As the Astros pitchers filed into spacious Pig Snout Park, they greeted the site with the enthusiasm of any tourist at the Smithsonian . They marveled at the 335 feet fences down the line and the 335 feet foul area from any base.
Right off though we have the ?Oswalt Inning? the inevitable bump in every Sparky appearance where he flies apart like a Rock ?Em Sock ?Em Robot. This time it was the 2nd. Luckily it happened near the bottom of the order and he got out of it by striking out the pitcher. He sailed after that. Up to the 6th Roy was striking them out looking, swinging, and gawking. He even hit a couple guys for good measure. After he got the 3 run lead in the 6th he started pitching to contact.
Meanwhile the Astros were wearing down Loaiza.
In the 4th, Biggio, ironically, passed Senator great Goose Goslin on the all time hit list. Berkman followed with a solid single, however the inning fizzled. Also during the 4th JD finally caught up with the brilliant observation, ?Hey! Is Gilbert Godfrey the Aflac duck?? Bill Brown even thought him a little slow.
In the 5th the Astros figured out the secret. Bunt. Again the first two hitters singled, then Oswalt laid down a bunt, Wilkerson fired a strike to Baerga at third who tried to make the tag before catching the ball. Maximus raced home on the error. Then Speedy lays down a seeing eye bunt that hugs the 3b line and the bases were loaded. One out, up comes Biggio and pops to short, dropping below Senator great Fred Valentine (do not look it up) on the all time average with the bases loaded list. Another milestone achieved. (Prior to that ab he was career .212 with the bases loaded) Anyway, bases loaded, no outs, they get one run. Sparky thought it was Christmas.
In the 6th Clank decided enough was enough and he bounced a homer off the Baggy of Honor in right. Maximus followed with a single.
Now, watch closely, here is the play of the game.
Maximus tests the arm of the young phenom base stealer thrower outer Schneider. Luckily for our hero, the throw drifts to the left of the bag, instead of the right. Because if it had, Adam ?Let Me Look Back in the Middle of the Steal And See What?s Going On at Home? Everett would have been out by 3 feet. And he (Everett accounted for 2 of the 3 runs scoured) wouldn?t have been able to lope home on Sparky?s scooter (who accounted for 2 of the 3 runs knocked in) up the middle. 3-0. Turned out to be the winning run.
The Ex-Nats attempted to answer in the bottom of the 6th. The leadoff hitter singled to right, Lance looked exactly like Jackie Gleason stepping over to cut the ball off. Vina singled up the middle, but Roy induced his third double play of the game to stifle the rally.
Top the 7th Biggio both ran himself into and out of a scoring opportunity. Hustling a pop up that Vina overran into a double then, and the input from Mensa is unclear on this, attempted to score on first baseman Wilkerson?s arm from deep foul territory. He was caught for the 3rd out on a very good throw to home.
In the 9th, with Lane and Berkman flipping a coin to see who would play 1st, the Pope came in and made things interesting, Recently acquired Preston, ?How Much Harm Can I Do?? Wilson battled Lidge?s sliders until he got a meatball fastball to his liking and cranked it to make the score 3-2. His Holy Eminence got another lazy fly to end the inning and the Astros extended their win streak to 5.
Tomorrow Clemens gets his shot at this spacious yard versus Rangers cast off Ryan Drese. Game time is 6:05
