Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Astros 3
FTC Babybears 6

W: Harden (3-1) | L: Hampton (1-3) | S: Gregg (5)
HR: Twinkie (7), ErrorMiss (4)

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The return of Aaron Boone to MMPUS last night was overshadowed by the news earlier in the day that hitting coach Sean Berry would require surgery for a cancerous tumor on his kidney. Best wishes to him and his family. While the players may have been able to push aside the sobering news for the game, the whole affair still seemed disjointed and fairly joyless.

"Only 3 of Mike's 5 runs were earned!"

Hammy got himself in all kinds of trouble in the first inning, with the bases chock full of Scrubs, but came thisclose to getting out of it unscathed on a diving attempt by Bourn to snare a deep liner into the left-center gap. Sadly, the ball just did clear his glove, emptying the bases and leaving Reed Johnson on third with a triple. Johnson then scored when Pudge let a wrister get through the five-hole for the 4-0 lead. (Amazingly, this exact same thing happened in the sixth inning, too.)

Twinkie smacked a two-run opposite field shot in the eighth, if you’re looking for things to file under the Positive Developments category. In between, however, we were treated with a platter of LOBsters and a side of rally-killing GIDP, a lonely RBI coming from the pitcher, and episode number 2,309 in the infinite series Houston Astros’ Rundown Failtacular and Horseshit Show. Get your tickets, folks, it’s always worth the price of admission.

Go ahead and throw a pot of coffee on, because Russ Ortiz is taking the hill tonight for the Good Guys, insuring a methodical, steady approach to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Astros at Natinals, 5/5/09
Astros 10, Natinals 10
Suspended in the bottom of the 11th, 1 out runner on 1st base.
To be resumed on July 9th.

Astros Recap
GameZone

”[T]his game has set baseball back at least 100 years” said one observer with memories of how the game was played back then. In a game that featured all forms of meltdowns by both pitching staffs (save a run-scoring balk, that was the previous game), and a poor defensive showing, the Astros and Natinals put on a stinker for the ages.

Well, mostly. Offensively, the Astros performed well, eclipsing their season high in runs scored. Pitching-wise, not so much (okay, it was just plain f-ugly).

The Astros started the scoring in the second. Miggy doubled and then scored on an RBI double off the right field wall by Pudge.

Roy surrendered the lead in the fourth though, allowing a two-run homer to left center to Elijah Dukes.

The Good Guys got those back and then some in the top of the fifth. Blum led off with a single. Roy tried to give ‘em an out with a sacrifice bunt, but the Nats would have none of that and instead threw the ball away while trying to get Blum at second. Bourn followed with a liner to the gap in left center, scoring Blum and Roy. Keppinger walked, Berkman advanced the runners with a grounder to first, and then the Nats decided to give Carlos a freebie. (JD: Do not try-o, El Caballo, on Cinco de Mayo). Miggy then proceeded to shoot a liner that one-hopped the left field wall, scoring Bourn and Keppinger. Middle 5: Astros 5, Natinals 2. Ace* on the hill, bottom of the sixth, “When you go up 5-2, you almost want to say, this one’s in the bag.”. Well DoRay, not so much…

* Lest this cause confusion, Roy was on the hill and Wandy was in the dugout.

The rest of the evening can pretty much be summed up here.

Roy started the 6th, but was unable to continue because of a bone bruise on his right index finger that he had received while bunting the previous inning. He left the inning with none out and runners at 1st and 2nd. The generally reliable Sampson came on in relief, for his first appearance in a couple of games. Unfortunately he was not immune from the variant of bullpen flu that had stricken the rest of his pen-mates the previous night. A single by Zimmerman (hitting streak now at 23) scored 1. Dunn advanced the runners with a roller to Berkman. This was followed by a walk, RBI walk, RBI walk, strikeout (2nd out) and another RBI walk, and then Sampsons day was through. (JD: People come to Washington looking for a handout, the Astros have come here to bail out the Natinals. A lot of freebies here.). Byrdak was called in to stop the bleeding, but a potentially inning-ending grounder to Miggy was muffed, allowing another run to score and keeping the bases juiced. Byrdak proceeded to hit the next batter (scoring yet another) before inducing a grounder by Zimmerman to end the inning. (JD prior to the grounder: And now [home plate umpire] Lance Barksdale’s right arm is broken. He’s forgotten how to call strikes). The Natinals (who, as a team, were hitting .152 this year with the bases loaded) scored 6 runs on 2 singles and an error in the 6th, and the Astros trailed 8-5.

The Astros bats were not finished, however. In the top of the 7th Bourn placed a solid bunt towards third, was moved over by Kepp and kept company on the bases with a walk to Berkman. Lee, with yet another strong 2-strike approach, reached for one and singled to right, scoring Bourn. Miggy followed this by reaching for a slider down and away, singling to right and scoring Berkman. (It is unknown whether Coop chided Lee and/or Miggy for trying to go the opposite way in an RBI situation in these two at bats). Pence followed this with a grounder to 2nd scoring Lee, but a muff by the Natinals shortstop failed to get the force. A crappy at bat by Blum ended the top of the 7th with the score tied at 8. A wild pitch in the top of the 8th allowed Erstad to score another, and the Astros led 9-8 in the middle of the 8th.

The bullpen wasn’t finished either, but not in a good way. Geary came in, got a fly-ball out, gave up a single, and then proceeded to give up a two-run blast to Christian Guzman in the bottom of the 8th, giving the Natinals a 10-9 lead.

Again the Astros bats weren’t ready to call it quits. Pence hit a bloop double down the line in right, Pudge moved him over with a ball on the ground to the right, and Blum sent him home with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Geary remained in the game and managed to keep the Natinals from scoring another, and on to extras they went.

Geary threw another scoreless inning in the bottom of the 10th. The Astros had some chances to push a run across in the 11th, but were unable to do so. Hawkins came in to pitch the bottom of the 11th. Hawkins managed an out before walking Dukes on four pitches. With one on, one out, in the bottom of the 11th, [a]t the sight of the Nats and Astros bullpens, the sky had laughed ’til it cried, a rain delay ensued and the game was ultimately suspended.

The game will resume on July 9th, where the Astros will be the away team at the home field (which is a hell of a lot better than being the home team at a neutral field…).

Other notes:

Bourn looked damn good again (save his inability to lay down a sac bunt), going 2-6 with 2 runs, 2 RBIs and only 1K.

Miggy went 3-6 with a run and 3 RBIs.

Roy may miss his next bullpen, but should feel well enough to make his next start.

One is not the loneliest number that you’ll ever do, that’d be 0-20 (and maybe).

Next Game: Buzz and his FTC’s come to MMPUS tonight to face the Good Guys. Harden and Hampton are probables to take the mound.”

I’d link to the Series Preview, but it is not yet posted.

Be sure to click the links, since this recap was written by OregonStrosFan, as they aren’t my usual links. Thanks OSF because this game would have been one of the worst I would have had to recap. EVER.