The Chubs…err Cubs, won the series with Houston 2 games to 1.
Runs Scored:
Chicago 17
Houston 11
This is how Houston ended up in playoff contention last year while being outscored by their opponents. They win the close low scoring games and lose big on occasion, ala’ when they face the Texas Rangers or when Brian Moehler gives up 8 runs in two innings.
Hits:
Chicago 31
Houston 18
Chicago definitely out hit Houston but if you take away Moehler’s 10 hits in two innings the margin of difference is a little closer, but alas, those hits count.
Quality Starts:
Chicago 2
Houston 2
The difference was in the third game when Houston lost the slug fest.
Bullpen Runs Allowed:
Chicago 2
Houston 4
Defense:
Chicago 1 Error, E6.
Houston 2 Errors, both E6. Tejada did have some nice defensive plays however.
Chicago nearly out performed Houston in all areas deservedly giving them the series win.
Series MVP: This is tough. Hunter Pence hit two home runs, Lance Berkman, Miguel Tejada and Michael Bourn were all consistent as well. Our bullpen also pitched well and you can not forget Wandy Rodriguez.
However, my pick goes to Jeff Keppinger. He won game two in his first at bat and singled and homered in his 2nd and 3rd at bat as an Astro. Welcome to the team J-Kepp.
Series let down: Carlos Lee. 1 for 12 with two GIDP. I don’t expect Carlos to be the series let down too often.
Series Record: (0-1)
Team Record: (1-2)
Place in the division: Tied for last with Cinci. 1 game back of 1st.
Cubs 4
Astros 2
Carlos Zambrano pitched just over 6 innings giving up only earned run and striking out 6. Roy Oswalt went 7 innings and gave up 3 earned runs including a leadoff home run by Alfonso Soriano, his 50th lead off dinger, and another home run by Aramis Ramirez to lead off the 2nd inning.
Houston struggled at the plate logging 8 hits but none for extra bases. Michael Bourn hit an infield single in 7th to score Miguel Tejada. Hunter Pence hit a sac fly in the 9th that also scored Tejada, who scored both of the Astros runs.
Matsui 1-3, BB
Rodriguez 0-4, 2K
Berkman 1-2, 2BB
Lee 0-4, GIDP
Tejada 3-4, K, CS, 2 R
Blum 1-3, BB
Pence 0-3, RBI, GIDP, K
Bourn 2-4, K
Good news: Roy pitched pretty well and hopefully will probably settle down on the home run tip. I doubt Roy is ever going to pitch a no-hitter in his career because he is such a strikeout/pitch to contact type power pitcher. Also, Bourn was 2-4.
Bad news: Pence, Lee, and Rodriguez did not look real good at the plate. I was surprised by how free swinging Pudge is.
Pitching Lines:
Roy Oswalt 7IP, 3 ER, 2 SO, 1BB (0-1)
Geoff Geary 2 IP, 1 ER, 2 SO, 1 BB
Houston takes on the Cubs again tomorrow at 7:05 with Wandy Rodriguez taking on Ryan Dempster.
Houston 0-1
For anyone who was wondering what the “community service” part of Miguel Tejada’s sentencing will be, here is a little clarification from astros.com:
“Miguel Tejada’s punishment for lying to federal investigators about performance-enhancing drugs consists of three parts: a fine of $5,000, probation and community service.
The first two elements are self-explanatory. Tejada has to pay money, and he needs to be on his best behavior for the next year if he doesn’t want to suffer more consequences for his actions.
The community service part isn’t as clear. How will he serve these 100 hours? What will he do? Where will he do it? Explanations given by Tejada and his lawyer, Mark Tuohey, suggest this portion of Tejada’s punishment will be what every Astros player is expected to contribute, community-wise, every year — only more of it.
Tejada’s program will be handled in conjunction with the Astros’ community program. He’ll talk to kids about, according to Tuohey, “baseball, baseball-related skills, educational outreach and life situations.”
“Like his colleagues in professional baseball, he is a role model for kids,” Tuohey said. “He made a mistake. I don’t view this as punishment. It gives Miguel a chance to spend time with the kids. He’s very committed to this.”
Tuohey anticipates Tejada will complete the 100 hours during homestands through the upcoming six-month baseball season. For his part, Tejada said he would gladly exceed the 100 hours.
“For me, community service is going to be all my life,” Tejada said. “I know it’s 100 hours, and for me, I don’t need to track the hours. I can do it every year, every season. It’s not like I’m going to try to do 100 hours just to do it. I do clinics with kids because I love it. I’m going to enjoy it.
“Tracking the hours, it’s not going to be a big deal for me. I want to do more than 100 hours.”
Tejada is so happy he isn’t going to jail. I do think he is being genuine in what he says about going beyond the 100 hours because that is just the kind of guy Miguel is.
So for all of you expecting to see Miguel in an orange jump-suit on the side of the road picking up trash, no dice.
By the way, Miggy went 3 for 3 with a dinger in todays game.
I’m out of town this weekend so my updates will be at weird times most likely. Nothing like being home though.
Roy O on the WBC.
Enough of that, here are a few media tid bits/links for you to chew on:
Richard Justice takes time away from bashing Miguel Tejada to praise Michael Bourn.
David Pinto over at one of my favorite blogs Baseball Musings has an article re-enforcing his theory that Jeff Bagwell and Frank Thomas are twins. I know they were born on the same day but there is a slight discrepancy that might debunk that theory.
Finally, this pitcher actually throws like a girl. Also from Baseball Musings.
Houston got the bats out today and defeated the Phillies 6-5.
From the all-mighty astros.mlb.com:
Stros at the plate: “Miguel Tejada logged three hits, including a solo homer in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth. Geoff Blum’s RBI single off Ryan Madson in the sixth broke a 3-3 tie, and his double in the eighth gave Houston a three-run lead. Lance Berkman doubled in the sixth and scored on Tejada’s double. Hunter Pence logged three singles, marking back-to-back three-hit games.”
Tejada is playing like a free man. Kazuo Matsui also had three knocks today.
Stros on the bump: “In his first outing since returning from the World Baseball Classic, Oswalt allowed 10 hits and three runs over six innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out six. LaTroy Hawkins (LaHawk!)pitched a scoreless seventh. ”
Roy said his main goal for todays outing was to throw around 100 pitches and he threw 96. Roy should get one more start before opening day which is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!
Astros’ Grapefruit League Record: 8-16-3. 2 more wins for double digits baby.
Slow day today as Houston as their last day off before the season starts. A couple of links for today:
Miguel Tejada gets probation.
Aaron Boone’s heart surgery successful!
Houston scored 10 runs today to out slug the Florida Fish 10-8.
From astros.mlb.com:
Stros at the plate: “Lance Berkman homered in the third and the fifth, driving in three runs. Michael Bourn drove in a run in the fifth with an RBI double. Miguel Tejada drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the seventh. ”
Good games today from both Berkman and Bourn. Killer B’s anyone?
Stros on the mound: “Mike Hampton allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings, striking out four. Chad Paronto left the game after one-third of an inning with a right shoulder muscle strain, and Gilbert De La Vara yielded two runs over two-thirds of an inning. ”
Hampton got hit a little but looked good on the mound as he kept the ball down for the most part. Sampson pitched a scoreless inning, keep up the good work Samp.
From chron.com:
Cooper on the bats: “Lance put some good swings up,” Cecil Cooper said. “Lance had some great swings today. Every at-bat was good swings. It was good to see that. Kaz had some good swings today. Tejada had some good swings. They all did. There were quite a few. It was nice to see J.R. swing the bat like that. Today was probably our best day swinging the bats.”
Cooper on the arms: “Hampton was very good, got his pitch count up to the high 80s, so that’s good,” Cooper said. “He pitched down. I liked the way he pitched today. Bud (Norris) I thought was very good. His fastball was exploding out of his hand today.”
So far Houston has only won one game in the Grapefruit League this Spring Training and people are wondering if it is time to hit the panic button.
Before I get into what I think here is the opinion of a few Houston Astros’ sports writers:
Alyson Footer, Houston’s MLB.com beat writer, says she is “worried” in a recent post on her blog, Alyson’s Footnotes.
The fashionably negative Brian McTaggart, one of the Houston Astros beat writers from chron.com, surprisingly says it’s not time to hit the panic button…yet.
And chron.com fan blogger Chip Bailey needs Astros’ fans to tell him why he shouldn’t panic, because he is ready to.
I don’t think it is near time to panic. Caution? maybe. Worried? sure. But definitely not time to panic.
Houston has been outscored 31-78. Pretty bad right? No.
This is without Carlos Lee (although he is on his way back to Florida after Panama was the first team to be eliminated in the WBC), Miguel Tejada, and Lance Berkman. Wait, Berkman is still at Spring Training isn’t he? Well yeah, but he hasn’t traveled to hardly any of the road games. So the potency of our line up is well…missing.
So far, this Spring Training has been an opportunity for Houston to get a good look at their prospects and try to get their pitchers some work in. Btw, no Roy-O either.
Check back with me when Houston gets their big bats back in the lineup. Until then, I am more concerned with Roy’s work load on team USA for the WBC. He should have been out of that game a little earlier.
Panic time? No way. Maybe if it were April.
