Reds 6, Astros 4
W: Leake, L: Paulino
This game was just bad. Bad defense, bad offense, and suspect pitching. I think it was the Astros way of reminding us that they did start the season 0-8. That 0-8 start is still part of this team.
This picture sums up the reactions of many watching the game.
Check out Craig’s Series Preview and the Gamezone for more information.
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Pimply Misshapen Asses 6
Astros 2
W: Harang (1-3) | L: Norris (1-2)
Sorry for the shitty headline. I couldn’t think of anything more clever to put there and truthfully, that’s pretty much what happened to the Astros line-up tonight and that sucks, because so does Harang. It would be easy to get the feeling the team was turning the corner offensively after the impressive 10-game run they just had, capped by a sweep of the lowly Buccos, but getting dicked by the Dickities at home by a guy they’ve owned in recent memory shows there’s still a lot of work to do.
The force of nature that is Michael Bourn got dotted by a runaway slider to lead off the Astros 1st. Raise your hand if you knew he was going to score. Steal, E2, 4-3 GO and it’s 1-0 Astros.
In fairness to the bats, it was just as much young Mr. Norris’ inability to keep Reds off the bases that did the Good Guys in tonight. The lead-off batter got on base at a .666 clip and that beast will drag you to Hell every time. The Reds took the lead for good in the 2nd after a lead-off HBP, BB, then 2 singles, the second plating 2.
Norris seemed to settle in through the 5th but there’s something Bud don’t like about the 6th. Actually, it was the Reds batters jumping on anything that was near the plate. 3 straight singles ended Bud’s night without retiring a Red in the 6th and a 3-1 Dickities lead. Fulchino’s first batter singled in the 4th Red’s run, then later, a sac fly plated the 5th.
The Astros got one more in the bottom of the 6th on a Berkman lead-off ground-rule 2B. He advanced on Blum’s 2nd hit of the night, and then scored on Towles’ sac fly. The Astros matched hits with the Reds at 9 but only 1-7 with RISP. That won’t cut it.
Sammy’s first outing coming off of the DL was shaky. A lead-off walk, GO then steal of third seemed to get to him and as he toed the rubber for the next batter, he placed the ball in his mitt. fiddled with it, then took it out again. HP ump Miller called what JD said was a “rule-book” balk. 6-2 Reds.
Lee had a couple of good-looking at-bats. Blum stayed hot. Bourn is God. But 11Ks for the line-up tonight, with Pence and Towles to only ones to escape the whiff.
Hoping for a bounce-back in game 2 tonight with Leake vs. Paulino
Contributed by 94CougarGrad
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Pirates 3
Astros 10
WP: Myers (1-1)
LP: Morton (0-4)
Today in history: Lance Berkman knocked his first homer of 2010, and Brett Myers logged his first win as an Astro. Oh, yeah, and the team that lost its first eight games completed its first sweep of the season behind the brooms bats of Lee, Berkman, Pence!!!, and Feliz.
It was a gorgeous day for baseball, and with the roof open, Fox Sports viewers witnessed a surreal hat parade: fans donned everything from baseball gloves to school binders to shade their pretty little heads from the sun. Thankfully, former first lady Barbara Bush and her wide-brimmed classic black chapeau were there to show these whippersnappers how it’s done.
The Pirates trudged to an early 1-0 lead in the second, but Berkman’s homer tied it up in the bottom of the inning, and Houston never looked back. By the end of the 3rd, the Astros were ahead 5-1, and one inning (not to mention pitcher) later, they made it 8-1. Bourn put on a base-stealing clinic, nabbing 3 bags, while Thunder Pants, Feliz, and even Lee (?!?) got in on the action.
Though the home team ran away with the game early, the fans were treated to moments of serious excitement. The distance on Pence’s early bat-toss into the stands rivaled my discus hurl at the JV district meet back in 1986; Bourn generated crowd electricity by stealing back-to-back bases during the same base outing; and Lee scored a 3-run Little League home run on a triple gone sour with a throwing error, earning him a snow cone from the concession stand. My bet: Pina Colada.
Scare of the day: Bottom of the 8th, Berkman twisted funny upon contact with the ball, and grounded out- but not without noticeably limping towards first. Fans were no less nervous when Blum entered the game for Lance. Her Footer-ness later Tweeted that Lance hyper-extended his knee during the at-bat because he doesn’t have the strength in that quad. Mills confirmed that while Lance hyper-extended while leaving the box, he realized as he jogged up the line that he was fine.
All in all, it was a great series to be an Astros fan, both because it feels so damn good to win, and because it’s far more challenging to be a Pi-roots fan.
Tomorrow, the Good Guys get a well-deserved day off before hosting Cincy and heading to Hotlanta. Don’t forget to tune in to your tv sets and the Spikes n’ Stars Game Zone for your viewing pleasure.
Pirates at Astros, 4/24/2010
Astros 5, Pirates 2
W W. Rodriquez (1-2) L Jakubauskas (0-1)
S Lindstrom (6)
Game Wrapup: Astros.com
It’s a long season… seriously!
It’s taken three weeks of baseball, but the 2010 Houston Astros have shown the makings of a team ready to compete in the National League Central. To celebrate that fact, tonight they jumped out of the cellar in the NLC and into a tie for fourth, with only 3.5 games out of first place a reality for them. The Astros beat up on the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight to the tune of 5-2 as Wandy Rodriquez won his first game of the season. The little lefty coming off a break out season last year, showed the flashes of Minute Maid Wandy.
Never really looking like he was in too much trouble, Rodriquez logged a 7.1 inning, 5 hit, 2 run night. Yet another quality outing by an Astros starter and if this keeps up, the upward climb out of the bottom feeder area of the NL Central can and will continue. But just like it was too early to write off the 2010 season, it’s waaaay too early to print playoff tickets too. Then again, if Puma says it’s a reality, well then, who is to argue with the man? Probably a whole lot of roller coaster loving fans I’m sure. Bear in mind though, Houston is hit upon a formula now that is conducive towards getting themselves into good season-long competitiveness: Pitching and defense with just enough offense.
DUCK!!! (part 2)
It’s hard to call the offensive play of the night a line drive that hit an opposing pitcher in the head, but in this case, there are many ramifications to that occurrence. In the first inning, Puma batting cleanup (because Carlos Lee got a day off to think about other things for a while) drilled a solid line drive back up the middle. It unfortunately found the back of the head of young Pittsburgh hurler Jakubauskas. Down went the pitcher in a very scary moment that everyone hates to see in baseball. For his part, Jakubauskas tried to right himself in a reasonable fashion before he was taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospital where early reports are that he’s going to be okay. *Phew*, God Bless young man.
The significance of the play is that the Pirates were forced to use a reliever so early on after having to use up arms in their previous series with the Brew Crew. FoF Pence promptly greeted the reliever with a ringing double to center LF and that was the beginning of the end of the night for the Pirates. Later in the game, Happy Pete hit his first shibby of the season, a two run shot to pretty much ice the game. For the ninth inning, the Pirates decided to make one last run at winning the game as they loaded the bases against Lindstrom The Strong. Puma came in and promptly reminded Matty that there were two outs and that he still had a 97mph four seamer he could use to close this thing. He did, throwing a nasty riser to Cedeno and getting the last out on a fly ball to right field and sealing Houston third straight series win.
Saturday Night, that can only mean one thing: BAGWELL!
In case you’re unaware of this, Jeff Bagwell has committed to being in the television broadcast booth with Brownie and JD every Saturday home game. My own intuition tells me this must of come out of the off-season caravan trips with Baggs and JD sitting on the bus and shooting the breeze. Someone must of mentioned how great this sort of running dialogue could be if they did it on air. Genius whoever thought of it, a great move. Example:
Brownie: “What do you think of Jeff Keppinger?”
Bagwell: “I like him. He grows on you.”
Deshaies: “Let’s rename him ‘Fungus.'”
and
Brownie: “… he actually compares better than Albert Pujols at this stage of his career…”
Bagwell: “whoa, whoa, whoa Brownie… wait a minute, don’t ever compare the best player on the planet to anyone again.”
Brownie: “… hehe, okay.”
Gamezone: A great way to catch up with the action, along with great Astro Fan commentary
stros-ray’s Series Preview: The genius that is Stros-ray
Pirates at Astros, 4/23/2010
Astros 4, Pirates 3
W Oswalt (2-2) L Maholm (1-2)
H Lyon (2), S Lindstrom (5)
Game Wrapup: Astros.com
Rock-a-bye Sweet Baby… oh nevermind
There are times I wish I were as clever and talented as stros-ray and tonight was one of them. If I were, I’d take James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James” and change it to a tribute to Michael Bourn. Then again, perhaps it’s best I not add to the “SBB” gushing as it is on the fringes of the macho meter and frankly, I just don’t have too much of a relationship with my feminine side to make the attempt. Maybe the tribute should be restricted to a picture painting a thousand gushing words of praise.
WOW!!!
This play happened in the ninth inning as the Pirates were trying to overcome a one run deficit. The first batter in the inning was Jones and right off the bat, you knew he had a single and quite possibly a double. But out of nowhere appeared our hero, Mr. Bourn to lay out and absolutely rob the Pirates of perhaps an inning and thus help seal the win for the Astros. Bourn made several plays on this night that were of the “blue star” variety, but none was greater than this one. For his part, closer Matt Lindstrom had the best poker face about the whole thing, looking for all the world as if he knew it would be an out all the way with the speedy centerfielder out there covering his back. Note to self: don’t play texas hold’em with Matt Lindstrom.
Don’t look now, we have an ACE
Roy Oswalt turned in an really good night of work with seven innings of 4 hit baseball. It was his unfortunate “Oswalt Inning” that bit his good night in the rear and made this game closer than it should have been as two of his four hits allowed were homeruns that scored three runs (two were unearned – thank you Ashby). Overall, a night of great pitching, outstanding defense and just enough offense to secure another win for the good guys. It’s how you draw it up on the whiteboard, folks! By the way, this was also the night that Oswalt passed JR Richard on the all-time Houston Astros list of strikeouts by a pitcher. Oswalt now sits all alone in second place on the list behind Nolan Ryan.
Don’t look now, we have a Bullpen
Someone mentioned in the GZ that Lindstrom and his mates are starting to give the same vibes as Lidge-Dotel-Wagner. Funny how these thoughts pop into the head of most of us at the same time. Lindstrom has the type of stuff as Lidge in his breakout season, and if he masters the slider for a few strikes here and there, it’s going to be the return of Lights Out, only this time Lights Out Lindstrom. So the key is Sampson, Lyon providing key bridge work to Lindstrom (or so it’s looking like right now). In a very long season, a pitching staff that is strong in the pen and a starting rotation than can give you quality outings is a very scary proposition for the opposing teams.
This will be worth keeping an eye on.
Gamezone: Read the in-game commentary in today’s Gamezone
stros-ray’s Series Preview: The read is awesome as always
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Fish 5
Astros 1
W: Annabelle (1-1) | L: Paulino (0-2)
My era of good feeling during the last 6 came crashing down somewhere about 10 minutes into tonight’s game.
Paulino struggled – as he has – but kept the ball on the ground – as he does – and with 1 out in the 1st inning and Fish on 1st and 2nd, Cantu laced a single through the gap on the left side of the infield. Lead-runner Coughlan skidded to a stop at third as Lee was poised for an easy scoop and throw but that scoop was not to be. As Lee stood there dumbfounded, the ball trickled lazily towards left center as 2 runs strolled over the plate and Cantu stood on 2nd. He would score on Uggla’s ground ball out since he was gifted 3rd on a wild pitch. It may have gotten uglier if it weren’t for this:
During most of this winning streak, an early lead by the opposition was just a bump in the road for this line-up but tonight, despite getting good wood on most of what Sanchez was dealing, LOBsters were the catch of the day. 8 for the game. Bourn and Blum continue to be bright spots at the plate while Lee and Pence continue to stink up the joint.
Also encouraging was the 3+ no-hit innings by Fulchino and Moehler. “SHE”LL HOLD TOGETHER!! hearmebaby?holdtogether…”
The Pride. Passion. Pittsburgh Pirates come into town for the weekend REELING from a 20-0 analrapy session by the Brew Crew. This can only be good, right? Maholm vs. Oswalt Friday.
Experience strosrays’ outstanding Series Preview.
