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The Astros didn’t play badly last night so much as they were unfortunate enough to run up against a pitcher having the best night of his career. Edinson Volquez, in his fifth year in the big leagues, dominated the Astros from start to finish. He looked brilliant and made the Astros look like they were blind at the plate as they went on to lose 0-3.
Houston could never really get anything going and it was obvious by the third inning that unless Volquez was injured and taken out of the game early, the Astros weren’t going to win their fourth game in a row. One wonders why the Rangers didn’t hang onto this guy. This season, his ERA isn’t great, but the two times he has pitched against Houston, he has looked like an ace. Maybe he is still in Rangers/Astros rivalry mode.
Paulino actually pitched very well last night making just a few mistakes, but that was going to be all it took in a shutout. I can’t believe the Astros are considering putting him in the bullpen when they bring back Moehler, but I guess Brian is making too much money not to give him a second chance.
Michael Bourn had several great catches in the outfield and then he and Carlos Lee had a snafu in communication and the ball dropped in the outfield. The error was given to Bourn, but I really felt it was Carlos’ error. Everybody knows that the centerfielder has the ball when it comes to a pop-up and Lee should have let him have it. Bill Brown and JD said they thought that Carlos wasn’t aware that Michael was there, but I can’t see that being possible. Regardless, it was one of those silly errors that shouldn’t have happened.
“I called the ball,” Bourn said. “If I call it I want it. I’m not calling it just for my health. That’s all I can say. I don’t try to bully nobody or do nothing like that. I’m the center fielder. I want the ball. I call it. I want it, simple as that.”
The Astros have a day off before facing the Braves in Atlanta (always a tough place to play.) The Braves are hovering around .500 and still in the hunt in the East. The Astros need to make a stand and take some, if not all, of the games from Atlanta to stay competitive in the Central.
They are always hard fought games when we face the Braves and I hope that we get back into the win column.
