I'll be around for the first hour or so of the game this morning (yeah, it'll be morning for another 2.5 hrs here, lol), but here are the lineups. And ours is an interesting one.
'Stros:
CF, Taveras
3B, Lamb
RF, Lane
DH, Berkman
2B, Burke
LF, Wilson
1B, Munson
C, Ausmus
SS, Bruntlett
los tigres del norte:
CF, Granderson
2B, Polanco
C, Rodriguez
RF, Ordonez
SS, Guillen
LF, Thames
1B, Shelton
DH, Monroe
3B, Inge
is right. I may actually have to watch the game now. (Lately it has felt like the choices were, watch the game or poke myself in the eye with a stick, but maybe I'll suffer through this one. Nothing like sounding optimistic, huh?)
I'll chime in with inning summaries if nobody else is around.
Going to the top of the 6th after a harmless bottom of the 5th, in which Pettite stranded a 2-out single by getting a dying dribble towards second and taking it to first unassisted. Radio guys sounded impressed.
Bruntlett down swinging. Needs to make up for his error that allowed the only run in the game. Not this time around, though.
Willy grounds harmlessly to 2nd and apparently that's 7 straight for Verlander. I was figuring this would be our toughest mound matchup. Hopefully the late innings go better for us than they have in the last few games --- HEY, STOP LAUGHING!!!
Guillen drives one to the left center gap, Wilson fields and Guillen takes a big turn, but stays at first.
Thames reaches when Burke drops the force attempt at 2nd from Lamb. Missed it, so I'm not sure what those cirmustances are. Two games in a row, though that we're making fielding mistakes that are killing us.
Guillen steals third, but Thames missed the call, so the double play is still in order.
Sheldon pops out to Ausmus right around home plate. Could still get out of this without any damage. C'mon Andy, pitch through the crappy fielding behind you!
Monroe drops a bunt down the third base line. Lamb was playing deep and Pettite could make the play fast enough. 2nd unearned run scores. Men at 1st and 2nd.
Inning should be over two batters ago, but Inge takes advantage of the free outs and lines one back up the middle to score Thames. 3rd unearned run of the day.
Granderson flies out to Wilson to finally end the inning that should have been a relatively quick and painless one for Andy. Instead, two runs score and he's sitting at 100 pitches.
going into the 9th. We'll see if that means anything, but Pettite pitched an extra 15 or so pitches in that 6th, so maybe he wouldn't have had so much trouble in the 7th.
Such a big difference batting down 1-0 late, as opposed to 5-0 late. Maybe it doesn't matter with the pit of despair these guys are in right now.
again, playing that "what if" game, but anyhow, without the errors, it may have been 0-0 going into the 9th. not sure if we'd EVER have broken through, but our defense didn't help keep us in the game.
Lamb flies out to deep left field. We need baserunners.
Between batters we're told Pence homered again last night. Up to 20 I think he said. When's he at least going to make it up to AAA?
Lane strikes out looking. In his defense, it sounds like this Verlander guy is on like Donkey Kong. We'll recall how much this kid was lauded when we saw him in Spring Training.
Berkman K's swinging. 6th for Verlander in the inning we were supposed to make things happen: 2-3-4 hitters up and running out of time.
where's all this excitement from the return of Clemens we were going to see?
I expected us to struggle on this road trip, though. We're a terrible road team facing the two hottest teams in baseball, who both have great pitching. If we had won those series against KC and the Twins, I wouldn't feel so terrible about these last six games.
Would be nice to get at least ONE here in Detroit, though, and maybe win that series in Arlington. Might be too much to ask for these days, though.
Polanco fires it back to Andy, who knocks it down, has trouble finding it, and gathers it too late to get Placido.
Hit and run and while Pudge grounds it through the hole between SS and 3rd. Polanco stays at 2nd, though.
Hickey's out to the mound and brings the infield in for the discussion. Dolan saying it's Lidge warming up in the 'pen. Interesting.
Gomez bunts the runners over, Lamb to Munson.
Guillen's getting the free pass to load them up.
Andy stays in to pitch to Thames. Goes 3-0 with his 115th pitch. Gets two fouls balls, but eventually walks in the 4th run.
Lidge comes in to face Sheldon with the bases juiced and one out. Sounds like Pettite did a good job of competing all day, just now letting in his first ER. It sure would be a shame to see some more get tacked onto his line now that he's gone. C'mon Lidge. Get yourself a little shot of redemption! (hate to say it, but Qualls would have made more sense here).
First pitch is a wild one over Shelton's head, Pudge trots home for Andy's 2nd ER (5-0 Tigers). Runners move up. No more DP in order. Not good, Brad.
Goes on to K Shelton, but the wild pitch taints it quite a bit.
First pitch to Monroe gets away from Ausmus, but the run can't score. Why do we think Lidge is the guy to bring in the the bases loaded and one out?
2-2 pitch is grounded to Lamb at 3rd for the last out. Would have been a good escape job if not for the wild pitch.
Alas, 5-0 bad guys, and who else feels like you can go ahead and put this in the books. Oh wait, I suppose Detroit can still score some runs in the 8th. Man, I think I'm at a new low of discouragement with this team. Sorry guys, you're bringing it on yourselves.
Inge takes Lidge to a full count before going down swinging.
Granderson goes down swinging on a 1-2.
Polanco rolls one to short, Bruntlett handles with ease.
If Brad had come in with nobody on (or at least not at 3rd), last inning, we might be talking about how good he looks. He's gonna have a good looking line, anyway.
We're finding new ways to lose every day. Today it's defense (well, and the non-existent offense, but we're getting used to that).
Two solid starts by Roger and Andy and the other 8 guys on the field fail to show up again.
Can't see it getting any worse in Arlington, but it's also tough to imagine it getting much better. They're another heavy hitting AL squad. Their pitching won't be what we've seen these last six days, so maybe there's hope for our bats to come around.
Life long Astros fan but these guys are the worst team I have ever seen...and to beleive that they went to the World Series. They fooled me with their statements of wait until Roger comes back...what a joke. Pupura needs to go!!
I'd argue that the Cubs are a bigger joke than the Astros, but being that nobody expects ANYTHING from them anymore maybe gives them a pass.
T-Purp has done little to impress and Drayton can't be happy that he's got the highest payroll of any losing team by no small margin, but the time to throw a hissy fit was when we lost consecutive series to Minnesota and Kansas City, or when we lost consecutive series to Washington and Pittsburgh, not when we lose consecutive series to the two best teams in baseball.
I don't know about everybody else, but I mentally chalked up at least four losses in these six days some time ago (which is what every other team in baseball has been getting of these two). It'd have been nice to see them do it in something other than shoot yourself in the foot or bury your head in the sand fashion, though.
Lineups...
I'll be around for the first hour or so of the game this morning (yeah, it'll be morning for another 2.5 hrs here, lol), but here are the lineups. And ours is an interesting one.'Stros:
CF, Taveras
3B, Lamb
RF, Lane
DH, Berkman
2B, Burke
LF, Wilson
1B, Munson
C, Ausmus
SS, Bruntlett
los tigres del norte:
CF, Granderson
2B, Polanco
C, Rodriguez
RF, Ordonez
SS, Guillen
LF, Thames
1B, Shelton
DH, Monroe
3B, Inge
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Interesting . . .
is right. I may actually have to watch the game now. (Lately it has felt like the choices were, watch the game or poke myself in the eye with a stick, but maybe I'll suffer through this one. Nothing like sounding optimistic, huh?)Danyah - June 28, 2006
I wish I could do PBP...
but I'm still getting ready. Maybe when I'm ready to go...StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Top of the 3rd...
Munson leads off w/ a single.CatcherBradley up.
He GIDPs. Damnit, Bradley!
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Half-a-B up.
BTW, I've only got about 20 min until I've got to jet...StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Half-a-B Ks to end the inning.
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Bottom of the 3rd...
Shelton leading off.StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Shelton finally gets the first Tigers hit of the..
day. A mere single. However, it was quickly erased by Monroe hitting into a 5-4-3 DP.Inge, however is on w/ a 2-out double.
Granderson up.
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
He grounds out to Burkie to end the inning,
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Top of the 4th...
Willy T leading off.StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Willy grounds out to Polanco...
who bobbles, but recovers.Mikey Chops up.
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
He grounds to first...
Jason up.StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Jason on w/ a double...
c'mon, boys, score some runs before I have to go to school.Lance up.
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
He flies out to Granderson to end the inning.
Yucky.StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Bottom of the 4th..
Polanco leading off.StrosDux - June 28, 2006
He flies out to Jason for the first out...
Rodriguez upStrosDux - June 28, 2006
Pudge on w/ a base-hit...
Ordonez up.DP would rock, lol...
StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Okay, I gotta jet...
and not cuz it looks like a run's about to score. That sucks. Have a good day, all!StrosDux - June 28, 2006
Just got back from lunch
I'll chime in with inning summaries if nobody else is around.Going to the top of the 6th after a harmless bottom of the 5th, in which Pettite stranded a 2-out single by getting a dying dribble towards second and taking it to first unassisted. Radio guys sounded impressed.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Top of the 6th
Ausmus down looking and not happy.Bruntlett down swinging. Needs to make up for his error that allowed the only run in the game. Not this time around, though.
Willy grounds harmlessly to 2nd and apparently that's 7 straight for Verlander. I was figuring this would be our toughest mound matchup. Hopefully the late innings go better for us than they have in the last few games --- HEY, STOP LAUGHING!!!
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Bottom of the 6th
Alexis (dude's name?!) Gomez grounds to MunsonGuillen drives one to the left center gap, Wilson fields and Guillen takes a big turn, but stays at first.
Thames reaches when Burke drops the force attempt at 2nd from Lamb. Missed it, so I'm not sure what those cirmustances are. Two games in a row, though that we're making fielding mistakes that are killing us.
Guillen steals third, but Thames missed the call, so the double play is still in order.
Sheldon pops out to Ausmus right around home plate. Could still get out of this without any damage. C'mon Andy, pitch through the crappy fielding behind you!
Monroe drops a bunt down the third base line. Lamb was playing deep and Pettite could make the play fast enough. 2nd unearned run scores. Men at 1st and 2nd.
Inning should be over two batters ago, but Inge takes advantage of the free outs and lines one back up the middle to score Thames. 3rd unearned run of the day.
Granderson flies out to Wilson to finally end the inning that should have been a relatively quick and painless one for Andy. Instead, two runs score and he's sitting at 100 pitches.
3-0 Tigers
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
I saw
Burke's error. He just flat dropped it, I think probably anticipating the DP, although he hadn't yet made any forward arm motion when he dropped it.Danyah - June 28, 2006
Probably could be 1-0
going into the 9th. We'll see if that means anything, but Pettite pitched an extra 15 or so pitches in that 6th, so maybe he wouldn't have had so much trouble in the 7th.Such a big difference batting down 1-0 late, as opposed to 5-0 late. Maybe it doesn't matter with the pit of despair these guys are in right now.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Without the errors...
again, playing that "what if" game, but anyhow, without the errors, it may have been 0-0 going into the 9th. not sure if we'd EVER have broken through, but our defense didn't help keep us in the game.littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Top of the 7th
Lamb flies out to deep left field. We need baserunners.Between batters we're told Pence homered again last night. Up to 20 I think he said. When's he at least going to make it up to AAA?
Lane strikes out looking. In his defense, it sounds like this Verlander guy is on like Donkey Kong. We'll recall how much this kid was lauded when we saw him in Spring Training.
Berkman K's swinging. 6th for Verlander in the inning we were supposed to make things happen: 2-3-4 hitters up and running out of time.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
yeah
where's all this excitement from the return of Clemens we were going to see?I expected us to struggle on this road trip, though. We're a terrible road team facing the two hottest teams in baseball, who both have great pitching. If we had won those series against KC and the Twins, I wouldn't feel so terrible about these last six games.
Would be nice to get at least ONE here in Detroit, though, and maybe win that series in Arlington. Might be too much to ask for these days, though.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Bottom of the 7th
Polanco fires it back to Andy, who knocks it down, has trouble finding it, and gathers it too late to get Placido.Hit and run and while Pudge grounds it through the hole between SS and 3rd. Polanco stays at 2nd, though.
Hickey's out to the mound and brings the infield in for the discussion. Dolan saying it's Lidge warming up in the 'pen. Interesting.
Gomez bunts the runners over, Lamb to Munson.
Guillen's getting the free pass to load them up.
Andy stays in to pitch to Thames. Goes 3-0 with his 115th pitch. Gets two fouls balls, but eventually walks in the 4th run.
Lidge comes in to face Sheldon with the bases juiced and one out. Sounds like Pettite did a good job of competing all day, just now letting in his first ER. It sure would be a shame to see some more get tacked onto his line now that he's gone. C'mon Lidge. Get yourself a little shot of redemption! (hate to say it, but Qualls would have made more sense here).
First pitch is a wild one over Shelton's head, Pudge trots home for Andy's 2nd ER (5-0 Tigers). Runners move up. No more DP in order. Not good, Brad.
Goes on to K Shelton, but the wild pitch taints it quite a bit.
First pitch to Monroe gets away from Ausmus, but the run can't score. Why do we think Lidge is the guy to bring in the the bases loaded and one out?
2-2 pitch is grounded to Lamb at 3rd for the last out. Would have been a good escape job if not for the wild pitch.
Alas, 5-0 bad guys, and who else feels like you can go ahead and put this in the books. Oh wait, I suppose Detroit can still score some runs in the 8th. Man, I think I'm at a new low of discouragement with this team. Sorry guys, you're bringing it on yourselves.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Top of the 8th
Burke flies to center. 11 straight.Wilson flies to right. 12 straight.
Munson chops to short. 13 straight.
Not much more needs to be said about this half of the inning. Oh, Verlander at 97 pitches will probably get to go for the CG SHO. Whoopee!
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Yeah. . .
time to go get my stick back out (so I can poke myself in the eye).Danyah - June 28, 2006
Bottom of the 8th
Inge takes Lidge to a full count before going down swinging.Granderson goes down swinging on a 1-2.
Polanco rolls one to short, Bruntlett handles with ease.
If Brad had come in with nobody on (or at least not at 3rd), last inning, we might be talking about how good he looks. He's gonna have a good looking line, anyway.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Top of the 9th
Ausmus takes the count full, but grounds to 2nd for the 14th straight out for Verlander.Bruntlett grounds up the middle, but Polanco gathers and makes him number 15.
0-3 Taveras steps in representing our last hope.
He chops it up the middle, AND IT'S THROUGH!!!
Lamb's up, but we're reminded that we're working on our 20th straight goose egg inning right now. C'mon Mikey!
He hits it well, but it's playable for Thames in left. Game over.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Okay, this is getting depressing
We're finding new ways to lose every day. Today it's defense (well, and the non-existent offense, but we're getting used to that).Two solid starts by Roger and Andy and the other 8 guys on the field fail to show up again.
Can't see it getting any worse in Arlington, but it's also tough to imagine it getting much better. They're another heavy hitting AL squad. Their pitching won't be what we've seen these last six days, so maybe there's hope for our bats to come around.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
Astros are the biggest joke in the majors!!
Life long Astros fan but these guys are the worst team I have ever seen...and to beleive that they went to the World Series. They fooled me with their statements of wait until Roger comes back...what a joke. Pupura needs to go!!MaxDemo - June 28, 2006
Well
I'd argue that the Cubs are a bigger joke than the Astros, but being that nobody expects ANYTHING from them anymore maybe gives them a pass.T-Purp has done little to impress and Drayton can't be happy that he's got the highest payroll of any losing team by no small margin, but the time to throw a hissy fit was when we lost consecutive series to Minnesota and Kansas City, or when we lost consecutive series to Washington and Pittsburgh, not when we lose consecutive series to the two best teams in baseball.
I don't know about everybody else, but I mentally chalked up at least four losses in these six days some time ago (which is what every other team in baseball has been getting of these two). It'd have been nice to see them do it in something other than shoot yourself in the foot or bury your head in the sand fashion, though.
littlevisigoth - June 28, 2006
I agree
Well said, sir.Danyah - June 28, 2006
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of The Crawfish Boxes to post a comment.