Oooh, this feels so good. Behind J.A. Happ, the Astros shutout the Cardinals 3-0.
*J.A. Happ threw the third complete game shutout of his career. It's the second CG SHO of the year for the Astros in 2010, with Oswalt throwing the first against the Pirates on July 8.
*Happ threw 9IP, 2H/0ER, 4K:1BB. In his last four starts, he's gotten 19K:9BB. He's also thrown 100+ pitches in five straight starts. His 114 pitches tonight were a season-high. His career high is 127 pitches (against Colorado on Aug 5, 2009).
*Highly impressive was how Happ dealt with Albert Pujols. Pujols came into tonight's game hitting .447/.500/.872 in 47 ABs - the second highest OPS against an NL team (behind the Cubs). Pujols was 0x3 with a GIDP on the night.
*Poor Jake Westbrook. He's faced the Astros twice since coming over from Cleveland, and has thrown 13IP, 13H/5ER, 10K:2BB. And the Cardinals have lost both those games.
*The Cardinals only got one AB with a runner beyond first, and Skip Schumaker promptly did nothing with it.
*The Astros got nine hits on the night, and give of those came from 5-6-7 (Johnson - 1; Wallace - 3; Manzella - 1).
*Brett Wallace had five hits in his previous 45ABs before tonight's three-hit game. Those three hits equalled the number of hits he had in his previous 36ABs. He also recorded his first RBI since August 13 (13 starts).
*Michael Bourn was 1x4 on the night, extending his hitting streak to nine games. He's hitting .368 (14x38) during the streak.
*With the win, the Astros move to 61-70. They're two games behind the 2009 Astros at the 131-game mark, but from the All-Star Break to G131, the 2010 Astros are six games ahead of the 2009 Astros.
*Pitch Count Hero: Hunter Pence (2x4) - 16 pitches in four PAs.
*Pitch Count Punk: Chris Johnson (1x3) and Brett Wallace (3x3) - nine pitches in three PAs.
*Man of the Match: J.A. Happ
*Goat of the Game: None tonight.
Follow the County Clerk on Twitter, and you can read the exact same crap you read here...minutes earlier!
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
