I know, I was surprised too. I thought there was just the draft, but apparently, they played real, live baseball as well.
Once again, Carlos Lee lets us down. He misses a couple plays in that spacious left field and allows the Rockies to score two runs in the third inning. Wandy did a good job of shutting down Colorado for the rest of the game, but the Astros bat just couldn't get untracked.
Lance Berkman struck out to kill one rally and had another one taken away with a great play at third base. With runners on first and second and one out, the Rockies brought lefty Joe Beimel in to turn Berkman around. He had a good at-bat and hit what looked like a double down the third base line, but it was snared by Melvin Mora, who stepped on third for one out and threw to first for an easy double play. I may not be doing this play justice. The ball was hit hard. Mora just made a great play on it, as he was playing close to the lines to prevent just that kind of play.
In the ninth, the Astros finally pushed across a run when Pedro Feliz, Humberto Quintero and Geoff Blum all hit singles. Feliz scored from second on Blum's hit, scampering home before the throw from right field. Jason Michaels struck out to end the inning, however, spoiling a rally and giving Manny Corpas the save.
Wandy ended the night after 7 innings, allowing nine hits and three runs while striking out two and walking two. He also threw 110 pitches and got 11 ground balls to stem some of the Rockies' damage. I can't say the same thing about TIm Byrdak. The lefthander got roughed up in the eighth, turning a 3-0 game into a 5-0 game in an instant.
Again, no Astro had an extra-base hit. While Coors Field has been playing more neutral in recent seasons, there is still a ton of green space in the outfield. Some Houston player should have found a gap and ran a bit. Instead, the Astros hitters turned Jason Hammel's season around. Should I call up the infomercial again? Let's just get back to the draft. At least there's some promise there.