Around the sixth inning of this game did you ever think that your adrenaline would be pumping that much in the ninth? As with so many of Roy Oswalt's starts, the Wizard stymied the opposing offense throughout- leaving after shutting the Cubs out for 7 IP. It was a pleasure to watch, especially because the Astros managed to score four runs in support of Roy. For those keeping track, after three starts that's four runs scored on his behalf.
JR Towles' two RBI led the offense on a day that the Wrigley Field winds blew many a ball back which on a regular day would have most likely ended up as hits. From that stand point it was nice to see the Astros actually hitting the ball in the air. Jeff Keppinger's two out RBI single would prove to be the deciding run, because as it so often does with this team, the simple things are never really that simple.
To start, Brandon Lyon, he of the $15 million contract, failed to finish out the eighth inning after giving up three runs on four hits. He's not going to blow anyone away so location is key with Lyon. Today he was off and the Cubs pounded him to get back into things. Thankfully, Chris Sampson cleaned up the mess Lyon left for him. I wonder if Lyon knows how much he has been over paid in relation to how much he can actually produce for this team? We hear about players needing to justify big contracts all the time, but that's usually left for players who make the biggest dollars in the game. Brandon Lyon isn't in that group, but for an eighth inning pitcher, he is at or near the top of the heap.
Potential goat #2 today was Tommy Manzella, who for the third time this week committed an error. This time on an easy, slow hit ground ball that should have been the 27th and deciding out for the Cubs. Unfortunately, Tommy bobbled the grounder and couldn't recover the ball to make a play. Matt Lindstrom was nails to close the game out though. He struck out Kosuke Fukudome on a nasty slider, and the Astros had their second win of the 2010 season.