Rocket Launch, But No Supporting Cast...
It sure hurts to lose, especially when Clemens pitches such a good game.
Unfortunately, when the Rocket hits the mound, the opposing pitcher understands the importance of the game and brings his best performance. Today, Nate Robertson did just that.
A solid performance by both pitchers brought a great match-up, but a bad call by an umpire gave the Tigers the advantage they needed.
In the 7th inning, Clemens had a runner on second, and a full count to Carlos Guillen. The next pitch, taken as a ball, should have been a strike. On the same pitch, Magglio Ordonez attempted to steal 2nd base and was clearly thrown out by Ausmus, but because Guillen walked, Ordonez freely advanced.
The result should have been a strike 'em out/throw 'em out double play ending the inning, but instead allowed two base-runners, and ended Clemens' night, instead.
Dan Wheeler, who's been pitching quite well as of late (and is actually a bright star in our terrible bullpen) made the pitches he needed, unfortunately, Craig Monroe hit a good pitch -- hard. Two runs came in, they'd later add two more, and that'd be all the Tigers would need.
Losing doesn't get any easier, but this loss showed excellent pitching by Clemens and -- minus two bad throws -- a good game by the Astros defense, pointed by two fabulous plays by Berkman and Taveras.
I'm worried that Wheeler, Springer, and Lidge are going to get more heat than they deserve. I despise hearing from Astros fans who want to fire a player after a bad outing, or think the solution is to cut guys from the team. Those people aren't fans of baseball -- they're fans of popular culture. Be patient. These things happen; sometimes, though, they last longer than we'd like.
Fortunately, July puts us against the Cardinals (who we usually play well against), the Cubs, Marlins, Mets, and Diamondbacks. We can win a lot of games the way our Central Division rivals are playing, but the Marlins pitching has been stellar as of late, and the Diamondbacks play in one of the best divisions in baseball. The Mets -- well, let's try not to get swept.
Damn I hate losing, but it's a long season. I'm just not sure my high blood pressure can handle many more losses.
BTW -- there must be something againts Texas teams today. If you haven't watched the highlights, the umpires screwed the Texas Rangers out of a possible win agains the San Francisco Giants.
You can't win 'em all -- I'd just like to win one.
Labels: Houston Astros, Roger Clemens
