Well, it didn't happen quite like Joe predicted, but the Astros did beat the Cardinals pretty handily Saturday night.
Brett Myers outdueled Jeff Suppan, even though Soup settled in after a rough first inning. Myers could have finished the game after ending the eighth inning with 94 total pitches, but manager Brad Mills elected to bring in Matt Lindstrom for the save. Myers was dealing in this game, too, which makes the decision a little harder. After all, he only gave up five hits, which is almost as impressive as Roy's one-hitter on Thursday, considering who Myers is.
But, Myers' dominance wasn't as impressive as two plays in the first inning. The first was Carlos Freakin' Lee beating out a double play ball to keep the inning going. Let me repeat that, El Bufalo got to first faster than the replay throw on a grounder to shortstop. The funny thing was, it wasn't too slowly hit of a grounder. it was a fairly ordinary play until Lee busted it down the line. Two batters later, Pedro Feliz came up with a clutch two-run single to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.
That single by Feliz pushed the WPA up to around 75 percent, which is pretty impressive for the first inning. Plus, Feliz was batting around .220 heading into the game, so it was pretty sweet. It also marked a payoff for Mills' move to rest Chris Johnson and Jason Castro when Feliz and Q each had RBI singles in the first.
Add to that a Jeff Keppinger home run and double and this was quite the victory for Astros fans. It evened this series against the Cardinals with Wandy Rodriguez facing off with Blake Hawksworth in the rubber game Sunday afternoon. Sunday's game will also be the last before a three day break for the All-Star festivities, sending the Astros to the break on a high note. After the start to this season, that's a victory they can definitely use.