Jose Altuve led off with his first leadoff homer – to the Conoco Pump window. So much for you have to be a huge enormous man to hit really long home runs, hunh Jimmy Wynn?

Cubs pitcher Travis Wood was very VERY good – gave up only 2 hits and 2 walks and still lost – gave up a 2 out walk and his reliever let his man score and that was the winning run. I almost always feel sorry for starting pitchers who pitch really well and still lose, ESPECIALLY if they get Francoed (an old term I use in “honor” of John Franco, who the Astros got at the very end of his career – he was terrible, let pretty much every inherited runner score, but none of his own and Phil Garner absolutely LUUUUVVVED him don’t ask me why) but Francoing is what a reliever allowing his inherited runners to score while not allowing any of his own, does, so that he keeps a low ERA. It’s what Wilton Lopez did most of last year.

Astros barely made decent contact tonight after killing the ball last night – although CJ got robbed by Starlin Castro making a superb play to get a ball deep in the 5.5 hole. CJ had a FIT and got his self tossed, but the ump did get the call right. I understand his frustration – it SHOULD have been a hit, he WUZ robbed and he wasn’t fast enough to outrun the throw,

Cubs tried playing an all righty lineup against Happ, but except for a Soriano solo homer, he managed to not let any runs score. Happ had baserunners every inning except the 5th, but he kept the damage down. It does help that this year, they’re a bad BAD team. I understand bad BAD team with an aging overpaid star who isn’t worth much any more. Although Carlos Lee has gotten shut of El Perezoso this year and most of last – am proud of him for actually caring enough to work hard when he didn’t have to.

Astros have already won the series, but it would be very nice if Wandy could get a W tomorrow – the guys face reliever turned starter Jeff Samardzija, RHP, who has pitched VERY well since April 19 giving up 0,1,1,1,1 and 3 runs in each GS. This year, he’s started 8 games over 51 IP: 43 H, 4 HR, 16 BB, 53 K: 3.00 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, .232 BAA. In 15 relief appearances vs the Astros, he’s posted a 4.76 ERA over 17 IP.

Wandy has pitched great and he has pitched horrible against the Cubs. The only 2 guys left on the current team who have hit him well are Geo Soto (on the DL) and Jeff Baker, 8 fer 20 with 4 doubles.

Here and I’m thinkin it’s about time for Wandy to hit his first career home run, don’t all yall?

One last thing – Astros have signed Armando Galarraga – he of the infamous almost perfect game ruined by Jim Joyce’s botched call of the last out – to take Henry Sosa’s spot at AAA. I would guess that Jared Cosart is a lil disappointed – has a 3.48 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP – hmmmmmmm, maybe he needs to work on getting those walks down – 19 in 31 IP. The other 4 starters are doing lousy – don’t even think about asking.

Armando is a 30 yo RHP who was originally signed by Montreal from Venezuela, then went to the Rangers in the Alfonso Soriano trade in 05. Rangers didn’t think much of him and sent him to Detroit at the beginning of 08 for some minor leaguer. He had a very good year for the Tigers, but then regressed significantly the last 2 and they traded him to the Dbax for a couple of minor leaguers at the end of 2010. He threw 8 unremarkable games for them and was released in December. He hasn’t pitched professionally this year after not making the Orioles roster after a ST invite. He has only 104 innings at AAA, has a 5.00 ERA with a 8.6 H/9, 1.3 HR/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 7.6 K/9.

And no, Sergio Perez was given 2 starts already and did lousy, don’t go there. Too many injuries and he’s never really recovered, too bad.

Tags: Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 at 10:00 pm and is filed under J.A. Happ, JD Martinez, Jose Altuve. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.