Michael Bourn didn’t start the game off with a bang, he started it off with a bunt, which the pitcher didn’t handle quiiite right, missing the tag, then Angel Sanchez laid down a bunt to almost the exact same spot – they weren’t expecting that neither and Hunter came up and singled and, well, the Astros never looked back. Poor James Russell, the Cubs reliever making an unexpected start, almost never knew what hit him. And of course, after that, he got 2 outs, then Bill Hall drove in 2 with a single to right that I unfortunately missed seeing as it was a comedy of (2) errors in which Bill overran the bag, Soriano threw to second to try to get him and somehow, the Cubs screwed up the rundown and Bill ended up on second when CJ flew out. Astros up 3-0, Cubs all flustered.
Brett Wallace was benched in favor of Carlos Lee, right at the Mendoza line, so that Jason Michaels could get a start in LF. Lemme guess, in spite of his hitting better, it’s the leftylefty thingy – grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I will say that Carlos looked better with the glove at first today then he did last year, in spite of the fact that he hasn’t really been practicing fielding there.
Carlos and CJ are both slumping badly, although CJ made 2 really outstanding plays. H got charged with an error when he and Q raced to the LF stands to catch a foul ball – CJ thought that Q was going to get it and Q thought CJ was going to get it and it fell; the batter was out on the next pitch without the runner advancing, so I don’t think the error will stand – or at least it shouldn’t, as JD said.
Angel Sanchez is hitting the the heck out of the ball and hitting for power – he’s leading the club in RBIs. He went 4 fer 5 with a double to the gap, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. He’s improved his fielding and if he keeps this up, I think that Clint Barmes will find himself out of a job. As he should, 3.5 mill or no 3.5 mill.
Michael had himself a great night – bunt single in the first, run scored, FC with RBI in the second, followed by a steal of second, then a steal of third on the very next pitch – the boy was over halfway to third by the time the pitch left James Russell’s hand. Soto barely bothered to turn. Angel popped out, his only out of the night, then Hunter beat out an IF single up the middle and Michael scored. Next AB in the 4th, he doubled to the LF bullpen, then Angel singled him in. He Kd in the 6th, reached on E6 (bobbled ball – guys rush) in the 8th then scored when Pence doubled him home – and that was a smash to the top of the RF fence. Only negative was him not getting to Reed Johnson’s double in the 5th – not an error, just I expect Michael to never miss catching any fly ball.
Pence had himself a great night – going 3 fer 5 with 4 RBIs and a run scored.
Quintero swung the bat very well, going 3 fer 3, a walk and a run scored - he tripled to the RF bullpen – thought he was gonna get a double, but turned on the, uh, jets, when he saw that Johnson hadn’t played the ball right – and if the throw hadn’t been errant, would have been out at third, just like yesterday. He also smashed a double to left and was just a homer short of the cycle.
Bill Hall got a hit, drove in a run, just missed having a double to the RF bullpen, just missed having a double to deep left, and made 2 outstanding plays – he somehow managed to get a ball deep in the hole to get Starlin Castro, but the ump ruled him safe – replay showed him to be out. But he didn’t score, so it didn’t matter.
Jason Michaels got his first hit of the year, a single to right. Jason Bourgeois singled and scored.
All in all, the Hit Parade continued – the Astros have at least 10 hits/game over the past 5 games, something I can’t remember since that winning streak back in August 08, and then before that, maybe back to 04.
As for the bullpen: Fulchino pitched the 8th, giving up a double to Tyler Colvin – that man has a beautiful swing – and getting 2 Ks.
Eneury Rodriguez mopped up in the 9th, giving up a single, a walk, a double and 1 run with 1 K.
Just think – if Figgy had pitched today, he would have won. Well, he would have had to finish the 5th inning without giving up 6 more runs, but he just might could have, youneverknow…
Tomorrow, rubber game – the Wand Man vs Big Z, who LIKEY pitching here. Should be a good game.
Tags: Chicago Cubs, Cubs, Houston Astros, MLB
If Barmes didn’t get hurt, we would never see Sanchez hitting like this; if Wade didn’t sign Hall & Barmes, Manzella would show great defense & probably better offense. I thought we were rebuilding, but what the heck is the FO doing?
Now CJ needs to wake up, Wade called him up last year because he had no choice, but now Inglett & Downs can both replace him. That’s what Wade is planning to do.
elmer,
we’re treading water, not rebuilding. why fast eddie thinks barmes is gonna be this power hitter, i do NOT get. and i guess he didn’t think that sanchez would keep hitting in the ML. and yeah, CJ is gonna be replaced by inglett/downs/some other second baseman off the scrap heap if he doesn’t get hitting
More sale rumors today … John Granato from 1560 The Game says McLane will definitely sell the team this year is “likely” to have the deal done by the All-Star break.
I don’t know if this was properly sourced or just sports-radio B.S., but July seems like an aggressive timetable for McLane to agree to a sale, get all of the financials in order, and then get all of the needed MLB approvals, especially if the deal involves a non-MLB insider like Jim Crane.
Heard anything new, Lisa?
not one thing.
and as for what john granato said, i’ve been hearing that for a long time and as far as i’m concerned, they’ll respect me in the morning too.
I can’t get so much as one peep. And i have asked justice on his blog – what about the sale – but not even an ida know back (he no longer responds to commenters, i guess)
Lisa – Ha ha. I’ve been here a while now but I’m still not fluent in Lisa Gray Witticisms. When you say “they’ll respect me in the morning,” are you saying you don’t believe the team will be sold by the All-Star break?
Regarding Richard Justice, he seems to be mailing it in with his blog. I can’t remember his last SportsJustice blog post that looked like it took more than 5 minutes of writing or reporting (and, yes, he seems to be replying to comments less and less often).
Oddly, a couple of my recent comments to Justice’s blog regarding the sale weren’t even published to the site. Who knows? Maybe he’s afraid of being shown up by his commenters.
Justice only replies, if he thinks you’re trying to show him up! Other than that,
like Drayton McLane……….he’s moved on. The Astros won’t be in the *news*
until they get sold, or they get respectable. GOOD game last night! I DVR’d it
so I can watch them again, when the rest of the season sucks!
Ann,
i don’t believe one word i hear from drayton. i’ll believe the team is sold when the papers are signed and formally announced by MLB. And it only matters if they are sold before the draft IF the new owner has $$$ and wants to sign the best players including boras clients/above slot. otherwise, what’s the difference? getting rid of ed wade/tal smith and putting in the best isn’t gonna change this team from loser to winner.
as for justice,
sigh
he’s a good, sharp baseball man. i’m sure he wasn’t happy with the new setup in the chron – not that i blame him, it is teh absolutest uck-say. really, what does he have to say? either he has no sources about the sale or he knows plenty and is keeping his mouth SHUT for whatever reason. hard for me to believe that after all these years he has no ins at all with the FO.
- it would take a LOT for justice to be shown up by commenters, most of whom have absolutely NO idea what even OBVIOUS sarcasm is, or understand the fact that he HAS to write SOMEthing even when there really isn’t much to say. too many of the comments are the – justice yew are so stupid yew don’t no nothin and i hate the astros and they are losers.
actually, i sure nuff read plenty of – the astros are losers – type comments even in 04 when we were winning because theres too many maroons think a baseball team should win every game or at least every series or they suck. and justice gets a LOT of those.
he doesn’t censor my comments – sometimes it takes a while for stuff to post but i think that it is the software. he won’t post anything that is libelous or full of impolite language – which is good.
Lisa – I agree the comments at the Chron are generally uninformed. I was referring mostly to comments regarding the sale of the Astros, a topic that Justice either doesn’t care much about or is sorely lacking in sources.
Back around March 23, Justice wrote that the sale of the Astros was a long ways off and that there weren’t any serious bidders. Then, two days later, he tried to one-up Mark Berman’s big exclusive by claiming to have inside sources that said McLane’s sale to Crane was “a done deal.” Unless a $700 million transaction came together within 48 hours, it seems like a lot of B.S. from Justice.
Beyond that, I’ve learned more about Jim Crane from commenters than I have from Justice or any other Houston media, and it was a couple of comments and questions about Crane that Justice didn’t publish to the site (and I can assure you they were neither obscene nor libelous). It’s odd how almost everyone in the Houston media is clamoring for McLane to sell, but none of them seem to care that much about the (possible) next owner(s).
Lisa,
They need to take the “A” from Abad’s jersey.
dingdingding
i’ve said this ever since people started saying this when the team started losing in may of 06 – all these people saying drayton should sell/ and i’ve said – yeah, and what if we get kevin mcclatchy/jeff loria etcetcetc.
fans have this, i don’t know, fantasy (i guess is the right word) about how the next owner will be rich as the koch brothers and willing to spend like steinbrenner. sounds like young grrrls talking about how they are gonna get the perfect man.
Lisa – You’re 100% right about the fantasies about the next owner. I might understand those fantasies if the Astros had a long line of deep-pocketed suitors, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Even worse, if the reports and rumors are correct, Jim Crane appears to be the next owner, and he’s the furthest thing from a deep-pocketed owner who won’t have to worry about the costs of fielding a winner. According to the rumor mill, Crane’s bid for the Astros will be heavily leveraged, and that’s a recipe for Dodgers-, Pirates- and Marlins-style problems.
(And even worse, the latest rumor, from Tracy Ringolsby, is that Crane will be installing George Postolos as team president, so the Astros could have a heavily-indebted owner and a team president who knows little or nothing about baseball. I’m starting to wonder if Drayton is trying to find a mediocre buyer on purpose, so people will miss Drayton once he’s gone.)