Wandy was not happy with his first inning. He made the last out of the inning unassisted, scooping the tweener, running to the bag, stomping it and flinging the ball into the turf. I thought that was the correct reaction to giving up two runs right off the bat. But, the offense got going in the bottom of the first. Berkman grounded into a double play which did not bode well. However, Ensberg, Lane, and Everett all got lucky 2 out singles to even the game at 2.
The signal that this game was going to be different came in the 3rd when Burke hit the 3 run homer. 5-3 Astros
But Wandy struggled some more. He gave up a homerun to a rookie. But the low point of his evening was in the 4th when he failed to back up 3rd on Patterson's triple. That will cost him. It cost the Astros a run and it got closer at 5-4 in the 4th. Dierker was predicting dire things for Rodriguez.
But, in the 5th, the defense came to the rescue. After walking Lee, which seems to be the thing to do, Biggio made a sliding scoop behind 2nd to start a nifty dp. Then Everett, making an increasingly worrisome ole snag to his right in short left, got Garciaparra.
Then the 5th happened. Wellemeyer had previously replaced Rusch and couldn't find the plate with a GPS. Quintero almost hit the pumpkin car parked above the Boxes. Batted around + 3, 6 runs scored. Taveras and Ensberg both had 4 hits in the game and now both are at or above .300.
That really seemed to calm down Rodriguez who made it through 7. Wholesale changes on both sides and this one was in the books.
7:05, Pettitte v. The Whiner
