From the Office of the County Clerk - G71: Astros v. Giants

The Astros fell to the Giants for the seventh straight time as Lincecum outdueled Oswalt yet again. Astros lose 3-1.

*You need to go ALL THE WAY BACK to 2009 to find a time when the Astros lost seven straight games to an opponent in a season: when the Reds took nine straight from the Astros over the course of April, May, and September.

*The Astros have blown 21 leads this season, taking a 1-0 lead into the 7th. With a lead going into the 7th, the Astros are 17-6.

*Roy threw 7IP, 6H/2ER, 5K:1BB, throwing 76 of his 100 pitches for strikes. It's the third straight game he has thrown 70+ pitches for strikes.

*He has allowed six earned runs in his last three starts (21IP), with 21K:4BB.

*Meanwhile, Wilton Lopez threw 2IP in relief, allowing a hit and an unearned run, thanks to Chris Johnson's throwing error in the top of the 9th, allowing Freddy Sanchez to get to 2nd, and later scored on a Nate Schierholtz single.

*Michael Bourn had two hits on the night, snapping a 1x19 skid, and it was his first multi-hit game since June 9. From June 10-June 20, Bourn was 3x38 with 14K:2BB.

*This was Tim Lincecum's first start without allowing an earned run since the third start of the season (April 17).

*Lincecum has faced the Astros three times, and is 3-0, with an 0.39 ERA/0.96 WHIP. In 23IP, he's allowed 15H/1ER, 19K:7BB.

*In his career, Lincecum is 5-0 against the Astros with a 1.14 ERA/0.85 WHIP, and 59K:16BB in 55.1IP. His 1.14 ERA is the lowest he's posted against any team in the Majors, and only the Cardinals have managed to go 0-5 against him.

*Still, everyone got a hit against Lincecum last night except for Keppinger (0x3) and Manzella (0x3). Big story of the night was obviously Jason Castro, who took the second pitch he saw from Timothy LeRoy (that's actually his middle name. Go look it up.) for his first major-league hit.

*Of the 15 pitches Castro saw:
--6 fouls
--3 balls
--3 strikes looking
--2 strikes swinging
--1 groundout
--1 hit

So we can be encouraged that Castro at least made contact in 10 of the fifteen pitches, and put the ball in play twice.

*The Giants also tried to steal two bases on Castro, and got nailed twice.

Pitch Count Hero: Chris Johnson (1x4) - 21 pitches in four PAs.
Pitch Count Punk: Jeff Keppinger (0x3, BB) - 9 pitches in four PAs.

Man of the Match: I'd like to give this one to Jason Castro. Any objections?

Goat of the Game: Can't decide. Any takers?