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| Matt Morris | Woody Williams |
| 4 - 1, 3.11 | 1 - 5, 5.10 |
Woody Williams looks to continue his rather effective May as the somewhat surprising Giants come to town.
I guess that's not the only story as I am led to understand that a certain overstuffed slugger travels with San Francsico, as well.
It seems the national media considers him a story, but I just don't have all that much to say about him.
Matt Morris has always been a worthy foe for the Astros, and after 28 games against the Astros, he finds himself 11 - 10 vs. Houston with a 3.43 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.
So by all means, let's call tonight "the equalizer."
0 recs | 86 comments
Lineups
San FranciscoWinn, CF
Lewis, RF
Aurilia, 1B
Bonds, LF
Durham, 2B
Molina, C
Feliz, 3B
Vizquel, SS
Morris, P
Houston
Biggio, 2B
Lamb, 3B
Berkman, 1B
Lee, LF
Scott, RF
Pence, CF
Everett, SS
Quintero, C
Williams, P
First time we've seen this particular lineup, the 22nd different of the season in a mere 38 games.
This is the fifth time Lamb has hit in the two-slot, and we are 2- 2 when he does, most recently winning vs. Livan on Friday, and most recently losing vs. the Reds and Bronson Arroyo May first.
Morgan last started on the 11th, in case you were wondering.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
For lineup counting purposes...
Couldn't you group this lineup with any one that is the same 1-7 but has 8. Ausmus and 9. Pitcher? How many times have we seen this 1-7?BTastros - May 15, 2007
Top One
Randy Winn singles on the ground into right on the second pitch of the gamerastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Fred Lewis
certainly doesn't look like he could hit for the cycle.He hits a little flare to left, caught by Lee.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Aurilia
Of those Giants with more than 4 or 5 at bats against Williams, Aurilia has done the best against the Wood-man, with a .950 OPS.He tries to bunt for a hit here to the left side, and is successful as Woody comes off the mound well to field, but bobbles.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bonds
grounds to Berkman on the first pitch, and Lance inititates the 3 - 6 - 1, nice hustle from Woody, but none whatsoever from Bonds.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bottom One
Pops it to Molina, the other one.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Lamb
is 6 for 20 off Morris, Brownie tells us, with three homers.Here, he bounces to Aurilia.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Berkman
grounded to Durham.That's it? That's all there is? Seven lousy pitches and the inning's over?
What a ripoff.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Top Two
It was exactly one year ago today, when the Giants came to Houston and laid a smackdown upon the Astros that very sreiously may have ruined their year.In their three-game road sweep, San Francisco outscored the Astros 34 - 5, outhit us 41 - 19, and seriously embarassed not only Taylor Buchholz, but Wandy Rodriguez and Fernando Nieve as well.
Real bad memories.
Durham strikes out on a foul tip
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Molina
grounds to Bidge, Biggio has time to drink a Red Bull before the need to throw the bsall to first becomes pressing as Molina moved sloth-like up the line.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Feliz
Whenever I see Feliz, I think of McCovey Chronicles, the fine blog run by Grant, and the sign he made that said of Feliz,Daily
Nightly
Whatever it takes.
Quite funny, really.
He strikes out here, yay Woody.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
I agree
It felt like that was the turning point of the early season, where Wandy's good early season came to a halt, and the nice pitching from Buchholz turned into a long string of blowouts. That was a little bit after the 7 game losing streak, where it looked like they might turn it around and get back on track. Instead they got crushed. And hey!--the Giants just whooped Taylor on Sunday, so they're already in Astro-killing mode.MG(vers. 2) - May 15, 2007
Bottom Two
Los takes a wlak as Morris wants no part of him 3 - 2.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Luke
fouls back to the catcherrastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Pence
Pence goes 3 - 1, then Morris throws him a good curve in the zone that he manages to foul tip.Then he doubles down the line, and Bonds has all kinds of trouble fielding, the ball was kind of just sitting there in the corner as Carlos Lee of all people came around from first to score.
The sight of Lee coming 'round was somewhat humorous to say the least.
Did I mention Pence ended up at second?
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Everett
pops to short right, Pence cannot advance.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Quintero
Chopped slowly to Feliz who has to charge a bit, but Q's slower than everyone in the stadium but Bengie Molina, so it's an out anyway.Still, 1 - 0 Astros. We never had a lead in last May's series.
For that matter, we were never tied after any half-inning in that series.
So certainly an improvement.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Top Three
Vizquel strikes out looking.Morris chops back to Woody
Winn grounds to Bidge.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bottom Three
Woody homers, Woody homers, Woody homers, Woody homers, Woody homers, Woody homers!To left, Molina got out of his crouch immediately, peered after the ball as it left the field of play, you could imagine him saying, "oh shit."
2 - 0 Astros, fourth homer of Woody's career.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bidge
grounds to Feliz a step behind the bag, but Feliz makes a strong and accurate throw to nab Bidge.Who was hustling anyway, let it be noted.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Lamb
pops to Vizquel going out.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Berkman
pops to Durham going out, almost like a coincidence.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Top Four
Lewis lines it to center, a single.Aurilia is embarassed on a fadeaway change from the Wood-man.
Bonds walks on four pitches, moving Lewis to second.
Bonds with something like a .722 OPS all time vs. Williams, maybe that's 'cause Williams knows when he's beaten and hasn't given Bonds cookies when behind.
Anyway, we'll give Woody the benefit of the doubt on that one.
Durham hits into a 4 - 6 3 DP, once again Bonds nowhere in the screen. Biggio has time to leisurely makes the throw without obstruction from the enemy.
OK, they think the steroid thing needs more evidence, and while I don't agree, I can at least understand.
But how do the Giants fans like this guy at all, when he's such a freaking slacker. It's like three innings into the series, and already he has shown egregious and obvious examples of personal laziness three times . . . .
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bottom Four
Now here's a portly gentleman, not exactly fleet afoot, who hustles more than the advance scouting might have suggested.Carlos Lee can play on my team anytime.
And now he hits it to the Crawfish Boxes, 3 - 0 Astros.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Scott
grounds to Aurilia behind the bag. He bobbles but has time to recover and takes it unassisted.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Pence
walks on a 3 - 2 pitch, after having stayed alive on an inside fastball.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Everett
hits it pretty hard, but Lewis slides over, makes the play.Hunter retreats to first.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Quintero
singles up the middle.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Williams
strikes out looking, wide zone exhibited on that one, by blue.Woody thinking, give that to me , I'm sure.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Top Five
Molina pops to Biggio going out, and Feliz grounds back to Woody, who runs halfway to first before tossing to Berkman.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Vizquel
lines it into left, but despite his girth,m Lee plays left just a bit better than his counterpart and Vizquel is held to a single.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Morris
strikes out swinging.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Don't Want To Jinx Nothing
but Woody cruising.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
I Will
never ever ever ever say anything remotely like this ever ever again.And I hope you all forgive me.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bottom Five
Bidge grounds to FelizLamb flies to center, sure sounded like a good idea to start Lamb when you saw how well he'd done against Morris, but now he's 0 for 3.
Berkman flies to center.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Top Six
Winn homers to right, I might have jinxed something.3 - 1 Astros.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Lewis
singles to rightrastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Aurilia
grounds to Lamb whose throw to nab Lewis was high. Bidge turns and fires (yes, fires) to Berkman but Aurilia is safe.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bonds
Every pitch a curve, two of the first three called balls, which bothers Woody a lot.Then the curveballs start getting called. A balk is called moving Aurilia to second, then Woody gets back to 3 - 2, then Bonds offers at a curveball and grounds to Berkman, with Woody covering.
Aurilia to third, but crisis averted, it seems.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Durham
homers on the first pitch he sees, a curve.He'd watched all the curves Bonds saw, and jumped on it.
Shit, just like that. Crisis not averted, I guess.
3 - 3 game.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Molina
goes 3 - 2, during which you're pretty sure Williams is done.But Molina does cooperate by grounding to Bidge.
Dang; it went from Williams' best start to another average Williams' start in about 20 pitches.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Checking in from Seoul
The Astros got a good game going here. Let's hope this continues. Good to see Woody with a shot into the Boxes.Come on Woody ~ Let's Go Astros!
SeoulStro
SeoulStro - May 15, 2007
Bottom six
Lee lines into centerfield. Winn charged, but the ball knuckled on him, Brownie says.A single. Alright, we can still get Woody the win.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Scott
goes 3 - 0 and then pops it to short right.Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Unless you know you can hammer it, take it.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Pence
Last time he came up with El Caballo on first, we ended up scoring a run.This time Carlos takes off and Pence connects, a single into right, Los can only take second, because . . . I don't think he knew where the ball was and felt he had to slide in.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Everett
a soft pop to right, Everett an actual black hole tonight sucking up everything positive and turning it into nothingness.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Quintero
lines it up the middle off Morris' glove, but Durahm I guess it was is able to get the FC on Pence at second.Crap.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Oh no...
tie game now. Still got time to get the win. Need some hits to get these runners inGo Astros!
SeoulStro - May 15, 2007
Top Seven
Woody back out, because he'd bat first, but I thought we could all agree he was pretty much done last inning.Fleiz doubles here, Scott fumbles while trying to cut if off, not sure it would have mattered.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Vizquel
tries to chop it past Lance, who was playing in, but can't.Berkman looks off Feliz, then takes it unassisted.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Sweeney
hitting for Morris flies to Scott, who is VERY emphatic about taking it, getting back to that thing where Pence just might be a little too enthusiastic about trying to take everything.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Winn
singles up the middle, that's Garner's fault more than Woody's.So what if you burn a pinch-hitter? Now you're losing because you tried to get more out of a pitcher than was there.
4 - 3 Giants.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Lewis
grounds to Everett.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Woody
looked like he wanted out after the first home run. Oh well. This would be a sucky one to lose though.saylinara - May 15, 2007
I Don't Mind
the firs three runs, but why was Garner trying to get seven innings out of Woody. We've only had the best bullpen in the league over the last ten days. . . .Just an unfathomable decision. Let me name the pitchers I trust for the seventh more than Woody after he gives up three in the sixth: Lidge Qualls, White, Wheeler, Borkowski, and maybe even Miller and Moehler.
Nothing against Woody, whp'd pitched great for the first five, but he was out of gas.
Obviously, out of gas.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bottom Seven
Kevin Correia pitching for the Giants, and Morgan Ensberg pinch-hitting for Williams.He strikes out on something in the low 90's after spending much of the bat ahead.
All offseason I had talked about how I expected a bounceback year from Ensberg, but I am beginning to consider the possibility that I was wrong.
Evidently, so is Garner.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Biggio
also gets ahead as Ensberg had, although Craig is different in that he makes contact, flying to right before making an out.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Lamb
facing somebody named Taschner, and he strikes out on a terrible call, checked swing, ball way out of the zone and low.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Top eight
Here's Rick White, and he gets Aurilia to fly to Pence.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bonds
walks on a 3 - 2 pitch, looked like White tried to get Bonds to offer at some close pitches, but nothing doing.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Durham
long long at bat which has long since been full when Durham walks.Ortmeier (the pinch-runner for Bonds) to second
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Molina
the long at bat to Durham clearly exhausted White as Molina hits the second pitch (but White's 23rd of the inning) to the gap in left center. Ortmeier comes around to score5 - 3 Giants and losing this game will be a shame.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Feliz
lines to left, but Lee is there and he is very quick at getting the ball back in, which surprised Durham at third.He probably should have scored there.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Vizquel
another long at bat, and if the game is lost, I'd at least like to get to sleep on time.He ends up grounding to Everett who bobbles but still has the FC option waiting in the person of Biggio at second.
Inning took like a half-hour, White threw 33 pitches.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Can I just say...
I HATE THE GIANTS!!!!! I have no idea how the Stros can continually lose and have so much trouble with this team. Boggles my mindI look at the Giants lineup and no one scares me (except of course Bonds) but they always play hard and give the Astros fits.
Oh well, got a couple more at bats to try and steal this game.
Go Astros
SeoulStro - May 15, 2007
Bottom Eight
Taschner still pitching and he's got Lance turned around.Taschner is mostly high to Berkman, but Lance offers and after three pitches it's 0 - 2. Another high pitch offered at and fouled back.
Finally Lance checks his swing, and it's 1 - 2. There's a low pitch, Berkman smacks it right at Feliz, who makes the play.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Lee
lines it over Durham's head, just slapped at it, very nice, the man can hit.A single.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Scott
It's 0 - 2, then Scott begins the long trek back, he checks his swing then backs off from a pitch in on his shoulders.then Taschner bounces one away, Luke was stepping out before the pitch even bounced.
The full count pitch is lined to Ortmeier
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Pence
will face Armando BenitezAnd guess what? He homers.
Seemed like he was way ahead of a fastball, but he was able to keep it fair, it hit the foul screen right next to the chicken.
Like they said about that Harvard Yale game, it's 5 - 5 Astros.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Everett
pops it to Durham, what'd ya expect?He's sinking to new lows, even those (like me) who say that he should get special treatment because of his defense need to take a look at him now.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
PENCE!!!!!!!!
Way to go kid!Tie game!!!!!! Now let's win it!
Go Astros!
SeoulStro - May 15, 2007
On Gamecast...
it was shown right down the line in left. For those of you watching did he hit hard and far or did it come close to the foul pole?Go Astros!
SeoulStro - May 15, 2007
I believe
it hit the screen that's connected to the foul pole right above the yellow line. Either way, it's still a homer.saylinara - May 15, 2007
Thanks for the info...
I thought it must of hit close to the pole or the foul screen. Like you said, it doesn't matter where it hit, as long as it is over the fence, it still counts!Go Stros!
SeoulStro - May 15, 2007
Great game so far for Pence and Lee...
...Maybe Berkman and Biggio can contribute something now!blakemusn - May 15, 2007
Top Nine
Still White, and it's hard to see that as anything but a vote of inconfidence in the Astros offense.Still I'd go with someone else, given how hard White worked last inning.
Garner has gotten away with the mistake he made with Williams. Is he now going to make the same mistake with White?
Brownie talking about how we need to be ready for a Bonds atbat, but no, Bonds is out of the game, when Ortmeier ran for him after his walk from White.
Kevin Frandsen in the nine hole, and he takes a ball, and I take some time to think how much I dislike using White here.
But White gets it to 1 - 2 and then Frandsen grounds to Biggio.
Ok, now it's goodbye White, Miller will pitch to Winn batting righty.
Still, if this Frandsen character had doubled . . . .
Winn is 0 - 2 then 1 - 2. then 2 - 2 then 3 - 2, yikes.
Now a few fouls where Winn is reaching outside, then Miller comes back and Winn is a sucker looking.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Lewis
Miller will stay in to face the lefty.Cracked bat grounder is fielded by Bidge pretty close to the line, and his throw beats Lewis by a couple steps.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Bottom Nine
OP hitting for Q, takes a four pitch walk from Benitez.Ausmus will bat for Miller. His bunt is in the air but Benitez is slow off the mound and can't grab it. JD suggests he might have had a play at second, but he just looks at first and throws Brad out.
OP to second, as was the point.
Biggio goes 0 - 2 on a slider, and it didn't look pretty either.
Now he strikes out on a slider in the dirt, hard to imagine a crappier at bat in crunch time than the one Biggio just had.
Lamb down to .383 after his 0 for 4. He goes 2 - 1 after laying off something high, then evens it back up by offering at a high fastball that he couldn't touch.
Benitez just wastes one high and away and everything else, it's 3 - 2.
Slider low would have walked him, but instead Lamb swung. Molina drops, but throws to complete the K.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Top Ten
Qualls will face Aurilia, and he falls behind 2 - 0 before dropping a slider in.Grounded to Bidge who went to his left, no sweat.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Ortmeier
flies to 'Los on a 3 - 2 count.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
Durham
flies to right-center, Pence is there.rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
WOOOOOOO!
saylinara - May 15, 2007
Bottom Ten
Berkman facing lefthander Jonathan Sanchez, so it'll be singles-hitting Lance, and not Power Lance.Well, it won't be singles-hitting Lance, either. It was strikeout Lance.
El Caballo has reached in all four plate appearacnes, can he possibly extend his streak?
Sure enough, he homers to center. Fourth homer of the game, and as importantly, second clutch homer of the game after Pence's job.
6 - 5 Astros.
rastronomicals - May 15, 2007
HAHAHAH
Everyone at the game gets a free chicken sandwich because Pence hit the FOWL POLE. Hilarious.saylinara - May 15, 2007
I'm down with free chicken sandwiches...
but the "fowl" poles are pretty bad.Way to go Stros!
Sizzlean - May 15, 2007
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