I just got home from the game. Awesome. Had great seats behind the plate. Dodger hitters could not figure Pettite out. Ninth inning was one of the best endings I have ever attended. (Especially since I was among Dodger fans).
Wagner could never give you 2 inning saves... What this team is really missing is a dotel/Mota-like setup man... right now, Weathers, Miceli, Harville, et. al are really not getting the job done, thus causing Jimy to go straight for Lidge tonight. He can't keep that up in every tight 1-inning game on the road... sooner or later, he'll have to trust Miceli or whoever to take the hill in the 8th.
I know this is generally frowned upon, but I'm going to post a link to the forum at www.astrosdaily.com. Remember late in the 7-2 loss to the Dodgers where they walked three straight at the beginning of the lineup then Bagwell (if I remember right) grounded into a double play to kill the inning? Turns out there should have been four straight walks to start that inning. Take a look for yourself. http://www.raykerby.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1346
Damn! That really sucks. Yet that sums up this Astros season perfectly - everyone on the team, from the manager on down to the players to the press box - is so totally disinterested in the game that they miss a blown walk. Wow. MadMax or Rocketman95...is BW3 still on for today?
The announcers didn't even catch that. The umps for that game need a good talking-to, the MLB is paying them too good of money for them not to be able to count to 4, and I hope Palmeiro got blasted by Jimy for not realizing it either. This team is really making me mad, but I have a feeling they'll turn it around after the all-star break.
Do you really think that everything would have happened exactly the same had Palmeiro walked to lead off the inning? If Biggio and Bagwell followed with walks do you think the pitcher would have been left in to face Beltran? Granted the Astros got hosed because the count was screwed up (why didn't anyone in the Astros' dugout notice?), but to say that there would have been 4 consecutive walks is not necessarily true. For all we know, Biggio may have hit a 2 run HR after the Palmeiro walk or grounded into a DP.
btw... I hope everybody in here is "rooting" for the Cardinals when they play the Cubs. Nobody is stopping STL right now... they're just too damn hot (even hotter than we were at the higher/early points of the season)... We'll still eventually make our move towards the division title, but for now... lets get everybody else in the NL on even playing field, and take our chances from there. Let the Cardinals run off with this thing, get complacent, and end up faltering again in the playoffs (see 2001 Seattle Mariners). Whoever wins the wildcard wins the NLCS... again. You heard it here first.
Well, that depends on your own philosophical beliefs - something that I hate talking about and don't see a point in getting into here. However, I stated it in that way to catch my readers' attention. The chances that that one walk would have changed the outcome of the game is highly unlikely. My basic point in posting it here is the same as the original poster's, to point out that NO one was paying attention. Determinism vs. Free Will, three of the most boring weeks in a classroom I've ever spent.
Is there a reason Beltran is out of the game? I'm not able to see the game today since its not on MLB extra innings. If it's solely to give him a rest, then I just don't like the move unless he asked for it. We are in a critical time right now and getting to within 1.5 games of the wild card going into the break would be huge.
He was taken out of last night's game, because of a sore knee that he fouled a pitch off earlier in the game. I assume its because of the injury... Jimy doesn't rest his good players who are under 30 (Everett, Berkman, Beltran).
we could have the top 5 starters in the league but if we don't score any runs we won't win anything. I don't even remember the last Astros blowout win. This team is so depressing to watch - just going through the motions, no passion, no fire.
This game was far from Clemens fault ... He pitched a decent game and has certainly done his part this year
Inept offense.... I still think that it's almost mathematically impossible for this offense to be this bad too much longer.
