Houston Astros VS Cleveland Indians : Spring Training Game 29

the schedule says we have a game tomorrow against Toronto, although that won't be in Kissimmee.

us

Bourn, CF
Pence, RF
Berkman, 1B
Lee, LF
Tejada, SS
Loretta, 2B
Wiggington, 3B
Towles, C
Oswalt, P

them

Guittierrez, CF
Cabrera, SS
Delucci, LF
Martinez, C
Garko, 1B
Blake, 3B
Michaels, RF
Carroll, 2B
Sabathia, P

This probably looks a LOT like what we'll see next Monday in San Diego. Interesting that Loretta is 6th and Wiggy is 7th. Their lineup isn't quite their OD lineup, but there are a lot of regulars in there. Good pitching matchup today for two guys looking for their last tuneup before the season.

had the club out early working on some fundamentals after being disgusted by the performance yesterday, particularly rundowns.

Guittierrez draws a walk (i think... missed it, but don't think it was a hit)

Cabrera works a full count before chopping it in front of the mound. Roy has a case of the ST bobbles and his late, wide throw allows Cabrera to reach on an E1.

Delucci dribbles one to the mound. Roy goes to 2nd for the FC. Man on 1st and 2nd, one out.

Michaels lifts a long fly ball to right center, but Pence catches up to it for the final out.

LOOOOooong first inning for Roy. Not much damage, and no truly hard hit balls, but a run nonetheless.

1-0 Tribe

Martinez dribbles on to 2nd, Loretta flips to Tejada, but the relay to Berkman is not in time, and Guittierrez scores.

Garko sends one up the middle for the first base hit of the day. Man on 1st and 2nd, two outs.

Blake works another full count, then draws a walk to load the bases.

Bourn goes down looking. i think it was three pitches.

Pence quickly bounces out to third.

Berkman also grounds out, and i'm not sure CC threw more than 7 pitches.

Not much of a breather for Roy, who labored through his half of the inning.

Roy gets two quick outs to erase Carroll and Sabathia.

Guittierrez grounds to Loretta for the third out, and that's a nice bounce-back 1-2-3 inning for Roy.

Lee drives a deep fly ball to left field, but the wind keeps it in the park, and it's just a long loud out.

Tejada drives a double to the gap in left center.

Loretta lines out to the right fielder.

Wiggington goes down swinging, leaving Miggy at 2nd.

Still 1-0 Tribe, but some better contact that inning.

Cabrera drives a hard grounder up the first base line and off Lance's glove. it rolls to the Indian's bullpen and Cabrera beats Berkman's throw to 2nd.

Delucci rolls one up the 1st base line, Lance takes it unassisted to the bag, but Cabrera advances to 3rd.

Martinez knocks a base hit, scoring Cabrera.

Garko lines out. Guess it was hit hard right at somebody, but I'm not sure who.

Blake laces a double down the left field line, but it's ruled a ground-rule double, so Martinez is held at 3rd.

Michaels chops one to short and Tejada has to come in hard, and makes the nice play to save a run.

Tribe up 2-0 though. Lots of activity, but limited damage. Wish some other pitchers could manage that.

Towles goes down swinging.

So does Roy. Four now, three in a row, all swinging, for CC.

Bourn bounces out to Cabrera. Been a while since he got a hit, but at least he put it in play this time.

Still 2-0 Tribe.

Missed the beginning of the inning. Pick it up as Cabrera grounds to Loretta, playing in with men on 2nd and 3rd. Runnes hold and Loretta gets the 2nd out at 1st.

Guess Sabathia and Guittierrez reached somehow.

Roy goes 3-0 to Dellucci, brings it full, before Dellucci lines one to the gap in right center. Both runs score and Dellucci makes it all the way around to 3rd.

Sabathia reached on an error, so these are unearned runs two and three on the day. Nonetheless, Tribe up 4-0.

Martinez grounds to Lance, who tosses to Roy. Both sides think it's out #3, but the home plate up rules it a foul ball off Martinez's foot. just a strike. Martinez works it full, then drives it back up the middle for his third RBI in three at bats. That brings Dewey Robinson out for a visit.

Tribe up 5-0 now.

going between Berkman's legs, ends the day for Oswalt. Broadcasters are pointing out that errors are killing Roy's pitch count. If the Astros continue to play this kind of defense, predictions on this board of a 20+ win season for Oswalt may be premature.

Pence singles to open the inning. said that was 30 for the Spring so far. wow. Next closest is Cruz with 20. quick check and coming into today, Pence is leading all of baseball in hits this Spring.

Berkman follows with a bloop single. Pence holds at 2nd.

Lee pops out to the catcher in foul territory.

Tejada batting and Pence and Berkman double steal successfully. throw is late to 3rd.

Tejada sends one up the middle. Pence scores, but Berkman is nailed at the plate. Tejada is then thrown out at 1st after taking too hard a turn. Sounds like a great throw from Guittierrez and a heady play by Martinez (combined with poor baserunnning by Tejada)

Astros on the board though. 6-1 Tribe.

Wright still pitching.

Wasn't paying attention, but Wright got a 1-2-3 inning, with a K tossed in there somewhere. 8-9-1 hitters, but nice to see him getting the job done.

still 6-1 Tribe.

5-3 game.

With two on (Wiggy at 2nd and Towles at 1st) and one out, Cruz (pinch hitting for Wright) lines a double up the 3rd base line, scoring both. 5-3 Indians now.

Bourn up, grounds to the right side. Carroll beats him to 1st, but Cruz advances to 3rd. Two away.

Pence grounds out to end it.

Borks in.

Cabrera homers to right, maybe a bit wind assisted.

Delucci doubles. Martinez moves him over with a FC. Garko drives him in with a deep sac fly to right.

Not a great outing by Borks so far, as it's 7-3. two outs, nobody on.

Blake flies to center to end it.

CC still pitching, gets Berkman, Lee, and Tejada in order.

Borkowski still pitching

Michaels leads off with a hit.

Carroll goes down on strikes.

CC at the place for the 4th time. He takes Borkowski to the warning track in left, which I guess would have probably been a home run at MMP.

Tyner, in for Guittierrez, flies to center to end it.

Still 7-3 Tribe.

Always funny to hear them playing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch, when they're playing their games in Central Florida.

Loretta grounds back to the mound for the first out.

Wiggy goes down swinging, his 2nd of the day, CC's 5th.

Towles also a strikeout victim.

Still 7-3 Tribe.

missed it, but Brocail got nice 1-2-3 inning.

CC finally out of the game. Lewis on.

Ausmus, who had checked in at 3B again, picks up a base knock.

Bourn makes it 0-4 on the day. BA and OBP still plummetting.

Pence works a walk.

Erstad, who had checked in for Berkman, laces a double down the line. Ausmus scores. Pence holds at 3rd.

Newhan broke his back and dribbled it up the 1st base line. Pence scores, but Newhan is out number two.

Q at the plate with two out and runners on the corners. He knocks a base hit to left to score Erstad. Nice two-out RBI for Q. maybe he WILL be a pinch hit option on the bench. still don't like the idea of carrying three catchers, but would HATE to lose Quintero to the waiver wire.

Perez adds a base hit. Q stops at 2nd.

Nice rally going. 7-6 Tribe.

Geary in.

Gets Gonzalez on strikes, but Ausmus adds to the Astros error-frenzy, booting a grounder from Michaels.

Carroll grounds into what looks like a DP, but he beats the relay.

Shoppach batting and Carroll steals 2nd. Q throws it into right center, but Carroll doesn't pick it up and stays at 2nd.

Geary gets Shoppach on strikes, so the error and the missed DP opportunity don't hurt him.

Still 7-6 Tribe, going to the bottom of the 9th.

Perez in to pitch.

He erases any suspense by getting three quick groundball outs.

7-6 is the final.

Bit of a shaky outing by Roy, but the defense didn't help him out much. Wonder if he's going to go back to trying to get more strikeouts if he perceives his defense as not being very supportive.

Another nice day for Pence and Tejada, who appear ready for opening day. Another poor day for Bourn, who needs to regain his momentum from earlier this spring and somehow cut down on the strikeouts.

Wright, Brocail, and Geary all had nice outings, but Borks would probably like to forget this one, not that it will affect him making the club... or at least I don't think.

Three more of these before opening day. One more in Florida, then the two at MMP. Meanwhile, two regular season games already in the books, halfway across the world. Was anybody even paying attention? How many people think that Sunday night will feel like the REAL first game of the season? What a dumb idea to make those games in Japan count. I'm all for exhibition games overseas, but I just don't see why they needed to have regular season games five days before anybody else, especially since both teams return home to play THREE MORE EXHIBITIONS before resuming their season. What a joke?

...getting ready for an exciting run-scoring, run-allowing season!!! 5 more days...