2005 SEASON
APRIL 25-27: HOUSTON @ PITTSBURGH
MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 (Game 19) - Houston @ Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh 2, Houston 0
Joshua and I raced upstairs to the computer the minute that the holiday ended tonight. Depressed from the St. Louis sweep and the out-of-town losing streak, I was steeled for bad news. But hey – Oswalt’s pitching. And it’s just Pittsburgh! How could that be bad?
The Good Guys were down 1-0 in the bottom of the 7th when I got online. Oswalt on the mound. Two walks and a bunt single – the bases were loaded without the ball ever leaving the infield. Oswalt struck out the next batter, allowed a sac fly for the following one, then induced a ground ball for the third out. Only one run scored on the sacrifice. So it was still doable after 7, down 2-0.
In the 8th, Chavez singled, and Biggio doubled, with a couple of outs in between. That put Bagwell at the plate with 2 outs – and he flied out. The Astros never got a runner past first in the 9th, and that was the game.
Oswalt gave up 2 ER (both on sacrifice flies) in 7 innings, with 6 scattered hits and 6 Ks. That counts as a “quality” start. So the Astros wasted another fine start, by not managing to score a run. This is getting to be a distressing pattern. And geez! Losing to Pittsburg sucks. The Astros are now 1-9 on road games, and 5 games out. At 8 and 11, they have the same bad record as… the Yankees!!!
High points:
- Biggio got his 8th double of the year. And it might have been better than a double – or have scored the runner on first, except for a stupid fan who interfered with the ball. The Astros are leading the NL in doubles this year, largely due to Bidge and Lane, who also has 8. (They’re leading in triples too. But alas, they are nearly at the bottom in runs scored and HRs.)
- Wheeler pitched a perfect 8th inning, continuing the recent run of excellent relief pitching.
- Pittsburg starter Perez took a no-hitter to 5 2/3 innings tonight, until Jeff Bagwell’s single in the 6th broke the chain. If Oswalt looks like a grimacing freak when he pitches, Perez looks kinda doofusy (see photo).
- Taveras led off for Houston tonight.
- Very good news: I hear that Astacio is coming up to pitch the Wednesday game, in place of Duckworth.
Disappointments:
- Ensberg struck out twice. He’s been striking out a lot recently. At least both of these were swinging.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats lost to the Mets 5-4.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- St. Louis and Milwaukee game was postponed, probably due to snow and ice, given the recent weather in that part of the country.
- Jeff Kent is doing great in Los Angeles – he’s got 5 HRs and 17 RBIs. While I’m happy that Biggio is back at 2nd, the Astros are really missing the runs that Kent would have brought in. Wonder if they are sorry that they did not re-sign him?
- Cubbies beat Cincy, 10-6. Since they’re both ahead of the Astros, it’s a wash.
Final123456789RHEHouston 000000000050Pittsburgh « 00010010x260W: O. Perez (1-2) L: R. Oswalt (3-2) S: J. Mesa (7)==============================================================================
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2005 (Game 20) - Houston @ Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh 2, Houston 0
In a bizarre and depressing replay of Monday’s game, Houston lost again to (geez, guys!) Pittsburgh. I am going to have to stop making fun of Pittsburgh, as the Astros now share their lowly record. Another respectable start by Pettitte, this time resulting in a loss for him. He gave up one run in each of the first two innings, then pitched without any runs for 4 more innings, giving up a total of 2 ERs on 9 hits, 1 BB, and 3 Ks. Not his most impressive pitching, but one that would be considered more or less a “quality start.”
On the other hand, Kip Wells only gave up 4 hits to the Astros – another shutout. With five more losses on the road trip, the Astros are now 1-10 on the road, a truly horrible record. Luckily they are going back home after a day off Thursday, taking on the Cubs in Houston. Their record at home is significantly happier.
I missed the live game – it was a day game and I was at an FDA conference downtown. I read all of the writeups, and decided that it was too depressing to watch the archived game. Between Monday night’s yom tov game (only saw the end), Tuesday’s rainout, Wednesday’s day game, Thursday’s day off, and Friday-Saturday-Sunday Shabbat/yom tov games, this is a piss-poor week for watching ball games.
The Astros wore the red jerseys.
High points:
- Hard to say anything too nice about the third shutout in the past four games…
- Okay, the relievers did a good job again. Franco, Wheeler, and Lidge combined for two scoreless innings. Well, Franco and Wheeler did a good job. See Disappointments for Lidge.
- Bagwell got a hit. It was just a single in the first inning and didn’t go anywhere, but that’s at least one hit in each of the past 3 games. Maybe turning around his hitting drought?
- Willie T got on base on a fielders choice, and ran right to 2nd, for his 6th steal.
Disappointments:
- What’s with Lidge? Not getting to pitch enough? He did get another scoreless inning, knocking his ERA down to 0.93. But in the process, he hit a guy, let him move up on a wild pitch, then gave up two walks – filling the bases before he struck out the last batter. His previous outing, he gave up a hit to score the winning run (although it was charged to the previous pitcher). And the time before that, he came in with the Astros well ahead, 2 on, 2 out, and then gave up a 3-run HR before striking out the last batter. He got the save for that one. Not exactly lights out.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats are in a bit of a dry spell, going 3-7 in their last 10 games.
- The Red Sox have a problem: Two of their starters (Wells and Schilling) are both out with injuries.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- Unfortunately, at the same times that the Astros have been trying to invent a way to win ball games without actually scoring any runs, the Cards have been winning game after game – 6 in a row, with a 9-1 record for their last 10. (Thursday update: Cards lost to Milwaukee. Now Houston’s only 6 games out in NL Central…)
Final123456789RHEHouston 000000000040Pittsburgh « 11000000x290W: K. Wells (2-3) L: A. Pettitte (1-2) S: J. Mesa (8)
