Astros 55, Brewers 1
W: Wandy Rodriguez, L: Dave Bush

Astros Recap
Game Zone

With 7 innings of 1 run baseball, a suicide squeeze, and a walk made for good results and made Wandy the man of the day.

There were other Astros that contributed on the day, such as Geoff Blum 2 for 2 with 3 runs and Chris Johnson was 4 for 4. Bourn made a leaping catch at the wall.

This was also the 10th win out of 13 games on Wednesday. Too bad they can’t play only on Wednesdays.

Other news:

All the reasons being posted in the Talk Zone about why Paraguay should win or just reasons to attend the games made me think of the real reasons you should enjoy the world cup.

Such as:

England's Midfielder Frank Lampard

A strong Pole playing for the Germans Lukas Podolski

Carlos Bocanegra USA!USA! USA!

Retired Swedish Player Freddie Ljungberg

Giants 3, Astros 6
w: Brett Myers, L: Barry Zito

Astros Recap
Game Zone

The Astros finally beat the Giants this year. It took the 8th meeting between them, but the finally did it.

Jeff Keppinger’s 2 out double in the 2nd gave the Astros a 4-0 lead. Zito threw Keppinger some weak-ass shit.

Overall the game was enjoyable, minus the 3 errors in the field by the Astros. The rookies Johnson and Castro seemed a bit shaky out there. I thought Bourgeious was ok in CF and uncomfortable in LF. I also think he will be able to adjust fine there.

The bats were there for 11 hits on the night. The hit parade was led by Keppinger, Lee, and Johnson with 2 each.

Today’s game is an early one, so productivity for Astros fans may be down this afternoon at their places of employment. Check out strosrays outstanding series preview if you haven’t already for more information.

And don’t forget the USA plays Ghana Saturday at 1:30 CST. Go USA!!!

Contributed by 94CougarGrad

Rangers 5, Astros 4End 10
WP: Ray (2-0), LP: Daigle (0-1), SV: Feliz (19)

A Happy Father’s Day it was at 1:05 pm, with plenty of Dads and kids strewn around the ball park, a hopeful gleam of “Astros win?” and “I want another hot dog!” in their eyes. Three and a half hours later, the jack-booted thugs from Arlington tossed their brooms into the storage compartment of the team bus and gave the Astros and their fan-Dads big, honkin’ boots in the junk, extending their record road game winning streak to 8.

You just knew the day would be interesting when you heard the first “stri-YEEEEEK!” call from behind the plate. Things indeed started out promising, as the Good Guys scored two runs in each of the first two innings (including one on a Vlad Guerrero error), and the stRangers got one lone run in the second. Then, okay-no-big-deal, one in the third. And then, too-close-for-comfort, one in the sixth. And then, ohhhhh-shit, the tying run in the top of the ninth.

Mills utilized his bullpen to the best of his ability in an attempt to preserve the win, going through Lopez, Byrdak, Lyon, Lindstrom, Daigle, and then Chacin.

Take Josh Hamilton out of yesterday’s lineup and the Astros would have won the damn game. 6 at-bats, 5 hits, 2 RBIs- the second of which scored the go-ahead in the top of the 10th. At some point the guy’ll have to head into the shop for an oil and filter change, but right now, he’s on a skeery-good roll.

A full onslaught of in-game entertainment was provided by JD and Brownie, who waxed poetic about the biggest afro in baseball, pierogies having Facebook pages, and likening baseball games to prime rib buffets. Wilton Lopez was complimented by both for his “charge” from the bullpen every time he’s called into action.

The excitement of the day came not from home runs or fantastic defensive plays, but from shock and worry. In the top of the 4th, the Rangers’ Blanco followed aaaaall the way around on a hard swing, striking Quintero in the right side of the head. Q clutched at his helmet and collapsed, and I could hear the “oh!” from the spectators loud and clear over the FSAstros network. The good sign was that Q was moving, so he apparently wasn’t out cold. The bad sign was that after his helmet was removed, the athletic trainers donned latex gloves, signaling to Brownie that blood was involved. The Wizard helped his teammate by delivering towels to the trainers, and a contrite Blanco hovered on the edge of the milling crowd while Keppinger attempted to comfort him. In the end, Q, sure on his feet and looking agitated (he brusquely waved off the apologizing Blanco), was helped off the field to great applause for stitches and testing.

After the game, Ed Wade announced that Cash, Daigle, and Sullivan were DFA’ed, to be replaced with Jason Castro, Jason Bourgeois, and Chris Johnson. A post-game locker room interview with Q revealed that he had 7 stitches because something inside his helmet cut his head when the bat hit him, and no concussion. Q announced himself “ready to play on Tuesday” and grinned. I didn’t agree, however, with asking Q if he’d heard that Cash had been DFA’ed. Q blinked in surprise and recovered as best as he could, saying that nobody had told him anything because he hadn’t been there.

The Astros are back in action at MMPUS on Tuesday for a 3-game series with San Francisco and get-an-effin’-haircut Lincecum vs. Oswalt, Parte Dos. Next weekend the team can look forward to visiting the Ballpark in Arlington, because they just can’t wait to see the other Texas team again. I guess they took the phrase, “Don’t be a stRanger” to heart.

Astros 4, Royals 2
W: Roy Oswalt, L: Bruce Chen

Astros recap
Astros wrap
Game Zone

After a ~2 hour delay to start the game, the Astros found some runs at the end of the rainbows. According to JD there was a double rainbow in the sky after the down pour in KC.

I admit to not scrutinizing the team very closely, but Sweet Baby Bourn needs to start getting some hits. I have high expectations for him and he needs to meet them.

Roy had a good outing, especially against an AL club, is a good thing if he is to be traded this season.

I have a feeling David DeJesus is going to have a large family. He’s been great in his at-bats since his son was born and going 4-4 on the night just added to it.

Check out Jane’s preview for news about the game Thursday.

Go USA!!!

Contritubed by Ebby Calvin

Spankees 9 – Astros 5
W – Hughes, L – Moehler
MLB Wrap
Limey’s Series Preview

Jorge Posada is impressive. Not because he hit grand slams in back-to-back games — that’s easy and shit. No, George’s most impressive feat happened in the top of the first inning:
Carlos at the plate, Pence and Bourn on first and second, one out (after starter Phil Hughes threw some strong-ass shit to Kepp) — DOUBLE STEAL! Jorge whipped around, and get this — managed to MISS beaning Kabong in his temple or backside. Sure, he bounced the throw off Lee’s bat and the double steal was successful, but still — that’s got to be like trying to miss the broad side of a barn and knocking over a pitchfork in the yard next door.
Come to think of it, the Astros should steal third EVERY time Carlos is at the plate. I don’t care if Q is pushing a Kevin Cash-filled wheelbarrow at second base at the time — they better fucking steal third. It can’t be batter’s interference if all Carlos does is, you know, stand there.
Yes, they’ll often strand the runner(s) at third, but at least this way DoRayMi won’t be able to say, “…didn’t even get a runner past second base this game! Wheeeeeeee!”

As for the rest of the game, Astros pitchers surrendered 9 hits, 10 walks, 1 HBP and 9 earnies. And they got swept.

I was hoping for a tie.

Contributed by Bench.

Astros 3, Yankees 9
W: Vazquez, L: Rodriguez

Astros recap
GameZone

Interleague play sucks. It’s trite, it’s manufactured, it gives me a bunch of games every season against a team I honestly don’t give a fuck about. And beyond the superficial, knee jerk instinctual wretch in my bowels when the Yankees come up, this series emotionally is a waste of time.

The NEW Yankee Stadium is an unabashedly capitalist version of the House that Ruth Barfed. I attended the World Series clinching game there back in November, and after attending many games at the old stadium, I felt no different in my seat that time. I was still surrounded by a collection of YankeeWay parents annoyed that their kids weren’t appreciating the deep meaningful connection to generations past, to the bullshit mystique they’ve substituted for actual memories. The poor father in the row behind me, who brought his son from SUNY-Albany and two of the kid’s douchebag college friends, audibly gave up on the child before the game even began. Passing around their poorly hidden flask, the kids talked about how they would have rather been to the beginning of the first game to see Jay Z perform “Empire State of Mind” in person. The poor dad kept trying to talk about the “old days”, the late fucking 90’s, of which the kids were painfully oblivious.

Scott Brosius took the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and in between legen-(wait for it)-dary stories of beer pong, one of the morons asked who that was. I turned around made eye contact with the dad, who just shook his head in shame. “Scott Brosius,” I said, assuming that was enough. They had no clue who he was, but were into their flask enough to opine that he was probably a faggot. I happily agreed.

Those kids had an awful time at the game. Their dad got pissed at them getting hammered and generally acting like asses, which resulted in his son making an almost noble half hearted attempt at bringing his buddies into line, but ultimately giving in to the peer pressure of vaguely-aimed obscenities and stories of frat boy almost-fights and dudeitotallyfuckinggotwastedkidyouhavenoidea alcohol consumption. At the end of the day, they were happy to have been a part of ANOTHER NEW YORK YANKEE CHAMPIONSHIP and declared themselves TRUE YANKEE FANS that live life like no other sports fan in the world. “But, kid, seriously, it would have fucking awesome if the game ended after seven innings and we could have hit the fucking bars and pick up mad pussy.” Totally.

Those kids would have loved this game. Jeter led off with homerun in the first. Pence clubbed an equalizer in the second. But the OLDWAY took over, and Posada hit a grand slam off road Wandy and it was pretty much over at that point. Caballo ka-bonged, but in the end, the douchebag SUNY-Albany kids had another fun forgettable trip to the big city.

Fuck ‘em. Despite looking like shit for the most part and being luckier than that, the Americans stole a point from the English. Given the actually genuine World Cup Fever that has taken over this country, and even Houston, a lot more people in town were focused on the soccer. Good show, U.S. Now pull it together against the Serbians, who are being a bit too overlooked by our public than I would like.