2005 SEASON
APRIL 18-19: ATLANTA @ HOUSTON
MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2005 (Game 12) – Atlanta @ Houston
Atlanta 1, Houston 0 (12 innings)
I can’t stand it. I had to leave the room several times to escape the stress in the late innings. I got my cardiac workout watching the Astros lose another heart-pounding 1-run game, this time in 12 innings of scoreless ball. Pitchers duel doesn’t even begin to describe it. It’s sooooooo unfair. This is not the way to treat a guy who is getting about half a million dollars a game to pitch!
Clemens pitched another brilliant game – 7 innings, 105 pitches, no ER on 5 scattered hits, 1 IBB, and 8 K’s. He finished the game with an ERA of 0.43. It was like a bad rerun of his start last week in NY, which also resulted in a 1-0 Astros loss in extra innings. That’s two games in a row that Clemens carried a shutout into the 7th, without a single Astros run supporting him. In his 3 starts and 21 innings, he now has a total of 3 support runs. And 2 of those 3 – they were his own RBIs!
Up until the 12th, the relief pitching was excellent. Garner did as I hoped yesterday, bringing in Lidge in the 8th in a tie-game. He threw 2 Lidgerly innings, no runs (ERA still 0.0), 3 K’s. (The pattern is broken: Finally saw Lidge on the mound in a game that the Astros did not ultimately win.) Qualls also pitched a very nice inning in the 10th – he seems to be shaping up as Lidge Lite, possibly a good 8th inning reliever. And Wheeler pitched a good inning in the 11th. The only hit he gave up in that inning was (unfairly) called a double; it was actually a simple pop fly that either Bagwell or Biggio could have caught. Instead, they miscommunicated and the ball fell between them. After 15 years of playing together, that was kind of a “duh” moment. They both came up to bat in the bottom of the 11th, and one of them should have been feeling guilty enough to do something wonderful to make up for the gaffe, but they both went 0 for 5 tonight. Wheeler’s 12th inning wasn’t bad either -- except for the solo homer. (A memorable day for the Braves’ Ryan Langerhans; it was his first major league HR.) Hmm… Wheeler lost Clemens’ Mets game too…
High points:
- Brilliant Astros pitching. Unfortunately met by pretty brilliant Braves pitching. Atalanta starter Tim Hudson pitched 9 full shutout innings – and no decision for him either.
Disappointments:
- This is the 5th loss in a row with a one-run gap. I guess the good news is that the Good Guys aren’t getting creamed. But they just don’t seem to be producing the runs this year. They’ve only exceeded 5 runs in one game this season. (Meanwhile, Jeff Kent is scoring and knocking in the runs right and left out in California. That hurts.)
- Missed opportunities: The Astros had the bases loaded in the 10th inning, with no outs and failed to score. Bagwell came up with two outs in the bottom of the 9th (with a man on 3rd) and in the bottom of the 11th, and struck out both times to end the inning. Another called 3rd strike at the bottom of the 9th. What’s with that, Jeff?
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- Washington lost to Florida, 9-4, in another Dontrelle Willis win. (But this time Dontrelle didn’t pitch 9 innings or hit any doubles.) I’m glad we got a chance to see him in Spring Training, although the Astros lost that game. He’s pretty amazing.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- Reds beat the Cubbies, 7-6. I cheer against the Cubs by force of habit, but right now Cincinnati is ahead in the standings. So it’s a wash, short-term.
- St. Louis won 12-1. But it was just Pittsburgh. Does that count?
- After 4 consecutive losses, the Yanks went nuts tonight, beating Tampa Bay 19-8. Thirteen runs scored in the 2nd inning, on 17 at-bats, with 11 hits, 2 of them long balls, and 3 walks. I think if the Astros did that, I’d probably die and go to heaven.
Final 12th1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H EAtlanta « 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 9 0Houston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0W: J. Sosa (1-0) L: D. Wheeler (0-2) S: D. Kolb (4)
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TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 (Game 13) – Atlanta @ Houston
Houston 5, Atlanta 3
Whew! The Astros pulled off a win tonight, to split a short series with the Braves. It wasn’t a blowout, and once again they didn’t score more than 5 runs. But with some very nice pitching, aggressive base running, and the occasional hit, it ended up in the win column. Astros finally got double-digit hits (well, 10), and even managed to string a few of them together to put together a few runs. All in all, it was enough to get a solid win – not another heart-ache one-run game!
Brandon Backe looked good, earning his first win of the season with a solid 7 innings, 101 pitches, 3 ER on 7 hits, 8 Ks (tying his record for strikeouts), and 1 BB. And he helps himself at bat too: Continuing the Astros tradition of good pitcher batting, Backe was 1 for 2, with a batting average of .600. He’s got a cute style on the mound – fist pumping, running off the field at the end of the inning, combination of youth and emotion. And he’s cute too.
Eighth inning relief pitching was kind of shaky: Wheeler and Franco managed together to load the bases in the 8th. Franco got a strikeout, one down. Then Russ Springer came in and induced the double play to get them out of trouble. (Pay-back for last night’s 10th inning, when the Astros left three on base.)
Then Lidge knocked out the 9th inning, with another 2 strikeouts to his record and his 4th save.
Next: Two home games against Milwaukee. Is a sweep too much to hope for? These will be the last two games I get to watch before the long Passover weekend (4 games!).
High points:
- Willie T. gets his first major-league homerun – a solo shot in the 7th! He also got on base in the 5th on a fielders choice, stole second, and then scored on Everett’s double.
- Nice string of hits in that inning. Biggio came up next, hit a single to score Everett. (That hit put Biggio ahead of Ted Williams on the all-time hit list, and was his 999th RBI.) Then Bagwell hit a hard line drive double to left, scoring Biggio from first on gutsy base running and a lucky call at home. All of this with two outs too. Now if they can just start doing this more often…
- Garner is adjusting the lineup; tonight he moved Jason Lane to the cleanup spot, which appears to be a very sensible move (at least until Berkman comes back). Lane is leading the Astros in most hitting stats, and is 2nd in the NL in total bases. Lane was 2 for 4 tonight, stole a base, and scored a run. He might want to hold on to his lucky jersey number (24) as long as his good batting run continues – even though the number (Jimmy Wynn’s) is being retired this summer.
- Ausmus was 2 for 4 with a RBI… maybe he’s coming out of his batting slump?
- Brad Lidge. My hero. I think he’d look good in a Mounties uniform -- the Dudly Doright look.
- John Franco is truly a lucky guy – he gives up hits and walks, and sometimes lets the inherited runners score, but he’s still got his 0.0 ERA intact. Sitting behind the bullpen at Spring Training, I got to see all the relievers up close. Franco seems to be a nice guy, and I decided that I would not swear at him when he screws up during a game. At least, as the team’s only lefty reliever, he’s better than Gallo.
Disappointments:
- Luke Skywalker was 0 for 3, continuing not to hit now that Spring Training is over. His batting average is down to .182. Good for Garner for letting him play, but I suspect that when Berkman comes back, Scott might take a trip to Round Rock.
- The Astros fell from 7th to 24th in this week’s SportsLine Power Rankings. Have to admit that they deserved it… But I’m optimistic that they’ll be back in the top group soon.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- Washington lost again to Florida, 6-3.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- St Louis and Chicago each won their games, 7-1. Boo Hiss.
- Milwaukee lost to the LADs, 8-6 in 10 innings, after blowing a 6-0 lead. That is the Dodgers of Los Angeles, as opposed to the Angels of Los Angeles at Anaheim. Kind of annoying that Anaheim has decided that they want to be called “Los Angeles” this year. But I guess they could have changed their name to the Angels of Disneyland; that would have been much more annoying. I’m glad that they are AL.
- The Mets, not wanting to be totally shown up by that other New York team’s blowout run scoring yesterday, beat the Phillies 16-4. Meanwhile, the Yankees went back to their loserly ways, losing to Tampa Bay 6-2.
Final123456789RHEAtlanta 010002000390Houston 01003010x5 100W: B. Backe (1-0) L: J. Thomson (1-2) S: B. Lidge (4) 
