Bust Out The Walking Stick
Last night, we saw one of the strangest rallies of the year. The suddenly surging Houston Astros… well, just look at it for yourself.
Top 6, SF @ Houston, Giants lead 1-0, Barry Zito pitching.
Ty Wigginton reaches on an infield single
Mark Loretta walked
Miguel Tejada singled to center
Lance Berkman walked
Geoff Blum hit a sacrifice fly
Hunter Pence intentionally walked
Reggie Abercrombie hit a sacrifice fly
Humberto Quintero hit by pitch
Randy Wolf walked
Ty Wigginton hit by pitch
Mark Loretta hit by pitch
Miguel Tejada flew out.
That’s a six run inning based on an infield single, an actual single, four walks, and three hit by pitches. 12 men came to the plate, and thanks to the classification between PA and AB, the Astros went 2 for 3 on the inning. You might not ever see a worse pitching sequence than hitting Quintero, walking Wolf, hitting Wigginton, and hitting Loretta in succession.
For the Astros, it’s another odd win in a winning streak that only the Astros front office saw coming. They were openly mocked for making trades to add veterans when they have next to no chance of making the playoffs, but the Astros have responded and are playing their best baseball of the season. It won’t matter, though, because their seven game winning streak has simply served to keep them even with the Brewers, who have won eight in a row.
Of course, if they can score six runs in an inning where they get just two singles, maybe anything is possible.
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Ed Wade is a genius. Best GM ever. Someone get that man a trophy!
With the Brewers playing exceptionally well (especially the pitching), it is still next to impossible for us to make the playoffs, but I would just like to point out that 10 games ago, we picked up 3 games on the Cards, and 4 each on the Phillies and Marlins. The NL East is going to take care of each other; if the Brewers collapse again, we could be right there.
Wow. Any chance of converting Zito to an outfielder?
No, if the Brewers collapse, AND the Astros continue to win games at an extremely improbable clip then “you” will be right there.
Don’t hold your breath.
There was a combination of horrible pitching work for the Giants in that. Zito was removed after walking Wolf, and Billy Sadler was responsible for the final two HPB (which were credited to Barry, because he allowed the runners that Sadler sent home beaning batters.) Zito only allowed seven of the innings nine base runners.
Moneyline,
That’s why I prefaced my statement by saying, “it is still next to impossible for us to make the playoffs”. But hey, “we” are winning games right now, and “I” am happy about that.