Tonight, Astros' interim skipper and New York native Tony DeFrancesco earned his first win as a major league manager. The Astros toppled the Mets by a score of 3-1 on 6 hits, including a long homer by Tyler Greene in the Seventh. Chris Snyder went 2 for 3 with a walk. Jordan Lyles pitched a wonderful game, with only one earned run on three hits in six innings. For most of his outing, his fastball was hovering in the mid-90's with some mean bite, sometimes topping at 96 mph, though the radar gun was questioned by the FSN Houston TV crew.
For me, this was a special night, as it was only the second win that I've had the privilege of recapping. The Astros now sit at 40 wins, which is one more than the 39 wins they had this morning. Every one counts.
Once again, I used my favorite comments from TCB readers to tell the story of tonight's game.
First Inning:
Due to the game thread not posting on the home page until the inning was almost over, I didn't get many comments to use, alas. I did get this gem from ccislanders though, about Astros' starting pitcher Jordan Lyles:
He hit 96 twice, or thrice.
I didn't believe it until it was corroborated by Jimbo:
If Lyles can consistently throw in the mid- upper-90's, he's suddenly a lot more interesting. And as MadMartygan says:
I’m still on the bandwagon. He’s 3 months older than Kevin Gausman.
Kevin Gausman, a pitcher from my alma mater, was just chosen in the top 10 of the 2012 draft. Lyles has been in professional baseball for years.
Second Inning:
[Astros' Catcher Chris] Snyder’s a huffin and a puffin
by ASTROnomical on Aug 24, 2012 4:35 PM PDT
Score Astros 1 Mets 0
Lyles!!
RBI double!!! Nice swing
by jimbo0488 on Aug 24, 2012 4:35 PM PDT
I was about to call a Lyles hit, but thought don’t be stupid. Just goes to show you, go ahead and say dumb things.
Score Astros 2 Mets 0
I think Lyles should be hitting in the 4 hole.
makes about as much sense as francisco
In the bottom of the second, the Astros got a non-force tag out at home, followed by a really nice double play to get Lyles out of the inning unscathed. Ralph is at the game in New York, and is providing us with first hand observation:
Awesome double play, grumpy old men leering at us
Third Inning:
Kicking off the Third with some optimism!
My 100th post. WE ARE GOING TO WIN!
by ASTROnomical on Aug 24, 2012 4:51 PM PDT
Interesting that the three replies were A) homer fan answer, B) Sarcastic bitterness (but still my favorite reply), and C) literal. Couldn't have penned a better summary myself. Thanks, all!
Fourth Inning:
Chris Snyder five game hit streak
looks like Armageddon has come early this year!
Of course I love Chris Perry, and CRPerry13.
by ccislanders on Aug 24, 2012 5:12 PM PDT
You know, my wife read my recap last week. She asked me about you.
Lyles
Has to be the unluckiest person when it comes to foul pole homers
Score Astros 2 Mets 1.
Inning unraveling for Lyles
HR, Walk and HBP
Almost a HBP on the walk too
I am in
Mike Fast @fastballs
Proposed by my kids: bike baseball. The batter bats and courtesy "runner" bikes around the bases. Outfielders are also equipped with bikes.
Fifth Inning:
Lyles got his act back together, put on his big boy pants and got out of the fifth three up three down
Sixth Inning:
So, who's ready for Fernando Abad?
I know I am not.
by ccislanders on Aug 24, 2012 5:45 PM PDT
Jimmy Paredes rbi single
He’s 2-2!
Oops, wrong game!
What a throw by Pearce to gun down Wright! 2 outs
by linkxmalon on Aug 24, 2012 5:50 PM PDT
Pearce just nailed Wright, who hit a ball off the wall and then tried to run to 2nd, but was lasered.
Seventh Inning:
GREENE homer off da deck!
Astros, Belmont, 'Bama and Corpus Christi.
by ccislanders on Aug 24, 2012 5:54 PM PDT
Awww, what kind of an attitude is that? Score Astros 3 Mets 1.
Eighth Inning:
Mets’ bullpen is actually worse than the Astros’.
Mets’ bullpen ERA is 30th at 5.06.
Astros’ bullpen ERA is 29th at 4.80.by clack on Aug 24, 2012 6:18 PM PDT
YES! The season is a success after all!
JD with an epic "NO SOUP FOR YOU!"
Pure awesomeness!
And here's the link to the video!
Painfully, it's been the eight inning for like 45 minutes. So here's a minor league update:
ROBBIE GROSSMAN 2 RUN HOMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally, Wilton Lopez gets us into the ninth. There never was any threat, but that inning was interminably long.
heres your inning recap
F-rod is worse at throwing strike than a blind sloth with back issues, luckily the mets hitters are big enough idiots to swing at the first pitches. David Wright comes up. I immediately go hide in the corner. Hoping it will end soon luckily it does
Ninth Inning:
So far in the ninth, nothing has happened except for a conversation on the message board about the fate of Sammy Gervacio, who is apparently pitching well in the Mexican League. Lopez is trying to finish off a four-out save.
Jordan Lyles
Had a good first inning. Hit 96 mph on one of his fastballs. Nice to see the velocity up.
by jimbo0488 on Aug 24, 2012 4:30 PM PDT