Astros @ Snakes June 9, 2014

[Mr. Happy]

Your lineups for tonight's late show (no DH tonight):

Astros

CFDexter Fowler (S)
2BJose Altuve (R)
RFGeorge Springer (R)
CJason Castro (L)
1BJ. Singleton (L)
3BMatt Dominguez (R)
LFRobbie Grossman (S)
SSJonathan Villar (S)
PJarred Cosart (R)
Jarred Cosart (R)  (4-5, 4.16)

Snakes

SS Didi Gregorius (L)
RF Gerardo Parra (L)
1B P. Goldschmidt (R)
C Miguel Montero (L)
3B Martin Prado (R)
2B Aaron Hill (R)
LF David Peralta (L)
CF Ender Inciarte (L)
P Josh Collmenter (R)
AZ: Josh Collmenter (R)  (4-2, 3.63)

[Ron Brand]

Two coworkers tonight, one from New Jersey, the other fresh from her first visit to New York City. The woman is a reasonably avid baseball fan, the guy a Mets fan, but I doubt he follows the game all that closely despite his frequent pining for 'cold beer, a hot dog and a Mets game.'

"I hate the Yankees."
"Good girl. The Yankees suck."
"It's just...because they're the Yankees."
"Exactly!"
"We should go see the Mets play. They come to Houston, don't they? We should go see them play the Astros."
"Yeah, they play Houston. National League, they play Houston. We should definitely do that!"

[subnuclear]

Yes, it is still new to a lot of people. Also, yesterday, though a glorious win for the Astros, was a 4-hour AL yakfest. Tonight, I guess we get to see the pitcher's hit.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I started Josh Collmenter tonight.

[hostros7]

Am I hallucinating or did singleton just bat 3rd?

[subnuclear]

Am I hallucinating or did singleton just bat 3rd?

He did. Springer has a sore knee according to McTaggart.

[hostros7]

He did. Springer has a sore knee according to McTaggart.

Odd that nothing seemed to precipitate the issue. 

[subnuclear]

Fowler scores on Sac Fly by Dominguez. Astros 1-0. 2 outs.

[subnuclear]

Singleton scores on infield hit by Grossman. Astros 2-0. 2 outs.

[hostros7]

I started Josh Collmenter tonight.

Tim Wakefield is impressed by collmenter's fastball, but that's about it.

[MRaup]

Singleton scores on infield hit by Grossman. Astros 2-0. 2 outs.

TV guys said it was ruled an error.

[subnuclear]

TV guys said it was ruled an error.

Thanks, have the sound turned low.

[subnuclear]

Fowler - Single to RF
Altuve - Single to LF
Singleton - Ground ball to 1st, Altuve thrown out at 2nd, Singleton on 1st, Fowler on 3rd
Castro - HBP
Dominguez - Sac Fly to RF, Castro stays at 1st, Fowler scores, Singleton to 3rd
Grossman - Grounder to 2nd (Error by 2B), Singleton scores, Castro to 2nd
Presley - BB, bases loaded
Villar - K swinging

Middle of the 1st. Astros 2-0.

[BizidyDizidy]

Just bought mlb.tv on time to watch Villar stroke out

[subnuclear]

Just bought mlb.tv on time to watch Villar stroke out

Either that's a typo or you are watching a very different feed.

Welcome to Astros baseball either way.

[MRaup]

Either that's a typo or you are watching a very different feed.

Welcome to Astros baseball either way.

Maybe he bought it in the background...

[hostros7]

Either that's a typo or you are watching a very different feed.

Welcome to Astros baseball either way.

The merry bandwagon hell bent on .400 baseball and nothing less

[subnuclear]

Gregorius - Ground out to P
Parra - K swinging
Goldschmidt - Ground out to P

End of the 1st. Astros 2-0.

[BizidyDizidy]

Has been more driven by my life (although the on field preformance hasn't necessarily driven one to watch at all costs)

[NeilT]

Cosart's up to bat.  Wow.

[chuck]

I don't understand why everyone who likes baseball enough to call themselves an actual fan doesn't have mlb.tv.

[subnuclear]

Altuve hits a long double to CF, Fowler scores. Astros 3-0. 1 out.

[chuck]

Jose Altuve is unbelievable.

[subnuclear]

Castro doubles to CF, Altuve scores. Astros 4-0. 2 outs.

[subnuclear]

Cosart - Ground out to 1B
Fowler - Infield single
Altuve - Altuve double to 2nd
Singleton - Grounds out to 1B, Altuve to 3rd
Castro - Doubles to CF, Altuve scores
Dominguez - Line out to RF

Middle of the 2nd. Astros 4-0.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

Collmenter's killing me. Ha!

[subnuclear]

Montero - K looking
Prado - Grounds out to 2nd
Hill - K swinging

End of the 2nd. Astros 4-0.

[MRaup]

That strike 3 to Villar was up!

[subnuclear]

Grossman - K looking
Presley - Grounds out to 2nd
Villar - K looking

Middle of the 3rd. Astros 4-0.

[NeilT]

That strike 3 to Villar was up!

Looked like a strike on Game Day.

[subnuclear]

Peralta - K swinging
Inciarte - Grounds out to 2nd
Collmenter - K swinging

End of the 3rd. Astros 4-0.

[roadrunner]

I don't understand why everyone who likes baseball enough to call themselves an actual fan doesn't have mlb.tv.

I enjoy MLB Tonight in the background.  Would rather just watch the Astros though.

[Matt]

Cosart looks sharp tonight.

[MRaup]

Looked like a strike on Game Day.

Pardon my French, but fuck Gameday.

[jbm]

So, listening to Sparks I learn that a three quarter arm slot isn't good for nailing snakes with a tomahawk.

[MRaup]

For fuck's sake Ash.... That wasn't even close.

[subnuclear]

Cosart - Grounds out to 2nd
Fowler - K swinging
Altuve - Single to CF
Singleton - Fly to deep RF

Middle of the 4th. Astros 4-0.

[NeilT]

Pardon my French, but fuck Gameday.

It's all I got. 

[subnuclear]

So, listening to Sparks I learn that a three quarter arm slot isn't good for nailing snakes with a tomahawk.

Did he explain how he knows this?

[subnuclear]

Goldschmidt hits a double, scoring Parra. Astros 4-1. 1 out.

[jbm]

Did he explain how he knows this?

It was a story about how Collmenter developed his overhand delivery.  Basically, he grew up in the woods of Michigan, and he and his brother hunted snakes with tomahawks.  

Sweet DP started by Cosart to get out of trouble.

[subnuclear]

Gregorius - Grounds out to SS
Parra - BB
Goldschmidt - Doubles down 3rd base line. Parra scores.
Montero - Singles to LF, Goldschmidt to 3rd
Prado - Grounds to pitcher for 1-4-3 DP

End of the 4th. Astros 4-1.

[subnuclear]

Castro - Flies out to deep CF
Dominguez - Singles to LF
Grossman - 4-6-3 DP

Middle of the 5th. Astros 4-1.

[subnuclear]

Hill - K swinging
Peralta  - K looking
Inciarte - Grounds out to SS

End of the 5th. Astros 4-1.

[subnuclear]

Alright, I'm out. Hopefully, they can finish this one out.

[Lefty]

Did he explain how he knows this?

If you want to kill a rattlesnake with a rock, it is best to come from over-the-top with some serious downward movement.  Like a 12-6 slider.

.410 works better though.

[HudsonHawk]

With one out in the 6th, Snakes get a single, then another single to CF, but Fowler kicks it to plate another run and send the batter to 2B.

4-2 Astros, one out, runner at 2B.

[HudsonHawk]

A walk and a seeing-eye single make it 4-3, runners at 1B and 2B, still only one out.

[HudsonHawk]

Cosart gets a K, and ground out to end the inning, but the DBacks pick up a pair on three weak singles and an error.  Astros still lead 4-3.

On a side note, Cosart is gassed.

[HudsonHawk]

A quick 1,2,3 7th for the Astros, and the Snakes have a little ginger in their steps.  Gotta throw up a zero here boys.

[HudsonHawk]

Sipp in for the Astros.

[Knoxbanedoodle]

Sipp all jangly...

[HudsonHawk]

The DBacks' shortstop is named Didi Gregorius.  I think she was Kinicki's prom date in Grease.

[HudsonHawk]

Sipp puts up the 0. 

On to the 8th, Astros still up 4-3.

[OregonStrosFan]

I don't understand why everyone who likes baseball enough to call themselves an actual fan doesn't have mlb.tv.

I would guess the phrase "subject to blackout restrictions" has something to do with it...

[OregonStrosFan]

Thanks for the PBP btw Subnuclear/HH - helps with the catch-up!

[jbm]

Presley vying for the worst AB of the year. Villar needs to pick him up.

[HudsonHawk]

Astros strand a couple of runners in the 8th, as the DBacks' CFer is pretty good.  He's saved a couple of runs tonight.

[jbm]

Damn, Villar smokes one but gets zilch. Still 4-3 in B8.

[remy]

I'm so confused, having to watch the game on mute.  Did Sipp just move from P to OF?

[chuck]

I would guess the phrase "subject to blackout restrictions" has something to do with it...

If you're a baseball fan then presumably you like to watch more than one team. I would think that it means you like to watch baseball.

[chuck]

I'm so confused, having to watch the game on mute.  Did Sipp just move from P to OF?

Yes. Porter with some NL moves.

[juliogotay]

I'm so confused, having to watch the game on mute.  Did Sipp just move from P to OF?

Yes. To keep Sipp in the game to come back to face a LHer after Williams comes in and walks Goldschmit on five pitches.

[OregonStrosFan]

I'm so confused, having to watch the game on mute.  Did Sipp just move from P to OF?

Yup, and then Williams walked Goldschmidt (on 5 pitches)... Sipp now coming in from RF to replace Williams on the mound. Marwin now coming in to play LF, and Pressley heading over to RF...

[HudsonHawk]

With one out in the 8th, Sipp is moved to RF and Jerome Williams in to pitch to Goldschmidt.  Williams walks Goldschmidt, and now Sipp is coming back in to pitch.  At some point, Marwin Gonzales enters the game, I think.  Alan Ashby is pretty worthless as an announcer, so it's hard to tell.

[jbm]

Not sure why we got Williams over Farnsworth. Thought Williams was strictly mop up.

[HudsonHawk]

Sipp strikes out Prado, and that'll do it for him.  Farnsworth now in with runner on 1B.

[HudsonHawk]

Not sure why we got Williams over Farnsworth. Thought Williams was strictly mop up.

Probably didn't want to blow Farnsworth for only one batter with only 1 out.

[HudsonHawk]

Farnsworth gets the K.

On to the 9th, Astros with the 1-run lead.

[jbm]

Great effort by the pen.

Carter robbed on another smoked ball.

[HudsonHawk]

Fowler doubles, but fucks up the baserunning, and gets thrown out at 3B on a ground ball in the hole to SS by Altuve.  2 down, and ran themselves out of scoring position.

[HudsonHawk]

And Altuve swipes 2B, so he's back in scoring position, partially bailing out Fowler.

[HudsonHawk]

Singleton singles to RF, Altuve thrown out at the plate.  Don't know why he refused to slide.  Play reviewed, and even though it looks like they missed him, out is upheld.

Awful baserunning costs the Astros at least one run.

[jbm]

Shit, if Jose just slides, he's safe.  Hope it doesn't cost them.

[chuck]

Why the fuck is he more concerned about avoiding the thrown ball than scoring the run? Two baserunning blunders cost the team a run.

[HudsonHawk]

Qualls in to try to close it out.

[HudsonHawk]

Why the fuck is he more concerned about avoiding the thrown ball than scoring the run? Two baserunning blunders cost the team a run.

No shit, he should have *wanted* the ball to hit him.

[OregonStrosFan]

Qualls in to try to close it out.

Qualls just picked his nose and then licked it (or ate it, I'm unsure and unwilling to rewind the video to find out)...  Trying to get the save via booger-ball?!?

[OregonStrosFan]

Marwin got spun-around there, and missed that third out by a few inches... Ugh!

[HudsonHawk]

With 2 out, Marwin looks like a drunk Chris Carter, and stumbles the tying run to 2B. 

Holy fuck that was ugly.

[OregonStrosFan]

And there you have it, the Astros now have more wins on the season that the Boston Red Sox do!

[HudsonHawk]

And Qualls closes it out.

Astros manage to avoid their dicks in both halves of the 9th.  Barely.

[BizidyDizidy]

So my plan was to have a nice quiet dinner at the spotted pig and watch my first Astros game of the year on my phone.  Next thing you know,  I am ambushed by a gaggle of English girls who (understandably) find me irresistible. Luckily I was able to escape and catch the 9th.

[jbm]

Sweet job by the pen.

[OregonStrosFan]

And with that W, the Astros now have the 22nd best record in MLB!!! Time to pound some Budweisers folks!

[chuck]

So my plan was to have a nice quiet dinner at the spotted pig and watch my first Astros game of the year on my phone.  Next thing you know,  I am ambushed by a gaggle of English girls who (understandably) find me irresistible. Luckily I was able to escape and catch the 9th.

I thought you lived in Brooklyn.

[Mr. Happy]

Cosart has 23 Ks in his last 24 innings of work. He struck out only 33 in 60 frames last season. In 2014, he's K'd 56 in 73 innings, which is a dramatic improvement and much needed. However, he's still got some work to do on his mechanics and his command as walks can still be a problem for him. Nice road win last night. As of now, your Astros have a better road record (15-18) than home record (14-18). We're 2.5 games behind the stRangers, who got blasted by the Tribe last night 17-7. Suck it, you front-running pieces of shit.

[BizidyDizidy]

Upper West now - I basically just chase preschools around

[HudsonHawk]

Upper West now - I basically just chase preschools around

Ok, I'm officially creeped out now.

[juliogotay]

Ok, I'm officially creeped out now.

Good one.

[juliogotay]

Cosart has 23 Ks in his last 24 innings of work. He struck out only 33 in 60 frames last season. In 2014, he's K'd 56 in 73 innings, which is a dramatic improvement and much needed. However, he's still got some work to do on his mechanics and his command as walks can still be a problem for him. Nice road win last night. As of now, your Astros have a better road record (15-18) than home record (14-18). We're 2.5 games behind the stRangers, who got blasted by the Tribe last night 17-7. Suck it, you front-running pieces of shit.

You've probably heard this but Sparks was saying that Cosart's ball has more life on it since they did something with his hands in the delivery. I can't see him pitch so I'm not sure but I believe he's been keeping his hands together longer.

[BizidyDizidy]

Ok, I'm officially creeped out now.

It's worse than you think

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

It's worse than you think

Don't underestimate.

[HudsonHawk]

You've probably heard this but Sparks was saying that Cosart's ball has more life on it since they did something with his hands in the delivery. I can't see him pitch so I'm not sure but I believe he's been keeping his hands together longer.

I haven't notice anything in his mechanics, and haven't really been looking, but they flashed a graphic last night about Cosart's first pitch strikes.  He's been getting a lot more of them lately.  Getting ahead of hitters has to help too.

[Mr. Happy]

You've probably heard this but Sparks was saying that Cosart's ball has more life on it since they did something with his hands in the delivery. I can't see him pitch so I'm not sure but I believe he's been keeping his hands together longer.

I know that they've been tinkering with his mechanics and that they think that they've worked out his issue with command. However, it's still too early to be certain of that. I've noticed a slight change but haven't seen enough of him to be sure. Whatever it is, it seems to be working. My main point was that he's generating more K's, which he's needed since he's put so many on base this season due to high walk totals in most of his starts.

[subnuclear]

I'm not sure whose fault it is, but an above average number of Cosart pitches get away from Castro.

Cosart did look sharper last night for the first few innings than he had the last time I saw him. He has the best stuff of the whole staff when he is on, but goes off the rails at times.

[juliogotay]

I'm not sure whose fault it is, but an above average number of Cosart pitches get away from Castro.

Cosart did look sharper last night for the first few innings than he had the last time I saw him. He has the best stuff of the whole staff when he is on, but goes off the rails at times.

I wonder if it's the cutter that Castro has trouble catching. It supposedly has late movement. Eventually, Cosart will become more consistent and, if he stays healthy, will be an ace.

[Jacksonian]

I wonder if it's the cutter that Castro has trouble catching. It supposedly has late movement. Eventually, Cosart will become more consistent and, if he stays healthy, will be an ace.

If he can't be consistent he could be the next Dotel.

[geezerdonk]

Maybe a catcher has trouble catching a pitcher whose name is an anagram of his own. I can't think of another example of catcher/pitcher anagrammatic names.

[juliogotay]

Maybe a catcher has trouble catching a pitcher whose name is an anagram of his own. I can't think of another example of catcher/pitcher anagrammatic names.

Wow. I hadn't realized that. That's pretty cool.