What an amazing ballgame!!!
And after the embarrassment of Friday (the unis rocked, but the Astros GOT rocked) and poor Kyle Weiland’s solid 3 run 7 inning job (do NOT hang sliders to Matt Kemp because he goes all Uncle Albert on em – speaking of whom – he is hitting .262 with only 7 doubles, NO homers and a .694 OPS??? He’s missing us!!!)
Last start, Wandy threw 7 even better innings, got jobbed by poor Astros fielding and lost 1-0.
He wasn’t quite as good this one, but he gave up only 3 singles and 3 walks and Jose Altuve made an absolutely magnificent catch near the RF stands on a Matt Kemp foul ball in the first – I took that as a good omen. People are starting to compare him to Carlos Beltran (giggle) but honestly, it’s still better to pitch to the guy because he gets himself out more than he gets on. Just like Barry Lamar, who nobody dares to compare Kemp to, because Barry is still A Bad Guy!!!! Interesting that the early days of Junior Griffey are already long since forgotten, and nobody remembers Eric Davis, who shoulda woulda coulda been one of the best baseball players of all times – and I remember when I was a kid I thought he’d end up being better than Barry Lamar.
but I digress…
So in the bottom of the first, Jordan Schafer struck out (he’s leading the team) then Lowrie reached on error – Juan Rivera, an OF playing first because Loney can’t face leftys, screwed up a dead easy toss and Lowrie reached. JD flew out, then Clank hit one into the Crawford Boxes. Jim Deshaeis is dead right about it being silly to bat Altuve, hitting .360, in the 8 hole; Millsie-poo wants Jed Lowrie in the 2-hole because Jed is a switch hitter, even though he can’t hit near as well as Altuve and from what I’ve seen, can’t bunt either. Anyway, Clank hits a 2 run homer – 2 UER, but hey, they COUNT!
In the second, Hairston walks and steals second (Jason Castro hasn’t thrown out one single batter this year, no matter WHO he’s caught) but he didn’t get anywhere. We’re up – CJ singles (he has GOT to stop swinging at bad pitches. At least he’s fielding well – I hope that saying so doesn’t jinx him) then Castro walks, Altuve flies out, then Wandy walks on 5 pitches (sorry, it WAS 5 balls) and bases loaded and all yall know how bad the Stros have done with bases loaded this year (like 3 fer 14) and Jordan Schafer pokes one over the RF wall – barely, but Ethier couldn’t time his leap just right and only nicked it, so it was
Astros 6 Dodgers zippo
Can you believe it????
3rd – Wandy gives up a walk to Ellis, but gets 1,2,3 – and Matt Kemp hits the hardest hit ball of the night – a lazy FB to the RF bullpen warning track. Billingsly pulls himself together and gets 1,2,3 out. CJ has GOT to stop swinging at crappy pitches!!!
4th – Wandy gives up a walk, then Ethier barely beats out what shoud have been a 4-6-3, but Wandy doesn’t notice and gets the next 2 eats. Then the Astros are up and stuff happens.
Jason hits what SHOULD be an easy flyball to dead center, but Matt Kemp misjudges the ball, comes forward and it goes over his head, rolls up the Hill and Castro ends up at 3rd – if that had been someone with speed, it would have been an intheparker. I never understand why on earth that is never an error. Shrug- good for us, bad for them. Then Jose walks and Wandy is up again. Remember that last time he tried to bunt and he got walked. Squeeze this time? Nope. This time, Wandy pulls the bat back, swings away and hits the ball right back at Billingsley, a dead easy 1-6-3, right?
Wrong, because Billingsley mades a very bad throw, Gordon gets the error for missing that bad throw (how stupid), Wandy and Altuve are safe and Castro trots home and Wandy gets his first RBI of the year. JD is right – Billingsley SHOULD have thrown to third because they would have had Castro dead, was way off third.
So it’s Astros 7 Dodgers zip. And Schafer hits into a dead easy 3-6-1, but Rivera, the first baseman, makes a terrible throw to second and he only gets Wandy out and it’s men on first and third. So Billingsley has come undone, throws 3 wide ones to Lowrie, then throws a WP and Altuve scores and Schafer goes to third.
Mattingly takes pity on poor Billingsley and finally pulls him – I was wondering if this was gonna be one of those 11 run Brandon Backe/Woody Williams take one for the team type games. So in comes our old friend Jamey Wright – I remember him best from the Giants game in 06 when Russ Springer deliberately hit (or did he) Barry Lamar and Barry told Jamey he was absolutely NOT to retaliate – and naturally the Barry Lamars won that game. Julio Daniel Martinez hits the ball to third and Juan Uribe, playing 3rd, looks very worn out and very tired, tosses the ball to second – and it sure looks to me like Jed Lowrie beat that throw, but I guess the ump figured that the Dodgers needed a break and called him out while Schafer scored. Clank gets out.
Astros 9 Dodgers zip
5th inning – Wandy is at 70 pitches and I’m hoping he can get a few quick 1,2,3 so he can have a CG. But no, 14 pitches for 1,2,3 out. Bottom of the inning, CJ is HBP (and you KNOW that was an (can you believe this?!) and Castro drives him in with a single up the middle. Then Altuve and Wandy ground out and it’s
Astros 10 Dodgers zip
6th inning – Ellis singles, with Kemp up, Castro completely misses a high FB and gets charged with a PB, but Wandy strikes out Kemp swinging on a wicked curveball. Hehhehheh. Wandy gets the next 2 outs, no prob. Bottom of the 6th – Schafer flies out, Lowrie singles, Julio Ks, then Clank hits a dead easy grounder to Uribe, who boots it, then Bogu walks and bases are loaded. But CJ grounds out. Sigh. It’s the bases loaded curse.
7th inning: single, K 5-4-3 GIDP. CJ isn’t hitting for power, but at least he’s fielding well. Wright is out, a lefty named Scott Elber is in. Castro and Altuve K. Marwin Gonzalez hits a pinch hit single (Wandy is out after 107 pitches – too bad this wasn’t the last game because he was only at 87 after 7 when he was pulled for a PH) then Jason Maxwell, PH for Schafer singles, but Lowrie pops up. So much for the switch hitting thingy. That’s 5 guys stranded in the past 2 innings, but fortunately we’re still ahead by 10. But I’m remembering Roy-O’s game against the ChiSox in 06 in which he was leading 10-1 after 7, then Qualls, Wheeler and Lidge ALL gave up homers to tie the score…
8th inning – Fernando Rod comes in and he has had, uh, difficulty, so far this year and I’m hoping he doesn’t go all BoSox bullpen and blow Wandy’s W. So James Loney, who has come into the game to play 1st where he belongs, singles (he LUUUUVVVS hitting at home here at the Box), then Froddy gets 2 outs, then he gives up a double to left center to Tony Gwynn Jr – I didn’t realize he wasn’t still with the Padres – I remember Milwaukee trading him there a few years back, but he was with the Dodgers last year too (signed as a FA.) But then he gets Rivera to GO to 3rd – and that was a very tough play.
Bottom of the 8th, it’s Mike MacDougal, the Stork. Julio grounds out (it isn’t his night) then Matt Downs, who has come into the game and Clank is out, singles, then Bogu doubles off the scoreboard (a fast runner woulda scored, yes) then CJ singles to the 5.5 hole and drives in Downs!!! YAY!!!! (Sorry – I like CJ, what can I say) Castro flies out, then Jose Altuve beats out a grounder to third (like I said, Uribe looks very very old) and Bogu scored. Marwin Ks and it’s
Astros 12 Dodgers zip
9th – Brandon Lyon comes in and gets out, single, 6-4-3. Marwin Gonzalez made a great grab and Altuve made a GREAT turn and throw. Can’t believe it, but Marwin looks like a better hitting and better fielding SS than Jed Lowrie. But you know how it is, until Jed gets an owie, he’s gonna be the starter pretty much no matter HOW bad he is.
And we’re off to meet the Brew Crew. It’s Lucas Harrell vs Zack Greinke. Lucas threw 6.2 very good innings vs the Nats last time out, giving up 4 H, 3 BB and 1 run over 6.2 IP but had nothing to show for it because the bullpen and Astros hitters sucked.
Greinke is unbeaten at Miller Park, where he is 12-0 and the Crew is 19-0 in all of his starts. He has a 5.09 ERA over his first 3 starts, but that is because he let the Cubs beat him like a drum at Wrigley giving up 8 runs over 3.2 IP. His other 2 starts at home, he went 7 innings each and gave up 4 hits/no runs vs the Cards and 4 H, 2 walks, 2 runs vs the Dodgers.
Reminds me of Roy-O’s streak against the Reds in which he remained unbeaten for something like 20 games. Of course, the TEAM lost a few of those games even though HE didn’t…
WONDERFUL WANDY!!!!!!!!!! Finally the guy gets his first win!! Good game all around. Johnson might be on his out, since you mentioned it a LOT, he is NOT laying off bad pitches, and the power you need from your 3rd. baseman….he ain’t got! How ’bout that little short sh$t Altuuuuuuuuve??? DANG that kid can HIT!!
I always love your inning by inning posts, Lisa. It’s fun to read. And hi Becky !
Did I mention I have a special hate for the Brewers..being Bud the Dud’s team ?
Eric
Nice writeup, Lisa. On your comment that Marwin looks to be better at both fielding and hitting than Lowrie, check thos out.
Marwin: OBP 270, E 1, FP .96, UZR/150 5.3
Lowrie: OBP 357, E 0, FP 1.000′ UZR/150 46
Looks can be deceiving, and so can stats for that matter, but for those who have watched all the games that Lowrie has played this year, it looks like he is always solid and occasionally (like a couple of games ago) brilliant in the field. And his injury free batting statistics say he will improve his batting average.
That ball Castro hit to center should have been caught, but it was no flyball it was a line drive that he absolutley CRUSHED and is very hard to judge when it is it directly to the Outfielder. Castro is starting to hit, he has now passed his weight and is headed for Clanks weight. Give the guy is due.
Eric…….Hi to you TOO!! Becky
Just curious…how many of you would be willing to get together in say..September at an Astros game ? After all, it is the final NL season for the Astros..and it’d be a nice send off before they move on to the pox ridden AL.
While I’d care if they lost 60 or 100 games, they’re still MY Astros..at least until they leave the NL.
Eric
Either the Philadelphia series OR the St Looey series at MMP. It’s either Pence or Berkman that way.
That way we could say farewell to all the present AND the past Astros we’ve grown to love.
Even with the overpriced $9 bottles of Shiner Bock…that would get me a SIX PACK of the same thing at a grocery store !
Eric
becky,
well, cj is at least fielding. brett wallace is hitting .250 with a .681 OPS. scott moore is hitting better in 37 AB, so youneverknow
altuve is teh awesomeness. hitting, glove and an arm like a rocket – you see that DP he turned to end the game? WOW
and brad miills wants him hitting in the 8 hole??? so lowrie can hit second???
sigh
eric,
i’ve noticed that these days, the game writeups are brief, based on a few outtakes or a couple of quotes. The Chron reporters don’t do game reports any more. just a bunch of slideshows and i freaking hate slideshows, but i guess it is what the few people who go there any more want to see.
willie,
i know these are small sample sizes, and i think that marwin is significantly less comfortable at the plate pinch hitting. also, the UZR numbers are unreliable with a sample size this small. i don’t think that lowrie is loretta/angel sanchez, by any means, but i personally think judging only on my eyeballs that marwin has a much quicker first step. but time will tell. we’ll see how lowrie does with the bat. in the past, he’s been all over the place, so right now, i’m just waiting to see. there is, however, no WAY he’s near as good as jose altuve…
sceptor,
castro is indeed finally starting to hit. and yes, the ball was indeed crushed but kemp, or any decent CF catches that ball 99% of the time. yes i HAVE been spoilt by michael bourn who is KILLING the ball for the braves. unlike the astros Organization, i like to give a guy more than a couple of weeks (unless he is a petsie-poo) to see how he does and i don’t give up on guys after 3 weeks unless it is obvious that they really can’t do anything at ALL with ML pitching (see Jason Smith, Junior Cruz, Jason Michaels last year, etc)
now if he can learn to block balls, it would be great.
also if snyder would start hitting, that would also be great. he should at least hit better than carlos corporan.
I’m sorry, but i have seen Bourn misjudge more than one flyball before, but the fact remains Castro deserves a basehit on that ball just because of how hard it was hit, and i think your 99% is somewhat exagerrated. Its easy for the fan to make a judgement, much like you offen do but untill your out there on the field and experiance the difficulty of making some of these plays you have no idea or appreciation of how hard it can be at times.
Baseball is largely a game of failure. By that I mean that if you manage to hit the ball safely 3 times out of 10..that’s a .300 hitter and that’s considered successful.
Funny how that works out.
I think from a mathematical standpoint..baseball is one of the more difficult sports to score a run in. You have to go to first base. Then second base. Then third base. Then home. That’s after hitting .300 which would be considered outstanding by MLB standards. The only other sports that it’s more difficult to score might be soccer and just maybe football. You could say a pitcher giving up a .364 batting average is bad. But put in perspective..that means roughly six out of 10 hitters are NOT hitting his pitches. I’ve swung a bat at a pitch or two and damn..is it difficult. And that was from a throwing machine not a MLB caliber pitcher.
Then there’s this little matter of a pitcher squeezing in a pitch into a box roughly three feet high by 1.5 feet wide from 90 feet out. You know, I put up a board that large around where a crouching batter’s stance would be..between shoulders and knees up against a fence. I broke the board in half with repeated pitches from what I figured to be 90 feet out. That’s pretty easy considering that I didn’t really have someone swinging at my pitches. But even then, it was pretty difficult at first to place the pitches within that wooden board representing a hitter’s strike zone.
It also left my arm(s) aching afterwards…Man’s arms was never meant to throw like that. And yes, I threw BOTH left and right handed…the lefty throw is more of a over the top style than right handed. (See Frank DiPino)
Anyhoo….I asked my high school baseball coach how to throw a knuckle ball. He basically told me to fold over all of my fingers except for the thumb so my knuckles rested on the seams and throw it like that. Believe me, that’s difficult as hell. It was the first knuckles from the fingernails resting on the ball. I’m not sure that’s how Joe or Phil Niekro threw it. Or Gaylord “Sandpaper and Spit” Perry threw it.
Eric
sceptor and eric,
like the movie says – baseball IS hard. it’s supposed to be hard. that’s what makes it great.
no question the ball was hit very hard, but cmon sceptor, you know a ball like that is almost always caught. as for ME catching it? well, let’s say I’m competetive at the little league level with the rest of the 8 year olds…
Lisa,
I,m sorry but this ball was not caught, i repeat not caught. So that made it SPECIAL.
sceptor,
it did indeed. Sometimes the ball finds hands, sometimes the ball finds holes.
it’s baseball and youneverknow. and believe it or not, i WANT castro to be great. i would love for this team of nobodies and has beens to go out on a high note…
I don’t believe it.
you don’t believe what,
that i would love it if castro proved me wrong or if this team got itself together like the cleveland indians in the movie major league?
If Castro proved you wrong
sceptor,
i would like castro to prove me wrong. i can handle him hitting like quintero did – you notice he never got shtt for it like brad ausmus did – but i would really REALLY like to see him improve his defensive skills, ESPECIALLY the pitch blocking. I’m not crazy – even Millsie-poo said something about it on the record. I was worried about it BEFORE he got hurt last year. And he used to be very good at throwing out runners and I’d like to see him return to form.
neil,
yes he did. And the throw was good too. none of this half-hearted tossing stuff in.
bruce,
i miss michael bourn. schafer is better so far than i thought he’d be – he’s reached base at least once every game he’s been in this year. schafer won’t be stealing and he’s not near as fast.