FLORIDA 6, Houston 1
Saturday July 9, 2011
Chum Bucket Stadium
WP: R. Nolasco (6-5, 3.70)
LP: B. Myers (3-9, 4.88)
MIAMI (SnS) – The punchless, pointless Houston Astros fell helplessly to the Florida Marlins here Saturday night, 6-1, before an enthusiastic south Florida crowd of about 150. A clown threw out the first pitch, which was fitting — Read More
You win as a team, and you lose as a team. But sometimes, you just have to take matters into your own hands. Else, you may have the manager deciding to do radical things, like deciding your not contributing to the cause. Maybe even send you down to the farm to regroup (are you listening JR?). Or worse yet, someone may decided to bring in a head shrink that will say things like “Do your best, it’s all you can do” or “Visualize a win” or even “Losing is like a disease, as contagious as the Bubonic plague”. If so, then we need a MASH unit in here, pronto!
Truth be told, Jordan Lyles is young and this will serve him well for the long run, but the short term of not winning a game yet is going to gnaw at him. It doesn’t help when you run into a red hot Florida Marlins team bolstered by the home cooking and fan attendance… oh wait…. nevermind that last part, let’s just leave it at red hot Florida Marlins. Lyles was spotted an early two zip lead in the first inning, only to have it go away as quickly as it came in the first opportunity for Lyles to toe the rubber. 2 zip was quickly 2-2 on a Hanley “Showboat” Ramirez dinger to right centerfield. BTW – why is Hanley not dotted more than any other player in the history of the game? The talented “me first, game second” player is just about the closest thing to a prima donna that I’ve ever seen. But I digress.
It didn’t take long after that for Lyles to lose the opportunity to win a game in the mlb. No, Lyles is not going to win a game all by himself, he doesn’t have the stuff to do that sort of thing. He needs help from his teammates who look lethargic out in the field and almost resigned to their fate as a second class team. Words like “We are trying hard” and “We leave it all in the field” are nice, but actions would be good to match said words too. Lyles had a huge part in the lost last night, missing spots with regularity that he cannot afford to miss. Not with this team. In the end, it was yet another loss to the tune of 6-3, almost predictably so sad to say.
Image of Losing Is a Disease Like Bubonic Plague
Losing is a disease, call a doctor!
Florida Marlins 6 – Houston Astros 3
WP: Javier Vazquez | LP: Jordan Lyles
Astros.com recap
Game videos
There was a gameszone for this game?
Astros 0, Marlins 5
W: Hand, L: JA Happ
Yeah, the Astros lost again. They only garnered 3 hits on the night. Happ was his usual 2011 self. For some reason, he does not seem to go out with to pitch with that “je n’ais sais quois.” I think Bud for the most part has found his “je n’ais sais quois” this season. He pitches a better game, but Happ has lost his.
Not much else to say about his game, so I’m going to share other stuff.
BudGirl’s 2011 Road Trip Extravaganza
My sister, her three kids (ages 10, 12, and 16) and I are planning a road trip later this month. We are going to depart San Antonio, Texas and drive to Boston. We are not going to drive 2000+ miles without stopping so we are going to do something touristy at each stop.
Our first scheduled stop is Memphis, Tennessee. My nephew is quite interested in the Civil War (and other historical wars for that matter) so we are going to tour the Slave Haven Burkle Estate and probably check out some local parks. No plans to do any Elvis sights.
The second stop is Lexington, Kentucky. I was really hoping to catch the Legends, but we’d have to leave a day later and that didn’t work out with the rest of the trip schedule. So, in Lexington, our plans aren’t to grand. We are planning to check out the Mary Todd Lincoln House and eat at Ramsey’s on High Street. A friend of mine that attended school there recommended the place. If time permits, we’ll probably visit a horse farm or two. The countryside there is supposed to be gorgeous.
Third stop on the trip is Harrisburgh, PA. This is the first state capital city we will visit. No plans to visit the capital though. The plan for this area is Hershey. Hershey’s Chocolate World is an abosolute no-miss. Once my sister realized that was there, she got a smile on her face. This will be a great stop because we will probably need chocolate by then. Also, on the agenda at this stop is Hershey Park. This will be my break from them. I’m not a theme park person. Have no desire to go to any of them (including all that Disney crap in Orlando – 2 Spring Training Trips to date and no Disney for me). Not sure what I’ll do, probably look for a museum or something. I love stuff like that.
Since we will spend most of the day there, we don’t plan to drive to far before our next stop. The lovely, Hartford, Connecticut. One recommendation for this stop is the Connecticut Science Center. It is relatively new and highly recommended by a friend from there. He also recommended the park around the capital nice for a quick stop. I’m rather looking forward to this stop. I like seeing different capital buildings.
Next is Boston, Mass. At this stop we will be acquiring another passenger. I have a niece finishing up a 6-week job there so we are going to add her to the caravan and bring her back to Texas. We are not going to see a Red Sox game, which I am okay with since I’ve already been to Fenway and wasn’t overly impressed. But we are going to keep on the pretty historical theme of the trip and walk the Freedom Trail. I am unsure if my sister is aware of how much walking it is. Should be fun with the three kids. I think they will enjoy it though.
My absolutely gotta do thing if I ever go to Boston is go to Mike’s Pastry, yes, I know I’ve mentioned this place before. But I love the pistachio macaroons. We’ll probably check out Harvard and MIT since we will be staying in the Cambridge area. Lots of good leg stretching on this part of the trip.
With our additional passenger we go to our next stop. Which you probably didn’t guess is Dover, Delaware. The plan it to check out the Wilmington area also. I’m sure we’ll drive around yet another state capital. I’ve heard Cape May is a nice area to walk around and enjoy an ice cream. We’ll also go around the rock. There’s other things we may check out, it will probably depend on the time we want to spend. The Wilmington Blue Rocks are going to be in town, so we may check them out.
So, finally, we are going to be ready to leave the land of Yankees and head South. We are planning to have lunch somewhere in Virginia Beach. I’m sure some of you know I also love beaches. Luckily, so does my sister. After lunch, we are going to continue to drive southward to Raleigh, NC. I have a very good friend from college that lives in Raleigh and she just happens to work at the North Carolina Museum of History. How convenient for us?? The only inconvenient part is she is teaching a Civil War camp during our visit there and my nephew is not old enough to participate. She is going to give us a tour of the museum and hang out with us for a bit. I’m looking forward to the visit. I haven’t seen her in years.
After leaving Raleigh, we are going to make up some time and drive quite a bit. We want to go down the Eastern coast and get quite close to our final stop on the Extravaganza. So, we are going to stop pretty much for the night only in Hinesville, Georgia. I’d never heard of it until we were looking for a place to stop for the night. But, in doing some research, there is a bit of history in Liberty County, Georgia.
Our next and last leg of the Extravaganza is Pensacola, Florida. Two nights on the crystal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. No sight seeing for us here. Just good ole lay in sun and play in the sand kind of days. Spending the days just resting before our return to the world we live. I personally, think this is the perfect way to end our trip. Because once we leave there it is straight back to the Great State of Texas!!!
We will have one small stop in Beaumont, my sister has a sister-in-law that lives there. We may or may not drop off a kid or two there for a visit. I do not believe those details have been confirmed. It will be hard to drive through Houston and not want to stop and stay but my car and cat will be in San Antonio and I’m going to want them back.
I’m really looking forward to spending the time with my sister and her kids. Her husband might join us on the trip up to Boston, I rather hope he does, he’s a great guy. I’m not to worried about getting on each other’s nerves. We’ve done shorter road trips before and gotten along. Plus, we seem to be wanted to do the same things. Should makes decision-making much easier.
And hopefully, I’ll return to work and everyone there will realize how necessary I am (meaning, of course, I am necessary to them and not just in my mind) and give me a huge fucking raise.
Check out strosrays series preview for information about the rest of the series.
Houston (30-58) vs. Miami (39-48)
July 7-10, 2011
Fish Head Stadium
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Holly came from Miami, F-L-A
Hitchhiked her way across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs
And then he was a she
She said, “Hey, babe. Take a walk on the wild side . . .”Read More
HOUSTON 8, Pittsburgh 2
July 6, 2011
PNC Park
PITTSBURGH (SnS) – In a nice turn after a week of abject ugliness, the Houston Astros posted a tidy little win over the Pittsburgh Pirates here Wednesday night, 8-2, thus salvaging the final game of a three-game set in the Iron City. The Astros capitalized on Pittsburgh miscues, got good pitching both from starter Bud Norris and the bullpen, and saw an offensive mini-resurgence to the tune of fourteen hits and eight runs. :sniff: The whole thing served to remind fans of happier – or at least less sad – days in Houston.Read More
PITTSBURGH 5, Houston 1
July 5, 2011
PNC Park
PITTSBURGH (SnS) – It was a fairly well-played game. It was a relatively quick game, especially given some of the recent AL-type interleague borefests the club has been involved in lately. Wandy Rodriguez started and pitched okay – not great, but not terrible. But the result was the same, as the Houston Astros fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates here tonight, 5-1. The Astros lost their fifth in a row, the ninth of their last ten, the twelfth of their last fifteen, twenty-fourth of their last thirty, and so on. This looks like a team in free-fall now, and it is hard to imagine a scenario where the incessant losing will be stopped, or even slowed down very much.Read More
