Good grief. Astros get rocked in innings 6-8, and lose 9-0.
*The loss drops the Astros to 2-2 on the year against the Marlins. But they've lost nine of their last ten in Whatever The Hell The Name Is Of Where The Marlins Play. This name could change by tomorrow night.
*On the road, the Astros dropped to 21-35, with 222 runs scored and 309 runs against. Only the Nationals, Pirates, and Diamondbacks have fewer road wins.
*It's also the 12th time this season the Astros have been shutout. It's the sixth time the Astros have been held to three hits or less.
*Happ had a decent game, certainly not worth losing. It would be great to be able to assign wins and losses to other pitchers. More on this later.
*Happ threw 6IP, 5H/3ER, 6K:2BB, WP. That's the lowest number of walks Happ has posted in an outing this season. Including the August 4 game at St. Louis, where he lasted an inning.
*Both of those walks came in the 6th inning, and both of those runners scored. Five of his last seven unintentional walks have come around to score later in the inning.
*In his last three games, Happ has gotten 27 flyball outs, 11 groundball outs, and 17 strikeouts.
*But it was Jeff Fulchino who got his crap rocked tonight, allowing 4H/4ER, and recording two outs. This is despite throwing first-pitch strikes to five of the six batters he faced.
*Since Fulchino returned on August 3, he's allowed 9H/5ER, 8K:3BB in 8.1IP. Of course, four of those runs were tonight.
*Poor Fernando Abad. Though he made his second career appearance in as low-stress of a setting as he could (down 7-0), he still gave up back-to-back homers to Hector Luna and Brett Hayes.
*Happ, Fulchino, and Byrdak all threw wild pitches, as well.
*The offense was about as remarkable as the pitching. Johnson, Manzella, and Castro provided your hits. The Marlins had more hits w/RISP (four) than the Astros had all night.
*Brett Wallace was 0x3 with 3Ks. It's been eleven games since he drew a walk (14Ks).
*So what happened? The Marlins only needed 114 pitches to get through the game. 39 of them were non-contact strikes (23 called, 16 swinging). The Astros only walked one time.
*How about this - it's the 39th time this season the Astros have drawn one - or zero - walk(s).
*The Astros got to a 3-ball count one time - which led to the walk by Carlos Lee.
*Pitch Count Hero: Michael Bourn (0x4) - 19 pitches in four PAs.
*Pitch Count Punk: Jason Castro (1x3) - Nine pitches in three PAs.
*Man of the Match: Do we have to? J.A. Happ. It's his third straight quality start, and his fourth in five starts with the Astros.
*Goat of the Game: Anyone have a problem with this going to Jeff Fulchino? It's too hard to find a Goat on offense.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
