Thank you Brian. Apparently you didn’t get the message that the Astros are supposed to be beat to death by Ricky Nolasco – it’s his second CG agains us.
Starting pitching was teh suck tonight, just as it was last night – at least I can give Lyles a lil rope because he’s a 20 year old kid who was brought up because, well, uh, this year the team is so bad he won’t get noticed?
Anyway, it’s a leadoff walk, followed by a SB, a groundout, a HBP, a groundout RBI and a flyout – 20 pitches. Astros bring bats with large holes in em and it’s Johnson-ie who gets the first hit of the night in the second.
John Buck, ex-Stro, hits his 100th career homer in the second. Which was the game winner – yeah, that early. It’s a 1,2,3 3rd, but a 25 pitch 4th. Logan Morrison (he’s a pretty good ballplayer – and a standup guy who is not afraid to speak his mind to the media on the record without going all Bull Durham – but the media doesn’t want anything to do with him because he’s not from NY/Boston) doubles with 1 out, but Stanton Ks, Mike Cameron walks on 4 pitches and Buck grounds out.
5th inning, the ol WB runs into a brick wall – tougher to punch out. So to speak. He does get the pitcher to strike out again, but then Bonifacio singles. Infante hits a tailor made 6-3 GIDP ball right to Barmes, who bobbles it – he hurried his positioning because Bonifacio was already heading into second – and both runners are safe. Then Gaby Sanchez goes to 3-2 and takes the next pitch for a ball. The ump was right and it WAS, in fact, inside. But the ol WB freaks out (he’s had a tough time finding the zone all night and the ump was good – he didn’t miss a pitch for either guy. It was the Astros who missed pitches, throwin em and hittin em.
But I digress…
Where was I? Oh yeah. So there we are – bases loaded, pitcher havin a lil trouble with his concentration – along with his pitching. Hanley Ramirez, who KILLS Astros pitching (lifetime BA is .395 vs Houston) is up and he walks on 7 pitches. Looks to me as if it is time to pull the starter, seeing as how Logan Morrison is up and isn’t having any trouble seeing/timing the pitches. Well, nobody except Nolasco is, but again I digress.
Where is Millsie-poo? Is he gonna leave his pitcher in – who is discombobulated (isn’t that a great word) and has walked 2 guys in a row and had a fit about Ball 4 each time. Is it really necessary to leave Mr. Tough Guy in when he can’t find the strike zone just because he likey his rep as The Guy Who Pitches 6 Innings Every Start? It’s not as if the Astros hitters are hitting the ball well against Nolasco.
So in he stays. And Logan Morrison is cool and collected. Takes 2 pitches off the outside, then a high strike. He fouls off a borderline pitch, then hits a FB right down the middle to the CF gap and all 3 guys score easily.
NOW Millsie-poo comes in to pull Brettsie-poo. But it’s a little too late to do the right thing now.
In comes Wiltonie (or is it Lopezzie) - and I shut my eyes tight because he’s done a terrible job with allowing inherited runners to score, but he gets the first out – a GB right to Johnsonn-ie, so Morrison can’t score, then a 1 pitch out. He comes in for the 6th, gives up a single to Buck, then Nolasco tries to sac-bunt, but dribbles it in front of Q so it’s a 2-6-3 GIDP. Bonifacio flies out.
In the 7th, with 2 out, Carlossie Ks, Wallie grounds out, then Johnsonnie hits a single to left (dude, WHERE has your power gone to?????) and Bogusevic, pinch hitting for Lopezzie, smashes a double to left center and the run scores!!! No shutout for Nolasco.
Enerio Del Rosario (hows about we call him Rosie – yeah, that sounds nice and cute) pitches the 7th – 2 singles, but no runs and Aneury (oh dear, whatEVAH shall we do? He’s already got an ie sounding first name – maybe we should switch to Roddie) pitches a nice 1,2,3 8th.
Nolasco just keeps mowin em down. Astros get 7 hits, 1 walk, 1 run. Pence and Kepp didn’t hit and Clank didn’t hit when there were MOB – just a double in the 8th when it didn’t matter no mo.
Watching this team is painful, the wins sudden glad surprises in a season of horror. Reminds me of that old joke (not a good one exactly) about someone who asks a woman why she stays with a guy who beats her and she says – because it feels so good when it stops (very appropriate, given today’s pitcher, dontcha think?)
Tomorrow afternoon, it’s Wandy vs Chris Volstad, RHP. Chris this year has a 5.46 ERA/1.47 WHIP. Same as Javy Vazquez, for what it’s worth. He threw 2 games against us last year, both times giving up 3 runs over 6 IP. He’s pitched 5 of 7 QS over his last 7 games – getting his head handed to him by Philly in both the games he lost. Otherwise, he was solid. He didn’t get wins because he didn’t get run support. Wandy understands – he faced the Marlins in April, went 7 innings, gave up 1 run and got a ND – he left with the lead and Lopezzie blew his win.
Sound familiar?
It would be nice if Wandy could get this one and we could go out on a more positive note to end the first half.
p.s. – am I wrong about this or did Saint Jeter get about 100 times the amount of coverage of his 3000th hit than Biggio did? I remember Biggio getting like 45 seconds on BBTN unlike Jeter’s 45 minutes…
Tags: Houston Astros, Marlins
Well, if Biggio had introduced himself to the media, they might have treated him better.
biggio introduce himself to the media? a guy from some little town in the middle of nowheres thousands of miles from any place that matters?
cmon there boy
that’s like some ugly little dork in glasses who isn’t filthy rich “introducing” himself to young hot chicks
Wandy had a tough day today. Walks KILLED him. I don’t think I’ve seen him pitch this bad for a long time, of course C.B. Buckner didn’t help……his strike
zone was the size of a 3 cent stamp. Becky
Lisa,
Your comment and Steve Campbell’s from his early morning article (Astros righthander Mark Melancon is a closer on a team with the worst record in the major leagues. Lately, that has meant having opportunities to close about as often as Trekkies have girlfriends.) are removing all hope for nerds everywhere.