The 2006 season very nearly took a turn for the disasterous for the Houston Astros last night. Shawn Chacon not only looked like an honest-to-God Major League pitcher for five innings, but staged an epic quest to finish the season with more strikeouts than walks, recording five Ks in those first five innings to tie the two numbers at 62 apiece.
However, in the sixth, he pulled a Shawn Chacon, allowing three hits, a walk, and four runs, including his favorite type of pitch, a gopherball to Lance Berkman. Matt Capps & co. kept it at 6-5 until the ninth, when Sal Torres became the first Pirates closer all season to blow a save, prompting all the morons who think giving relief pitchers seven figures is two figures too many to come out of woodwork.
At this point, I left to go to the gym, and was completely shocked when I return an hour and a half later to find the game still going on, mired in the 14th inning. The few hundred hardy souls still at the ballpark were holding out hope for a repeat of this classic. Sadly, you can only count on five scoreless innings from Ryan Vogelsong once every few decades or so, and this time it was not to be, as the Pirates dropped it 7-6 in the 15th. Perhaps it will ultimately be for the better, if the Cardinals finish their historic collapse (although Albert Pujols did Tony's boys a favor yesterday by beating the Padres, 4-2, to keep them 1 1/2 games ahead of the Astros).
The Phillies played an epic game of their own, outlasting the Nats in 14 innings, leaving them one game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the N.L. Wild Card race. The Dodgers have not lost a game since dropping the first two at home to the lowly (T.J. Simers' words, not mine) Pirates over a week ago.
Today, the Astros are facing yet another must-win game, although this one they really should win given that Roy Oswalt is scheduled to start for them. However, the Astros are facing another obstacle in Pittsburgh weather, which has been known to wreak havoc with quite a few baseball games in its time. Also frustrating is the fact that this is not ESPN's "Day Game" this afternoon. Despite the seemingly non-stop run of contending teams on the schedule for the Bucs, I have yet to see them on national television once since arriving in Boston. I hate ESPN.
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At this point, I left to go to the gym, and was completely shocked when I return an hour and a half later to find the game still going on, mired in the 14th inning.
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