2005 SEASON
SEPTEMBER 23-25: HOUSTON @ CHICAGO
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2005 (Game 154) – HOUSTON @ CHICAGO
Chicago 5, Houston 4
If the Astros could have just scored those 6 runs that they average when Wandy is on the mound, they would have won this game, the first of seven games against those pesky Cubs in the end-of-season stretch.. Despite Wandy’s shaky start – he gave up 3 runs in the 1st inning, another 2 in the 4th before he was pulled – the Astros managed to come back from a 5-1 deficit to make it a close game. By the top of the 8th, down 5-4 with a runner on 3rd and no outs, the Astros had made me believe that victory was inevitable. The bases were loaded when Willie T struck out to end the inning without scoring a run. Hope flared again in the 9th, when Biggio led off with a single, and Ensberg and Berkman were due to bat. But they couldn’t get a run across, and this Friday afternoon game ended with a one-run loss, just in time for me to get ready for Shabbat.
The Astros wore road greys. In other news, it appears that Hurricane Rita may be aiming for landfall further east along the Texas-Louisiana coast, possibly missing Houston after all.
High points:
- Biggio went 3 for 5, hitting his 23rd homer in the 3rd inning, and a double in the 5th. He scored twice and got 2 RBIs.
- Berkman was 2 for 5, pulling his batting average to .299.
Disappointments:
- Bagwell, pinch-hitting in the 8th, was hit by a pitch on his arm. He wasn’t wearing his usual armor, but was not injured.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- They aren’t mathematically eliminated, but the Nationals are far enough out to make them Good Guys again. The Nats almost pulled off a miracle come-back in this game when, down 2-0, in the 9th with 2 outs, Carlos Baerga hit a 2-run home run. But they lost it in the 10th when Carlos Beltran hit a 3-run homer.
- The Red Sox won, but so did the Yankees. Boston is still 1 game behind in AL East. Meanwhile, the Indians continue their winning ways to stay on the White Sox’ butt.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- The Phillies scored 5 in the 9th to pull off a late-game survival over the Reds. Ex-Astro David Weathers was on the mound, and the Reds were leading 10-6 in the 9th, when the Phillies came back with a pair of singles and a homer to make it a close 10-9. Two strikeouts later, the Reds thought that they were out of trouble, when Weathers gave up a walk and another homer to put Philadelphia ahead, 11-10. With the Astros’ loss, the Phillies pulled up to 1 game behind in the NL Wild Card.
- In another last-minute give-away, the Marlins lost to the Braves, 4-3. Florida’s Josh Beckett pitched 7 shutout innings, but the Braves scored 4 runs in the 8th to take the lead and win the game.
- The Cards lost to the Brewers, 9-6. In his worst start of the season, Chris Carpenter had a very bad day, lasting only to the 6th inning and giving up 9 ERs on 12 hits and 3 walks. He missed his opportunity to catch up with Dontrelle’s 22 wins.
Final123456789RHEHouston 0010300004112Chi. Cubs « 30020000x5101W: G. Rusch (8-8) L: W. Rodriguez (10-9) S: R. Dempster (30)
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2005 (Game 155) – HOUSTON @ CHICAGO
Houston 8, Chicago 3
Phil Garner didn’t get his wish – 9 shutout innings from Ezequiel Astacio – but it was close enough, as the Astros won Game 2 of their end-of-season Cubs marathon. Astacio was pitching in place of Roger Clemens, who is out with a hamstring problem, in a game that could have left the Astros tied for the NL Wild Card lead. But he pitched well enough to keep Houston in the game, and the Astros put up a lot of runs to support him. Astacio pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 ERs on 4 hits and 2 balls, with 3 strikeouts. It was his first win since August 3rd, and his third win in a season that has seen him in the rotation, the bullpen, and the minor leagues.
The Astros got off to a good start against the Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano with solo home runs by Biggio and Berkman in the 1st inning. After 3 scoreless innings, they came back to score runs in each of the next 4 innings.
The Astros REALLY BIG inning was the 7th – it went on close to 2 hours, including the hour and a half of rain delay. Houston was leading 4-3, and the rain had started to come down. Willie T kicked it off with a single. Biggio showed bunt, and Zambrano knocked him over with an inside pitch. A couple of pitches later, Bidge successful sac bunted Taveras to second. Ensberg came to the plate. His fly ball to center appeared to be a routine fly ball, but Corey Patterson slipped in the wet dirt when he backed up for the catch. Taveras scored, making it 5-3, and Ensberg made it to third base. Zambrano threw one slippery pitch over Berkman’s head, before the umpire called a rain delay.
An hour and a half later, play resumed with Berkman at the plate, 1-0 count, and a new pitcher, Will Ohman. Berkman walked, then Lamb struck out swinging. Lane was up. On a 3-2 count, after 3 pickoff attempts, Berkman stole second. Lane walked. Vizcaino was up with the bases loaded and two outs. He hit a ground ball to Garciaparra at third. Garciaparra seemed to hesitate, perhaps thinking that he couldn’t beat Berkman to the base, and threw to first, but Viz beat out the throw. Six to three, bases still loaded with 2 outs, and Ausmus up. Ohman threw – wild pitch: Berkman scored to make it 7-3. Then Ausmus grounded out to finally end the inning. By that time the crowd was anxious to hear God Bless America.
The Astros wore road greys to match the rainy Chicago sky. Maybe it was in sympathy with the Texas coast, hit by Hurricane Rita today. Or maybe the sky over Chicago was just weeping as the Cubbies were officially eliminated from the Wild Card race.
In other news, Hurricane Rita hit land further east, focusing on Lake Charles, LA, and Houston came out with minor damage. Minute Maid Park suffered only a few tattered flags and downed tree branches, but will be fine for play next weekend.
High points:
- Biggio had another great day at the plate, hitting 2 for 3, including a home run and an RBI double. His 24th home run matched his career high for long balls – a record he set last year. This guy is the Astros version of the Energizer Bunny. If they don’t sign him for another couple of years, it’s nuts.
- Ensberg also had a great day at bat. He went 3 for 5 with a double, a triple, and 2 RBI. He’s now at 99 RBIs for the season.
- Willie Taveras went 2 for 4, scoring 2 runs. His hits (#164 and 165) put him past Jeff Bagwell for number of hits by an Astros rookie. Willie T is nicely positioned for Rookie of the Year: He’s leading the majors in batting average (.291), hits (165), runs (79), and stolen bases (34). How many ways are there to say, “I don’t miss Carlos Beltran”?
- Berkman was 1 for 3, with a homer (#21), two walks, 2 runs, and a stolen base for good measure. He finished up the game with his batting average right at .300. With all his walks, his on-base percent is .414 – 5th in the NL.
- Very nice work by the bullpen team today: Qualls, Gallo, and Burns each pitched a perfect inning.
Disappointments:
- It was a Shabbat day game in Chicago, so I had to watch it afterwards on the mlb.tv archive.
- Bagwell made a late-game pinch hit appearance (in a real non-stressful situation, with the Astros well head); he struck out.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats lost to the F-ing Mets, in another 5-2 rout. Livan Hernandez got off to a terrible start, giving up all 5 Mets runs in first 11 minutes of the game – including a grand slam – but then settled down to complete 8 innings. The Mets manager and shortstop were thrown out of the game in the 7th inning for arguing balls and strikes. Both teams are one loss away from elimination.
- The Red Sox won and the Yankees lost, pulling Boston back into a tie for the AL East. The Indians and the White Sox both won their games.
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- The Phillies lost to the Reds, 3-2, pushing Philadelphia down to 2 games behind Houston in the Wild Card race. Shutout for the first 6 innings, the Phillies scored a run in each of the 7th and 8th, but (unlike last night) were not able to come from behind in the 9th.
- The Marlins lost to the Braves, 6-1, putting them in a deep 5-game well in the NL Wild Card race. .
- The Cards lost again to the Brewers, 8-7. Milwaukee kicked off the game with a 7-run 2nd inning, and took a decisive 8-3 lead into the 9th. But St. Louis scored 4 in the top of the 9th, to make it a one-run game. With 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, the Cards’ energy finally ran out. With the NL Central division long-since won, there’s not much pressure on the Cardinals to win these late-season games. I hope that they stay in this mode as Houston comes to town for 2 games next week.
Final123456789RHEHouston « 2000113108 120Chi. Cubs 010002000340W: E. Astacio (3-6) L: C. Zambrano (14-6)
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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2005 (Game 156) – HOUSTON @ CHICAGO
Chicago 3, Houston 2
ISomething felt kind of off from the very start of this game. I don’t know, maybe the right word is “dreary” – it was raining from the start. Maybe it was getting stuck with the Cubs TV guys, instead of the friendly Astros announcers. Whatever it was, through the whole game, I felt like the Astros were going to lose. When they had the bases loaded with no outs, I knew they weren’t going to get a run across. When they were ahead, score-wise, the dreary feeling did not abate. When Gallo came in to get out one lefty batter in the 7th, I wasn’t surprised that he gave up a home run instead. I think I’d been waiting for that shoe to drop.
I’m not a pessimistic fan (unlike certain Houston Chronicle reporters). I subscribe to the “it’s not over till it’s over” philosophy of baseball. But today, somehow, the game just felt over before it even started.
So, cut to the chase: The Astros lost, dropping the series to the Cubs. They weren’t trashed, just a little one-run loss in a game where they just never seemed to get their act together. That was too bad for Pettitte, who pitched a beautiful start: Six innings, one ER (on a 1st inning solo homer to Derek Lee) on 2 hits, no walks, and 4 strikeouts. Basically, he pitched one bad pitch. And he had an hour of rain delay right in the middle. Under the circumstances, it’s a shame that he didn’t score a win.
The Astros had lots of chances to score against Cubs’ starter Jerome Williams. He only gave up 4 hits in his 7 innings, but he walked 6, so the Astros had plenty of base runners. But they squandered most of them in the rain: They left the bases loaded in the 2nd inning, 2 stranded in the 3rd, another in the 4th… They also lost base runners in unfortunate pickoffs, including Lane off of 3rd in the 4th. And Ensberg got picked off of first in the 8th inning.
The Astros did manage to score a couple of runs in the top of the 7th, when Everett walked and then scored on Palmeiro’s pinch hit triple. Taveras hit a sac fly to score Palmeiro to put the Astros ahead, 2-1, but the good times didn’t last for long.
Qualls came in to pitch the 7th, with the Astros ahead. He gave up a lead-off single, but then got the next two guys out. Then Garner went with the stats and brought in Gallo to pitch to the lefty Burnitz, to get the 3rd out. But instead he gave up a 2-run homer, putting the Cubs ahead 3-2. Then he walked the next two batters, and Garner pulled him. Wheeler walked another Cub, but then got the 3rd out to end the inning. But the damage was done: The Cubs were ahead and that was pretty much the game. It was fairly dreary for both teams.
The Astros last hurrah was in the top of the 9th. With 2 outs, Ausmus walked and Bagwell came in to pinch hit. Maybe I had a fleeting fantasy that this would be the moment for his first post-surgery home run… He hit it all the way to the wall, but the right fielder caught it on the warning track, and TILT – Game Over.
The Astros wore Sunday road reds, but this was really the day for the greys – they would have been just about invisible on the field in the rain.
In other news, Biggio is on his way down to Houston, where his mother is having open-heart surgery on Tuesday morning. She had scheduled the surgery for Monday (an off day for the Astros) but it was postponed due to the hurricane. So now he plans to stay there long enough to see her through the operation, then to jump on a plane to get to St. Louis in time to play on Tuesday night.
High points:
- Berkman was 1 for 2 with 2 more walks (that’s 18 in the last 12 games!), to end the game with a nice round .300 batting average.
Disappointments:
- The whole game, starting with the first pitch, or maybe even the pre-game show. Dreary.
Notes on the Other Good Guys:
- The Nats lost to the F-ing Mets, 6-5. Mike Piazza got two home runs to help the cause.
- The Red Sox won and so did the Yankees. The saga continues…
Notes on the Other Bad Guys:
- The Phillies beat the Reds, 6-3. Argh! The Astros lead drops to one game. The Phillies go on to play the Mets, who are totally unreliable about winning when I want them to, and finish up against the Nationals, who have given up on the season. Sigh.
- The Marlins lost to the Braves, 5-3.
- The Cards beat the Brewers, 2-0.
Final123456789RHEHouston 000000200250Chi. Cubs « 10000020x350W: J. Williams (6-9) L: M. Gallo (0-1) S: R. Dempster (31)
