Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You're telling me that not only did the Astros win, but Carlos Lee had TWO hits, the game-winning RBI, and a walk, Wandy Rodriguez pitched well for the second start in a row, the bats came from behind and took the lead, AND the bullpen gave up ZERO runs? C'mon.
Sounds fantastical, no? Luckily for you and I, this little fable actually held true on Friday night, as the Astros came in and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 in the opening game of the first series between the two teams at PNC Park. Houston finished with 3 runs on 9 hits with no errors; Pittsburgh's line was 2 runs on 5 hits with no errors.
All in all, it was one of the most exciting games to watch all year. Michael Bourn came in and did what he does, leading the Houston attack with 2 stolen bases and a run scored. Sure, he only had one hit, but Bourn's importance to this team can't be overstated. The Astros were looking dry after scoring a 1st inning run off of Paul Maholm, who posted 6 straight zeroes after his slow start. Rodriguez had given up a homer to the surprisingly hot Neil Walker. Then, Bourn drew a walk, stole second base, and easily scored on a double by Hunter Pence. He's the spark plug that makes the team go, and without the speedy center fielder the 'Stros would not have won this game.
In other news, Wandy bounced back and is currently looking like the latter-half of 2010 Wandy as opposed to the I-love-giving-up-five-runs-in-the-first-inning Wandy. He finished with a line of 7 IP, 5 H, and 2 ER with 2 strikeouts, effectively lowering his season ERA to an even 4.00. It was comforting to finally watch W-Rod string two quality starts together, not to mention actually getting the win this time, following his 8 inning gem against the Brewers that was blown by Brandon Lyon.
There were only a few worrisome things from my point of view. The fact that Astros hitters swung at bad pitches again all game long was alarming, but I figure that that's going to become a regular thing that fans will just have to deal with from now on. What's more scary is that pitchers are starting to notice as well, seeing as Maholm, Chris Resop, Jose Veras, and Joel Hanrahan unabashedly challenged the boys by throwing gift pitches right down the pipe, counting on the fact that nobody would swing at them. Now I can understand taking a pitch or two when a reliever comes in to get the feel of him, but once it comes to the 4th or 5th pitch of the at-bat, and you're still letting fastballs go right over the plate, well, that's not good.
The last thing I have to point out is rather obvious, but it's simply time to address it, something that Brad Mills just refuses to do. Bill Hall is atrocious right now. Management isn't going to take some drastic action and release or relegate him, and I can understand that, but why not just move him down in the order? I'm not the biggest fan of Clint Barmes (grounding into that double play with the bases loaded was reprehensible), and I don't necessarily buy the fact that J.R. Towles is back or that Humberto Quintero is a legitimate hitter. However, all three of those guys deserve to hit in front of Hall at this point. At a .214/..278/.316 clip with a million strikeouts, it's just not sensible to have the second baseman hitting 5 or 6 hole anymore. The 8 spot would be my preference, but if that's just impossible because of Hall's ego (which is a legitimate concern), I wouldn't mind settling for the 7 spot. Either way, he needs to go down to save the extra ABs for people who can actually, ya know, hit.
Also, my respect for Millsie is quickly deteriorating due to his rather questionable decisions. I don't understand why Hall, who has video game numbers against Maholm, was told to bunt in his first couple of ABs, and then was free to swing away when the righty Resop came in the game. Little decisions make or break games, and it was just lucky for Mills that his bad one didn't result in an Astros lost. Finally, I was quite pleased to see someone else on the mound besides Lyon closing out the one run lead for the 'Stros. While Mark Melancon scared me a bit by giving up 3 fly ball outs, ones that were solidly hit at that, it was probably just a case of the jitters. A solid first major league save for the youngster, and I for one hope that there will be many more opportunities for him this season.
Bud Norris will take on Charlie Morton tomorrow for the second game at 6:05.
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