Recap for G83 - Pirates @ Astros

That was fun! A 5-0 win by the Astros in the day game, the Astros rap out 13 hits, Wandy pitches his best game of the year, and his first complete game since July 6, 2007 against the Mets - a span of 56 starts.

Wandy: 9IP, 5H/0ER, 11K:1BB, 20/31 first-pitch strikes, 40 (40!)/85 non-contact strikes. 26 of those strikes were called, 14 were swinging.

It was Wandy's third 10+K game of the year, striking out 10 Reds on April 18, and 11 Rockies on May 14. Only 10 Pirates got to two balls, and the only time the Pirates really threatened was in the second inning, when the Brothers LaRoche got consecutive singles, but Wandy struck Diaz and Vazquez out - both looking - to end the inning. He kept the ball down, and in the infield. Only three outs were flyballs to the outfield.

The offense had it kicking today. 5 runs, 13 hits, 3 walks, 5 extra-base hits, including Bourn's 7th triple of the year (NL leader), and two doubles from Bourn, who was 2x3 with 2BBs. Every Astro starter got a hit, and Bourn, Tejada, Berkman, Lee, and Matsui all had two hits each.

All the damage came in the third and fourth innings. Bourn got a one-out triple in the 3rd, and Tejada brought him home with a single. Berkman doubled (Tejada misjudged the double and got hisself th'own out at home, Berkman advancing on the throw), and Lee doubled, scoring Berkman, to get the Astros out to a 2-0 lead on four straight hits.

Then in the fourth, Matsui reached on an infield single that should have been an error on LaRoche for picking his foot up off the bag for no good reason, Quintero walked, Bourn singled - scoring Matsui, then Tejada singled, and Berkman doubled home Wandy and Bourn for two more RBI (and he's the first Astro to 50 RBI), and that's all the scoring.

It could have been a lot worse for the Pirates, as the Astros were still only 5x16 with RISP. And continuing the Bummer portion of the post, Tejada grounded into an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the 8th inning with the bases loaded. But a win is a win, and now we wait for the rest of the NL Central to play out their games and see where we stand.

Man of the Match: Any doubt? Wandy.

Goat of the Game: Even though he got two hits, I'm giving it to Matsui. One "hit" was actually an error, and the other one was plonk off the end of the bat. More than once Milo and Dolan talked about how terrible Matsui looked. It's not a good sign when you get two hits, and the commentators say you need more days off (read into that: you shouldn't be playing this much).