Thursday, August 14th, 2008
Giants 4
Astros 7
W: Hawkins (2-1) | L: Yabu (3-5) | S: Valverde (30)
Yes, it’s the Giants. Yes the Giants are 20 games under .500 and yes, it was at home but DAMN! Back-to-back 4-game sweeps is something to be just a little bit excited about. And I honestly don’t mean “WOW! Look out Wild Card!!!” As an Astros fan, I love to see this team win and they’ve been doing that a lot lately, despite being bitten in the ass by injuries to key players.Read More
(Footer writes) Cooper doesn’t read much news coverage of the Astros and he doesn’t pour over the game notes, but he does peruse the statistics packets religiously and for the most part sticks to what the numbers tell him.
Astros 12, Giants 4
W: Oswalt (10-8) | L: Walker (4-7)
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom half of the 5th inning, the Astros had managed a mere one hit and punched out seven times against young phenom Tim Lincecum, but Brad Ausmus changed all that by smashing a liner right into the back of the youngsters knee, forcing him to take a seat for the rest of the evening. Lincecum odd motion put him in harms way as he finishes with his back turned to the hitter, so it was only a matter of time before something like this would happen. Good thing for the Astros, as they exploded for an eight runs in the 7th against the Giants bullpen, and added two more in the 8th as the good guys continued their winning ways by defeating the Giants 12-4 at MMP.
Giants at Astros, 8/11/08
Astros 3, Giants 1
W: Backe (7-11) L: Sanchez (8-9) S: Valverde (29)
Astros.com recap (Oliphant in for Footer – please don’t throw spitballs at the substitute.)
Boxscore
The Astros overcame 5 innings of no-hit ball and some Barker-esque baserunning to beat the lowly Giants 3-1, capping a triumphant march from craptitude to perfect mediocrity. [/pessimism]
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Before we get to baseball, two points:
1. Apologies for the missing TWiB last week – work interfered, along with preparations for Tropical Storm Towles.
2. I absolutely love the Olympics. Every 4 years, I revert to the proverbial “rip the knob off the TV” mode and just lock in to NBC. I will watch synchronized diving. I will watch equestrian. If I could find the fencing medal rounds, I would watch them. I will watch the leader of the free world give an Olympian the traditional slap on the ass.
Not to go all Bill Simmons here, but if you can’t get in to the Olympics as a fan, then I don’t think you and I are ever going to see eye to eye on anything.
The Opening Ceremonies were amazing, especially when you see just how much this country can get mass quantities of people to operate in perfect synchronization. Nothing will ever top lighting the torch with a freaking bow and arrow from across the stadium, but walking across the sky came close.
Now, with that out of the way, on to baseball:
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