CJ blasts boys to win

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Ty in Tampa in Game Recaps

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Dojers 2
Astros 3

W: Norris | L: Lilly | S: Lyon

HR: Johnson (8 – they’re still looking for it)

The youth movement chugs right along and continues to excite the shit out of those who care to pay attention. I admit, I care but my attention has been spread thin over the past month with many other things that have usurped my Astros viewing. I did happen to see most of last night’s contest and stared intently at the 6th inning at-bat of Chris Johnson.

CJ’s throwing error in the 1st preceded the bomb that Bud Norris gave up to Ethier. Down 2 and with Pence and Lee on, CJ battled the extremely hateable Lilly for 8 pitches until he connected with a wheelhouse fastball that sailed way over the tracks in left. CJ put his head down, tossed the bat aside and briskly trotted around the freshly cleared bases.

Those 3 runs held up, past some sketchy work by the bullpen and a nifty running grab by Boojwah in left (would Lee have even tried?) for the last out. Norris’ 6 innings yielded just 3 hits and 1 ER, plus 7 Ks to best Lilly and the Dojers in game 1 of 4 with these pukes. JA “Don’t call me Jay-Ay” Happ leads the youngsters and Lee in game 2 tonight at 7:05 CDT. Go kick the shit out of ’em, boys!

Oops, He Did It Again

Posted on September 9, 2010 by BudGirl in Game Recaps

Astros 4, Cubs 0
W: Brett Myers, L: Randy Wells

Astros Recap
Game Zone

This game started out perfect. Myers pitched 4.2 innings of perfect baseball. Then he gave up a walk, then a single before closing out the inning to keep the Cubs scoreless. He ended the night with 7 innings of shut-out baseball. He did a great job of using the strike zome given to him by the home plate ump. There were some pretty good plays made in the field behind him.

The bullpen finished the game by tossing two scoreless innings.

Hunter Pence hit a solo homerun in his second at-bat, his first at-bat was a pretty good shot to center also.

Carlos Lee looked like he was ready to trade in his bat for a new one. Good swings but only outs to show for it.

Keppinger, Johnson and Quintero got the other 3 rbi’s on the night.

This was the 5th series the Astros have played against the Cubs and the 5th series they won. That is the way it should be.

I found this quote from Hunter Pence interesting.

“We’re having fun out there and we compete and believe in each other.”

I believe in them too.

Astros at Cubs: Does This Better Record Make My Arse Look Fat?

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Limey in Series Previews

Say hello to your 3rd placed Astros. 64-72 may not look like much (it isn’t), but it’s 1 game better than the Brewers and 5.5 games better than the northside shirtless drunks. Read More

Astros at Diamondbacks – Me and the Astros Have Something In Common

Posted on September 3, 2010 by MRaup in Series Previews

So, a personal note or two to start things off. I’m moving to Los Angeles for a month on the 7th of September for work. So, similar to the Good Guys, I’m headed West for the forseeable future (minus the stop over in Lovableloserville). I’ll beat the ‘Stros to LA by a few days, but I’m hopeful I can catch a game or two of the Series while I’m out there since I’ll have weekends free.

I’d suggest any LA-based Stros fans meet up with me while I’m out there to try and see a ballgame, but if my trip to Houston last weekend has taught me anything, it’s that nobody on the TZ wants to hang out with me except for drunken British reprobates (thanks again, Limey).

I also mention my trip because I’ve been insanely busy getting read to go to LA for the last few days and managed to completely blank on my Preview Writing duties today until just now. So, with a little over 2 hours until game time, here’s the down and dirty series preview.

Dodger Stadium

Probable Pitching Matchups from Astros.com

Friday

Brett Myers (10-7, 2.97) v. Daniel Hudson (4-1, 1.83)

Check out Brett’s picture on the probable links. He looks like a prime candidate for a neck tattoo. Hudson looks like he’s about 16, and may or may not be thinking about boobies right now.

If you’re waiting for some useful information about these guys, you’re not gonna get it. No time, folks! No time!

Saturday

Bud Norris (6-8, 5.17) v. Joe Saunders (2-4, 4.70)

Bud’s ERA has lowered every month this season so far. His stuff is awesome, but he’s still learning to pitch in the big leagues.

The bad news? The Snakes post a .409 BA against him, 9 hits in 22 at bats, 2 home runs. Yikes.

Joe Saunders posted a really nice outing against the Chargers Padres in his last start, but the four starts before that were varying degrees of ugly.

Jason Michaels only has one hit in nine at bats against him. Kabong has three hits in eight at bats. Keppinger has one hit in two at bats. Nobody else has faced him.

Sunday

J.A. Happ (5-2, 2.89) v. Rodrigo Lopez (5-12,5.24)

Jaaaaaay has been pretty awesome since coming over from the Phillies. I don’t know if this is the real J.A. Happ or if he’s just happ-y to be with the Astros, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far. He’s a battler.

The good news: Happ absolutely dominates current D-bag cks to the tune of four hits in thirty three at bats, which leads to a sparkling .121 batting average against.

Rodrigo Lopez… Really? Who cares. Obviously he isn’t having a very good year.

Unsurprisingly, the Good Guys suck on ice against Rodrigo. They sport a robust .211 batting average, with eight hits in thirty eight at bats. Woof. Thunderpants (3-6) takes care of business against him, but that’s about it. Kabong is a putrid two of sixteen against him.

Injury Report

Houston

Nothing new to report here. Arias is still torn up, but apparently has begun throwing from flat ground again. Moehler’s groin fell off, but they taped it back on. Paulino is throwing from flat ground again, but odds are he’ll trip on a dandelion and tear another important joint/muscle right around the time he should be returning.

Arizona

Kris Benson is a tool. And by that I mean he’s out for the year with a shoulder strain.

Brandon Webb is on the DL with shoulder stiffness, but apparently “threw very successful simulated game August 28th”. I wonder what the difference is between successful and very successful.

Shit They’re Giving Away, Road Edition

Nothing Friday, but Saturday a sweet Montero Bobblehead. Who Montero, you ask? I don’t know either. It doesn’t say. Here it is, though. I’ve never known Montero to be an Asian last name, but hey, what do I know?

Sunday is Reynolds growth charts. Yippie!

Our Interesting Things to Chat About (Since There Isn’t Much to Look For)

I’ve been enjoying the few games I’ve gotten to watch and the highlights I’ve seen over the past few weeks, as many others have said in the TZ over the last few days. Watching the youngsters play good baseball has been fun, and bitchslapping the Fuckin’ Cardinals is always a good time. I hope this isn’t just a flukey little blip on the radar, but even if it is, it sure is more watchable than anything that the Good Guys were going last year. Thanks for reading, I’m back to scrambling to get ready for my trip to LA.

Talk about the games in the Gamezone… Or don’t. See if I care.

Lucky 3’s

Posted on September 2, 2010 by BudGirl in Game Recaps

Cards 2, Astros 5
W: Nelson Figueroa, L: Jeff Suppan
H: Fernando Abad, S: Brandon Lyon

Astros Recap
Game Zone

Pence’s 3-run homerun gave the Astros the lead over the Cardinals gave them a 3-game win streak has now put them in 3rd place in the NL Central.

3 Astros players got RBIs.

The Astros won all 3 games against the Cardinals by 3 runs.

3 Astros players (Bourn, Pence and Johnson) had at least 1 hit in each of the 3 games.

The Astros have won 3 of the 5 series against the Cardinals this season.

Can you believe Brett Wallace has been hit by 7 pitches already?

Fun times in Houston, Texas right now.

JA, dat ist gut

Posted on August 30, 2010 by MusicMan in Game Recaps, News

Cardinals at Astros, 8/30/2010
Astros 3, Polesmokers 0
W: Happ (5-2) L: Westbrook (7-10)
No save? Damn right.

JA “don’t call me J-A” Happ spun a 2-hit shutout Monday night to deal another blow to the reeling Cardinals.
Since June 1:
Astros 43-37
Jakes 39-38

Happ was as dominant as anything you could hope for. He faced 28 batters. He threw 4 pitches from the strech outside of the third inning, where he walked the leadoff hitter. He got 4 outs from Pujols in 3 at bats.

Much more of this, and we’ll speak of him in the same hushed tones as Angel Sanchez. Thanks, Ed.

Meanwhile, the Astros got on the board in the first when Lee blooped a 2-out pitch right on the RF line that then caromed wildly toward the wall, and Thunderpants raced through a stop sign (unsurprisingly) to score the run. They would later add two in the seventh, with Wallace providing a key double.

Ordinarily, a 1-run game would have seemed tense, but there was never any sense that the Co-Ards could score while Happ was pitching.

Let’s do this again tomorrow, shall we?

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