Thank you Craig Biggio! Biggio hit his 3rd career grand slam tonight in the 9th inning, game tied up 2-2 to put the Astros ahead for the win.
Nice game by Matt Albers(making his first start of the year). 6 innings, 6 hits with 2 ER, 3 BB and 1 K is a damn nice outing for a guy who didn't even make the team out of spring training. Not to say that he didn't give the Brewers chances though(they stranded 18 runners on base). Maybe this start will be the first step in the door to keeping him on a big league roster.
Nothing really stands out stats wise in the game... It was a pretty average outing for most involved up until the 9th inning when Biggio went deep. I was very surprised that ball left the yard. When it was hit I was happy that we were going to get the sac fly and grab the lead, but the ball just kept going and going. One thing to note is that Berkman is batting above .200 now(after last nights game). I know that seems low, but he's been under .200 for most of the season. Did anyone notice that Ausmus is batting .303? Don't be fooled though, he's had a .283 average in April the last 3 years.
What to say about Brad Lidge... well besides the 10.12 ERA he's sporting now. I've been a huge Lidge fan ever since Wagner left and Lidge took over the set-up role behind Dotel, and then the closing duties when Dotel was traded. But I just don't think he has it anymore. I'm curious if there has ever been a pitcher(as young as him) be so great for 2 years(1.90 ERA in 2004, 2.29 in 2005) to become so bad the following years(5.28 in 2006 and his current 10.12 ERA). I'm sure his ERA will go down some as the year goes on, but he is of no value right now as a pitcher for the Astros. When can he be trusted? He can't just be put out there to eat up innings in a meaningless game. Borkowski can do that and he makes a hell of a lot less. You can't trust him to even protect a 4 run lead over 1 inning. I think he needs to go. I hate to say it because I really do like Lidge; I like him as a person, the way he goes about his work and I like(d) him as a player. But I just can't handle it anymore. I don't even really care if we lose on him and he becomes a decent player for another team. I just don't want him pitching for us anymore. Send him to the minors for a few(6+) months if they don't want to trade him... but get him away from the Astros. I can't handle it anymore...