I am afraid, my friends, that the wild ride the Astros have been on the last few weeks has come to a halt. When you have Bourn and Matsui on 3rd and 2nd base in the 8th inning with the heart of your order coming up and no outs, you should get at least two runs out of it.
The Astros managed to get 3 quick outs instead ending a final push for a comeback against the Cubs. They went on to lose 7-3.
But the offense wasn’t the most concerning thing about that Astros last night. The pitching is what really concerns me. I think we are at the end of the rope with our pitching and we still have many games left in the season. Other than Byrdak, every single one of our pitchers gave up at least 1 run. On the other hand, the Cubs bullpen looked unstoppable.
I also hate it when we give up runs to something crazy like an in-the-park homerun. It just sounds so lame, you know? You get a mental image of the Astros on a blooper reel with silly, vaudeville music in the background. I know it wasn’t nearly that bad, but still… can’t we keep the opposing team from beating us with a hit that doesn’t even leave the field?
There was one shining moment last night. Michael Bourn had a good game. No, he had a great game. He went 2-for-4 and if it wasn’t for an awesome catch by Derrek Lee, he would have been 3-for-4. He blistered that line drive right at the Cubs’ first baseman. That’s the hardest hit I have seen from him all season.
Hitting Coach Sean Berry has been working with Bourn quite a bit to correct some mechanical problems and he looked very good last night. I hope this is the start of a good couple of months for our speedy center fielder. If he can get on base, it changes the way the starting pitcher reacts on the mound. Then, Michael can get some extra bases for us and create some more runs.
Here’s hoping the Astros win tonight, but they have a tough job going against Ryan Dempster. (I never thought I would say that in my lifetime.) Dempster has been solid and his move from the bullpen looks to be justified. Let’s hope Chris Sampson has shrugged off his woes of late and beats Dempster to the punch.
