It was a pitcher’s duel on this night with Wandy Rodriquez of the Houston Astros squaring off with Pat Maholm of the Pittsburgh nine.  Maholm looked for all the world to be a man destined for an early exit from the game the way things started for him on the night.  In the first, the Astros leadoff hitter and red-hot Jason Bourgeois singled, stole second, advanced to third on Michael Bourn’s single and then scored on Hunter Pence’s long fly ball to right.  The ‘stros promptly continued to put pressure on Maholm, but the “bend but do not break” rule came into play and no more damage was inflicted.

After that, both pitchers threw up zeros at opposing hitters for pretty much the whole game.  Wandy held the Pyroots down until they broke through for the tying run in the fifth.  Maholm, for his part, settled down and baffled the Astros as he is prone to do at PNC park.  The game stayed tied until the 7th when Neil Walker jumped on a low fastball and cleared the fence to give the Buccos the lead, 2-1.  Wandy pitched a dandy of a game, so it would have been lousy had he walked away with a loss to show for it.  Instead, the Astros came back and pushed across a run when Michael Bourn led off the inning with a single and scored on a Pence double to right.  “There are ribeyes out there son!”  Pence then scored the go ahead run on a Carlos Lee single and now Wandy was in line to win a game.

So for their part, the team made the lead stick and newly anointed closer Mark Melanchon closed the deal in the ninth earning his first save of his career.  Here is hoping for many more to come.  Good game and the Astros and Pirates go at it again on Saturday in game two of the series.

Gamezone

Astros.com game report

You’d think with Senor Myers launching la pelota at Los Rojos de Cincinatti, that Los Astros would be looking a good chance of a series win.  Bring in la escoba!  Alas, it was not to be on this dia muy bonito, as Myers and his compadres in the bullpen did a great job of regalando a win to Cincy.

Aye Dios mio!

Los Astros had a chance in this game when it seemed all but improbable.  What is turning out to be the profile for this 2011 version of nueve pelloteros is you cannot count them out.  Down 6-1 in the game and Myers in the showers, el equipo de Houston battled back and had the tying run on second base after scoring two runs and pulling off an aggressive double steal.  The best hitter on the team was at bat, so this looked good.  But el joven Brett Wallace bounced a two hopper to third to end the threat.  After that, Nelson “el launcho” Figuero just totally put the game out of reach by tossing batting practice and allowing Los Rojos to safely add to the lead and put this one away.

Now on to Pittsburgh and mano a mano con los Piratas!

The night was not one that Brett Myers will write in his diary as “had a good night, had a blast shutting down opposing team, I am a good person”.  But you cannot blame the burly right handed ace of the team, no pitcher for the Houston Astros seems to be doing anything of worth lately.  Yes, the name of the game is still pitching and defense with just enough hitting.  None of the three happened on this Friday Night of fireworks, provided entirely by the Milwaukee Brewers by the way, as the local nine lost 5 to zip.  Hey, the buffet was good though!

There is seriously nothing to say about the game other than you had one spectacular play by Michael Bourn in centerfield as he tackled Tal’s Hill to make a catch.  Oh, yeah, there was another “man versus a mountain” moment in the game when Brett Wallace took on the on-charging Prince Fielder in a game of chicken.  Brett stayed in and of course paid the price to the tune of a hip contusion and a whole lotta nightmares for several years.  Speaking of nightmares, can it get any worse for the struggling Houston pitching staff?  Night after night of facing off with outstanding batsmen has to take it’s toll on the psyche of this bunch and it shows the way they are performing.

Oh well, you just hope one night the pitching will come back, the defense will solidify, the hitting will continue, Pence will actually listen to someone, and Brett Wallace will stop trying to tackle a runawaytrain.  Is that too much to ask of this bunch?