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| Andy Pettitte |
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| ------- *Except, here, of course, as the Crawfish Boxes Game Hero award becomes more and more coveted . . . . |
It must be difficult to pitch at a high level knowing that you'll be lucky not to take the loss, let alone get the win. Now that we've gotten Roger three straight wins, and Roy up to nine W's, it is Andy Pettitte who has seemingly taken on the role of snakebitten starting pitcher. With a 2.45 ERA in five starts for the month of June, we still have only managed to get Pettitte the one W over Colorado.
It doesn't help when your team is making his mediocre mound opponent look like Cy Ho Park. I was in physical pain having to watch our overeager hitters (you, Taveras! you, Biggio!, you Ensberg!) make Park look better than he was. The Ho has definitely inherited the crown of Most Reviled Opponent for 2005, previously held by that dirty so-and-so, Ryan (I Hate) Langerhans. I dislike Park so intently mostly because he's not this good. 7 - 2 coming in, with a 6.00 + ERA? That's a crime. 1 - 0 now with a 1.29 ERA against Houston? A travesty.
Ah well, point made, I think. What else, what else, as I write 12 hours later. . . .
- The genesis of a catchphrase: Not sure whether it was Tom Grieve or Todd Lewin who called Ensberg and Everett "The Killer E's"
- Randomization: So Michael Young names his kid 'Mateo' for no apparent reason. I like it. Long ago, I decided not to go the kids route, but before that, I used to tell people I'd name my kid "Carburetor" 'cause I liked the sound.
- DEE-FENSE: Although he didn't start (means nothing! means nothing!), Chris Burke made probably the defensive play of the game in the tenth, when, four pitches after entering defensively, he snagged Kevin Mench's liner mid stride, in the air, going away. Beautiful, and though I don't think Ive given Burke any grief over his defense previously, I certainly promise not to in the future.
- Speaking of defense, Texas kind of seemed intent on outmisplaying us, but "Slops" Everett and "Butterfingers" Biggio need to put two and two together: pitching + defense = Go Together. In other words, a team built on pitching and defense without the defense might as well not be built at all.
- While I'm bitching and moaning, how about Ensberg swinging at that 3 - 0 pitch he got jammed on, with Berkman on second in the sixth? That was so bad even Grieve and Lewin were appalled. Good thing Morgan would, like, go on to win the game for us.
- BIG, Gigantic, Tremendous: Have I mentioned how f***ing huge I think this win is?
[This blog apologizes for the lack of a Preview and its missing Game Thread Sunday. Unfortunately, the Crawfish Boxes Central Command has experienced intermittent internet connectivity issues, and cabling contractors are, to be truthful, unsure about when they will be fully repaired. TCB will, of course, do its best to post as much as humanly possible given the significant downtime possible.]