Bad Wandy got the loss for the night, though there should be some special form of failure to mark what happened while Wilton Lopez - he with the neuritis in his right elbow - was on the mound. Astros lose, 9-5.
*We tend to think of Wandy as a great second-half pitcher, and a crap first-half pitcher. I was expecting to see his career April splits off the charts. But, incredibly, Wandy's lowest ERA and OPSa is in April.
*In three April starts, Wandy has thrown 16IP, 26H/13ER, 11K:3BB for a 7.31 ERA/1.81 WHIP.
*The five runs that Wandy gave up in the 1st inning came with two outs. Eight of the 12 runs Wandy has allowed in 2011 have been with two outs.
*Astros pitchers gave up 14 hits to the Cubs last night - the 10th time in 12 games the opponent has managed 10+ hits.
*Carlos Zambrano's homer off of Abad was the first extra-base hit by a pitcher against Houston.
*Wilton Lopez' ERA is 7.71 through seven games, but last night's 3R (2ER - though he committed the error that led to the unearned run) was just his second appearance in which he allowed a run.
*Mark Melancon threw 1IP, and got all three batters he faced, striking out two. He has retired the last seven batters, over three appearances.
*Congratulations to Matt Downs, who hit his third career homer, and his first as an Astro. He's 5x12 on the year, with four extra-base hits.
*Downs' HR contributed to the biggest Astros inning of the season - a five-run 6th that began with a Michael Bourn walk, and an Angel Sanchez infield single.
*The Astros only had six ABs with RISP. They got two hits (Wallace and Lee).
*Man of the Match: Matt Downs
Goat of the Game: Wilton Lopez. We can pick on Wandy for the 5-spot he gave up in the first, but while he allowed the Cubs to go 4x7, BB in the 1st, he "rebounded" to allow 5x16, BB - getting out of a bases-loaded jam with no damage. So it goes to Wilton Lopez, who gave up three runs when the Astros had clawed back to a 6-5 deficit.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
