Thursday, August 26, 2010
Astros 5
Phillies 1
New Crew Sweeps Brew Crew
Friday – WIN!
Saturday – WIN!
Sunday – WIN!
The settling dust of MLBs trading deadline on Saturday revealed a new, young, unproven, yet vibrant Astros team – and Carlos Lee.
Friday, the centerpiece of the Astros push to get Roy the hell out, J.A. Happ, went out and blanked the Brewers for 6, while huge nights by Kepp and CJ kept the offense on a roll.
Saturday, with Berkman gone for at least the rest of the season, newcomer Brett Wallace made his debut and while he went hitless, he proved he can in fact, pour piss from a boot. Multi-hit nights by Kepp, Michaels and CJ helped the Astros score 6. Wandy blistered the Brewers for 8 scoreless and the boys cruised to their second straight shutout.
Sunday, a pitcher’s duel matching Randy Wolf with young lefty Wesley Wright and they were toe-to-toe through 5. When Hart smacked a 2-run dinger off WW in the 6th, things looked bleak as Wolf was breezing. But in the 7th, Beaker slapped a liner to Wolf that bounced off his left wrist for an infield hit that knocked Wolf out of the game. His replacement, Loe walked Lee and CJ to load ’em for PH JMike. Braddock replaced Loe and gave up a sweet slam to Michaels that landed just a few rows back in the Crawfords. 1 more run was added in the 8th on a PENCE!!! triple and a cutoff throw that sailed into the Brewers dugout. Lopez and Lyon locked things down and the Astros completed the sweep and ran their winning streak to a season-high 5 games. Wesley got his first win as a starter and Wallace got his first MLB hit.
So the rebuilding begins. I have a feeling I’ll enjoy watching these guys play out the season. They take off for Busch for 3 with the Jakes starting tonight. Go kick the shit out of ’em, boys!
Roy, Lance smack around ‘Roots
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Pirates 0
Astros 2
W: Oswalt | L: Ohlendorf
Roy pitched a gem when it counted. Sure, he helped the team sweep the lowly Pirates and stay safely above them at the bottom of the standings. But today’s 1-hitter counted more in the “when” column, as in “when will the trigger be pulled” on the swap that will finally give Roy what he wants and hopefully, the Astros some needed pieces looking towards the future.
McTaggart Tweet:
“Teams with scouts here watching Oswalt: Dodgers, Phillies, Rays and Mets.”
What they saw was, I suppose, vintage Oswalt. Efficient and effective, he held the Pirates hitters down with 8 Ks and just 2 BBs. A few fine defensive plays helped the cause, including a diving stab of a hot liner in the 9th by Berkman.
In fact, Twinkie did everything but sell popcorn between innings. His 1st inning pop fly found the Crawfords after about 15 seconds in the air. He did it again in the 4th, this time with a little more ‘oomph’ to top out the Astros scoring at 2.
Roy’s win leaves him 1 shy of the Astros wins record held by Joe Niekro. It was a Roy/Lance lovefest. Twinkie offered this up after the game:
“I don’t know that we need to start singing his swan song just yet with the Astros,” Berkman said. “I’d say it’s probably a longshot that he gets traded. I just feel that way. I’m not saying it won’t happen, but I don’t know that it’s a great possibility.”
Hmmmm?
Astros start the last series before the All-Star break tomorrow night as the reeling Turdinals come to town. Wainwright at Norris @ 7:05 CDT.
Bourn delivers mercifully!
Thursday/Friday, July 1/2, 2010
Astros 6
Padres 3
W: Sampson | L: Gregerson | S: Lindstrom
I thought I’d post a picture of myself during the game last night, to sort of give you an idea of how much I appreciate west coast games. You know, I’m still relatively young and I enjoy watching the Astros, even this season, but damn if I can’t get past 10:30 on a work night when I’m sitting in front of a TV/computer. This one was over at 1:41 AM my time and evidently, it was a good one.
As they have been apt to do, the Astros went up early. In the 2nd, a solo shot by Michaels followed shortly after by a Kepp 2-run single gave Moehler a 3-0 lead. He made it stand up over 5+ innings, giving up just 1 Padre run in the 5th.
The lead lasted until the 7th when Wilton Lopez found the sleeping bats of Capistrano. A lead-off triple by Hundley was followed by a fantastic play by Berkman, a diving snag of a liner off the bat of one of the Hairstons that kept Hundley at 3rd. A sac fly got the Padres within 1 with 2 out but back-to-back singles by Gwynn and fuckingeckstein knotted the game right before that greedy little fuck was gunned down at 2nd on a great throw by Q.
I read that it went to extras and in the top of the 10th, the Good Guys took control. After Greg Gregerson got 2 quick outs, Q walked, then Navarro singled to set up Mr. Bourn with 1st and 2nd. He took the 3rd straight limpy slider and smacked it to the gap in RCF, scoring both runners and leaving him standing at 3rd. More weak-ass shit tossed to Kepp got Bourn home and the Astros had a 3-run cushion that Lindstrom saved.
See if the the hot streak continues tonight/tomorrow as Oswalt faces Latos @ 10:10 EDT.
Check out Limey’s “Whale Vagina”.
Astros hang 7 on Cain, hang on to win.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Gints 5
Astros 7
W: Wandy | L: Cain | S: Lindstrom
These chumps missed Wandy's win!
...and Castro's first MLB jack!!
Happy iPhone 4 Day, all you tech geeks (and Limey)! Good thing you weren’t out waiting in line for a phone because you would have missed a good one. I missed most of it but it wasn’t Steve Jobs’ fault. The geniuses who made sports watchable on the interwebs have cost me a bit of productivity this week and it all has come crashing down. But, I saw enough to scare up a coupla bullet points:
► In his last 7 starts, Matt Cain had given up only 7 earned runs. Today he gave up 7 in less than 3 innings.
► Pence blew it open early when he hit a chest-high FB waaay out towards the Conoco Pump for a 3-run HR.
► Jason Castro went yard for the first time in his Major League career with a mammoth blast to the upper deck in right.
► Wandy seemed to right things a bit, going 6 and giving up just 4 hits. He did a great job pitching around…
► …ugliness again in the field as 4 of the 5 SF runs were unearned. 3 errors for the 2nd straight game (2 for Blum) almost cost them this one.
► The only SF run earned was during another creative “save situation” for Lindstrom. 3 hits and a run before he gets the Uribe K to end it.
The last round of interleague horseshit begins tomorrow night in Arlington with Moehler facing Lewis. Check out more of Craig’s epic Dallas-hate in his Series Preview.
Yesterday, SnS Apple analyst Limey reported the hubbub regarding the iPhone 4’s signal issues when holding the phone a certain way, particularly left-handed. Steve Jobs has a brilliant solution; don’t hold it that way!
Another one gets away
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Astros 2
Royals 5
W: Marte | L: Myers | S: Sorio
The fading day helped the Good Guys carry a lead for most of this one, but their fading starter helped give that lead up. A first inning double by Pence, aided by the setting sun in the eyes of Royals’ LF and Astro-killah Posednik, plated 2 early runs and gutty pitching again by Myers had the Astros cruising towards another possible series win.
The lead even survived some official buffoonery in the bottom of the 5th. Man on 2nd with one out, batter hits a sinking liner to Blum at SS. Runner at 2nd takes off. Blum traps the ball, sees runner almost to 3rd and starts to wheel towards 1st. But Blum hears and sees 2nd base ump calling a catch and out so he wisely trots to 2nd for the DP. Umpires gather ’round as the Astros leave the field.
Yost, Mills, bat boys, Quanell X, EVERYBODY was consulted and a evidently fitting conclusion was reached on what happened and what should be done about it. Since the catch call was obviously blown, Blum’s initial reactions were probably taken into account so the runner on base was allowed 3rd since Blum didn’t attempt a throw there. The batter, however, was out since Blum appeared to be going there for the out. 6-3. Got it? Astros trotted back onto the field after what seemed like 10-12 minutes and Myers calmly got the next batter to line out to Blum.
The 7th is where this one crumbled. Leading 2-0, Myers was still looking sharp as the first 2 Royals are retired, but he gave up a single to Aviles. Myers then gets Betemit to ground weakly back to the right side of the mound but his bare-handed effort failed and the inning continued. Next batter Betancourt then singles, scoring Aviles and it’s looking like Myers might be done. Mills leaves him in to face Posednik. 3-run homer to right. From up by 2 to down by 2, all with 2 out.
More Silver Boot silliness this weekend as the stRangers hit town. Feldman @ Wandy tomorrow night. 7:05 CDT.
OK, gotta run and get my rest for the early-morning drinking I have planned at my local. USA vs. Slovenia at 10AM my time. I could get to like this soccer.