultra.