2005 SEASON
MAY 9-11: HOUSTON @ FLORIDA
MONDAY, MAY 9, 2005 (Game 31) -- Houston @ Florida
Houston 2, Florida 1
Clemens wins! And the Astros finally snap their road losing streak, squeaking out a win over the Florida Marlins. Clemens – who should have at least 6 wins by now, if the Astros had done anything at all to help him at the plate – finally wins his 330th career win, passing Steve Carlton to become #12 on the all-time win list. And the winningest living pitcher too.
Before the game, Garner declared that this is Opening Night, that he’s starting the season over and moving on after the disastrous series in Atlanta (not to mention all the other bad games this season – especially out of towners).
I was on an airplane, coming home from my long weekend in Seattle, so I had to watch the game on the archive Tuesday night, after the regular game.
The Astros wore grey roadies.
High points:
- Clemens is a machine. Another 7 inning shutout start, with only 4 runs, 3 BB, and 6 Ks. He has not allowed a single run on the road, in 21 innings. Clemens’ 2-1 record has no connection to reality, as his resulting 1.10 ERA attests. The Astros have only scored 11 runs for him, in his 7 starts. Luckily tonight, 2 turned out to be enough. Clemens got another hit, going 1 for 3 (that lowered his batting average to .357!).
- The relievers didn’t screw it up for Clemens, for a change. Qualls gave up one run in the 8th, but Springer managed to get them out of the inning. Then Lidge came in and worked his magic, not quite perfect (gave up a hit), but struck out 2 to earn his 6th save. Garner says he is going to play Lidge more often, presumably even when it’s not a save situation. He pitches better when he gets more regular opportunities.
- Orlando Palmeiro, playing in the outfield, hit both RBIs. He scored Ensberg on a blooper single in the 2nd (Ensberg was on 3rd after a walk, stolen base, and wild pitch), and then scored Viz from 3rd on a sac fly in the 7th. That was it for scoring (see Disappointments).
Disappointments:
- A win is great, but come on guys – 2 runs is not what you call “support”! The Astros are only scoring an average of 3 runs per road game. So this is even worse than average. This win only gets their record up to 2-14 on the road.
- Bagwell is still not playing, for the 6th consecutive game, and things look pretty bleak. Richard Justice is starting to question whether he’ll be able to come back at all or if this is really going to be the slipper slope that ends Bagwell’s career. I can’t even imagine how bummed he must be.
- Berkman is back, but he’s going to take a while to get up to speed. He was 0 for 4 tonight; with only one hit since his return from the DL.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats beat Arizona, 4-3.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- Cards won (sigh), but all the other NL Central teams lost. Gets the Astros out of last place, at least for a day.
Final123456789RHEHouston « 010000100260Florida 000000010150W: R. Clemens (2-1) L: A. Burnett (3-3) S: B. Lidge (6)
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TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2005 (Game 32) -- Houston @ Florida
Florida 6, Houston 2
Brandon Backe, coming back from a horrible start against Atlanta last week, had an excellent start tonight, but the combination of low Astros run production and crappy relief pitching threw it away. Backe threw 88 pitches in 6 innings, giving up one run (on a HR) on 3 hits, 3 BBs, and 2 Ks.) He left the game tied 1-1 in the top of the 7th, for a pitch hitter (Palmeiro), who hit an RBI single to make the game Backe’s to win. But Springer and Qualls lost it for him in the 8th: Springer gave up a HR, then loaded the bases with 1 out; then Qualls came in and let all of them score, plus one more of his own. But they didn’t need 5, just 2, to beat the Astros, who couldn’t manage to exceed 2 runs in another weak scoring game. Sorry ‘bout that, Brandon.
To add injury to insult, Jeff Bagwell’s gone on the 15-day DL, retroactive to May 4th. I have a really bad feeling about it. Something is causing him pain that’s extreme enough to make him sit out game after game, not a move that he’d agree to if there were any other choices. He’s such a grinder. But it’s not clear that the source of the pain is something that can get better, given his degenerative arthritic shoulder. I’m hoping to see him back on the field in another week, but worried that this might be pushing him towards an early retirement.
The Astros wore grey road jerseys.
High points:
- Taveras hit his 2nd homer. So he was wrong when he said that his first one would probably be the only one he’d hit all season.
- Like yesterday, Palmeiro hit an RBI single, scoring Everett to put the Astros ahead (momentarily) in the 7th.
- Wheeler and Franco combined for a scoreless relief effort in the 7th inning – not too clean (a first pitch double for Wheeler and a BB for Franco), but they didn’t give away the store tonight. (They saved that job for Springer and Qualls in the 8th.)
- Biggio was hit by a pitch in his first at bat – the 4th time this year, and 260th career. He’s only 7 away from the all-time record.
- Everett went 2 for 3 to end a 0-14 drought. He was hit by a pitch, to get on base a 3rd time in the 9th. He looks skinnier than ever; he’s lost 12 pounds since Spring Training..
Disappointments:
- Another road loss. The Astros are now 2-15 on the road, and only 12-20 overall.
- Poor scoring again! They did get some guys on base, but just didn’t manage to get them in. The Astros had two on base to end both the 6th and 7th innings, both on called strikeouts (Ensberg and Biggio, respectively).
- Springer and Qualls. I kept hoping that after Springer gave up the HR and started putting guys on base, Garner would give Lidge a chance to stop the bleeding. But he seems to want to make Qualls get back on his bike every time he falls off. (Like after almost losing Clemens’ great start yesterday!)
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats lost to Arizona, 3-2.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- The Cards lost 9-8 to the Dodgers in a squeaker. All the other NL Central teams won, alas.
Final123456789RHEHouston 000001100270Florida « 01000005x6100W: J. Mecir (1-0) L: R. Springer (0-2) ==============================================================================
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2005 (Game 33) -- Houston @ Florida
Florida 2, Houston 1
Oswalt joins the Roger Clemens’ Club for Robbed Pitchers tonight, losing a close game to the Marlins after pitching a great game for almost 8 innings. He threw 130 pitches in 7 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, 5 BBs, and 6 Ks. Only one really costly mistake – a 2 run homer in the 3rd inning. But that wouldn’t have been a cause for losing, if the rest of the team would have just scored more than one run! The Astros have only scored 5 runs in the past 3 games, as they lose yet another series in yet another awful road trip.
Of course, the blame for their not scoring was in part due to the great Marlins pitching. Dontrelle Willis had a shaky 1st inning, allowing Houston’s first and only run. But he didn’t let up after that, got himself out of jams, and managed to hold on to that lead to get his 7th win of the year, raising (!) his ERA one-hundredth of a point to 1.08 in the process. He’s the only NL starting pitcher with an ERA under Clemens’ 1.10. This was the third pitchers’ duel in the Florida series. The six starters -- Clemens vs. A.J. Burnett, Backe vs. Brian Moehler, and Oswalt vs Willis -- combined for a 1.50 ERA in 42 innings.
High points:
- It may show up in the losses column, but Roy Oswalt looked great tonight. The homer in the 3rd cost him the game, but he didn’t have any other real crises until the 8th, when Garner pulled him with 2 out and the bases loaded (on a BB, SB, WP, BB, HP). At that point, Garner brought in Wheeler, and I (unfairly) expected a massacre. He noodled the count to 3-2, and then got the out. Even with a glass of wine, it was too stressful to watch.
- Biggio batted leadoff tonight, as Garner is trying new combinations to squeak out a run or two for his embattled pitchers. He got a leadoff double, and nearly doubled again in the 9th, with 2 outs and 2 on – he lined a just-barely-out-of bounds ball along the right foul line. But then he struck out on the next pitch.
- Ensberg looked good tonight, hitting 2 for 4 with an RBI single, and an 8th-inning double off the wall that sure looked like it was going over. Ensberg looked stunned that it wasn’t a HR. His 3rd inning called-strike K surprised him too – it was a very borderline strike.
- Palmeiro got another pinch hit in the 9th. His performance in this series has been great.
Disappointments:
- The lack of run production continues to kill! Only one run scored, in the first inning, and then nothing for the rest of the game. There were opportunities – the Astros left the bases loaded in the 2nd. And there were two left on in the 8th and 9th innings. But they just couldn’t pull them across home plate.
- Berkman still not hitting yet. I’m sure it will come, but he’s 1 for 19, batting .059.
- Not seeing Bagwell all night. He’s on DL, so he’s not in the game. But the HoustonTV broadcast tends to show him in the dugout between innings, yakking with the guys. Tonight’s Florida station didn’t mention him.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats lost another close one to Arizona, 3-2.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- Day games today: Reds lose, but Brewers, Cubbies, and Pirates win in the afternoon.
- LA and Cards are playing on the West Coast. Have to wait until tomorrow…
- In the AL, Octavio Dotel blew a save with a walkoff HR for the second night in a row.
Final123456789 RHEHouston 100000000171Florida 00200000x250W: D. Willis (7-0) L: R. Oswalt (4-4) S: T. Jones (3)
