Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Tigers 4
Astros 3

W: Seay (1-1) | L: Valverde (0-2) | S: Rodney (17)

astros.com
AP via Yahoo!
Game Zone

The game seemingly at hand, 1-run lead with 2 outs in the 9th, Jose Valverde faced Marcus Thames, 0-3 already in the game. Quickly up 1-2, Valverde delivered 3 straight balls way outside the zone, Thames not even tempted to swing. The second pitch Valverde gave to Brandon Inge was very tempting and ended up deep in the Crawfords. The 2-run shot gave the Tigers all they needed to avoid the sweep the Astros were so close to tasting. 4-3 was the final, ending the Astros win streak at 3.

The Astros scored 2 to take the lead in the 4th and could’ve had more were it not for the dumbass sitting in the corner seat in left field foul territory.

Gunther’s laser down the left field line seemingly scored both Kepp and Carlos from 2nd and 1st. But upon closer inspection, numbnuts with the fancy seat and a raisin for a brain reached out and touched the ball, changing it’s direction slightly and prompting the umps to take Lee off of his supplemental oxygen and send him back to 3rd. What is it about the IQ of the people they allow to sit there? They have courtside seats in basketball, yet you don’t see some idiot reaching out to grab the ball durning the game. Not only should they be kicked out of the game but they should not be allowed back in again. Ever.

Ortiz pitched very well for his second straight start, allowing 2 runs in 7.1 and leaving with a 1-run lead and a chance for his 1st win since early May. He gave up 1 in the 5th on an RBI double by Inge and then 1 in the 6th on a solo shot by Granderson. Byrdak struck out the rest of the 8th, leading to Papa Grande’s fateful 9th.

Still, 2 of 3, the team looks cohesive. Go pound the Budweiser and bring on the Fathers!

Talk Zone

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Houston 8, Detroit 1

WP: Paulino (2-4), LP: Figaro (1-1)

HR: Matsui (2, 3^rd inning off Figaro), Santiago (6, 3^rd inning off Paulino)

Recaps: Paulino dominates Tigers in DL return (Grodsky, Astros.com); Astros hammer Tigers, held to 3 hits (Detroit Free Press); Paulino shuts down the Tigers as Astros win easily 8-1 (Ortiz, Houston Comical)

For more on the game, take a look at the Box Score or read about it in the Game Zone.

The Marriage Barrage of Figaro

Prologue: Will history repeat itself

The Good Guys have spent much of the season living the never ending saga of seeing opposing teams hammer their starter early, getting themselves on base but being unable to capitalize, and then getting their asses handed to them on a plate. Would Saturday night at MMPUS be yet another one of those games?

Act 1, Scene 1: The introduction of our protagonist

Enter Paulino, a hard throwing righty fresh off the disabled list. Paulino immediately establishes dominance over the opposition, retiring the first three Tiggers that he faces (via strikeout, fly and groundout).

Act 1, Scene 2: Things are looking good for the Good Guys, but along comes the Fool

Enter Figaro, starting pitcher for the Tiggers. Things do not begin well for Figaro, but it could be worse. Bourn singles, steals second and scores on a Carlos Lee single on a line drive to left field. Enter the Fool. Spaz flies out to right, and the Good Guys exit the scene with only a run to show for their efforts. Good Guys lead 1-0.

Act 2, Scene 1: The Tiggers continue to go gently into that goodnight.

Paulino continues to baffle the Tiggers, setting them down in order (via groundout, strikeout and strikeout).

Act 2, Scene 2: Running on empty

Figaro continues to battle, but is touched up again by the Good Guys. Matsui singles to right and advances to second on a passed ball. Bourn singles to right, scoring Matsui, but gets caught in a rundown to end the inning. Good Guys lead 2-0.

(Aside: I understand the long turn around first in an effort to allow a runner to score, but thought it was misplaced in this instance. Kaz is fast and was going to score easily, rundown notwithstanding. That said, Bourn hustled his ass off and but-for a dive by Inge to tag him out just as he was about to touch first base, Bourn would have beaten the 9-3-6-4-3-6-5 run down).

Act 3, Scene 1: Our protagonist suffers a blow, but continues in his quest for glory

Paulino strikes out the first batter he faces, but is touched up for a run by a homer from Santiago to right. He finishes the inning by striking out the next two batters he faces. Good Guys still lead 2-1.

Act 3, Scene 2: The Barrage of Figaro

As this scene opens, the Good Guys have put runners on first and second with a walk to Keppinger and a single by Tejada. Carlos Lee has just flied out. Figaro is still on the mound. Enter the Big Puma. Berkman smashes the first pitch he sees to the base of Tal’s hill (the ball continues to roll to the base of the wall). Keppinger and Tejada both score, and Berkman holds at second. The fool abandons his comedic role and transforms into Pence!!! with a double on a hard liner to left. The Big Puma scores. Matsui mortally wounds Figaro with a two-run blast to right. This scene ends with Good Guys up 7-1, and a dejected Figaro haplessly making his way to the dugout.

(Aside: For the first time in a while, the Astros got an opposing pitcher on the ropes and didn’t let up).

Epilogue: The Good Guys live happily ever after (or at least until the following day)

The Astros score once more in the bottom of the sixth when Quintero went home on a broken bat groundout by Keppinger. This was merely icing though, as Paulino was dealing. Paulino completed 7 strong innings on 96 pitches, holding the Tiggers to 1 run on 3 hits. Fulchino and Wright came in and retired all six batters that they faced. In the end, the Good Guys went home victorious, beating the Tigger 8-1 and assuring their 6^th series victory in the last 8.

By the numbers

3: hits by the Tigers

4: games back from the top of the NL Central

5: runs scored by the Astros in the 3^rd inning

7: batters retired in a row by Paulino to start the game (also the number of different touches by the Tigers in Bourn’s rundown)

9: strikeouts thrown by Paulino

17: batters retired in a row by Astros pitchers to end the game.

Quotes from the game

Paulino on his outing: “It was a good for me,” Paulino said. “I tried to focus on every pitch and make a good pitch every time to every hitter. My tempo was good. I didn’t give much time for the hitter.” (Astros.com)

Bourn on Paulino: “Paulino has great stuff. When he’s throwing that ball like that – 98-mph on the corners on both sides – because I can see it from center field, it’s hard to beat it. That slider was working down today. You see some of the swings they (were) taking, they (weren’t) seeing them too good.” (Chron.com)

Santiago on Paulino: “He was consistently at 97, 96, the whole game. He threw a really sharp slider and he was really good with the fastball. He was really strong.” (DFP)

Coop on Paulino: “[Paulino] was pretty dominant right from the start. That’s what we always thought that he could do, perhaps not nine punchouts and three hits, but a dominating performance. That was really outstanding.” (DFP); “Tonight was about Felipe Paulino. He did a great job and was pretty dominant from the start. He showed right from the first pitch that he was ready to go.” (Astros.com)

Coop on the offense: “The bats finally came alive, and we didn’t have to sweat it out. We’ve kind of been sweating out some of these wins. I thought a lot of guys contributed and swung the bats well, and we finally broke one open for a change.” (Astros.com)

Figaro on his outing: “Sometimes you are going to have a bad game, but they have all been telling me to keep my head up. There is nothing you can do about it. These things are going to happen.” (DFP)

Coming up next

Astros try to sweep the series against the Tigers. Russ Ortiz takes the hill for the Good Guys, with Edwin Jackson starting for the Tiggers. Game time 1:05.

And I’ll leave you with the following:

In (Astros) Memoriam, Brandon “Big Game” Backe: Dec. 14, 2004 – June 26, 2009

I’m sorry to see Backe’s time with the Astros end. While understandable and appropriate from an organizational standpoint, it is still rough to see one of your favorite players leave the team you love. Backe was a competitor, and left Astros fans with number of memorable moments during his time with the Good Guys.

Monday, October 18, 2004 at MMPUS (NLCS Game 5): Backe set up one of the greatest moments in MMPUS history (Kent’s 3-run shot off of Isringhausen) by holding the Jakes to 1 hit over 8 scoreless innings. (Backe’s line: 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 0 HR).

Sunday, October 16, 2005 at MMPUS (NLCS Game 4): Backe held the Jakes to 1 run over 5.2 innings, putting the Astros in a position to go up 3-1 in the series. (Backe’s line: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR)

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 at MMPUS (World Series Game 4): Down 0-3 in the series, Backe holds the ChiSox scoreless through 7, striking out 7 in the process. (Backe’s line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at MMPUS: Backe and LaRussa’s gal-pal get into a heated exchange regarding Pooholes dirty take-out slide of rookie catcher J.R. Towles.

Good luck to you Brandon and thanks for some great memories. Who knows, maybe Hickey and the Hun could use another arm…

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Royales 4
Astros 5

W: Wright (2-1) | L: Bannister (5-5) | S: Valverde (6)
HR: Twinkie 2

astros.com
AP via Yahoo!
Game Zone

I’m going to admit right out of the gate that I didn’t see very much of this game. I know what you’re thinking, “But Ty, how can you write a recap about a game you didn’t see?” Well, I’m here to tell you that it CAN be done, and it has been done. But I’m not going to try to do that this day, despite the ‘opportunity for artistry’. I hate chicken salad.

I did happen to see both of Lance’s 2-run deposits out of the corner of my eye. Congratulations on quadruple figgers, Elvis!

I remember when Elvis died. I was 14, almost 15 and it was a huge, dark day. Elvis had become a cartoon by this time and I was musically a million miles away. I was only aware of the brilliance of his talent from the context of my parents and people I knew who really dug him. But I recognized how huge it was that he was gone. I sat in my room with the radio on, Elvis is everywhere, and stared at my Farrah Fawcett poster.

I wonder what it’s like to be 14, 15 right now. Today, for most of us, we lost huge icons from our youth.

Farrah. Just the utterance of her name would give me a stiffy in 1977. Just about every male friend I had displayed her poster in his room, and a few female friends as well. The fact that she was from Texas, and was a Longhorn, just made her better. In my mind, I still see Jill Munroe tossing her hair in the opening of Charlie’s Angels. She shone bright for a brief time in this teenager’s life.

Rest well, Farrah.

In the late 60’s and early 70’s, nothing was more important of a possession for me than my 45’s. I was a collector. I hate to say it but baseball cards just didn’t do it for me. I had stacks and stacks of 45’s and would spend hours ‘programming’ my own radio station. This is where I most fondly remember the person they would within a decade call the ‘King of Pop’. In 1979, I was unable to appreciate the impact and innovation of Off The Wall, being heavily entrenched in hard rock and the emerging new wave scene. But in 1970, I could fully embrace the sugary soul-pop of The Jackson 5. I can’t get ABC out of my head right now. The string of hits were in heavy rotation on KILT and in my bedroom. His greatest accomplishments may have been in the decades that followed but they won’t be as endearing to me as that booming voice from a mere 12-year-old.

Even moreso than Elvis, the genius of Michael Jackson’s talent has been overshadowed by indiscretion and self-destruction. It will be interesting to see how his legacy is handled by the very estate that followed his every move. I know I’ll have a tough time getting past the last 15-20 years.

Rest well, Michael.

Talk Zone

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Astros 3
Royals 4

W: Soria (2-0) | L: Fulchino (2-3) | S: Bale (1)

MLB.com Recap
MLB.com Video Recap
AP! Recap! On Yahoo!
GameZone

As a backdrop to the final game of college baseball this year, the Astros found themselves stuck in a pitcher’s duel that crapped out late for the loss. Oswalt pitched a solid six innings of one-run ball, working around some traffic and striking out eight.

The Royales screwed themselves out of a likely run in the 3rd, when Maier clubbed one over Bourn in dead center, and it rolled to the base of the wall at the top of the hill. Maier cruised into third, where the base coach decided it would be a strong plan to go for it with zero outs in the inning. The throw beat Maier by plenty enough for Pudge to have time to dive back inside the line for the tag. Score that one as a triple with an error charged to the parts of Dave Owen’s brain that evaluate risk/reward scenarios, time estimation and spatial relationships.

KC did manage to scratch out a run in the 6th on a Hulett single, taking a 1-0 lead before Roy got himself out of a bases-loaded mess without further damage. Hochevar had held the Good Guys hitless until Lee singled in the 5th, but in the bottom half of the 6th, Matsui wound up in scoring position after a throwing error, and Erstad came on to hit for Roy. On a 2-1 count, he found a fastball that tailed back over the plate, and mashed the shit out of it, clanging off the face of the right field upper tank for the one-run lead and his first tater of the year.

That’s where it stayed until the top of the 9th, with El Loco Ponche on the hill to close out the win. With one out, Maier hit a routine grounder to Fat Elvis, who thoroughly Buckner’d it to allow the tying run aboard. Jacobs then smacked one a mile in the air over towards the boxes, and it looked like trouble. Michaels eased around the side wall and out of view of the cameras, where he made the catch with absolutely no room to spare, and heaved it in to double up Maier, who was standing on third (lesson learned). Unfortunately, the umps chatted and got the call right, ruling that the ball had glanced off the wall before Michaels caught it. Great play and sales pitch, regardless. With runners on the corners and one down after the error and the near miss, DeJesus predictably singled in the tying run before Valverde got out of it with a grounder and a lazy fly.

The bottom of the 9th produced nothing, and KC struck first in extras, with Pena going yard to right off of Byrdak for a 3-2 lead. Pudge lead off the bottom half with a single against Soria, and moved into scoring position on a bunt from Kaz. Kata pinch hit for Byrdak, and came up huge with a solid knock to right, scoring Pudge after what seemed like an impossibly long run from second. They could’ve run a couple of commercials and still cut back to the game in time to see him slide in for the tie, bless his stumpy little legs. Bourn flied out to the track, Kepp walked, and Miggy came up empty on a swinging ponche to finish it out.

In the top of the 11th, Fulchino came on for Byrdak, providing me an opportunity to talk up his performance this year to the guy next to me who had never heard of him. I was just about to sing the praises of his rich, full-bodied flavor – with a hint of mocha and cinnamon – when Olivo blasted his first pitch four-hundred-something feet off the gas pump for the eventual game winner. So yeah, I guess that one is partially on me. My bad. From then on, I referred to him only as a cocksucker and a generally worthless piece of crap. My heart wasn’t really in it, but this still seemed to work better, as he struck out two and finished the inning with no additional scoring. The damage was done, though, and Michaels, Twinkie and Thunderpants went quietly against Bale to end the game.

Sweep avoidance mode is in effect shortly today, with an impending Businessman’s Special at 1:00. Do your part to uphold the antiquated theme by dressing nattily in a suit pulled from the wardrobe rack of Mad Men, and enjoying a few Martinis and filterless Lucky Strikes while closing that big deal.