Astros 5, A's 4 (11 innings)W: Borkowski | L: Flores
Pigpen's path to 3,000:
2,983 (3-5, home sweet home)
AP
recap &
box scoreAstros.com
recap (DuBose)
The American League Athletics of Oakland came to town to try their brand of Moneyball on the corner of Texas Avenue and Crawford Street, only to go back to their hotel bankrupt after the Astros light-hitting duo of Brad Ausmus and Adam Everett paired up for the game winning run in the 11th inning.
A quick pre-game note. A long time TZ dweller, the esteemed gleach, had the opportunity of a lifetime as he
bribed won a chance as a season ticket holder to throw out the first pitch. Confidently climbing the hill, he went into his windup and drilled a FB past the 'catcher' Chris Sampson all the way to the backstop. Was it his mechanics? Not trusting his stuff?
Speculation abounds in the TZ thread.
Roy Oswalt fared better than our friend gleach. Oswalt allowed a leadoff double right out of the box, but settled down and struck out Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez to end the threat. The Astros took the early 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning as Craig Biggo led off with a single to right. After a walk and a FC, Carlos Lee plated the run with a flare to center that the secondbaseman caught, but couldn't relay the ball to the centerfielder in time for the throw as Bidge crossed the plate.
This brings us to the Oswalt inning. Top of the 2nd, leadoff walk, K, K, single, and a two-run double by the opposing pitcher Kennedy to the grassy knoll, as Hunter Pence chased it down before the FBI could investigate. An infield single and a broken bat flare to left scored another run, 3-1 A's. Brad Ausmus singled in Chris Burke in the bottom half of the inning to remain close, 3-2.
Oswalt breezed through the 3rd and 4th innings, striking out the side in the latter. In the home half of the 4th, Burke singled and Ausmus pounded a curve into the Crawfords for the 4-3 lead. Oswalt held the lead for two more innings, punching out four more A's in the last two frames to end with 10 Ks for his 6 innings of work, and a slim one run lead.
Chad Qualls and Trever Miller combined for a scoreless 7th, and the Astros countered by going three up/three down. Setup man to closer back to setup man Dan Wheeler pitched a scoreless 8th, and again the Astros went down meekly in the home half.
Brad Lidge has pitched great lately, outstanding work in the earlier innings of games for almost two months. He was rewarded for his good work by restoring his job as the Astros closer once again. He had a 4-3 lead, and a much needed win for Oswalt after 6 starts without a victory in his sights as he took the mound in the 9th. He went to 0-2 on Mark Kotsay before hanging a slider that Kotsay whacked into the RF bleachers. Tie game. Third blown save for Lidge in three chances. The next batter, Mark Ellis, looped a ground rule double off the chalk in right, and went to third on a wild pitch. Still no outs, things were not looking real good. But Lidge recovered by striking out Swisher and Chavez on nasty sliders and coaxed a pop up for the final out, keeping the score tied. The good guys went 1-2-3 to close out the 9th.
Dave Borkowski took over and held the A's scoreless in the 10th. The Astros then mounted a scoring threat in the home half as Biggio doubled down the LF line with one out, Loretta walked and was followed with a FC by Pence. The A's elected to intentionally walk Lee to load the bases for Morgan Ensberg. Turned out to be a good decision, as Ensberg could only manage a weak roller up the first base line, and then took away any chance of getting in the way of the throw (by a catcher in his first inning in MLB) as he slid into first base headfirst. Third out, and a completely idiotic decision by Ensberg in that crucial opportunity. The man hustles his ass off, too bad his brain couldn't keep up.
Borkowski mowed down the A's big hosses in the 11th, whiffing Swisher, Chavez, and Doug Johnson swinging in an impressive, hell it was a
dominating inning. He was rewarded for his good outing with his first win of the year, as Everett doubled with one out and scored the winning run on a 3-0 count single to left by Ausmus. Walk off win.
Read the second highest reply thread in OWA history in this epic
Game Zone.
Chris Sampson vs. Joe Blanton tomorrow @ 7:05
