Use long ball to avoid sweep in Oakland.

WP: Collin McHugh (16 – 7)
LP: Aaron Brooks (1 – 3)

submitted by Sphinx Drummond

Most Excellent Gamezone

BOX

The Astros offense took advantage of four homeruns to power their way to an 11-5 victory over the Oakland A’s Wednesday. Collin McHugh lasted 5.1 innings, he has had better outings though he sailed through the first four innings before giving up 4 runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth inning before leaving the game with one out in the sixth. After Chad Qualls allowed one of MxHugh’s runners to score, he and the relief corps combination of Will Harris, Pat Neshek, and Oliver Perez, stopped the bleeding and shut the door on the A’s offense.

After being shut out on Tuesday the Astros offense came back to life pounding the baseball, scoring at least one run in every inning but the first and third. Colby Rasmus, Carlos Gomez, Evan Gattis, and Marwin Gonzalez, all homered. After going hit-less in the first two games of the series, Altuve added two in Wednesdays game, he is currently hitting .311.

Coupled with the Rangers being shut out in Seattle, the Astros now have a 2 game lead in the standings, one less loss, three more wins, but we know that the standings are just something to look at as the Astros still have 22 games left to play and so much can happen between now and the end of the season.

Another Thursday off day allows the Astros to take a leisurely trip down the coast to Anaheim where they will face the Angels in a three game weekend series begining Friday night. Dallas Keuchel (17 – 6) will look for his 18th win, his mound opponent will be Jared Weaver (6 – 10) who seems to have mostly good outings against the Astros. The game starts 9:10 pm CST. Also thanks to HH for the excellent PBP in the Gamezone.

Game Time: 3:38
Attendance: 13,387

Astros 9
A’s 10
W: Doubront, L: Fiers, S: Doolittle

GameZone
MLB recap

I was in San Antonio for the weekend to celebrate my Dad’s 76th birthday (as some of you may know that is quite an accomplishment for him) and from what I could tell, the Astros tried to homer their way to a win but were unable.

Here’s to a better result to tonight’s game! Kazmir v. Gray. Let’s hope the boys start a nice long win streak tonight.

Astros 8
Twins

Submitted by Neil T

Thank goodness Springer is back, and Ashby is back in the booth. You can’t mess around with karma in September, and things need to be what they’ve been, whether you like it or not. Ashby may be 2015’s Bao. That doesn’t mean you have to like him.

The official story is Springer’s return, but this was Conger’s game, with five RBI, and McHugh’s, with no runs. The game started with another Gomez-Conger out at home plate, this time of Joe (There’s a Man I’ve Got to See) Mauer, to keep the Twins scoreless. You can see it again here, complete with Twins commentary:

Bottom of the first, Singleton singletons, Clapton singles, Correa fielders choice, one run scores.

There’s no reason to describe the Twins’ at bats. Shut out. McHugh was brilliant. Thatcher got a k for the third out of the 8th, then Feliz went 3 up, 3 down for the 9th. 7 hits, 6 Ks, one walk for McHugh. Brilliant.

2nd Lowrie doubles, Astros go up 3-0 with a Rasmus bomb.

4th. Pay attention now. Gattis singles. Lowrie singles. Gomez singles. Bases loaded, let me say this again: bases loades. The Astros this season never score. Rasmus Ks. Valbuena Ks.

Feed the Conger:

SPAM TACOS

An authentic Minnesotan recipe, via the Armour Spam website:

1 (12-ounce) can SPAM® Classic, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
12 small new potatoes, sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 Anaheim pepper, chopped
8 corn taco shells
2 cups torn romaine lettuce
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Diced tomatoes
Sour cream
CHI-CHI’S® Thick & Chunky mild salsa

Directions
In skillet, cook SPAM® Classic, potatoes and Anaheim over medium heat, turning occasionally, 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Fill each taco shell with about 1/4 cup each SPAM® mixture and romaine. Top with cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa.

Astros just keep giving and giving in 8 – 3 loss

WP: Smith (2 – 5)
LP: Neshek (3 – 5)
SV: Wilhelmsen ( 8 )

submitted by Sphinx Drummond

BOX

Gamezone

Seattle Sea Cucumbers, a disgusting creature that forages the ocean floor snacking on other animals (and professional baseball teams) excrement had plenty to dine on at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday. The Astros were crapping up a shit tornado pretty much the whole game.

They initially were just trading shits with the water-logged echinoderms from the Northwest but eventually they blew away the competition with a heaping steaming turd pile that would have made Andre The Giant proud.

The only highlight was a 9 to 2 double play featuring a beautiful throw out at the plate by Colby Rasmus.

Thursday is a day off, Friday the Astros host the Minnesota Twins and starter Mike Pelfrey (6-8, 3.85 ERA) who will face off against Collin McHugh (14-7, 3.92 ERA) starting at 7:10 pm CST.

Game Time: 3:40
Attendance: 18,669 (school night)

Mariners: 3
Astros: 8
W: Keuchel, L: Nuno

MLB Recap
GameZome

I’d like to think my brother is happy the Astros won on his birthday but my parents did something weird with him, he doesn’t really watch sports, of any kind. But, it was still nice of Lowrie, Correa, and Conger to hit HRs on his birthday. And Correa’s was a shot that could have gone into one of the windows of the buildings across the street. The marvelous young man can do spectacular things.

Keuchel wasn’t outstanding in his pitching performance, but he got himself out of jams by going 7 innings and giving up one solo HR. Perez pitched the 9th (Harris had a scoreless 8th) and gave up 2 runs, but better to do it when there is a 7 run lead than a 1 run lead.

Great game by Altuve, who seems to have liked hitting in the month of August. September hopefully treats him even better.

Call-ups should be coming soon, so stay tuned!

Minniepaulius 3
Astros 0

submitted by Neil T

You’ll recall that I’m an expert on Minneapolis. There are actually two cities, side by side, St. Paul and Minneapolis, which are really one city, but which is known as The Twins’ Cities because it was founded by the abandoned fraternal twins, Paul and Minnie. I have rubbed the forepaw of the famous statue of Paul and Minnie suckling from a beaver.

Scott Kazmir had one squirrelly inning, giving up 2 runs for 3 runs total, but otherwise Kazmir pitched well. I thought Twins pitching was very good. Astros hitting missed Correa, and early season Lowrie, with no runs on 6 hits, and 11 runners left on base. Ugh. Castro came out with a strained right quad, which sucks. Conger made the best play of the game though, with a bare handed bunt catch and doubling off the runner at first.

Here’s a list of other famous things from Minnesota: Spam, walleye on a stick, Bob Dylan, Prince, Minnetonka toy trucks, post-it notes, Moonlight Graham, and Norway. As usual, for tonight’s game, I wanted to supply an authentic Minnesotan hot-dish recipe. I’ve done taco hot dish and barbecue hot dish before, so tonight I thought I’d do something truly Minnesotan and less Texan:

SPAM HOT DISH
(from the Food.Com—you can look it up: http://www.food.com/recipe/spam-hotdish-277370. It’s worth it, because there’s an unforgettable picture.)

INGREDIENTS
2 cups macaroni
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1(10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
10 1⁄2 ounces cream or 10 1⁄2 ounces milk
1(12 ounce) can Spam
1⁄2 tablespoon onion flakes
10 -12 slices American cheese (about 10-12 slices stacked together)
DIRECTIONS
Cook macaroni as directed on package.
While macaroni cooks, cut up cheese slices and spam.
Mix milk or cream, soup, cheese, spam, and onion flakes. Stir toghether and add the noodles. Bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours.

With 2 fifths of vodka, serves a family of 4. Delicious!