You know that scene in the Wedding Crashers where Will Ferrell and Owen Wilson are at the funeral, and Will Ferrell is all, "Damn you! Damn you Roger!" That's what I was like last night, except with "Lindstrom" instead of "Roger." Astros lose 3-1.
*Matt Lindstrom gave up 3H/2ER, BB, WP in 0.1IP. In his 18 pitches, he only got one swinging strike.
*From May 27-June 3 (four games), Lindstrom allowed 11H/6ER, but with 5K:5BB. Now, from August 6-16 (also four games), he has allowed 9H/9ER, 2K:3BB, but also 3HR. Dude clearly shouldn't be playing right now.
*All that overshadowed Wandy's performance, in which he gets yet another no decision. He threw 7IP, 4H/1ER, 6K:3BB, allowing a solo homer to Carlos F. Beltran. He also threw 17 first-pitch strikes to 25 batters.
*Since his terrible start on June 18, when he allowed 6ER in 3IP against the Rangers, Wandy has thrown 67.1IP, 50H/13ER, 65K:14BB.
*The Astros rolled up three double plays on the Mets, and didn't hit into one themselves, extending that streak to nine games.
*Houston was 0x8 with RISP, leaving ten on base. This included three instances in which a runner was in scoring position with less than two outs, and he did not score. In the 8th, the bases were loaded for Jason Castro, and he flied out to center.
*Big bat of the game once again belongs to Chris Johnson, who was 2x3 with a walk and an RBI. In the minors, Chris Johnson struck out in 17.4% of his ABs. That's been higher in the Majors at 20.1% as of this morning. In August, that's 20.7%. There was a point to that somewhere...
*Jason Michaels got the start in CF, giving Keppinger the leadoff spot, where he went 1x4. Michaels was also 1x4 and had an adventure in CF that led to one of SportsCenter's Top 10 plays.
*Castro was 0x2 w/RISP, dropping his Avg w/RISP to .108. He's been terribly unlucky, with a .143 BABIP w/RISP before last night. But still, that's brutal.
*Pitch Count Hero: Jason Michaels (1x4) - 20 pitches in four PAs.
*Pitch Count Punk: Jason Castro (0x4) - 10 pitches in four PAs.
*Man of the Match: Wandy Rodriguez
*Goat of the Game: Matt Lindstrom. Your name is starting to auto-fill in this section.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
