Astros Pitch Lousy, Don't Hit With Men On And Lose To Marlins

Same ol, same ol. Very first inning, Bourn K, Kaz walked, Miggy singled, then clank n Blum left em stranded. Something a lil ironic about the fact that Bourn has the 3rd best BA in the NL with RISP. Then Moehler goes on out and 34 pitches later, it's walk, single, Popout, single, single ground rule double (bad luck - was right on the chalk line), sac-fly, IBB, K (of the pitcher - he hits as well as Moehler) and the Marlins are up by 4. Husband sighed and looked at me. What I love about you Baby, he sez, is that you are the kind of girl who roots for a flat out lousy club. What's for dinner? So with serving dinner, eating dinner and making kids do the cleaning up they are supposed to do, I missed The Gritmeister hitting a ball over the RF fence to breakup the shutout. Moehler managed to get his stuff working, and only gave up a single and a walk throught he 5th, but as usual, the hitters left guys on in every inning and didn't score. Well, that is, until the 8th and 9th when it was already too late. Moehler was pulled for a PH in the 6th, but he certainly could have thrown at least 1, probably 2 more innings. Chris Sampson was sent out to pitch the 6th and 7th. He had NO sink on the sinker and he got hammered again. He shouldn't have come back off the DL and should probably just go for the year and get his shoulder/hip/whatever fixed, because this team is not going anywhere, Berkman or no Berkman. And speaking of which, Berkman is supposed to come back Friday, and apparently, Hampton is STILL going to start even with his torn meniscus in his knee. Like, he sucked BEFORE he got hurt. Might as well have Bazardo pitch, so we will know what he can do for next year. And "best" news of all? Why Aaron Boone is going down to AA for some rehab starts and is going to join the team on August 28th, BEFORE the rosters expand. WHY???? And why on earth is everyone acting as though he is a megastar of Berkman quality when he was actually crappy his last few healthy years? And he never WAS particularly good, HR off of Wakefield in 03 notwithstanding. And I wish Coop would cut it with the IBB crap, especially with a pitcher who is having trouble finding the strike zone - makes it even harder to find it after the IBB. He had Sampson issue TWO of em and BOTH of em backfired. But my favorite was having him IBB Nick Johnson to pitch to Hanley Ramirez, the second best hitter in the NL behind Pujols. And, he's also the guy with the highest BA with RISP in the majors. He's trying to get Hanley to GIDP, which is a stupid idea anyway because Hanley has only 5 of em on the year - he's no Miggy/Pudge/Clank/Pence. Stupid, stupid strategy. And I'm sure it's his idiotic lefty/righty obsession overshadowing whatever judgement he has anyway. You did notice Brendan Donnelly pitching for the Marlins in the 7th and 8th, right? You do know he was at Round Rock for 3 months and let go in favor of Brocail, right? That worked out great, hunh? sigh I bet Drayton is STILL thinking that this team can make a desperate last ditch move to grab the WC. Or at least, that's what he wants fans to think so he can keep the stands full. I would be looking forward to September to watch the kids, but we all know that Coop sure as heck ain't gonna give em any playing time, even if we are 20 games out. As Tammy Wynette said, or at least I think she said - sometahmmmms, it's harrrrd to be a Strosfan... Tomorrow, it's the return of Roy Oswalt - let's hope his back really IS fine.