Ted Lilly (1-0, 0.00) v.s. JA Happ (1-0, 3.75)
The Dodgers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st inning tonight on a Matt Kemp 2-run homerun, and it turned out to be all they needed as they beat the Astros 3-1. After an offensive explosion last night, the Astros offense came crashing back to earth tonight with only 1 run on 5 hits. The Dodgers improve to 11-3 while the Astros continue their freefall and are now sitting at 5-9.
*JA Happ had a pretty solid night, but was the victim of poor run support. His line of 6.0 IP / 8 H / 3 ER / 4 BB / 3 SO would win him a lot of games, but not with the Astros unpredictable offense. Happ took the loss and sits at 1-1 on the year.
Observations:
*The Astros wore the complete Colt 45's outfits for the second and final time this season. They went 0-2 as the Colt 45's this year.
*Fans at tonights game received Colt 45 replica jerseys....without the Colt 45 on it. How they can call that a replica jersey, I can't understand. They might as well give away Yankee jerseys.
*After a big lack of walks lately, the Astros drew a total of 7 bases on balls tonight - in fact they had two more walks (7) than they had hits (5).
*Putting a damper on the nice amount of walks the Astros drew was the large number of strikeouts they were the victims of tonight - 11 in total.
*After staring the year 3-1, the Astros have since gone 2-8.
*Jordan Schafer got the night off again, but did pinch hit in the 7th inning and ended up 1 for 2 on the night. He is now hitting .280/.390/.340 on the year. That OBP is very nice, especially for our leadoff hitter.
*Maxwell has been sneaking in some playing time lately - i'm wondering if Luhnow has been less than impressed with him so far and wants to see what he really has in him here to see if its worth keeping him around. He went 0 for 3 tonight and is now .200/.250/.400 on the year.
*After having a ton of .300+ hitters through the first few games of the season, the only players above that plateau now are Altuve (.347) and Martinez (.333).
*How fun are both of those players to watch? I hope they both stay around a long time and are part of this rebuild even when we starting being competitive again.
*Imagine if we still had Hunter Pence to go along with Schafer and JD Martinez in the outfield? That would be one young, incredibly talented outfield. I watched Hunter hit a huge homerun the other night and missed him instantly. Loved his passion and the way he plays the game.
Turning Point:
The Kemp homerun in the 1st inning put the Dodgers up 2-0, and it was all they needed as the Astros offense could not get much going all night.
Man of the Match:
I'll give it to Bogey tonight, to make up for all of the times i've been hard on him. 1 for 2 with a walk, and he scored our only run of the night.
Goat of the Game:
Could pick just about anyone who swung a bat tonight. Chris Johnson went 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts and left 3 men on base. That's a pretty bad night. Jed Lowrie went 0 for 4 on the night and left 4 men on base. I'll give the edge to CJ, but just by a hair.
