Well, that IS what Crane paid for him and the now AA lefty who isn’t exactly the next coming of even Wandy Rodriguez. Yep – Crane wanted Clank gone so bad he paid his ENTIRE salary for the year except for like 200K.

So now I guess they need to show that Dominguez is worth every penny. So this I’ve GOT to see. I thought they’d bench/trade/DFA Chris Johnson, but no, he’s playing first and I hope this isn’t a total disaster. No Brett Wallace and we still have the corpse of Matt Downs to help make outs, especially in crucial situations.

I’ve been told that Dominguez has a great glove. He’s gotta field better than Adam Everett in order to make up for his projected MLE, which is right around Matt Downs’ OPS. So I’m not missing THIS game. And, by the way, Chris Johnson isn’t THAT bad at third – remember Wigginton? Remember Mike Lamb? Remember Jimmy Paredes (who didn’t make errors because he didn’t make plays)?

Here we go. I see that Jordan Schafer is sitting – he got pulled last night for making egregious stupid mistakes with the glove. Bogu is playing CF – and he’s good.

1st inning: All Star Jose Altuve singles thru the 5.5 hole. Good – we won’t get no hit. Amazing how that is now always my first thought. He steals first on a 1-1 pitch. Lowrie flies out to center (I hear tell there are a whole lot of offers for Lowrie. We’d replace him with WHO? Jonathan Villar and his 22 errors and his .264 BA/.712 OPS at AA? You thought CJ has a bad glove?) Scott Moore Ks and Julio Daniel Martinez pops up. 1 LOB, RISP

OK Bud, don’t throw it down the middle, OK? Drew Sutton leads off and grounds to Altuve. Walker walks – and the pitches were most definitely outside. Andrew McCutchen up and he Ks swinging on 3-2 (actually, 4-1 – Bud got a lucky call) as Walker is CS for the first time this year. 15 pitches.

2nd inning: CJ and Bogu K swinging on a curve. Snyder singles up the middle. Mr. 8.5 Mill is up and he looks at strike 1 and 2 and Ks swinging on a curve. Welcome to ML pitching there boy – oh yeah, forgot he had a few ABs with the Marlins last year too. 29 pitches. 1 LOB.

Cmon Bud. Nope. Garrett Jones doubles off the top of the RF wall on a nice mid thigh FB. Casey McGehee doubles down the RF line on a slider that doesn’t, Moore, playing RF, overthrows second, but fortunately McGehee is slow and doesn’t run. Jones scores. Pedro Alvarez grounds to first, McGehee goes to third. And Bud got lucky because that was another handing slider. McHenry, the catcher, grounds to short and McGehee can’t score. Millsie-poo out to talk to Norris??!! and not sure what was said, but Ex-stro Clint Barmes grounds out to Dominguez for an east 5-3. 29 pitches.

Bucs 1 Stros 0

3rd inning: Bud lines out to first on the first pitch. Altuve flies out to right. Lowrie grounds out. 5 pitches, 3 out – a Greg Maddux inning. Great

Karstens, ofer 2012, singles on a 3-2 on a FB right down the *(%#! middle. Sutton Ks. Walker sends a fly ball to LF but Julio Daniel can’t get to it and it goes for a GR double (Bud was NOT happy – well then dude, don’t throw FBs in the middle of the plate!!!!) McCutchen back up – 7 pitch walk. Bases loaded. Bud throws a FB a little outside mid thigh to Garrett Jones – flies out to the warning track in left. Karstens scores. McGehee is HBP – bases loaded again.  Alvarez Ks swinging. That was 30 pitches in this inning.

Pirates 2 Astros 0

4th inning: Moore singles to right. Julio Daniel flies out. CJ up, Karstens balks, Moore at second, but CJ pops up. Bogu grounds out. 1 LOB, RISP. 47 pitches.

Let’s see if escaping from bases loaded TWICE in 1 inning has sharpened Bud up any. McHenry flies out to left center and Bogu gets it. Barmes flies out to right. Karstens grounds out. 10 pitches, 3 outs. That’s more like it!!!

5th inning: Snyder walks. Mr. 8 Mill promptly GIDP to short. Bud Ks looking on a really NASTY slider. 60 pitches.

Jeezus are we gonna get shut out AGAIN?

Drew Sutton hits a mid-thigh FB off the top of the RF wall for a stand-up double. Walker up – Bud throws 4 waaay out of the zone. Jeezus – BUD!!!! Andrew McCutchen back in – lines out to Altuve. Garrett Jones takes a pitch, then Sutton starts for third – dumb-ass baserunning, and is easily caught in a rundown Bud to Lowrie to 8-Mill. Jones flies out. 81 pitches. Bud needs to keep the ball DOWN.

6th inning: Altuve flies out. Lowrie singles to right. Scott Moore flies out. Julio Daniel Ks on a ball in the dirt. 73 pitches.

Cmon Bud. McGehee goes to 3-2 (Karstens has NOT been going to 3-2) and flies out to Bogu in right center. I’d rather see him play CF full time than Mary Jane Schafer. Alvarez Ks on a vicious slider. McHenry Ks swinging on another vicious slider. Looks like the boy has finally found his stuff – and he’s at 95 pitches already – too bad.

7th inning: CJ pops out. Bogu Ks on a curve. Good grief. Snyder flies out. 9 pitches 3 outs. 81 pitches. Looks like we’re gonna have another CG shutout pitched against us.

Bud back out. Barmes flies out to Bogu. Karstens grounds to third, routine grounder. Sutton goes to 3-2 then Ks on a changeup – jeez, maybe Bud shoulda thrown more of those.

7 IP – 4 doubles, 1 single, 3 walks, 2 runs 6 K. But this is one of his best starts since he got hurt at the end of May and he’s gonna lose because he’s got no run support.

8th inning: Schafer in to pinch hit for 8-Mill and Ks on 5 pitches. Downs grounds out on the first pitch. Jeezus. WHY??? is he still playing on the ML team. Altuve flies out to right. 3 outs, 7 pitches.

Man, this team is SORRY.

The ol WB in – you KNOW that Crane wants to dump his salary too – not as bad as Clank’s, but bad. Too bad he’s had some really bad outings his last 5 or 6 times. Walker grounds out 3-1. McCutchen bounces out to Downs, now at 3rd. Garret Jones bounces out 4-3. This is the best he’s looked in like 6 outings. Maybe he needed all those days of rest – hadn’t pitched since he gave up 6 runs to San Diego on June 28.

9th inning: Karstens out, guess that Da Closah has to do the 9th inning even though he’s only thrown 89 pitches. You know the rules. Hanrahan back in for the 4th game in a row. Lowrie walks on 5 balls. Scott Moore grounds out into a 4-6-3. Peachy – that was the very first pitch he threw anywhere near the strike zone – he had ta swing? Julio Daniel goes to 3-2 and walks. Chris Johnson up – CMON BOY!!!! Pitching coach out while some other guys are warming up. But CJ fiels out to right and the Astros are shut out and swept by the first place Pittsburgh Pirates.

We are now tied for last place in the major leagues and are looking for another first round pitck, I guess. Who won’t be paid or worth as much as Mr 8-Mill.

Ofer the road and we’ve lost the last 8 games straight and got shutout 3 times (twice when Bud started). Getting rid of Carlos Lee didn’t help – he doubled and scored a run to help the Marlins beat the Crew, who are coming into the Box this weekend.

Tomorrow, Yovanni Gallardo faces J Happ. Yo had a bad April, but since May 1, has thrown 12 games, at least 6 IP and given up more than 3 runs only once. He’s 10-2 lifetime against the Astros with a 2.81 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. I had forgotten that he’d ever been beat. Both of those losses were at the Box, in spite of a 2.68 ERA. Youneverknow…

In case you’re curious, Luhnow/Mills have been very tight lipped about what is gonna happen with Brett Wallace. I guess it will kind of depend on what they are gonna do with CJ and 8-Mill, because obviously they mean for Jonathan Singleton to be Da Foist Baseman Of Da Futchah, so either Wallace is gonna be a AAA lifer, or they’ve got to play him to trade him because he certainly is NOT going to do well at third – you think CJ has problems – at least he’s got decent range. And naturally, I’m wondering when Wandy is going to get tossed because as usual, there is a LOT of interest in him.

Tags: Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 5th, 2012 at 7:52 pm and is filed under Bud Norris, Matt Dominguez. 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.