AstrosFanInExile

2005 SEASON

AUGUST 26-28: HOUSTON @ LOS ANGELES

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2005 (Game 128) –HOUSTON @ LA

Houston 2, LA Dodgers 1

Over Shabbat I read Johnny Damon’s new (ghost-written) book, Idiot, which describes his life in baseball, especially the past few years with the Red Sox. Derek Lowe, pitching for Boston, was in the book. And, given the Red Sox rivalry with the Yankees, Pettitte was also a character in the story.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when, after Shabbat ended and I ran to the computer to check out last night’s game results, I found out that it had been a tight pitchers’ duel. And happily, this time, the Astros won. And it happened in one of my favorite ways: Biggio hit the game-winning home run. Pettitte got his 12th win of the season, throwing 93 pitches in 8 innings, giving up 1 ER on 6 hits, 1 BB, and 7 Ks. The Dodgers did not score a run off of him until the 7th inning, when Pettitte gave up a solo home run.

Lowe also pitched a good game, giving up 2 ERs in 8 innings. The Astros scored one run in the second inning, when Lane scored from 3rd on a ground out by Ausmus. But they did not score again until Biggio’s home run in the 8th. The homer (#18) was his first in quite a while, and only his second on the road this season.

The Astros wore road greys. Happy Birthday #30 to Morgan Ensberg!

High points:

Pettitte pitched beautifully. He struck out the side in the first inning on 12 pitches.

Lidge pitched the 9th for his 31st save. It wasn’t perfect – he walked leadoff hitter Jeff Kent, and gave up a single. But in the end, he struck out the side.

Jason Lane continues to perform well at the plate, going 3 for 4, and scoring a run.

Disappointments:

Granted that the Dodgers pitcher wasn’t a schlump, the Astros are still having trouble scoring runs. They got 8 hits and 3 BBs, and they put runners in scoring position without scoring in 6 innings.

Ensberg continues to slump – he went 0 for 3 in this game. He grounded into a double play with Taveras on 3rd in the 1st inning, walked, struck out, and grounded out.

Garner started Lamb, who went 0 for 4, lowering his average to .204. He did make a really nice fielding play in the 2nd inning. With 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Lamb dove to his right to stop a ground ball, then bounced it from his knees to 2nd base for the double play. But the guy just doesn’t hit this year.

Notes on the Other Good Guys:

N/A

Notes on the Other Bad Guys:

The Nats beat the Cards, 4-1. Loaiza got the win.

The Phillies beat Arizona, 11-3, to hold onto their Wild Card lead.

Florida beat the Cubs, 7-5. The Marlins are turning into a real Wild Card threat.

The F-ing Mets beat the Giants, 1-0.

Milwaukee beat the Braves, 3-1. Atlanta has not been playing well recently; their lead in the NL East is only a few games. At this point, anything goes…

Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh, 6-1. The Reds have been playing well, not a good thing for the Astros –Houston faces them for a series next week, right before taking on the Cards.

Final123456789RHE

Houston « 010000010280

L.A. Dodgers 000000100170

W: A. Pettitte (12-9) L: D. Lowe (8-13) S: B. Lidge (31)

=============================================================================

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2005 (Game 129) – HOUSTON @ LA

LA Dodgers 8, Houston 3

It was a dark and stormy night when the alien took over Roy Oswalt on the mound. Actually, it was a typical California summer evening, but I could swear that an alien was pitching in the first inning. He didn’t look anything at all like Roy Oswalt – giving up 5 hits and 3 walks, 2 of them with the bases loaded. Throwing off balance, with his pitching arm aimed at first base in his follow-through. Before it was over, he had thrown 42 pitches, giving up 5 runs in the first inning. It was almost as spooky when Oswalt returned to the mound in the second – Garner didn’t pull him after the first. And this time it really was the Roy Oswalt we know and love – he threw 8 pitches to take down the side 1-2-3. Similar good pitching in the 3rd and 4th innings. But he got back into trouble in the 5th, giving up another 2 runs, and this time Garner did pull him.

The Astros went through an array of relief pitchers to finish off the second half of the game, and with the exception of one solo homer, they threw well and avoided further damage. But with the Astros having scored 2 or less in 8 of their previous 13 games, just the 5 in the first inning were more than enough to spell “loss.”

The Astros offense was, unfortunately, typical of their recent games – they got some hits, but not enough, and they didn’t capitalize on the ones the got. I still believe that this is characteristic of baseball’s streakiness, and that they’ll break out of it. That might be just magical thinking, but I haven’t given up on this team all season, so I’m sticking with it to the end.

The Astros wore road greys.

High points:

The Astros only runs scored on Chris Burke’s 3-run home run in the 6th, scoring Berkman and Ensberg. Burke was 2 for 3 for the night. I’m hoping to see Burke in a lot more games.

Overall the relief pitching was very good. Harville came in to rescue Oswalt in the 5th, with no outs and a runner on 2nd base. He got the next 3 runners out, with no runs scoring. Burns, pitching in the 6th, gave up a solo home run to Jeff Kent, but got out the other 3 batters he faces. (He was probably jinxed by the hazing that he was subjected to by his colleagues in the bullpen; they made him walk in carrying a pink bag that said “Princess.”) Rookie starters, Wandy and Zeke, each pitched a scoreless inning to finish off the game.

Disappointments:

Astros still not scoring. Ensberg still not hitting.

Notes on the Other Good Guys:

N/A

Notes on the Other Bad Guys:

The Cardinals shut out the Nats, 6-0.

The Phillies lost to the Diamondbacks, 2-0.

Florida eked out a win against the Cubs, 2-1, in a pitchers’ duel between Dontrelle and Maddux. Dontrelle got his 18th win, and Maddux got a complete game loss.

The F-ing Mets lost to the Giants, 2-1.

The Reds beat the Pirates, 4-2, in 10 innings. Calm down, Cincinnati, before you come to Houston this week.

Final123456789RHE

Houston 000003000380

L.A. Dodgers« 50002100x8 110

W: E. Jackson (1-1) L: R. Oswalt (15-11)

==============================================================================

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2005 (Game 130) – HOUSTON @ LOS ANGELES

Dodgers 1, Houston 0

It was the quintessential Clemens start: He pitched 6 shutout innings, giving up only 2 hits, with 5 strikeouts – and he didn’t get the win. The Astros did it again: For the 8th time this year, they were shut out with Clemens on the mound. The loss was the 4th series loss in a row for the Astros, who are returning from their road trip looking more like the April team than ever. They only scored 5 runs in the 3-game series in LA.

Garner gave Biggio and Everett the day off, and went with his lefty lineup: Lamb, Palmeiro, Vizcaino, plus Berkman batting left. It’s the statistically correct move, as Dodgers starter Jeff Weaver doesn’t pitch as well against lefties. And the numbers seemed right, with all but 2 of the 7 Astros hits coming from the lefties. But I’d rather see the kids play.

The game got emotional in the 7th inning, when Craig Biggio came to bat, pinch-hitting for Clemens with 1 out and Ausmus on first. Bidge was hit by a pitch, but the home-plate umpire did not allow him to take the base, saying that he had not tried to avoid the pitch. Biggio flied out on the next pitch, slamming his bat before running to first. After the umpire indicated that he’d be fined for throwing the bat, Biggio continued to argue and tossed his helmet, and the umpire threw him out of the game. Biggio, who has never charged the mound after being hit by a pitch, was clearly pissed off today. While Mansolino restrained Biggio, Garner took up the argument, and he was also ejected. It was only Biggio’s second time to be thrown out of a game; it wasn’t a unique occasion for Garner.

High points:

Clemens was beautiful to watch, as usual. He lowered his ERA to 1.51, with a road ERA of 0.52. It’s criminal that he doesn’t have more than 20 wins already this season, after 27 starts, virtually all of them “quality” starts. He’s only given up more than 3 ERs in a game twice, and only pitched less than 6 innings twice this season. Hopefully, his amazing pitching this year has whetted his appetite for staying in the game next year.

Disappointments:

The Astros outhit the Dodgers by a factor of 2. Houston got 8 hits, all singles, but could not string them together – again – to score even one run. It was the Astros’ 16th shutout loss this season, a dubious category in which to lead the major leagues.

The lack of extra base hits is really hurting the Astros, and that matches up in part with Ensberg’s slump. Garner swapped Ensberg and Berkman in the lineup today, apparently hoping that putting Ensberg in the 3 slot, with Berkman behind him would result in him getting better balls to hit. But it didn’t make a difference today: He went 0 for 3. Ensberg seems to be doing something odd with his right foot when he swings, kind of lifting it up? Hopefully he can fix whatever’s amiss, in time for an awesome September finish. He did make another amazing fielding play in the 2nd, possibly saving a run from scoring with 2 outs and 2 on.

Qualls pitched one fine inning in relief, in the 7th. Then he pitched one less fine inning in the 8th, giving up the run that lost the game. Someone should look at the numbers: Seems to me that the Astros relievers do better pitching 1 inning than stretching to 2. Given tomorrow’s day off, there were plenty of relief pitchers to use, including Wheeler and Lidge, if the game had gone into extra innings.

Notes on the Other Good Guys:

•

N/A

Notes on the Other Bad Guys:

•

Luckily, the other contenders for the NL Wild Card had decisively bad days:



The Nats were shut out by the Cardinals, same score as yesterday, 6-0.



The Phillies lost to the Diamondbacks, 10-5.



Florida lost in a big way to Chicago, 14-3. Thanks, Cubbies!



The F-ing Mets lost to the Giants again, 4-1.

•

The Reds beat the Pirates, 6-2.

•

Atlanta beat Milwaukee, 5-2.

In Other News…

Two of the Astros’ Bs are going to Corpus to play Double A ball in rehab assignments. The Hooks will be finishing off their minor league season at home in Corpus Christi, playing against American League opponents, which allows for the use of a DH. Bagwell’s now well enough to bat, but he can’t throw, so a designated hitter position is perfect for him. He’ll play with the Hooks until Thursday, and then he’ll be reevaluated to determine whether to take him off the DL. Backe will also be going to Corpus for rehab. He expects to pitch on Monday and Friday, and if all goes well, he’ll be pitching for the Astros in Philly on September 7th.

After stints this week in the bullpen, both of Houston’s rookie starters are scheduled to return to the Astros rotation in this week’s home stand. Wandy is expected to start on Tuesday against Cincinnati, and Astacio will probably start on Friday against St. Louis.

Ausmus’ contract runs out at the end of this season, but he’d like to continue playing. Hopefully, he’ll be playing again next year for the Astros. Roger Clemens, for one, is endorsing that idea: "He would have to be here. He would have to. If I was to be here, I would need that man back there. He's that valuable."

Jeff Kent’s aloof personality might not make him the most popular player in the clubhouse, but does that make him a racist? LA’s Milton Bradley thinks so, claiming that Kent is unfriendly to black players. Lance Berkman, who was the butt of some of Kent’s bad moods when Kent played for the Astros, disagrees: "J.K. doesn't discriminate against anybody. He ignores Latinos, blacks and whites equally."

Final 123456789RHE

Houston 000000000081

L.A. Dodgers« 00000001x141

W: J. Weaver (13-8) L: C. Qualls (3-4) S: D. Sanchez (4)