After the Albers start in San Diego (which of course in German means a whale's ------), it's on to Arizona. We had a caller yesterday wonder why would Phil Garner give Craig Biggio the day off Thursday after he homered twice on Wednesday. Our response was..."that's a good question, that's just what he does. Day game after a night game, Biggio's road numbers aren't that good, you know stuff like that."*Okay on to the opener and my running Gameblog. Naturally with Biggio's first at-bat in Arizona he belted his third consecutive home run for the first time in his career. It was also his 2,899th hit. Roy's got his run - can he make it stand up?
*We joked tonight on the show that Oswalt's first start would not be impacted at all since his name was bounced around in trade talks. He got touched up for 5 hits -all to the opposite field - and 3 runs in the first. Hmmmmmm......
*You won't see this in the boxscore, Morgan Ensberg made a spectacular play on Eric Byrnes broken bat roller in the 2nd inning. A barehand pick-up and more importantly, a strong and accurate throw on the run. That is your indicator that his shoulder is not bothering him anymore - or at least as much as it was for the last 2 months.
*Nice weak comebacker by Adam Everett with 2 outs after Miguel Batista walked the bases loaded in the third. ONly seen that about a thousand times, but usually it's compliments of Brad Ausmus.
*Big RBI knock from Willy T. in the 4th to tie the game at 4. He's very quietly put together an 8-game hitting streak. Sadly he followed that up by proving once again that despite his tremendous speed he's not a good base-stealer. He's now been thrown out 6 times in 22 attempts, although it did appear that 2nd base umpire Chuck Meriweather called him out simply b/c the throw beat him there - it didn't appear that Orlando Hudson tagged before Tavares reached the bag.
*Everett up with the bases loaded again following a walk to Luke Scott, Miguel Batista's 6th of the night. Everett surprisngly swings at the first pitch but drives it far enough to center to bring home the gimpy Lance Berkman who starts for the first time on the road trip. Astros with their 3rd lead of the night at 5-4.
*Tough call for Phil Garner with the bases loaded after Batista's 7th walk. Batista is lifted with Oswalt due up. If it were me I would pinch hit with Mike Lamb, Roy has been off tonight already allowing ten hits and has already thrown 85 pitches, so he's probably only good for 1 more inning anyway. So what if he doesn't qualify for the win. You need these runs.
*Garner sticks with Oswalt and the outcome is...............a weak ground out to 3rd.
*Man do the Astros love to make things difficult. 5 at-bats in the first 6 innings with the bases loaded. Here's what they did - a comebacker, a flyout, a groundout, a popout & a strikeout(of course looking by Scott). At least the flyout was Everett's sacrifice fly produced 1 run, but their unbelievable ineptitude with the bases loaded is a huge reason why they are in the predicament they're in, 6 games under .500.
*Does 3rd base coach Doug Mansolino need a scouting report on his own team? On a one-out double to left-center that didn't even reach the wall, he decides to wave home the very slow-footed Ausmus trying to score from first. Eric Byrnes made a weak looping throw to 2nd basemen Orlando Hudson and he two-bounced a throw home...and Ausmus was out by a country mile. Nice rally-killer. 18 baserunners in 7 innings and the Astros managed just 5 runs while leaving 11 on base.
*By the way I couldn't even finish that last thought before and Qualls had thrown 3 pitches...and coughed up the lead on a sharp single and a bomb to Johnny Estrada. Of course you could see this coming with all the scoring opportunities wasted throughout the nght.
*Another btw, Qualls has allowed 8 runs in his last 5 outings including 3 no-doubt about it home run moon shots.
*Good news alert. The Astros are 11-1 when Biggio homers and 16-8 when Berkman homers and Lance just crushed number 29 over the pool at Chase Field to tie the game at 6.
*Why is Qualls still out there, he looked positively awful in the 7th, allowing not only the homer but each of the first 4 batters he faced tattoed the ball. Luckily two of the liners were caught for outs. It is truly mystifying how Garner has unwavering confidence in his bullpen guys no matter how poorly they are pitching. He doesn't play hunches or go with a hot hand. He seemingly just trots guys out there as if they always have their best stuff. That is a major problem in my mind.
*Want to know the difference b/w a good hitter and a bad hitter? Ausmus leads off the 9th and looks awful stirking out on 3 pitches. Mike Lamb gets off the bench to pinch hit and belts a home run on the first pitch he sees.
*As I have been saying all year long, I think the Astros should at least entertain the idea of playing Mike Lamb in the outfield, his stick is just too hot this year to sit him as often as they do and Berkman is not going to play anywhere but first base the rest of the year.
*What a time for Tavares' 1st HR in 739 at-bats as he makes it back-to-back longballs. It's nice to get a 2-run lead, but the best part of that homer is the reaction he got from his teammates and skipper. Berkman in the on-deck circle gave him a big "WOW" as he slapped him five. Scott, his best friend on the team and former minor league roommate, was the first guy to greet him in the dugout. And the reaction from Garner showed his best attribute as a manager. He keeps the guys loose and he was genuinely excited for Tavares. That's how Garner keeps guys up, which is one of the most overlooked thing a manger can do.
*I know I just praised Garner, but why isn't Jason Lane or Brandon Backe pinch-running for Lance after he walked with a 2-run lead in the 9th? Just thinking out loud.
*Just like with Qualls, Garner just goes into auto pilot and in comes Brad Lidge for the 9th since it's a save situation. Here's a little tidbit. Lidge has a 4.91 ERA in 9 appearances since the All-Star break, Dan Wheeler has a spotless 0.00 ERA in 8 appearances. Surely not important numbers!!!
*The game should already be over. Lidge struck out Hudson with an o-2 heater right across the plate. Too bad umpire Gerry Crawford forgot to signal punchout. Lidge could not believe it. And of course he then walked him to bring the winning run to the plate. This is how it is everytime with Lidge - unreal. He's losing it Phil - do something! Oh great Hickey's out there. "Hey Brad throw strikes." Hope it's not too late, a 4-pitch walk. Here's comes Wheeler to face Jeff DaVanon with the bases juiced. If I remember correctly this is the 3rd time since the All-Star break that Wheeler has had to relieve Lidge before he could complete the inning. Do you think Phil has gotten the message yet that Lidge absolutely, positively cannot be the closer anymore??
*Another walk, it's 8-7. Oh great Hickey's out there. "Hey Dan throw strikes."
*Wheeler gets it done. A swinging strikeout on PH Carlos Quentin. Just another day at the office.
*Record: 52-57, 4 games back of Cincy.
---- WEX
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