The Astros put Kyle Weiland on the DL and they called up LOOGY Fernando Abad. He’ll be going back down on Tuesday when (probably) Lyles gets called up – he’s already on the 40 man, no extra $$$ needed to purchase his contract.

Marwin Gonzalez went on paternity leave and they called up Brian Bixler, hitting .423/.483/.635 over 52 AB: 5 W, 13 K, 22 H, 3 double, 1 triple, 2 HR – 3 fielding errors. Scott Moore is hitting even better and has no errors, but he’s not on the 40 man, so he’s kind of out of luck.

Clank twisted his ankle running after a ball – the first hitter of the game hit one of those slow rollers to third that’s gonna be a single for a fast runner and CJ made the first bad play I’ve seen him make all year – he shoulda held onto the ball, but he threw it in the dirt to first and Clank turned to go after it and turned wrong, spraining his left ankle. He’s not on the DL, but he just might could be, youneverknow, so maybe Scott Moore WILL get a chance. Mostly because they don’t want to set the clock ticking on Singleton, who is tearing UP double A.

But I digress.

I think of Mike Leake as killing the Astros – he came up in 2010 after being drafted in 09 and his first 2 games he threw 7 IP, 1 run and 6 IP, no runs. Next game he lost – 4 runs in 6.1 IP, but next year, he won the first game again, 2 runs 6 IP. Of course, I’m disremembering the NEXT game – 7 ER/3.2 IP that got him sent to the bullpen (or was it the drinking/drug/female troubles problem) and we saw him the next 2 games for a couple of brief relief appearances and then not again until this year.

And anyway, he started the game like the Mike Leake I remember – 1,2,3 out. Then Wandy gave up the IF single to start the game, got a 5-4 from Drew Stubbs, then picked him off – first pickoff by a pitcher this year. Very kewl. Then he went to 3-2 on Joey Votto and got him out on a called strike right on the outside corner. Ah LUUUUUUVVVVS that boy.

2nd – Leake’s back, gets 1,2 out, then Bogu singles to the hole at short, then steals second. Very kewl. He’s really REALLY a good baserunner. Now if he can just get that average up. His OBP is over .350, His OPS is 714 (if I’m adding right and that is good for a 100 OPS+ and as a RF, that needs to go up a bit.) Anyway, CJ was up, laid off the 2 pitches outside the zone, took strike 1 (I think he’s consciously trying to take more pitches) and grounded out on a pitch in the zone. 1 LOB. sigh

3rd. Leake’s back. Castro singles to left (average is up to .244 – he’s STILL having serious defense problems – more on that later) Wandy sac-bunts, Schafer Ks, then it’s time for the 2 hole hitter and whaddaya know, guess who is in the 2 hole? Jose Attitude, that’s who – BOUT FREAKING TIME!!!! And so Mr. Tude hits the ball opposite field to deep right and Jay Bruce tries to dive for it, misses (seriously, that was a really sloppy play) and the ball rolls all the way to the CF wall, Castro is home and Tude is on 3rd. JD singles him home and Matt Downs, in for Clank, is out. Downs is not exactly good this year, is he? Leake would have been out of it if Bruce had played that ball on a hop because that would have been easily manageable. But luck went the Astros’ way.

Wandy mows em down 1,2,3. He’s got that FB on the low outside corner goin on and the curve is curvin.

4th – Jed Lowrie doubles to the RF gap, then Bogu hits a bullet to Phillips, who bobbles the ball and it’s men on first and third, no out. So CJ is up and he hammers a ball to the LF fence. Bogu is held at third. Castro grounds out 4-3 and Bogu scores – Phillips is a little late to the ball and no way is he gonna get Bogu at home. CJ on third. Wandy up and I’m hopin for the squeeze, but no, Wandy swings away and ops up. Drat. I LUUUVVVV the squeeze. Ok. Schafer singles to right to extend his streak to 20 games.

Leake out, Alfredo Simon in.

And you know who is up? Jose, The Tude!!! First pitch way up and in and Schafer is on second in a second. And The Tude drives an outside pitch down the RF line, Schafer trots home. JD is up, Mesoraco misses a pitch completely for a PB. So JD goes to 3-1, then swings and his bat goes flying into the stands. And he gets another bat to trade to the fan, but it was a bad idea because very next swing, he ground out, ending the inning.

Stros 6, Reds zip.

Wandy back out – fly out, 8 pitch walk to Votto (who has been workin the Wand Man), 2 grounders.

5th – Downs out, Lowrie singles, Bogu walks, CJ grounds to short, Lowrie out at 3rd – no bad swings. Castro hits a lazy pop fly. 2 LOB with 1 out again. Fortunately, we’re ahead.

Wandy back – groundout, single to left, popup to right. Pinch hit triple to the RF gap, Schafer throws to Altuve who fires a bullet to Castro,slightly up the 3B line, who drops it and the runner scores. Can’t tell for sure if the runner was already by Castro when he dropped it, no good angle. Wandy gets the 3rd out.

6th – JJ Hoover, new reliever in. Astros go down 1,2,3. Wandy back out, at 84 pitches. Stubbs singles on the first pitch. Joey Votto, who drew an 8 pitch walk LAST AB, has a 13 pitch AB, finally doubling to drive in Stubbs. Phillips walks on 5 pitches.

Once upon a time, it would have been time to pull Wandy. But he gets Ludwick then Rolen to fly out and Bruce Ks. 28 pitch last inning.

7th – Hoover back out. JD walks, but then 3 outs.

Now Wilton Lopez is in to face hitters 8, PH, 1 and gets 1,2,3 out.

8th – new pitcher righty Jose Arredondo gets CJ, then PH Maxwell (surprised Millsie-poo didn’t send up lefty Buck, maybe he’s hurting) then Schafer.

So Fernando Rodriguez is in to face hitters 2,3,4. I’m really surprised that Millsie-poo had Wilton in to face the east hitters and Froddy in to face the tough ones. Drew Stubbs goes to 2-2, then strikes out swinging, Castro can’t block a ball in the dirtright in front of him in the dirt (this boy has just GOT to work on pitch blocking)the pitch goes flying back almost to the dugout and Stubbs trots down to first.  Jeezus gawd. Very next pitch, Stubbs takes off for second, Castro makes a bad throw in the dirt in front of and slightly to the right of Lowrie, the ball rolls into center and Stubbs is on third. So Votto hits the ball to CJ who looks makes sure Stubbs doesn’t run before firing a great throw to first. Good fielding. And then Froddy Ks Ludwick and Phillips. Awesome job – especially seeing as how he had to pitch from the stretch when he shouldn’t have had to at all.

9th – Sam LeCure out. I remember him because he came up in 2010, same as Mike Leake and his first game, first start, he beat the Astros. Interestingly enough, it was Wandy pitching and he was having a very VERY bad first half (throwing to Quintero, remember?) and gave up 7 runs in 3 innings. They sent him back down at the end of June (someone was hurt, forget who, probably Harang) and they decided he would be a reliever instead. Whatever. Anyway, he gets 1,2,3 out.

So it’s Astros 6 Reds 2

And who do I see coming out to pitch? LOOGY, meaning a pitcher who is left handed who should ONLY be facing left handers, Fernando Abad. ARE YOU( SWEAR WORDS) KIDDING ME??? SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HOLY (SWEAR WORD)? I’m screaming loudly, Dogss disappear into the kitchen, kidsss come running out from their room where they’ve been watching Indiana Jones for the 11 hundredy billionth time, find out what is wrong. I tell them, lousy LOOGYS should NOT pitch to rightys!!! Oh, says #2 son. We thought something was wrong, he says as they turn disgustedly to go watch Indy shoot the guy with the sword or is it climb out of the snake pit with the screaming chick.

Da Bull is still looking at me as Rolen (righty) smashes a hanging curve to the deep right center fence. Right at the fence. Rolen is old, had too many back, shoulder, elbow operations, and trust me on this,  even the 2010 guy would have sent that ball waaaaaay over the fence.

So Jay Bruce (lefty) hits another hanging curve over the CF fence – dead center 420′ and then Mesoraco, the rookie catcher hits the very next pitch, a FB down the middle, over the LF fence.

Da Bull looks at me and says, he’s not pitching very well. Chris Heisey is coming up and I’m thinking – I do NOT believe this, but for some reason, Millsie-poo has managed (hahaha) to regain his sanity, pulls Abad and sends in the ol WB, who gets Heisey swinging and gets Cozart to lift a lazy FB to center.

So Wandy wins.

He pitched his ace de la ace game in his 1-0 loss, but hey, 2 runs/ 6 IP = W is better than 1 run 7 IP = L.

Tomorrow night is Lucas Harrell vs Johnny Cueto, RHP. To my surprise, I see that Cueto is 1-5 in 10 GS vs the Astros with a 4.01 ERA. I will say that he’s been getting better every year – had a 3.24 ERA in 2010, a 2.31 ERA last year and he’s at 1.78 this year. 4 GS, 25.1 IP, 2 HR, 6 BB, 19 K.

So far this year, Lucas had had great, lousy, great, lousy starts. He’s due for another great one, seeing as how Milwaukee kicked him for 5 ER/5 IP last start.

Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros

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