Myers pulled, and the streak is over

So last night, in G159, Myers' remarkable streak of 32 starts of 6IP+ came to an end. The County Clerk is out for the recap, partially because he's a douche. Let's discuss Myers 33rd start of the year.

First of all, he got rocked, yes - but mainly in just two innings, the 5th/6th. From the 1st-4th innings, the Reds were 4x16, 4K:2BB, 2ER. And then the 5th came along. Brandon Phillips grounded out, Miguel Cairo and Joey Votto walked. Jonny Gomes singled, and Jay Bruce fouled out. At this point the bases are loaded, but with two outs. Drew Stubbs hit a two-run single, and Ryan Hanigan got an RBI single to make it a 5-1 game before Paul Janish flied out to left.

In the 6th, Bronson Arroyo led off the inning with a single and Brandon Phillips took him real deap. Three batters later, Jonny Gomes hit a homer to make it 8-1. And Myers' night was done, one out short of his 33rd consecutive start of 18+ outs.

So help me work through something, because I'm torn right down the middle about this:

Side A: Why would Mills pull Myers when he just needed one more out to keep the streak alive? Jay Bruce was coming up to bat, and he was 2x3 with two singles, sure, but the Astros were out of it. 8-1? Leave him in, and let him keep his streak. This season, I'd take a gassed Brett Myers over Gustavo Chacin.

Side B: Myers didn't pitch well, allowing three homers to the Reds (he allowed four homers against the Brewers on June 29, and this was his 4th multi-HR game of the season - all came on the road.). The 8ER are a season high, and the most he's allowed since September 19, 2008. He was also at 114 pitches, needing 50 pitches to get through the 5th and 6th innings. Pitching that poorly, he didn't exactly earn his 18 outs, and it's not a streak that is reminiscent of, say, Cal Ripken, Jr. So, streak's over, and rightly so.

What do you think? Should Mills have let him get that last out, or was he right to pull him?

Recap for G157 - Astros @ Phillies

So that streak ended, and another continued. The Phillies broke their five-game losing streak against Houston this season with a 7-4 win, but Miguel Tejada continued his 16-game hitting streak and his Race to 200 hits with a 1x5 night, bringing him to 192 with five games left.

The night didn't go so well for Wilton Lopez. Or Chad Paronto. Let's do the thing:

Lopez: 3.2IP, 6H/5ER, 2K:2BB, 8/19 first-pitch strikes, 12/33 non-contact strikes (9c:3s)
Wright: 1.1IP, 1H/2ER, 2K:1BB, 1/6 FPS, 8/14 NCS (6c:2s)
Paronto: 1.1IP, 1H, 3/5 FPS, 3/12 NCS (3c)
Fulchino: 0.2IP, 1K, 0/2 FPS, 2/4 NCS (1c:1s)
Gervacio: 1IP, 1K, 1/3 FPS, 6/8 NCS (5c:1s)

Lopez served up a real nice grand slam in the 4th to Pedro Feliz, and Chad Paronto left with a leg injury - as did Jamie Moyer - which makes me wonder about the pitcher's mound. I mean, Jamie Moyer could hurt his leg going to get a LuAnn Platter at Luby's Cafeteria, but when Chad Paronto gets hurt in the same game? Come on.

Yep, it really got away from Lopez in the 4th, with the game tied 1-1. Ryan Howard reached on an infield single to lead off the inning. Raul Ibanez singled to center. Jayson Werth walked. And Happy Pete sent a big fly to left. That's all with nobody out. Lopez recovered to get Bako to ground out to first and Happ to fly out to center. But a Jimmy Rollins single later, and Lopez is gone. After 57 pitches. Five games from the end of the season. Again, why risk an injury to a reliever (that happened in the 6th)? To save Lopez' 9.42 ERA? To keep him rested for the final start against the Mets on Sunday? Nope, instead, Wright throws 27 pitches, Paronto gets hurt, and it takes two more relievers after that to close out the loss. The 84th loss of the season.

Offensively, it wasn't a bad night, even though the Astros were 3x11 with RISP. Berkman got himself his 25th homer of the year; Matsui, his 9th. Lopez had a chance to break it open in the 1st with the bases loaded, but grounded out to 2nd to end the inning. Matsui (2x5), Berkman (2x4), Lee (2x5), Pence (2x4), and Towles (2x3) all had multi-hit games, with Pence and Towles recording the only two walks for the Astros all game. The Astros had the tying run at the plate with Ryan Madson on the mound in the 9th. Matsui and Berkman singled to left, and with one out, Lee struck out swinging, and Pence struck out looking to end the game.

This is the fourth straight year Berkman has had 25 homers, and the 8th season out of ten (and in 2005, he had 24). In all, Berkman has hit 20+ homers in every season in which he has played (not counting the 34-game 1999).

Man of the Match: I guess it's Matsui, much as I'm afraid Ed Wade will read this and not trade him for eight foreskins and a busted resin bag. 2x5, 2RBI to cut the deficit to 7-4.

Goat of the Game: Hard to give it to a guy who threw one bad pitch, and who was pitching in Double-A this season. But I'm gonna. Wilton Lopez, get your goat.

On winning streaks

The Astros, as you may well know, have only been able to string four wins together at a time. This is bad, as you well know.

The last time the Astros had a season in which their longest win streak was four or fewer games...? 1982.

What about all of Major League Baseball in 2009? Only one team has put together their longest win streaks of 4 games or fewer: Toronto. That's it. The Astros and Blue Jays have the shortest longest win streaks in all of baseball. And the Blue Jays currently have a three-game win streak going.

Even the Nationals had an eight game win streak. And just because the math is free here at Astros County, that means that the Nationals won 15.3% of their games in an eight-day span.

Does one game make a difference?

Saturday, August 14, 2004. Houston @ Montreal.

Carlos Hernandez makes his first start since 2002. Nick Johnson hits a grand slam in the 8th and the Expos win 8-3, sending the Astros to a 56-60 record. The Astros were tied for 3rd, 19.5 games behind the Cardinals and 7 games back of the Cubs. They had the 11th best record in the National League.

Then, the Sunday game. August 15. Orlando Palmeiro's pinch-hit single to score Jason Lane capped a three-run 9th inning for a come-from-behind 5-4 win. Then they only lost three more times in August and went 18-7 (three of those losses came in a four-game set at, of course, Pittsburgh) in September.

What happened? Can one game set off a streak, like that of the '04 Astros that rattled off a 36-10 record (2nd-best to close a season)? One come from behind victory against the Expos on a Sunday afternoon decides the season. Your thoughts?