Astros Sweep Phillies, Win 5-1
by David Coleman on Aug 26, 2010 4:15 PM CDT
in Houston Astros News
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PrintThis has been an unbelievable series from the first game to the last. I can't believe so many different things have happened, but most of all, that the Astros swept a contending team and knocked them (temporarily) out of the playoff picture. Because of Houston, San Francisco has the wild card lead now. Crazy, crazy stuff.
I don't know about the rest of you, but it seems like Michael Bourn was playing out of his mind this series. Like, he was doing to the Phillies what Jim Edmonds usually does to the Astros. Today, he went nuts on the bases, stealing two, beating out an infield single and scoring from second on another infield single. One of his stolen bases happened when the Phillies tried to pick him off and he just sprinted to second ahead of the tag. He did finish 7 for 20 with a home run, four runs scored and four stolen bases. That's after he was 17 for 67 in August coming into the series. He now has 14 stolen bases this month in 16 attempts and leads the National League with 44. That's not even counting his defensive efforts. So, yeah, Bourn made the Phillies pay in this series and it was sweet.
Wandy Rodriguez also looked very good, striking out six in seven innings of work while allowing five hits, one run and a walk. He picked up his 10th victory of the season for Houston and is the first Astros pitcher to break double-digits in the win column this year. Jeff Fulchino and Fernando Abad were solid in locking down the eighth and the ninth innings, continuing a trend of excellent relief work in this series.
I have to say, I haven't been this satisfied about a series in Philadelphia since Biggio hit that game-winner off Billy Wagner in 2005. It was the first time since 1999 that the Astros swept a four-game set in Philly, too, which put a little twinkle in Ed Wade's eye, according to Alyson Footer.
Good win, guys. Let's keep it rolling against the Mets, huh?
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Heartwarming, intoxicating, celebratory, unbelievable
adjectives for this series.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Aug 26, 2010 4:51 PM CDT reply actions
Concerning?
Is it concerning that the stros didn’t score that many runs? I don’t think we’ll win too many series when we average 3.75 runs/game in a 4 game set and our highest total is 5. I’m definitely enjoying all these wins! Not trying to be a negative nancy, jw…
Astros offense is not exactly juggernaut
You can’t expect to blow out the Phillies. Actually, no team can expect that, they have insane pitching. We beat Halladay and Hamels? Sounds like the offense did its job.
He thought the wind generated by his bat would carry the ball out of the park. --Braves fan comments on Ryan Howard's 0-7, 5K night vs HOU
by RocketsAstros on Aug 26, 2010 6:06 PM CDT up reply actions
Yes - offensive output has been concerning since CJ's his hot streak ended
and Astros pretty much rely on Pence and Lee for offense (and now Bourn’s legs)
But No – let’s rejoice today ; and worry about offense tomorow
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Aug 26, 2010 6:11 PM CDT up reply actions
Keppinger
is missed. He’s a steady bat in the lineup. And he mauls lefties.
I'd like to see Downs take Kepp's place as the starter
I doubt it will happen because of “clubhouse chemistry”. But I’d like to improve the middle infield defense, and Downs is projected to hit similarly to Kepp in addition to being a better fielder.
Keppinger’s rest of season ZiPS projection is .712 OPS, Downs’ is .702 OPS. Beyond that, Downs is younger and has more years of team control left and more upside.
If I remember correctly we took every game off the Phillies in 2004 and 2005, and I distinctly remember us pulling off a triple play in the week before the beanwar in Chicago in 2004.
Right now we’re running on amazing starting pitching and Pence and Lee are carrying us offensively. Other guys are chipping in, but primarily it is those two guys.
Pitching wise, all five guys are doing their bits. Rodriguez and Myers have been hot for their last dozen starts, Figueroa is giving us the chance to win every time he goes out, Norris is getting better with every start, and Happ has five out of six quality starts for the Astros.
From June 1st we’ve been 41-35, a pretty good mark.
2005
was funny because the Phils just needed to win won of the games against the Astros and they couldn’t do it. All the National guys were talk about how the Phillies were a better team and that the Astros had a softer schedule, and that’s why Houston got the wild card. I thought at the time, “The Astros schedule is easier because they get to play the Phillies but the poor Phillies have to play the Astros.” They couldn’t even win one. Hahahahaha
FanGraphs has a story about the series
Their conclusion? There was only a 1% chance for the Astros to sweep the Phillies, and in doing so, we single-handedly reduced their playoff chances by 23%.
That series was entertaining
Close games, 9th inning turnarounds, extra innings, stolen bases, base-running blunders, pickoffs, thrown out at home, ejection, umpire mocking a player, and most importantly the Astros win.
He thought the wind generated by his bat would carry the ball out of the park. --Braves fan comments on Ryan Howard's 0-7, 5K night vs HOU
Something I haven't seen mentioned
We swept the Phillies last season (in September) in a four-game series as well, except that time it was at MMP.
OremLK
Are you the most prolific Astros baseball commenter on message boards? Any where I go online you’ve been there first. Even before I found the Crawfish Boxes I would be reading comments on Fangraphs or Astros.com or MLBTR, and I would say, “Hey, this guy actually knows what he’s talking about.”
Yeah, some teams just don’t match up well with certain teams.
by titansfan4ever on Aug 27, 2010 9:17 AM CDT up reply actions
What do you expect...we have Woody Harrelson on our team....
check out the picture above and tell me that Happ isn’t a dead ringer for Woody?
by titansfan4ever on Aug 27, 2010 9:22 AM CDT up reply actions
Psychology lesson
It’s interesting to see how a team plays that’s loose with nothing to lose against a team that’s pressing as they fight for a playoff spot in front of their home crowd.
Nice to see the Astros with a little swagger as they crush the dreams of fellow NL teams.
referred to as the ‘lowly Astros’ again.
I was watching the highlights this morning and I wondered what the heck Jayson Werth was doing in the fifth, when he just ran into Castro’s tag, and didn’t even touch home plate. crazy.
I heard a bit of the post game interview with Cholly, and he basically said they needed a run and tried to get something going there. I don’t think sending someone from third on a liner to Pence with him getting some momentum was such a good idea in that situation.
You ain't a has-been, if you never was.
Lotsa love
Watched MLB channel last night and they were showing the love to the Astros.
Talked about the pitching the staff, how well they’ve played, and how the staff is a talented nucleus heading into next year.
Even mentioned that after 0-8 start, they’ve gone something like 57-61.
CJ made top 10 plays on SportsCenter.
All in all, was surprised on the props they were getting.
Don't you guys love
how we used to wait until like the 7th or 8th inning to decide on the “Coors Light Cold Hard Blast” back in the day when the team had power. But now a days as soon as the home run is hit, well we have decided on the Cold Hard Blast, lol!
Our pitching is getting the job done
since that 10-4 win against Atlanta, our starters have pitched 15 quality starts in 16 games (the one non-quality start was the Figueroa 5IP 1 ER against the Mets).
In those sixteen games the cumulative ERA of our starters is 2.15. We are 10-6 with 3 blown saves (only one of which we lost).
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago
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0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
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Cincinnati
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Houston
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St. Louis
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(updated 2.16.2012 at 12:05 AM CST)
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