But today was fun. Valverde turned in a scoreless performance (and kept the ball on the ground), got his ERA under 6.00 and Russ Ortiz got to 2-0 - the first Astros' pitcher to get to two wins. Bet you wouldn't have Russ Ortiz in your pool.
Ortiz: 5IP, 4H, 2ER, 3K:4BB
Wright: .2IP, 1H
Sampson: .1IP, 0H, 0K:0BB
Brocail: 1IP, 1H, 2K:2BB
LaHawk: 1IP, 1H, 2K:2BB
Valverde: 1IP, 1K:1BB
Pretty notable that Geary and Byrdak both sat their rear ends down the whole game. They're the only two relievers who didn't play, though Geary was most likely unavailable after throwing two innings last night.
| Pitcher | Pit/Str | Strike% | BF/Outs | Efficiency% | GB/FB/K |
| Ortiz | 96/50 | 52.1% | 24/15 | 62.5% | 5/6/3 |
| Wright | 14/8 | 57.1% | 3/2 | 66.7% | 2/0/0 |
| Sampson | 3/3 | 100% | 1/1 | 100% | 1/0/0 |
| Brocail | 29/16 | 55.2% | 6/3 | 50% | 0/1/2 |
| LaHawk | 12/7 | 58.3% | 4/3 | 75% | 1/0/1 |
| Valverde | 18/10 | 55.6% | 4/3 | 75% | 2/0/1 |
Brocail got back to his old ways in throwing a lot of pitches to get not many guys out, but that's how the Astros roll. Ortiz spent 96 pitches on 15 outs. Let's look at Ortiz' first pitches, yes?
Balls: 16
Strikes: 8
I've been amazed by how Ortiz pitches from behind. To throw first-pitch balls, and then get behind 2-0 to four of those batters, and only one of those batters get on base? Hardcore.
Again there wasn't much going on for the Astros' bats. Berkman's average is now .167. Tejada is now hitless in his last 13 ABs - that lasted the whole Brewers series. The first run of the game came on a throwing error, while Lee and Pudge provided the only legitimate runs - Lee with an RBI single scoring Bourn (still hitting .333 in his last 27 ABs) and Pudge hitting his second homer of the season. Jason Smith flied out to center and is now 0x19 on the season. But let's not lose sight of the fact that Jeff Keppinger - even though he left six men on base, is 11x27 this season.
Man of the Match:
Pudge Rodriguez! 2nd HR of the year and threw out Weeks and Kendall trying to steal.
Goat of the Game:
Miguel Tejada. Because Berkman can't get The Goat every time he goes hitless. Tejada was 0x13 this series.
