Wait, they played this game WHEN? And there was a game on Saturday too? Preposterous!
Sorry for dropping the ball with the game recaps this weekend, TCB Land. I had some family stuff crop up that kept me away from a computer (or my phone) for much of the past two days.
Luckily, it doesn't look like I missed much. Wesley Wright gets hit around yet again on the heels of Randy Wolf pitching circles around the lineup for a second straight game. What happened to the timely hitting and great pitching of those previous series?
The simple answer is that Houston was pretty lucky in the past two weeks. This team isn't a world-beater just yet. They have some young talent in Chris Johnson (1-4, run scored) and Brett Wallace (1-3, run scored), some solid core players in Michael Bourn (3-5, 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) and Hunter Pence (2-5, 2B, run), but this isn't a team that's ready to compete for the Wild Card.
Chances are, you already know that. What can we take out of this game in particular?
Jeff Fulchino looked good in a second straight outing. The big righthander struck out one in two perfect innings of work. Wilton Lopez continues to shine, picking up another scoreless inning of his own. Carlos Lee continues to be on a mini-tear, seeing him go 9 for 24 in his last seven games. That includes three doubles and five walks.
In the end, it's hard to win any game when your starting pitcher gives up seven runs in the first two innings. Couple that with an opponent throwing their ace, who's also contending for an ERA title and it's a recipe for losing. We'll eventually have to ask the question about Wesley Wright. (How many more starts does he get? Has he shown enough promise to stay in the rotation through the end of the season?) But, that time isn't now. Until next series...