Saturday, May 9, 2009

Recap for G31 - Padres at Astros

Another Astros starter goes seven innings, and STILL the bullpen tries to screw it up. But the Astros rallied in the bottom of the 8th while LaHawk got a 4-out appearance to preserve a 5-4 win.

Moehler: 7IP, 5H, 1ER, 6K:1BB
Geary: .1IP, 2H, 2ER
Arias: .1IP, 0H
Wright: 0IP, 1H, 1ER
LaHawk: 1.1IP, 2H

Nice to have Brian Moehler back, and I kind of feel bad for saying all those mean things about him in his first two starts - and I will continue to feel bad until (if) he nuts another start. Both starters - Moehler and Correia - had pretty good games. Correia only gave up four hits and three walks in his six innings, and then the bullpen nutted it for him. Just like the Astros' bullpen almost did.

Moehler retired the first six batters he faced, then got into a little trouble in the third, putting runners on 2nd/3rd with just one out. Then he got Brian Giles to lineout to short and David Eckstein to pop up to 2nd. Inning over. In the 6th, after giving up two doubles to give the Padres a 1-0 lead, Moehler then got Adrian Gonzalez to ground into a double play.

But then the 8th inning happened. Geary threw a first-pitch ball to Chris Burke - that Chris Burke - and then gave up a double on the second pitch. He got Brian Giles, and then Astro-killer Eckstein singled, scoring Burke. Then Arias struck out Scott Hairston, and Wright came in - who gave up a single to Gonzalez - and LaHawk came in to complete the carousel, who then gave up a double to Chase Headley. Then he hit Kevin Kouzmanoff. Luckily Nick Hundley fouled out with runners on 2nd/3rd, but the Padres had a 4-3 lead, undoing in one inning what Moehler had accomplished in seven. Chris Burke doubled again in the 9th with one out, but the Padres left the tying run in scoring position.

Moehler's:
First-pitch strikes: 14
First-pitch balls: 11










PitcherPit/StrStrike%BF/OutsEfficiency%GB/FB/K
Moehler91/5863.7%26/2180.8%8/7/6
Geary9/666.7%3/133.3%1/0/0
Arias4/375%1/1100%0/0/1
Wright5/360%1/00%0/0/0
LaHawk25/1768%7/457.1%0/4/0
Total134/8764.9%37/2773.0%9/11/7



The 6th inning saw some good hitting from the Astros. After Bourn stole 2nd and Pence walked, Carlos Lee singled scoring Bourn and Tejada's sac fly scored Pence to put the Astros on top 2-1. The 8th was where it got really exciting. After allowing the Padres to take the lead in the top of the inning, Bourn got himself a lead-off walk. And then Pence walked, too. Both advanced on a wild pitch by Cla Meredith and a Carlos Lee single scored Bourn. When Tejada grounded into a fielder's choice, Pence scored and the Astros kept the lead for good.

Longest AB of the night: 10 pitches by J.R. Towles in the 3rd.

Man of the Match:
Let's give it to Carlos Lee. 3x4 with 2RBI, both of which tied the game (at the time). Brian Moehler pitched extremely well, giving the bullpen another break - even though it took four relievers to finish the two innings.

Goat of the Game:
Everyone in the bullpen should get a Goat, but everyone screwed everyone else's ERA, so it's hard to narrow it down. Let's go with Geoff Blum. 0x3 with 4LOBs. Blum's average fell from .333 on April 26 to what is now a .253 average. He has two hits in his last 26 ABs.