Thursday, July 8, 2010

Pirates 0
Astros 2

W: Oswalt | L: Ohlendorf

Astros.com
Gamezone

Roy pitched a gem when it counted. Sure, he helped the team sweep the lowly Pirates and stay safely above them at the bottom of the standings. But today’s 1-hitter counted more in the “when” column, as in “when will the trigger be pulled” on the swap that will finally give Roy what he wants and hopefully, the Astros some needed pieces looking towards the future.

McTaggart Tweet:
“Teams with scouts here watching Oswalt: Dodgers, Phillies, Rays and Mets.”

What they saw was, I suppose, vintage Oswalt. Efficient and effective, he held the Pirates hitters down with 8 Ks and just 2 BBs. A few fine defensive plays helped the cause, including a diving stab of a hot liner in the 9th by Berkman.

In fact, Twinkie did everything but sell popcorn between innings. His 1st inning pop fly found the Crawfords after about 15 seconds in the air. He did it again in the 4th, this time with a little more ‘oomph’ to top out the Astros scoring at 2.

Roy’s win leaves him 1 shy of the Astros wins record held by Joe Niekro. It was a Roy/Lance lovefest. Twinkie offered this up after the game:

“I don’t know that we need to start singing his swan song just yet with the Astros,” Berkman said. “I’d say it’s probably a longshot that he gets traded. I just feel that way. I’m not saying it won’t happen, but I don’t know that it’s a great possibility.”

Hmmmm?

Astros start the last series before the All-Star break tomorrow night as the reeling Turdinals come to town. Wainwright at Norris @ 7:05 CDT.

Pirates 3, Astros 6
W: Casey Daigle, L: Daniel McCutchen

Astros Recap
GameZone

This was just another Wednesday win for the Astros. They scored a run in 4 separate innings (2 in the third) on Wednesday night. Four of those runs were on homeruns by Jeff Keppinger, Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence.

Michael Bourn illustrated why he is the All-Star for the Houston Astros. His feet and glove stole an extra-base hit from Ronnie Cedeno.

Brian Moehler left the game after 3 innings with a strained groin. Gustavo Chacin gave up all 3 Pirate runs in the 4th. Casey Daigle did a good job going two innings of scoreless baseball, he did have some traffic on the bases though. Then Byrdak, Lyons and Lindstrom finished the game.

Nice win by the Astros.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Pirates 2
Astros 6

W: Rodriguez (6-10) | L: Lincoln (1-3)

Astros.com Wrap

There’s nothing quite like playing the Pirates. It’s like taking a vacation from reality, where you can imagine – if only for a few days – that your Houston Astros are a legitimate baseball team with hopes to contend for it all. Whisked away to a magical time and place, where winning is the expectation rather than the exception, and you can laugh at the misfortune of your opponent, rather than resignedly sighing about your own.

Squeeze your eyes shut tight, and you can picture Home Wandy striking out double digits, hurling a seven inning, one-run gem for the win. You’ll see him pitch with control and poise, holding shit down when the bases do get crowded, and cruising through the rest of his time effortlessly. What’s that? His third win and excellent start in a row? Hahahaha sure thing, friend. Sure thing.

Of course, you’ll imagine some offense, too. You wouldn’t get all crazy… this would be a bit of a vanilla daydream. The guys at the top of the order would get on and make some stuff happen, and the heart of the lineup would drive them in with power. Pretty standard stuff.

You’d probably have Bourn getting on a couple of times, maybe swiping a bag, scoring from first, that kind of thing. Keppinger would just keep hitting. Then you’d get to 3-4-5, and it’s just fucking chaos. Taters and doubles flying all over the place, fistfuls of RBI and hits for everyone, none of the three even strikes out. Somewhere in there, even the new kid and the pitcher manage to get a hit. Just majestic.

The Good Guys win it going away, and put another game of distance between them and the team looking up at their ass. It’s July, your centerfielder’s an All-Star, it’s sunny outside and you are fucking going places. Bask in it, people.

Because sadly, some shitface is inevitably going to come wake your ass up in a couple of days. Until then, though…

Contributed by austro (who thinks he’s a jinx… burn the witch!)

Astros 2
Padres 3

WP: Bell (4-0) | LP: Lyon (5-3)

Sunday, July 4, 2010
Petco Park, San Diego

Astros.com
GameZone

Sorry folks, but today you get my notes instead of a condensed account. After all, it’s a holiday!

Myers pitching for Houston, LeBlanc for San Diego.

San Diego breaks out the camo jerseys again.

Michaels in CF, Bourn gets the day off.

T1: Keppinger leads off (WTF?) and flies out to LF. Lance (batting 2nd! WTF?) hits his first RH homer of the year! Scoreless streak is broken! Pence (batting 3rd! WTF?) strikes out. Lee taps out to 2nd, 4-3.

B1: Gwynn flies out to RF. Jerry Hairston grounds out 6-3 (Navarro at SS today). Gonzalez fliest out to LF.

T2: Michaels flies out to RF. Feliz grounds out 6-3. Q flies out to RF.

B2: Scott Hairston flies out to LF. Headley singles up the middle. Torrealba grounds out 5-3, Headley advances to 2nd. Cunningham flies out to RF.

T3: Navarro grounds out 5-3. Myers flies out to CF. Kepp singles. Berk walks. Fucking Pence pops out to short.

B3: Cabrera grounds out 3-1; nice pickup by Berk, nice cover by Myers. LeBlanc Ks. Gwynn Ks looking.

T4: Lee pops out to short in shallow CF. Michaels flies out to CF. Feliz grounds out 6-3 and breaks his bat in the process.

B4: Jerry Hairston grounds out 5-3. Gonzalez grounds out 3-1. Scott Hairston bloops a single between Kepp and Pence in RF. JD: “The barrel [of the bat] is overrated sometimes.” Q with a snap throw down to 1st and very nearly gets Hairston. Headley walks, advancing Hairston to 2nd. Torrealba grounds to SS, Navarro takes his time and Headley beats the force at 2nd to load the bases. Cunningham singles to LF (a more agile left fielder would have gotten to it) and scores 2. This inning typifies everything wrong with the Astros this year. Cabrera grounds out 6-3. Myers got screwed by his defense.

T5: Q flies out to CF. Navarro walks. Myers sacs Navarro to 2nd. Kepp flies out to RF on a nice diving catch by the right fielder. Of course.

B5: LeBlanc grounds out 4-3. Gwynn flies out to LF. Jerry Hairston singles to RF. Gonzalez grounds out 6-3.

T6: Berk strikes out looking. Pence grounds out 1-3. Lee grounds out 5-3.

B6: Scott Hairston grounds out 5-3. Headley grounds out 4-3. Torrealba grounds out 5-3. Myers has been a tremendous pick-up this year.

T7: Michaels leads off with a double down the LF line. Feliz drives the ball to deep RF but it’s caught; Michaels moves up to 3rd. Padres bring the infield in for Q. In-fucking-credible: ground ball up the middle, off the pitcher’s foot, second baseman (Hairston) comes up and grabs the ball, Michaels isn’t moving on contact so he stays, and Hairston throws across his body for the out at 1st. Bourgeois in to pinch-hit for Navarro. He walks. Johnson in to pinch-hit (.452 in 8 games on the road trip!); Webb in to relieve. Grounds out 4-3. Myers fucked.

B7: Lopez in to pitch, Sanchez in at short (for Bourgeois, who pinch-hit for Myers). Cunningham grounds out 6-3. Cabrera strikes out on a very nice low and moving pitch. Salazar in to pinch-hit for Webb; he walks. Byrdak comes in to pitch. Gwynn grounds back to Byrdak, who botches the play, then grabs the ball and throws to 1st while flying through the air, bouncing it to Berk, who miraculously grabs it and then gets his glove stepped on by Gwynn. By some divine intervention, the out stands and the inning is over.

T8: Adams replaces Webb on the mound. Kepp leads off with a single. Lance hits a hard drive into the RF corner that bounces around and turns into a triple, scoring kepp and tying the game. Pence grounds out 5-3 (what a surprise!), and Berk can’t score. Lee strikes out looking stupid on an outside pitch; no balls out of the infield today for him. Michaels flies out to RF, stranding Berk at 3rd. At least they got one run.

B8: Lyon on to pitch. Jerry Hairston flies out to CF; Michaels made it a little exciting by breaking back at first, but in the end it wasn’t too bad. Gonzalez up (Keppinger out in RF, Sanchez back behind 2nd), Gonzalez takes it to deep left, but Lee grabs it on the warning track. Scott Hairston walks (third BB for Astros pitchers today). Headley gets jammed and pops up to SS.

T9: Bell replaces Adams on the mound. Feliz flies out to CF. Q strikes out. Sanchez pops out to 1B.

B9: Torrealba single to RF. Cunningham sacs Torrealba to 2nd. Cabrera is intentionally walked. Stairs pinch hits for Bell and walks to load the bases for Gwynn. Gwynn singles up the middle and the Astros lose 3-2.

Two runs in 27 innings. That’s not going to get it done, boys.

contributed by austro (Mr. Pinch-Hitter)
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Petco Park, San Diego

Padres 1 | Astros zip, nada, zero, ziltch

Astros.com
GameZone

I realize that the San Diego pitching staff is at the top of the league this year, but two shutouts in a row? That’s just not right.

This was an old-fashioned National League pitching duel, with both starters pitching 7 innings of scoreless ball. Norris gave up 3 hits, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts, and at times dominated batters with well-placed fastballs. It was an encouraging performance that strengthens my suspicion that his shoulder had been bothering him for some time before his DL stint. Corriea also did well for San Diego, allowing 5 hits and 2 walks, and collecting 4 strikeouts.

One of the most satisfying moments of the game occurred in the bottom of the fourth inning, with Eckstein at the plate. He wound up hitting a foul pop-up up the RF side, and Berkman made a really nice grab near the stands as he was moving away from the plate. Knowing that it was Eckstein being robbed made it that much sweeter. God, that little pissant with the not-even-Little-League throwing motion annoys me.

Pence wound up getting himself ejected arguing on a 3-2 punchout in the seventh. That’s apparently the first time he’s been thrown out of a big-league game, and he was quite contrite about it afterward. J-Mike came in for him, but that exposed another problem with the current roster: Manager Blum (“loose bodies in the elbow”, ouch) still hasn’t been put on the DL even though he hasn’t played in the last couple of days and nobody seems to have an idea of when he might play again. So we’re only carrying 4 outfielders at the moment, and when Pence got ejected that meant there was no opportunity to sub Michaels into LF for Lee.

And as always seems to happen, the ball finds the weak link. Cunningham led off the San Diego 8th inning with a broken-bat bleeder into left field and challenged Lee. Of course, these days that’s not exactly a high-risk maneuver, and he was safe at second with a lead-off double. The next batter, Gwynn, laid down a good bunt on the 3B line, and Chacin took the play (Johnson was there, too, and probably had a better play on it) and threw low and wide to first. The ball bounced into the stands and Cunningham was awarded home, scoring the only run of the night. The San Diego bullpen, as they have done all year, nailed things down after that.

The only real offensive bright spot of the night was Chris Johnson, who had three hits, including two doubles. Bourn had one hit and might have had another, but a call went against him on a bunt in the 8th inning. Other than that? Not much.

The Astros’ offense goes for the shutout hat trick Sunday afternoon at 3pm.