This is the Shawn Chacon I expected coming into the season.

Just not the right one.

THROW A PARADE!

always looks like he’s limping.

don’t fly out to edmonds… doh!

1st and 2nd with Tejada, Berkman and Lee and we can’t even get one.

All of a sudden Berkman is struggling.

This would be a big win for us.

This is a bizarro game!

Is Gameday telling it right? All the Cubs hitters starting tonight have season batting averages above 300 with the exception of Ramirez at 287 and Edmonds at 175.

wow.

Bourn and Matsui both on to start the inning.

Bourn scores

I likey.

CABALLO BOMB!

He jumps high to snag Edmonds’ bid for a HR in front of Crawford Boxes. The ground shook as Lee came down with the ball in his glove.

Bourn tripled and is 3 for 3 thus far and Berkman is 0-2 with 2 strikeouts. The world is upside down today.

Go Stros!

WTF? The sky is about to fall.

I come back and Bourn has 3 hits and a triple. Unbelieveable.

Berkman 2 k’s. His streak’s officially over.

It didn’t look good early. But the Astros lead 4-3 in the middle of the fifth.

Why’d they take Gallagher out? I liked him.

Bases loaded two out. Chacon has retired the last nine in a row. Astros currently lead by 2 runs.

Hmmm… well.. the upside to not pinch hitting for him is you get to keep him (he’s not been scored upon since the first) and you can lead off with Bourn next time if he gets out, I suppose. Which he just did.

SA Spurs fan here… But yeah – I know I can count on the CB faithful to keep me posted on the Stros game.

Man, I’d like to send the Cubs packing with an embarrasing loss.

Bad start, giving up three runs in the first…
but he’s faced the minimum since then and is now in the in the sixth inning with 2 outs.
He did allow one hit during that span, but picked the runner off at first.

Interesting.

Do we plan summer vacations to hell to escape the southern heat?

Plate umpire ordered stop watch put on him. Might contrribute to walking Matsui.

Berkman with another chance to do something with Matsui on base. Matsui can score from 1st on a lot of balls.

With runner in scoring posiition, he pitched Edmonds and DeRosa tough.

Berkman’s defense has been terrific this year

So what was all that talk about Miggy losing a step? = P

I don’t care if the dude is 43, he’s a gamer.

You guys are seeing a lot of pitchers.

FSN’s pitch tracker showed it clearly inside. One of the bad strike calls I’ve seen this year.

Ump called those last two balls very tightly….easily could have been fastball strikes.

1-0

Feels good to win it.

As of late, they’ve kept the Stros close enough to win BALLGAMES and SERIES. You gotta love it.

Thanks for the insight fellas….

Til’ next time = )

Way to go STROS…especially after losing the first game. Great that we won this series against a good Cub team (and with the backend of our rotation and with Berkman coming back to earth).

Thanks for the PBP everyone! :-)

Keep it rolling Stros!

SeoulStro

I switched to the Cardinals-Padres game just intime to see Albert Pujols hit a line drive to the Chris Young’s face. Chris Young walks off the field (with assistance). Pujols looked scared. He and the Padres’ first baseman held arms around each others waist as they prayed for Chris Young. Scary moment

Was out of media contact most of the game, but got a 5-3 radio score check in the middle of the game and heard the Astros and Cubs last at bats. Great win! Then, get home and see the pbp and box score – all three runs in the 1st, and Chacon only gives up 5 total hits over seven innings – outstanding. I mean, is this guy a value pick up (so far) or what?

Of course, I worried that when Lance’s spell ended it wouldn’t just end, it would reverse into a slump, and the three Ks tonight do nothing to ease the anxiety. But, still. Two out of three against the division leader. Nice to have.

I haven’t posted much this season, but it’s been exciting to watch this team gel and win some series.

Nice that Chacon finally got a decision (and it was a win). They mentioned in the broadcast that Chacon has struggled the most in the first inning of his starts. They weren’t kidding. He’s given up 14 of his 32 runs yielded in the 1st inning of games, which equates to a run average of 12.6 (ERA of 9.0, cause all four of his unearned runs have come in the first inning of games). His ERA after the 1st inning is 3.16. His WHIP in the first inning is 2.0, while his WHIP after the 1st inning is 1.29. Just keep that in mind next time you get down on him for giving up a run or three in the first inning.

Also nice to see Bourn step up and have a good day. He’s 7-16 since being reinserted in the leadoff role (probably as meaningless as saying Berkman is 1-10 with 8 K’s since he streak ended). If he and Matsui do their job, there’s really no stopping this offense, even without Berkman being superhuman.