Second verse, same as the first.
Well, not quiiiiiite the same. Russ Ortiz, like Wandy the night before, pitched very well, giving up 3 walks and 3 singles over 5.1 innings. He probably could have finished up the inning, but after he walked Dempster, gave up a single to Sori and Kd The Riot, Coop decided to do his leftyrighty thingy he luuuuvs so much (in spite of the fact that Ortiz had easily gotten out Fuku the previous 2 times) and called in Byrdak, who, for ONCE, got the job done.
Arias finished that inning and the 7th, then Sampson pitched the 8th. Hawkins, who the Cubs fans just HATE, gave up the tying homer to DLee, so there we were – extra innings.
Hawk managed to squeak out of the 10th, stranding a man on 3rd with 2 outs, then Fulchino came in and slammed the door for 3 innings. Fulchino has been one of Wade’s good moves.
Let me repeat that – Fulchino has been one of Wade’s GOOD moves.
Yes, Fast Eddie and his luuuvvvv for middle relievers looks pretty good with Fulchino, a pickup off the scrap heap for minimum wage.
See, I CAN praise his good moves, and he’s made some.
Where was I?
Oh yeah. Fulchino pitched 3 scoreless and gave up only one single. Shut down the entire C*bs lineup, just as Sampson had done today and yesterday.
Stros hitters had more than a few opportunities to win after Hawk coughed up the tying run:
in the 10th, Kata, pinch hitting, singled!!!! yes, you read that right. He did not make an out!!! WOW!!!! Then, with 2 out, Miggy reached on error, but Pence grounded out on the first pitch;
in the 11th, with 1 out, Lance singled, then Blum singled, then Pudge GIDP.
But finally, bottom of the 13th, Pence drew a walk. See, I TOLD you he had been walking a lot more and that not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone or unhittable pitches is a GOOD thing. Then, with Michaels flailing away at a pitch out of the strike zone for big strike 3, Pence stole second. So, with Lance up, Sweet Lou again figured he’d rather take his chance intentionally walking Berkman, then pitching to Blum. Why he didn’t bring in Sean Marshall, a lefty, to pitch to Blum, who can’t hit for spit righty any more, I don’t know, but Blum got the job done.
Again.
I sure do LUUUUV beating the C*bs, that is fer SHER.
And we’re off to play the DBax. They finally put Paulino on the DL, and I guess they are going to be calling Wesley Wright back up. Wesley has pitched 9.1 innings, giving up 7 walks, 4 hits and 8 Ks and 3 ER. Too many walks.
Funny, both Casey Daigle (24 IP – 25 H, 8 BB, 19 K, 5 ER – 1.88 ERA/1.38 WHIP) and Chad Paronto (26.1 IP – 20 H, 6 BB, 21 K, 1 HR, 6 ER – 2.05 ERA/1.05 WHIP) have pitched better, but they are rightys and we all know that rightys can’t get leftys out.
But to me, the real question is, how long are we going to have to put up with the suckulousness of Michaels and Erstad? Kata, I presume, will be sent back down when Kaz comes back of the DL. Also, Backe really needs to be sent to AAA to be put into the regular starting rotation. He isn’t doing a bit of good taking up space on the bench for blowouts.
Today, Mike Hampton faces Danny Haren, the best pitcher this year in the NL. Not by W/L, but by RSAA. Yes, better than Santana. Man, that was a BAD trade the Cards made with the A’s, swapping him for Mulder. And man, that was a bad trade Billy Beane the GEEENYUSSS made, trading Haren for some minor leaguers who haven’t done spit – at least yet.
Oh, and before some of you start telling me that this is why we shouldn’t trade away old guys like Tejada/Hawkins etc, I’ll remind you that Haren was in his 4th year, was age 27 and was signed to a great, cheap contract for the next 3 years. This would be sort of like trading Roy Oswalt in 04.
Dumb.
Tejada and Hawkins are significantly closer to the end of their careers and Tejada’s defense has sunk to 07 levels or below. Time to sell as high as possible because the farm is still pretty empty.
I checked.
Tags: Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros
Someone needs to bench COOP for continuing to make his obligatory defensive sub for Lee in the 9th. It’s not the infield. Changing the outfielder (especially AT MINUTE MAID PARK) could not be a more inconsequential move. Especially when Lee ain’t exactly a Bonds circa 2004 kind of defensive liability out there. Instead, we had Michaels going 0-3 in the cleanup spot in extra innings. This move he makes every single game has got to be the dumbest thing in all of baseball. And that’s WITH Wang continuing to start with an ERA over 14.00. Yeah.
it is ESPCIALLY dumb when there are going to be 2 leftys coming to the plate that inning – seeing as how they aren’t tony gwynn and seldom send any baseball to left.
i guess he remembers the erstad catch and throw last year which won the game for us
both erstad AND michaels have proven close to worthless
Yes. Please bench Coop for taking Lee (who’s lack of defense schpiel is incredibly OVERRATED) and his filthy bat out of the game in the 9th. I really like Erstad for what he did for us last year. However, that was last year. This year he is definitely close to worthless. And Fulchino? WOW! So far…so good. I hate the Yanks, but speaking in baseball logistics, you have to give him a coupla more starts before you come to the decision on pulling him from the rotation.
WHY OH WHY OH WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY do our best hitters ALWAYS swing on the first pitch? It makes me sick. First rule in hitting is DO NOT swing at the first pitch. Especially in close games. End of line.
Totally flummoxed by Erstad’s futility this year . . . except that he did awfully well last year by filling in much more frequently than he is being allowed to do now. True, injuries gave him the opportunity last year, but, short of his just going over and whacking a fellow teammate,
I’d say Coop just needs to play him more, as a starter, giving some guy some badly needed rest. There just aren’t enough outfield hamstring pulls this season. (. . . while Darin quietly sits on the bench noting how Wandy tips his pitches, and other added-value behind the scenes veteran activities.)
raul,
question is – why would any opposing pitcher ever throw almost any of the astros hitters a first pitch strike?
i think they swing at the first pitch because most of the guys on this particular team are the kind of guys who never did take pitches and have no patience.
which is why i have been incredibly pleased that hunter pence has obviously been learning from lance about plate discipline
trouble with old creaky vets who have an unexpectedly good year is that the next year, they will be a year older and the probability is that they will NOT repeat the unexpected, but will revert to the sukc.
erstad DID play more regularly last year, mostly because he replaced michael bourn, who coop didn’t want to play.