2005 SEASON
JUNE 13-15: HOUSTON @ BALTIMORE
MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2005 (Game 62)
Baltimore 8, Houston 5
TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2005 (Game 63)
Baltimore 6, Houston 1
With Houston up in my neighborhood this week, I missed the last two games, due to the Shavuot holiday. Looks like I didn’t miss anything good though: Two games in which the starting pitchers had bad days, and the Astros winning streak got nipped at five.
Monday night Houston had a promising start, with a two run homer by Lane in the top of the second, giving the Astros first blood. But Brandon Backe, who has been very steady so far this year, lost it in the second – he gave up 6 runs as the Orioles more than batted around, hitting two homers, three doubles, and two singles off him. Backe didn’t even last 4 innings, coming out with 7 ER, on 10 hits, 2 BBs, and 2 Ks. The Astros mounted an offensive comeback, scoring another 3 runs in the sixth, including a 2 RBI homer by Ensberg. But Houston’s five runs (a high-scoring game for the Astros this year!) were not enough to even make up for the second inning.
Tuesday night was even more disappointing, as Andy Pettitte got a very solid start – carrying a shutout to the fifth inning. He gave up 3 runs in the sixth, and 3 more in the eighth just for bad luck. But that was a lot more than the Orioles needed. The best that can be said for the Astros’ hitting on Tuesday is that they avoided being shutout. Barely.
The Astros wore grey road uniforms.
High points:
- Mike Burns, called up from Round Rock, pitched 1 1/3 imperfect, but scoreless innings Monday night. He managed to load the bases in the seventh, but no one crossed home plate, so he did his job.
- •ome runs by Ensberg (#15) and Lane (#9) Monday night. Hey, good work guys, and in another game those will be the winning runs.
- Lamb was 3 for 4 Monday night – it’s been a while since he’s had good-hitting game.
- Bidge was plunked in Tuesday’s game – only 5 more to go to the all-time HBP record.
Disappointments:
- John Franco’s relief pitching Monday night wasn’t much to write home about – the Orioles managed to score off of him with a pair of singles.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nationals 10-game winning streak came to an abrupt end Monday night, as Anaheim creamed them 11-1. Tuesday night, they went back to their winning ways, 6-3.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- Monday night was bad for the NL Central. The Cards lost to Toronto, 4-1. The Reds lost to Boston, 10-3. Tampa Bay beat Milwaukee, 5-3. Florida beat the Cubs, 9-1 (Dontrelle’s win number 11).
- Tuesday night was a big night for shutouts: Cards beat the Blue Jays, 7-0. Boston beat the Reds, 7-0. The Yanks shut out the Pirates, 9-0. The Brewers beat Tampa Bay, 4-0. And the Cubs clobbered Florida, 14-0. (Can they spell “revenge”?) So in that context, the Astros’ 6-1 loss doesn’t look that bad!
June 13
Final123456789RHEHouston 020003000592Baltimore « 06100100x8 140W: H. Penn (1-0) L: B. Backe (6-4) S: B. Ryan (17) June 14
Final123456789RHEHouston 0000000101 40Baltimore « 00000303x6 100W: B. Chen (6-4) L: A. Pettitte (3-7) ==============================================================================
WEDNESDAY, June 15, 2005 (Game 64) – Houston @ Baltimore
Baltimore 5, Houston 1
In almost a replay of yesterday’s game, the Astros lost to the Orioles after only scoring one run on four hits, with another player or two getting on base after being hit. The big difference was that I was there in person to observe the game. Phil Sunshine and I cut out of work a bit early, met up at the subway station, and drove to Baltimore to watch the game. We had awesome seats – right behind home plate, about 20 rows back. I had planned to treat Phil to the game, for being such a nice sucker to go with me (when no one else I know wanted to!). But he treated me to thank for the sheva brachot. I bought the kosher hotdogs and knishes.
The game ended in a loss, as I frankly expected, giving Baltimore a sweep of the series. Wandy Rodriguez was pitching, and he hasn’t had a great run during his short major league tenure. He did better than I predicted (I told Phil I thought he’d only make it 2 2/3 innings). In each of his first two innings, he gave up 2 runs. But then he settled down and pitched quite reasonably for 4 more scoreless innings.
But the damage was done, since the Astros forgot that they were supposed to score some runs. They got off to a good start, with runners on first and third in the first, but never managed to score then. The only run came off a solo homer by Jason Lane.
High points:
- Lane had a nice boomer (#10) over the center field wall to give the Astros their only run.
- I told Phil before the game that I hoped to see Brad Lidge pitch – I meant that I wanted to see the Astros winning in the ninth, justifying the use of the closer. I did get lucky enough to see Lidge pitch, but not for that reason. Garner must have thought that he needed some exercise, so he put him in to pitch the eighth – he was generally Lidgerly, gave up one single but got the other 3 batters out, including smoking the last batter on three strikes swinging. He was mostly throwing high-90s heat with a few sliders thrown in.
- Palmeiro started in left field tonight, instead of one of the rookies; he went 2 for 3 with 2 doubles. Unfortunately no one remembered to hit him in.
Disappointments:
- NO HITTING – AGAIN. Here are the members of the starting lineup who went 0 for N tonight (where N=2-4): Taveras, Berkman, Ensberg, Everett, Vizcaino, Quintero. Palmeiro is the only Astro with a batting average over .300 right now (it’s .319). Quintero, who replaced Chavez on the team specifically to get a hotter bat in the catcher’s position, is hitting .063. (Will they bring Chamo back?) Lamb came up to bat with two on (thanks to a HBP and BB, not a hit) and two out, and struck out in three pitches – he’s only batting .213.
- Franco pitched to the first three batters of the seventh, and put all three on base on two singles and a walk. On the more positive side, Wheeler came in with the bases loaded and no outs, and then got the next three batters out. One of Franco’s runners scored on a sac fly, but in the scheme of things, that run didn’t make a difference in the outcome. And Franco deserved a little punishment for loading the bases.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats beat Anaheim, 1-0. Drese pitched a two hitter, and the Nats squeaked by on Schneider’s solo homer in the 6th.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- All of the NL Central teams lost tonight!
Final123456789RHEHouston 0000100001 40Baltimore « 22000010x5 100W: R. Lopez (6-2) L: W. Rodriguez (2-3)
