A pretty girl is a welcome sight but sometimes what you need is a good ol?slump buster. The gap toothed grin of Tammy Faye Ballpark was just the tonic the Astros needed.
In a ?Michael Jordan? up off the sick bed type of performance Sparky (IP 7 H 5 ER 2 BB 1 K 9) regained his strikeout rhythm with the help of the round heeled Reds and accommodating umpire Larry Vanover. Roy put himself in a good spot almost every ab by starting most hitters with a first pitch strike.
The Train (3x5, 2 HR 5 RBI) paced the 12 hit attack and started the scoring when he launched a two run shibby into the upper decks. However, in the early innings, there was a palpable feeling of uh-oh from the Astros ?faithful? as the Good Guys began urping up some of their leftovers from Limbo Field in NY.
Pidgeon Shit (3x5 2 D 3 RBI) continued his scientific study of strikes, watching called lookings into the mitt twice in the early innings. In the 5th, Room Service(2x4 2 RBI) ripped a double down the line, Sparky got a gift on a roller to Rich ?Who Do the Reds Think They?re Kidding?? Aurilia. Maximus made his procession to the plate with runners on the corners and one out and promptly popped up a squeeze bunt, right to the catcher, unassisted double play. Severe puckering.
But all that changed in the 6th - when Paul Wilson comes apart he comes apart fast. Ratty, his lime green and fuschia bruised arm safely wrapped to avoid scaring the villagers, doubled, The Gimp (1x3 1 RBI) doubled, to right, so you know he?s getting hot. Pidgeon Shit, Mirabilia Dei!, swung at the first pitch and singled home Ratty. Then up comes The Train and wallops his second tatter, a 3 run blast, into the starry night sky. Tragically, he seems to be auditioning a mini-Bonds homer pose. A track meet triple by Speed,(1x5) though he didn?t score was fun to watch (10.9 seconds, home to third) rounded out the inning. Brown called Taveras, "the Roadrunner" and JD commented "meep, meep" during the play.
Other entertaining moments in the denouement,
There was an Elvis sighting, standing at the dugout rail, leisurely sipping coffee, and explaining the invention of the cotton gin to Scraps.
Everett (2x5) timed Webers herky jerky motion and creamed a double down the line, eventually scoring under a Messiah heave that just made it to the mound and skipped the grass the rest of the way home. At first JD thought it a good throw until he went to the replay.
Something seemed to click halfway through the game in Pidgeon Shits brain and he was up there hacking, finishing the night with 3 hits, including 2 doubles and 3 promising RBI.
Oswalt in his only ?problem? inning, the 7th, gave up 2 doubles and a run and celebrated by padding his headhunter stats by plunking Jason LaRue right in the back. LaRue eyeballed Sparky as he walked down the line. If looks could kill, Roy would be just fine. Really, not a scratch on him.
Springer pitched a respectable inning against the hacking Reds. And, in a tune up assignment, His Holy Eminence amused himself by inducing foul balls that ran his fielders into various walls. When he serioused up he struck out the side in the ninth.
Pasadena, sporting his first game day mustache since 1992, will face Eric Milton, tomorrow at 12:15. There will be TV.
