FLORIDA 6, Houston 1
Saturday July 9, 2011
Chum Bucket Stadium
WP: R. Nolasco (6-5, 3.70)
LP: B. Myers (3-9, 4.88)
MIAMI (SnS) – The punchless, pointless Houston Astros fell helplessly to the Florida Marlins here Saturday night, 6-1, before an enthusiastic south Florida crowd of about 150. A clown threw out the first pitch, which was fitting — Read More
You win as a team, and you lose as a team. But sometimes, you just have to take matters into your own hands. Else, you may have the manager deciding to do radical things, like deciding your not contributing to the cause. Maybe even send you down to the farm to regroup (are you listening JR?). Or worse yet, someone may decided to bring in a head shrink that will say things like “Do your best, it’s all you can do” or “Visualize a win” or even “Losing is like a disease, as contagious as the Bubonic plague”. If so, then we need a MASH unit in here, pronto!
Truth be told, Jordan Lyles is young and this will serve him well for the long run, but the short term of not winning a game yet is going to gnaw at him. It doesn’t help when you run into a red hot Florida Marlins team bolstered by the home cooking and fan attendance… oh wait…. nevermind that last part, let’s just leave it at red hot Florida Marlins. Lyles was spotted an early two zip lead in the first inning, only to have it go away as quickly as it came in the first opportunity for Lyles to toe the rubber. 2 zip was quickly 2-2 on a Hanley “Showboat” Ramirez dinger to right centerfield. BTW – why is Hanley not dotted more than any other player in the history of the game? The talented “me first, game second” player is just about the closest thing to a prima donna that I’ve ever seen. But I digress.
It didn’t take long after that for Lyles to lose the opportunity to win a game in the mlb. No, Lyles is not going to win a game all by himself, he doesn’t have the stuff to do that sort of thing. He needs help from his teammates who look lethargic out in the field and almost resigned to their fate as a second class team. Words like “We are trying hard” and “We leave it all in the field” are nice, but actions would be good to match said words too. Lyles had a huge part in the lost last night, missing spots with regularity that he cannot afford to miss. Not with this team. In the end, it was yet another loss to the tune of 6-3, almost predictably so sad to say.
Image of Losing Is a Disease Like Bubonic Plague
Losing is a disease, call a doctor!
Florida Marlins 6 – Houston Astros 3
WP: Javier Vazquez | LP: Jordan Lyles
Astros.com recap
Game videos
There was a gameszone for this game?
Houston (30-58) vs. Miami (39-48)
July 7-10, 2011
Fish Head Stadium
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Holly came from Miami, F-L-A
Hitchhiked her way across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs
And then he was a she
She said, “Hey, babe. Take a walk on the wild side . . .”Read More
HOUSTON 8, Pittsburgh 2
July 6, 2011
PNC Park
PITTSBURGH (SnS) – In a nice turn after a week of abject ugliness, the Houston Astros posted a tidy little win over the Pittsburgh Pirates here Wednesday night, 8-2, thus salvaging the final game of a three-game set in the Iron City. The Astros capitalized on Pittsburgh miscues, got good pitching both from starter Bud Norris and the bullpen, and saw an offensive mini-resurgence to the tune of fourteen hits and eight runs. :sniff: The whole thing served to remind fans of happier – or at least less sad – days in Houston.Read More
PITTSBURGH 5, Houston 1
July 5, 2011
PNC Park
PITTSBURGH (SnS) – It was a fairly well-played game. It was a relatively quick game, especially given some of the recent AL-type interleague borefests the club has been involved in lately. Wandy Rodriguez started and pitched okay – not great, but not terrible. But the result was the same, as the Houston Astros fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates here tonight, 5-1. The Astros lost their fifth in a row, the ninth of their last ten, the twelfth of their last fifteen, twenty-fourth of their last thirty, and so on. This looks like a team in free-fall now, and it is hard to imagine a scenario where the incessant losing will be stopped, or even slowed down very much.Read More
In the unpreviewed Game #1 of this series, Myers managed to keep the Pirates in the park, but still gave up 13 hits and 4 runs. The Astros managed only 3 runs, despite 3 ‘Root errors, and so Brett lost his 8th game of the year and the Astros their 57th. The Astros are now 6 games behind the next worst team in all of baseball, and the only team that hasn’t comfortably passed the 30-win mark.
This, fresh off a 3-game cockpunch courtesy of the Red Socks.
This team is historically bad, and has no opportunity to get better. In fact, it will get worse as some of the more functional major leaguers get traded away for prospects. I agree with that philosophy, but it’s going to be hard to stay engaged while the prospects boost the minor league ranks and the big club is staffed by journeymen and no-hopers. You know…how the bullpen is already.
Meanwhile, the Pirates haven’t lost a series since getting swept by the Indians in Cleveland, which was their only series loss since getting swept by the Braves in a 2-game set at home way back in May. To be fair, they’ve seen an awful lot of the Mets, D-Backs and Astros in that time, but they also picked off the Phillies and Red Sox in that time, and they can only play who they’re scheduled to play.
Lucky for them, they’re scheduled to play the Astros and Cubs running up to the ASB, and then the Astros again coming out of it so, basically, they’ve got the next two weeks off. They’re only 1.5 games out of 1st place in the Central, and they could really make a statement by rolling over the two worst teams in baseball before clashing with the Reds and Jakes. The only thing I see standing between them and the division lead is the fact that, towards the end of the month, the Jakes get 10 games against the National League’s dregs – including a 4-game set at home against the Astros.
Fuck Lance Berkman.
PNC Park
Tuesday, 6:05pm CDT
Wednesday, 6:05pm CDT
Probable Match-Ups
Rodriguez (6-4, 2.97) vs. Karstens (6-4, 2.65)
Team wins leader, Wandy, will try to keep his good run going; he’s 2-1, 2.37 in his last 3 starts. He’s also the only Astros’ starter with a positive record (and one of only 3 pitchers in total with that claim to fame – the others being Melancon, 5-2 and F-Rodriguez, 1-0). He’s 7-4 lifetime against Pittsburgh but, because they usually turn over their entire roster (to the Cubs) each year at the trading deadline, he’s not got much history with the current crop. Diaz hits him to the tune of .357, while he waxes Jones and McCutchen like cnadles.
Karstens
RHP Karstens has nearly identical numbers to Wandy, and no chin. He hasn’t lost in 6 starts, a streak that’s hard to see being broken this night. His career against Houston is a very middling 2-2, 4.80, but he keeps most of the current Astros hitters quiet – Bourn and Keppinger notably sub-Mendoza – but Pence has him for a nice round .500 average including a big swat.
Norris (4-6, 3.51) vs. Morton (7-4, 3.63)
Hopefully Bud’s mum has gotten around to changing the sheets after he shit the bed against the Red Sox last time out. Carrying a 1-hitter and 4-run lead into the sixth, he was the bulk of a 6-run explosion that saw all his work thrown down the crapper. He’s 0-1 over his last 3 starts with 20 ponches, but that high 3-something ERA isn’t going to get you much joy in front of this hapless bunch. Of the Pirates who’ve seen him, they’ve all hit him in the mid to high .200s.
Charlie Morton
Charlie Morton is making his 2nd start after some recent time off to play a cheeky Cockney small-time crook in a Guy Ritchie movie. The change of pace did him good because he gave up only 1 run in 5+ innings whereas he’d been getting fairly tonked by everyone in the last few starts prior to this*. Bourn and Lee feast on him, while Pence has been late to the buffet table.
* Save for one start in that woeful streak, which was against the Astros.
Injury Report
Astros: Arias has been moved to the 60-day DL; Bourgeois is on the 15-day DL with no projection as to when he will return (which cannot be before 7/14 in any case); Castro is rehabbing, but there’s no point in rushing him back this year; Lyon finally went under the knife last week and is done for the year; Quintero is rehabbing in Triple-A; and Keppinger is day-to-day with nausea. He ain’t the only one.
Pirates: Infielders Alvarez (3B), Cedeno (SS), Doumit (C), Snyder (C) and Pearce (1B); pitchers Beimel, Hart, Meek and Ohlendorf; and Outfielder Tabata are all due back soon, but probably not this series. That’s a lot of players hurt but, to be fair, they’re not used to competing this late in the year.
Giveaways and Promotions
Usually by this time of year, the Pirates have given away all their functional major leaguers. Game #1 saw them giveaway Chuck Tanner Floppy Hats, but that’s it for the series. The Pirates are holding onto their treasure this year.
What’s on Limey’s Mind
Rain or lack thereof Travel Heat Cocktails London Keeping his knee bent on the downswing New Trousers Sunburn Landscaping Thermostats Laptop Bags Big Fish Red Lion Car Wash
