Well, I HAD intended to sneak out and go to the game, picking up one of those 5 buck tickets from scalpers. Had dinner made, had my cousin and her 2 kids over to distract MY kidz when Husband walks in and says – you wanna to go to the ball game because Wandy is pitching and of course this means that the kidz ALL wanted to GOOOOOOOOO and my cousin was no help because she had never gone to a ballgame and was curious and so off we all went (AFTER stuffing food in everyone and explaining that we were NOT buying anything to eat/drink which naturally all kidz being deaf whenever they wanna be, which is already too much, were all saying – ohhhhhhhhh mannnnnnnnnnnn.)
sigh
You know, it was INCREDIBLY much easier when they were 2 and 3, believe it or not. Now they wanna go to the kidz zone, they wanna stay in the Squeeze Play, they wanna get this, they wanna get that. No WONDER baseball owners WANT kids in the ballpark. Trust me on this, they were smart to make the ballparks a “family atmosphere” because I am POSITIVE they make tons more money off kids than they ever did with the drunks and all their beers.
Meanwhile, I had a few people staring at my Wandy t-shirt, asking me where did I get it – which was a first. Must be his string of QS and less than 2 ERA. Naturally we got to the park FAR too late for BP for me to get to the Other dugout to tell Bradley Awesomeness how much I LUUUUVVVVV him and ask him to sign my bobblehead and besides, it’s hard to tell some guy how much you just LUUUUVVVVVVVVV him in front of your husband you know what I’m sayin.
So between delays getting to the darn park in the first place and getting the kids out of Squeeze Play and warning my cousin not to start down that slippery slope of letting the kidz “share” some cotton candy – well, I heard and didn’t see Wandy walk Furcal on 5 pitches.
Today, he had a leeeeetle trouble locating, especially in the first few innings and sometimes the curve was filthy (check out Manny’s K looking in the 5th – stupendous!!!) and sometimes it wasn’t any good and the change just was NOT working at ALL – took him until the 4th to get everything really working well and by then he was already up to 85 pitches. Anyway, Miggy should have handled Hudson’s single, then Manny hit a VERY good pitch low and inside for a single and there was 1 run.
Which, by the way, was all the Dodgers needed because the Astros hitters weren’t making Billingsley do ANY work.
Quick
- which Astros hitter saw the most pitches from Billingsley over his 3 AB? YES, you got it – Michael Bourn!!! Who, by the way, went 1 fer 2 with a 9 pitch walk, made 2 excellent catches in center that Jason Michaels wouldn’t have touched AND got the Web Gem assist of the night, playing Orlando Hudson’s drive off the RF bullpen wall, relaying it to Kaz who got it to Blum juuuuuust in time to get the O-Dawg out. AND he was the guy who knocked Billingsley out of the game with a 7 pitch single. (You will notice that unlike Willy T, Bourn always, ALWAYS hits the cutoff man.)
The Astros were swinging at too many first pitches, at pitches up at their necks (CARLOS!!!) and in the dirt (LANCE!!!! and BLUM!!!!) Of course, this is a serious weakness of this team – the guys just do NOT take pitches. Billingsley was at only 50 pitches at the end of the 4th. Of course, he was helped by THREE double plays – Pudge and Lance grounded into one each and Pudge decided to steal second with Bourn with a 3-2 count and 1 out. Bourn had to swing at Ball 4 and Martin got Pudge stealing. Pudge really shouldn’t be stealing bases, and playing hitnrun with Bourn is silly, as he is not what you would call a contact hitter. Trouble is, there are too many guys on the team who seldom walk, seldom K and ground into a LOT of double plays.
Miggy didn’t make a couple of plays that he should have, including bobbling Kemp’s “single” in the 7th – he came around to score, not that it mattered, but he redeemed himself in the 9th, catching Kemp’s screaming liner, then doubling Loney off first. He was also the only Astro (besides Lance, who hit a ball to the warning track in dead center) to hit a baseball out of the infield, doubling off the LF bullpen wall.
I guess I should mention that we left after Wesley pitched the 8th. I had to grin at Manny getting called out when he sure as heck looked safe. I also guess I should mention that my cousin got HER kids more junk food (complaining about the ridiculous prices) and so OUR kids wouldn’t shut up – whining for stuff, so we finally got 2 burgers at 6 bucks each and made them split them – which they whined about more. I see where the numbers about families spending 200 bucks for a game comes from.
So we got back to the car in time to hear Lance strike out bottom of the 9th, 1 on, no out and all I can say is I don’t think it is possible for me to hate the Astros broadcasters more than I already do. The worst broadcasters in the league, NO contest. If I win the lottery, first thing I will do is call Draytie-poo and offer him the extra hundred bucks it would cost to hire someone actually good. Of course, he’ll NEVER make Milo retire and Milo has long since passed overcooked and gone into senility.
Husband was a bit surprised when I changed the station, but I told him I’d rather wait until we got home to check out Brownie and JD – win or lose, MUCH better for my blood pressure, which, trust me on this, isn’t exactly real too good right about now.
And getting sugared, wired, tired kidz into bed is NOT fun. But it is a LOT more fun than it is going to be getting them up at 6 AM let me tell you that. This is the Good Lord punishing me for my Bradley LUUUUUUVVVVV, you know this, right?
Anyway, it’s the Brewers in town for the weekend. They seem to have finally gotten their stuff together and so it will be interesting. Paulino will be pitching and we’ll see if he can duplicate his ability to actually throw strikes at varying speeds, as he did last outing. I heard from a couple of fans from Round Rock who told me that last outing was the best they had ever seen him throw, too.
So be it and shall it remain…
Heh. Sounds like you n Husband need to have a little heart-to-heart about how sometimes Mami needz a little adult time at the Box, know what I’m sayin’? Also how you already know darn well every time Wandy is pitchin this year and he doesn’t need to blab it in fronna the kidz and dogzzz n everybody. And if he thinks a fambly outing to the ballpark is a good idea, talk it over with Mami first. Mami don’t like no surprises, specially not those which mean extra work for her, no how. And finally those kidzzz need to be goin to the Box on a school nite about as much as they need to be drinkin whiskey.
Billingsley threw Bourn the same deadly tempting 0-2 pitch he threw Berkman earlier – one that the bottom dropped out on right down the middle. Berkman swung and missed. Bourn didn’t. Then Bourn worked that little piece of restraint into a walk. He would have stolen second, but the bunt was on (just a shade premature, in my humble arm-chair opinion), so he got stranded at second by the later fly to shallow center.
berkman has save tejada many times on bad throws, but last nite tejada needed to save berkman on 2 errants throws by lance. I have notice on many occasions thru out berkman’s career that he has these mental or memory lapases; as he did once again last nite when with 2 out and a runner on first he fielded a grounder very close to the bag and just needing to touch the bag for the final out he throws the silly ball to tejada at second and all most threw it away but tejada made a nice save for the out. Lance needs to focus more and quit day dreaming out there.