Wandy Rodriguez Has A Lousy Night And Astros Lose 8th Straight Game

This was his first bad game in a month, and, in fact, his first lousy home game.

sigh

I can't even begin to tell all yall how disgusted and disappointed I was when I looked at the lineup and saw the same old same old. Second verse, same as the first. Or should I say - won't get fooled again. So much for taking a look at the young guys.

And same old crap with the defense. Uncle Albert (Pujols), who Wandy usually pwns, hits a double to the RF gap, then Holliday hits a grounder to left - NOT in the corner, an ordinary single and Clank Lee makes a weakass throw home which is way offline and Uncle scores easily.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ludwick singles and Holliday goes to third. Then DeRosa doubles to the RF corner, Pence fires to Quintero who doesn't even BOTHER to try to tag Ludwick, allows him to score but throws to third to get DeRosa instead. I couldn't freaking believe it. JD couldn't believe it. Allow a run but get the last easy out at third??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? With THIS team???

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Astros are down 3-0 at the end of the first inning because of lousy defense and you KNOW that's the end of the game.

Then in the second, Wandy gives up a single, then another single just past a diving Miggy (the guy has really lost his range). Then a sac-bunt, then a sac-fly. Then a ball to short and Miggy throws waaaaayyy off line and another run scores. Should have been an error, but nope.

And we're down 5-1 (Miggy hit a homer instead of yet another ball to short, whaddaya know) and I look at Husband and I said - I just *()%^&#%! give up. So he says, well don't you want to see what he does with the bullpen, or even if he pulls the regulars if the game is out of line? Besides, the more we lose, the better a draft pick we get.

I looked at him coldly. It won't be high enough to matter and even if it was, Drayton won't deal with Boras, who has all the highest picks.

He said - cmon, cheer up. In a few weeks there won't be any baseball except for the stupid Yankees and their team.

And Wandy settled down and threw 3 more 1,2,3 innings (except for DeRosa's homer) but big deal. Too late. He ended up giving up 6 ER, 9 H, no BB and 6 K over 5 IP.

Besides, I knew that Dave Clark, new manager, ex 3B coach, had already conceded the freaking game when he sent Aaron Worthless Boone up to pinch hit with 1 out, men on first and second. Good grief. And of course Ofer Boone , The Valuable Clubhouse Presence - see how well the Astros have done since his return from the DL - struck out. I also saw Paronto warming up (yeah, THAT Paronto) and you know how he's done as an Astro.

Man it looks weird to see him wearing Brad Lidge's number #54. First he gives up a homer to DeRosa (that dude KILLLLZZZ the Astros. He has hit 7 homers vs Astros pitching just THIS YEAR. So the bet was (between Husband and me), of course, how many runs would Clark let Paronto give up before pulling him? I said 2, he said 3 and we were both over, to our great surprise.

The 7th inning was fun, though. Sammy Gervacio went out there (guess Clark didn't want to press his luck with Paronto - although I am getting tired of this - no reliever is allowed to pitch more than 1 inning) for like the 6th time in 7 days. He gave up a GR double to Uncle juuust inside the 3B line, then a single to Holliday. So he has men on first and third, no out. Ludwick hits a ball to Lance, who looks Uncle back, then throws to second to force Holliday. Meanwhile, Uncle has decided to head home anyway and Miggy throws him out. Then, on the VERY NEXT PITCH, Ludwick decides to steal second and is thrown out. So Gervacio, who looks T I R E D, to put it mildly, is helped out by the Cards thoughtfully running themselves into the next 2 outs.

Wilton Lopez, for the first time, pitched a scoreless inning and didn't look bad. He gave up one single that Matsui got a late jump on, and that was it. Of course, he wasn't allowed to pitch 2 innings and Clark dragged Hawkins tired ass out to pitch the 9th.

The youngsters sat on the bench in a game that was LONG lost to a team that has LONG SINCE won the division. Just great.

I hope Drayton noticed how few people were in the stands.

One more thing - I actually think that something is wrong with Bourn - I mean hurt. Not just because he's suddenly swinging away at any old thing, especially changeups, but he isn't getting to balls in the field that he used to. If he isn't hurt, he's just plain worn out. And that boy he best start learning how to hit the change because the pitchers aren't going to be stupid enough to throw him anything else next year.

Tomorrow, Bazardo is going to lose to Joel Piniero.

Might as well play the rookies, Clark. ALL of them.