*The Astros Spring Training record dropped to 14-17.
*Jordan Schafer made his return to the lineup and looked pretty solid from the leadoff spot. He had an infield hit in the 1st inning and had tough-luck out in his next at-bat when he absolutely hammered one - but right at the second baseman.
*Astros batters struck out a total of 10 times tonight. They are going to have to make better contact during the regular season to give themselves a chance of putting guys on base.
*Carpenter gave up back to back homeruns to Dunn and Konerko in the 5th inning. He also gave up a walk. It was by all accounts a very ugly outing.
*Brett Wallace looked very comfortable at 3rd base on a couple of hot shots his way in the top of the 9th. Chris Johnson on the other hand looked lost at the plate and bobbled a ball in the infield that resulted in an infield hit. Although it wasn't a 'gimme' by any means, Johnson is going to have to play better defensively and have his bat heat up to hold off Wallace from coming back up to the big league club and stealing his spot.
*Altuve had a couple of great at bats where he really worked the count. It finally paid off on his last at bat when he got lucky on a bloop single. With such a small strike zone it would be nice to see him walk more this year.
*The bullpen had its ups and downs but really didn't look that effective. The White Sox had 14 hits to our 7 tonight.
*The Astros were very agressive on the basepaths tonight. A lot of it likely has to do with AJ Pierzynski only throwing out 20% of attempted base stealers in his career...but I hope they keep it up in the regular season and put some pressure on the other teams.
*Even Carlos Lee attempted a stolen base - and although there wasn't a great slow motion reply provided, he looked safe to me. He sure thought he was.
*I know it is only one game and it was against some good major league pitching...but JD Martinez and Chris Snyder stood out as two guys to me who I thought would make some solid contact tonight, but really didn't look good at all swinging the bat.
Man of the Match
Man of the Match
Tough choice on a bad night for the offense and not a great night all around, but going with Jose Altuve here. Went 1 for 2 and drew a walk - worked the count deep on both of his first trips up. Also made a couple of nice knockdowns in the game. Perhaps they could have been done better and converted to outs, but they likely saved runs regardless.
Goat of the Game:
Split decision:
1. Chris Johnson - 0 for 3 at the plate with 2 strikeouts and a bobbled ball in the infield that resulted in an infield single.
2. David Carpenter - came into a close 2-1 game, promptly gave up back to back homeruns and put the Astros in a 4-1 hole.
