Sweet mercy. Pirates 5, Astros 1. Can anyone else feel the life being sucked out of them?
*The Astros were trailing 3-0 at the end of the 4th inning. They've been outscored 186-136 in the first four innings this season.
*They're 6-24 in their last 30 games, dropping their Win% to .333. This isn't quite as bad as a stretch in 1962 - the inaugural season of the franchise - when the Astros went 6-30 between June 23 and August 1.
*The starting rotation has a total of 16 wins. C.C. Sabathia has 12. The bullpen has a total of ten saves. There are 28 players in MLB who have 10+ saves.
*Wandy threw 6IP, 8H/5ER, 6K:2BB, getting the loss to drop to 6-5 on the season. In his five losses, he has allowed fewer than 5ER just once. His 8H were the most he's allowed since May 11 - a 4-3 win over the Reds where he gave up 10H in 7IP.
*It was the Rodriguez show! Fernando Rodriguez gave up a hit and a walk, and Aneury Rodriguez threw a perfect 8th inning.
*The Astros got eight hits on the night, with two each coming from Michael Bourn, Hunter Pence, and Clint Barmes. None of them, however, came w/RISP. In this five-game losing streak, the Astros are 9x42 w/RISP - including the 7-5 loss to Boston where they were 5x14.
*In the last seven days, Bourn is 11x30, hitting .367/.387/.533.
*J.R. Towles was 0x3 on the night, and has one hit in his last 26 PAs - with a BABIP of .050.
*Clint Barmes got the 2nd homer against the Pirates this season. And this means the Astros got their only run on a home run for the 4th time this season.
*Man of the Match: I don't even...
*Goat of the Game: Since there's too many to name on offense (Towles and Lee, to name two), this one is going to Wandy. Though I'm open to disagreement.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
