Paid attendance was supposedly 13,000. The few times the cameras allowed a glimpse of the stands, they looked almost empty – reminds me of the way the old Marlins stadium looked. I bet there weren’t even 4000 people there, including the 100 Cubs fans who showed up. I bet all the concessions are closed on the upper levels.

Travis Wood no hit the Astros through 4 innings, and I thought there was gonna be some real excitement. So did Travis, but Justin Maxwell hit a clean single to left in the 5th, then Matt Dominguez, who has, shall we say, cooled off since he left Cincy, hit a ball to left, looked as if it was going to be a double off the scoreboard, only Alfonso Soriano jumped up and caught it. Maxwell was already at third, not that I blame him, and he couldn’t get back to first in time to avoid being doubled off. It was a good play, too. Astros got back at Sori later when JD Martinez threw him out trying to stretch a single to left which bounced off the base of the stands.

Abad lasted 3.1 innings – gave up only 1 run. In the 4th, he gave up 2 singles, then got a flyout with men on first and third. He was pulled with the PITCHER coming up and no I’m not kidding. Travis Wood was hitting .182, he’s a lefty, and Abad got pulled. Chuckie Fick came on and stranded the runners. So neither Husband or I was right about number of innings or number of runs. Ah well. Abad gave up 4 hits and 3 walks and, as usual, didn’t look real too particular good. I mean, he can’t last even 5 innings, so he’s a starter, like WHY???

Whatever.

Of note, the Astros decided to activate Jed Lowrie, who looked, shall we say, rusty. I’m guessing that they’re hoping he looks good the last few weeks so they can trade him because he’s gonna make over 1 million next year and we can’t have that.

Remember yesterday I said how yet another FO guy got kicked out? Well, they’re firing the mascot, too.  Guess Junction Jack, the stupid looking rabbit, isn’t statistically inclined enough or something.

Back to the ball game. Enerio Del Rosario – remember him? The righty who sucks? He got called back up yesterday because you can’t never have too many relievers and Coco Cordero was released, not that he mattered or was even on the active roster. He pitched a scoreless 1,2,3. For once.

Look, I didn’t make the rules. The way things are these days, ML teams have decided that starters are gonna throw somewheres between 90 – 110 pitches/start and then they are gonna have relievers who each throw an inning, unless they need a LOOGY. I know that there are gonna be guys who, every now and then, are allowed to pitch a complete game, or throw more than 7 innings, but that’s just not the modern game any more, as stats have proved that starters decline after 3 times through the lineup and having a fresh reliever in each inning is almost always a better bet.

It’s more boring, and makes games drag on and on, but it’s the way things are done these days. And there is a log of talktalktalk about changing roster size – you KNOW teams want more relievers and a team really HAS to have 12 position players minimum – an extra catcher, a righty and a lefty PH and an extra infielder. Some teams are complaining about expanded rosters in September and want that stopped, seeing as how half the teams are now in the playoffs and those extra AAA guys just might could affect a playoff race and it’s even worse if your minor league teams are playing in the minor league postseason and can’t come up and healp the ML team right away.

Where was I?

Froddy came in to start the 7th – he REALLY looks tired, no surprise. 65 appearances, 59 IP. He gave up a single, then screwed up an easy grounder to allow a runner to reach instead of getting an out, so naturally, the runner who should have been out scores. His own darn fault.

Mickey Storey came in to pitch the 8th. He’s been one of the Astros very few success Storey’s (hahahaha) this dismal year. He got an out, then Dave Sappelt, one of their career minor leaguers getting a chance seeing as how the Cubs are now going cheap, just like us, hit a screaming line drive back up the middle which bounced off Mickey’s shoulder, then hit him in what looked like his right jaw or cheekbone. Still no word on what exactly is/isn’t broke, but I don’t see how you could take a line drive in in the face and not have SOMEthing injured. At least it isn’t his brain, like poor Brandon McCarthy – the brain appears to be working just fine, but who knows what else is/isn’t working and how long his rehab will be. At least, unlike Bryce Florie, it wasn’t his eye and he can still see.

Jose Valdez came in and gave up his run. Rhiner Cruz pitched the 9th, gave up a double, then a run because Chris Snyder couldn’t make a decent throw to third when the runner tried to steal. Jeezus. I never thought I’d miss Quintero and Towles this much.

Not much to say about hitting except that Brandon Barnes was the hitting star of the night – he seemed to be the only guy who was seeing Wood’s pitches, and his 10 pitch AB in the 10th finally drove him from the game. I hope Brandon really picks it up this last few weeks, as I’d really like to see an Original Astro succeed. Anyway, Stros loaded the bases, had 2 out, and JD Martinez Kd swinging. Usual Astro suckage.

So we are now at 97 losses and are a shoo-in to be the first to reach 100 L, and hopefully, even the 110 mark. Eat our dust, Cubbie fools!!!!!

Phils are coming in and they’ve won 7 straight. Lucas Harrell is facing righty Tyler Cloyd, who is a 26 year old righty who was supposed to be organizational filler, picked int he 18th round of the 08 draft, until the Phils ran out of starters. Interesting because he looked pretty darn good at both AA and AAA – threw 22 games with a 2.35 ERA/1.007 WHIP. Guesss the Prospect People weren’t impressed with his 5.9 K/9 and figure his 6.7 H/9 is just BABIP flukyness. He always had a low walk rate – 2.0/9 IP for his minor league career.

So youneverknow. Phils finally have managed to pull their record over .500, Holliday and Lee are starting to pitch decently, and Kyle Kendrick has been their ace the second half. Youneverknow…