Tag: Houston Astros

Cubs 58-54, -1.0
Astros 50-63, -9.5

POTG: LF Matt Murton (HR)
Runner Up: none

It’s not so fun to watch a game on tape when you heard someone discuss the in progress score a couple hours before and the score didn’t sound good. I was at another baseball game – a game I’ll surely never get around to writing about – when someone in the next section loudly told a friend it was 4-1 Astros. There goes avoiding the score on my phone for 4 hours.

After I got home and started zooming thru the game, the top of the 1st was both excruciating and pre-emptively depressing. I kept hoping I misunderstood, flipped the score in my mind, and the Cubs had actually made something of a bases loaded no out situation. I was pretty sure I heard right, and so was mostly stuck watching the Cubs fritter away the best chance they had, sticking around for the odd shot they might get lucky later on. Murton’s home run was a promising sign for the long run, but sure not enough here.

I think Sean Marshall pitched okay, but he pitched for me mostly with two and three arrows on the fast forward. The results were there – a better performance from the bullpen would’ve made it stand up a bit better. Even there, I wasn’t too worried about Kerry’s work. Sure would’ve preferred him not giving up Marshall’s runs, but he’s still just coming back, and he looked fine in the 7th.

I was wondering if we should be reading into Dempster coming in the 8th, when there could’ve (theoretically) still been a save situation to come. I’m thinking no, not yet.

Ohman getting sent down was pretty shocking. It’s probably for the best, but it’s just not something you’ve seen down. He’s exactly right in saying he just had two bad games, but it’s just a really bad time to have bad games – two weeks ago, Lou would’ve just buried him and brought up Gallagher in the AAA swing spot. Now that’s Wood, and the bar’s been raised a bit. I wonder if Ohman was even aware he could be sent down – I wasn’t until I read about this weekend. If Ohman had blown up two weeks later, he’d be safe as well. Bad bad timing.

The problem is still not enough hits, not enough big hits. Soriano surely would be helping, but it’s not like he was on fire before he left. The guys who need to pick up this week are mostly the same who needed to pick up next week.

Cubs 58-53, 1/2
Astros 49-63, 10.5/11.5

POTG: SP Rich Hill (7 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB, 6 K, obligatory HR)
Runner Up: SS The Riot (2 2B, R, SB)

So you’ve got 1 (Fontenot), 2 (DeRosa), 3 (Theriot) second baseman on the team, and for whatever reason, you decide to call up another second baseman (Patterson), and after all of that, you end up with Ronny Cedeno at second. That’s probably not the way I would go, and the 0 for 4 with 2Ks kinda seems to back me up. They do seem closer to the ultimate goal – a whole defense of second baseman!

LF Soriano
CF Buck Coats – AAA IF/OF!
RF Patterson
3B Cedeno
SS Theriot
2B Fontenot
1B DeRosa

Really, things would work so perfectly if Jason Kendall has played like 3 games at second for the Pirates at some point – it’d even explain the trade! – that I can’t believe it didn’t actually happen. It really should’ve. Baseball Cube says Koyie Hill played 1 game of second base when he was 21 in Yakima, so that’ll work.

Kendall did get a hit and walk, but he was also not good behind the place, particularly in the 10th. Wuertz’s wild pitch was on the pitcher because it was in the dirt, but Kendall should’ve done a much better job blocking it, and he quite nearly let the next one pass by as well. I don’t know if Uncle Cliffy gets to that ball in time to stop Wigginton from scoring if he’s at second, but I know it sure didn’t help.

At least, once again, the Cubs are going into a funk the same time as the Brewers, so they can’t lose too much ground. The downside is the Wild Card is starting to slip back away, so it may be the division or moot.

Ryan looked fine in the leadoff role and should be there long term, but I think Lou’s got to get a better hitter between Theriot and Lee just to get runners on. It seems like there’s not much chance most days if it’s not done by the top 4 batters, and that’s going to be more true with Soriano out.

It’s probably for the best that Eric Patterson starts with the the Cubs on the road. Mostly I just wanted to link to his name because the sponsor ship on his profile page is going for $200 right now, and someone MAY pay it.

The only other 2007 Cub pages that aren’t bought right now are
Soriano ($215)
Floyd ($126)
JAKE FOX ($20….ohhhhhhhhhh, tempting)
Ted Lilly ($45 – that’s a surprise)
Jason Marquis ($35 – not if you paid me 35)
Billy Petrick ($15 – that’s actually a better deal)

That’s actually more available then I figured. People seem to jump on these, seemingly figuring even the lowliest of hitters can get them some traffic.

Jake Fox actually came up in cell phone conversation while watching this game – I decided Eric Patterson would likely get slightly less than the 2ABs a week Matt Murton had been getting, but slightly more than 0 ABs a week Jake Fox got. This was before the SAC bunt, and that may change things – you got to work to get Lou’s trust, but if you make a good impression early, it helps.

Astros 39-51/10.5, 12.0
Cubs 45-43/3.5, 3.0

POTG: 1B D Lee (3 H, 3 RBI, BB, R, HR [7/223], SB)
Runner Up: SS/2B Ryan Theriot (2 H, 2 R, HR [2/5]), C Geovany Soto (H, R, BB), CF Angel Pagan (2 H, 2 RBI, HR [4/9]), RP Carlos Marmol (1.1 IP, H, BB, 2 K, 0 R, 2 Marooned), RP Michael Wuertz (1.1 IP, BB, 2 K, 0 R, 2 Marooned)

How do I say this, politely? Jason Marquis is a piece of garbage. I’m sure he’s a wonderful human being, but right now, as a pitcher who’s goal is to get outs without getting runs, he’s horrible.

05/29: 5 IP, 5 R
06/04: 5.1 IP, 2 R
06/09: 5 IP, 5 R
06/14: 5.1 IP, 2 R
06/20: 1.2 IP, 6 R
06/25: 5.2 IP, 3 R
07/01: 7 IP, 1 R – an actual quality start!
07/06: 4.2 IP, 6 R
07/15: 4 IP, 6 R

That’s 1 quality start in the last 9.

He’s the exact Jason Marquis the Cardinals thought they were getting, so the Cubs probably should’ve known better. And yet, 2.4 years more of this.

The hope is things can turn around, and turn around fast. They turned around for Marquis from the start of the season, and they sure turned around for Michael Wuertz. After his awful performance on Saturday, he might have been done with the team if he gave up Sunday’s game, and it sure looked like he was about to. Even the strike out to get out of the inning was a pitch way out of the strikezone, where he was just very lucky the Astros went fishing. Maybe this’ll get him kickstarted again.

This game was one the Cubs appeared to have no business winning at all, and yet the won. They’re making a habit out of it likely, and that’s what has separates this recent absurdly hot streak from a slight above average win record.

It’s near impossible to pick a player of the game, because so many people had to do excellent jobs to get the win, and they all actually did. I went with Lee because it was the game changer – it meant Wandy wasn’t going to last as long as the Astros needed, it got Lee off his homerless streak, and it finished bringing the Cubs all the way back from their deficit. You could make a case for Pagan or Theriot or anyone in the bullpen (though a couple less walks would be nice.) Or Ram, who didn’t have a huge offensive day but saved a couple of runs twice with plays at third base.

It’s a shame the Rockies couldn’t do more, because it feels like the Cubs have played well enough to earn another game or two off the lead the last couple of days. Still, they’re making steady progress in the Wild Card race (despite the west teams playing against each other), and the real story about the Giants series is a bad team coming to town to face a hot one. Cubs should win 3 more in this next series.

Astros 39-52/11.5
Cubs 46-43/3.5

POTG: SS Cesar Izturis (2 H, 2 R, BB)
Runner Up: 3B A Ram (2B, 3 H, 4 RBI, R), LF Soriano (HR, 2 H, 2 R, 3 RBI), SP Ted Lilly (8 IP, 4 H, R, BB, 7 K, W [9/68]; H, R, RBI), 2B/RF/3B Mark DeRosa (2 H, R)

I was at this game! Sitting down, even, once someone re-explained to me the concept of “aisle” row numbering. That was sorta sad, because we were actually ahead of schedule and navigating with a fair bit of accuracy up to that point.

This was a completely different game in the first 3 inning than the last 3. Burke’s leadoff triple was a fluke, a well placed bloop hit combined with a bad defensive left fielder making a bad decision. Cliff really should’ve played it safer and given up the single instead of the very low percentage dive play. Besides that play, it was looking to be an oddly pitching dominant game in windy conditions.

And then, Roy Oswalt lost the game on a ball 3 to Cesar Izturis. We were way up the third baseline, underneath the upper deck and kinda blocked by a pillar, so it’s not like we could accurate gauge pitch location, but it was borderline. There was no question it got to Oswalt, and got to him mroe when Cesar turned the next pitch into a single to end the 3 1/3 perfect game. Oswalt lost his composure at the wrong time. Lee and Ram made him pay, and Oswalt was like a different pitcher the rest of the game.

It still seemed like a unsure game, even with Lilly pitching very well, even past the 2 more runs in the 5th. Soriano’s home run ended it, ended the homerless streak and made me wonder if they’d empty the bench completely at that point. (They sorta did in the 9th.) The Cubs have been lacking the extra base hits to put games away, relying on wins of a thousand paper cuts instead, and getting the big home run here was pivotal for the weekend. I don’t think the Astros figured on having to get 2 2/3 out of their bullpen with Oswalt starting, and that extra work played into Sunday’s game.

Batting Izturis second was a stroke of genius. I have no idea why Lou put him there, and I don’t know if there was actually a reason behind it, but it worked beautifully. Any one who can get on base three times in front of Lee and Ram on a hot streak is a huge asset to this team. It was only for one day, but it was one fine day.

On the other hand, Fontenot and Bowen both looked awful. I think Koyie Hill is the one getting sent to AAA first of the three catches, and it makes tactical sense, since he’ll be less likely to be claimed. If you went strictly on performance, I think Hill might have a better case than Bowen, but both haven’t really shown much at the plate at all.

I had a hot dog, a Mountain Dew, a pretzel and then later ice cream at the game. It was all great. It was a nice day to sit outside – between the wind and the upper deck shade, it was as comfortable game to go to as I’ve been this season. On the way back, we listened to 620 AM, and it’s probably a bad sign that it’s July and I’m trying to get in the Milwaukee Brewers radio station to keep tabs on things, but pennant races are fun, and I guess the Cubs really are in one.

Astros 39-51/10.5
Cubs 45-43/2.5

POTG: Z! (6.2 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 0 R, W [11/75]; 2 H, R, RBI)
Runner Ups: RP Carlos Marmol (3 Marooned, 1.1 IP, K, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB), LF Soriano (2 H, 2B, R), SS The Riot (2 H, R, SB), 1B D Lee (2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI), RF Uncle Cliffy (2 H, R, BB), 2B Mark DeRosa (2 H, R)

I followed this one online, and caught the last couple innings on a static radio. Traveling screwed with my schedule this week.

This was a tough POTG to figure. Lots of good hitting, though no great one. If the final score was a little bit closer, Marmol’s job in the 7th would’ve been more important, but it really wasn’t that close at the time and ended up less so. This was not a great Z! game, but it was a pretty good one, so it goes to him.

The 8th inning was really where Lee’s power drain, turning into the greatest doubles hitter of all time at the cost of hitting any home runs, went from absurd to hilarious. You just knew it was going to be yet another double, and it was, and it was great. I spent the rest of the weekend just expecting doubles at all times when Lee got to the plate. That’s his gimmick.

Howry did not look especially good in the 9th, but I was fine with that. I hope he remains closer while Dempster is out, because it’s causing Lou to use Marmol earlier games in bigger situations, and he’s the guy on the staff everyone would prefer in those spots right now. The league ought to catch up to him at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet.