Well, this was the match-up that I pegged to be interesting and it didn't disappoint. Breaking down the starting pitch match-up indicated that the deciding factor in the game was going to be the defense backing the pitchers, and the Astros did not disappoint.
Moehler, however, was as dominant as I have seen him. JD was thoroughly impressed with his effective mixing of pitches and it showed with the Cardinals hitters staying unbalance for Moehler's 6.1 IP.
So onto the positives:
- Brian Moehler's line: 6.1IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 5K, 2BB, 10GB, and 7FB on 100 pitches (64 strikes). His 7.11 K/9 and lopsided GB/FB ratio pretty much tell the story of Moehler's stellar outing, for himself.
- Carlos Lee saved Lance Berkman's strained calf by allow Lance to trot home on his fourth inning three run blast (seeing how tender Berkman was all night has me concerned, though).
- Michael Bourn's catch on Tal's Hill in the bottom of the first. It won't make any highlight reels, but watch that ball blast off Albert Pujols' bat...just the sheer relief of watching Bourn field it makes it an amazing grab.
- (see photo above)
- Wesley Wright's 3-1 on what should have been a 3 unassisted.
- Ivan Rodriguez gunning down Pujols in the bottom of the 8th.
- Kazuo Matsui, Miguel Tejada, and Lance Berkman's 4-6-3 to bail out Jose Valverde in the bottom of the ninth.
- The Cubs losing 10-1 in Philly and the fact that the Brewers are currently losing 7-2 at the time of me typing in the bottom of sixth at Pittsburgh.
- The fact that we're a winning baseball team again and the Chris Carpenter vs. Roy Oswalt match-up is now guaranteed to have something riding on it.
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