“You can’t – always get – what you want!”
….even Albert Pujols knows the money lyrics to this old hit song.
Disappointment – Then Joy Restored.
It was the bottom of the 9th in Anaheim. The Astros has just blown a 6-2 lead over the Angels and were clinging to a 6-5 margin with Halo runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. ROOTS commentator Geoff Blum had just uttered a variation on the old “baseball’s a crazy game” when the next LA batter whacked a playable, but twisting bouncer to 3rd baseman Marwin Gonzalez as he crosses over backhanded to make the effort.
BOING!
The ball bounces out of Marwin’s glove. The batter will be safe at 1st. The runner from 3rd will be safe at home to tie the game. The runner from 2nd will be safe at 3rd before Gonzalez gets the ball to make the only play possible – and it’s too late.
Ken Giles gets the next guy to save us for “extras”, but that old “wind-out-of-our-sails” deflation is trying to kick in. Can we still win this game?
Yes! Of course!
This is 2017!
In the top of the 1oth, a lead off single and a quick stolen base by Jose Altuve are the set up. Then Carlos Correa drives a forceful single to right that plates Altuve for another Astros lead at 7-6. This one will hold as Chris Devenski comes on to save the 7-6 counter-rally win for Ken Giles and the Houston Astros.
One Very Enjoyable Pitch.
Loved it. When Ken Giles struck out Albert Pujols swinging in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and two outs while the Angels were still trailing, some of us simply enjoyed watching him slump back to the bench in a state of controlled frustration over his failure this time to once more launch “the bomb of all bombs.” – Come on, man! You can’t have it your way every time, can you?
Climb, Mr. Beltran, Climb!
You are doing some stuff right, this year, Mr. Beltran. Otherwise, MLB.com writer Brian McTaggart wouldn’t be keeping such close tabs on your numbers in the career doubles and extra base hits department. Check him out:
http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/228649536/carlos-beltran-passes-rose-in-extra-base-hits/
My Decades Old Problem with the Winning Pitcher “W” Award
In last night’s first game of the weekend Astros@Angels series, Dallas Keuchel pitched great through eight, but lost his control of the game. Enter Ken Giles, who couldn’t save Keuchel, but did save the Astros from defeat in nine innings. Then the Astros scored one run to regain the lead in the top of the 10th and pitcher Chris Devenski came on in the bottom of the 1oth to save the game for the “W” awarded second pitcher Ken Giles – even though he – Giles – could not save the game for Keuchel.
How about assigning the “Win” to Keuchel for his 8 innings of effective work? Handing a “Blown Save” to Giles for losing the lead that would have closed the game as an Astros win in 9 innings? And a “Save” to Devenski for saving the win for Keuchel and the game for the Astros?
____________________
Bill McCurdy
Publisher, Editor, Writer
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
May 6, 2017 at 5:51 pm |
I’ll say to you what I told our mutual friend Bob Dorrill this morning, as he was complaining to me about the blown save. You know you’ve got a pretty good team, when you wake up in the morning and see that they have won a late game; and then you’re no longer happy that they won, but you start complaining about how they won. Just enjoy the ride, Bill!
Mike
May 6, 2017 at 6:12 pm |
Your point is well said and appreciably heard, but that isn’t my point. I don’t care how we win, as long as we win. – But, whether we win or not, I do care about the way that organized baseball assigns pitching wins by a formula that very often ignores the true best winning performance pitcher and simply hands the win to the pitcher who happens to be in the game at the time the lead is re-captured, even if he also was the same guy that did the most to surrender the oppositional runs that put the club in the losing tank in the first place with a run-deficit that would have to be erased on the way to recapturing a new lasting lead by a counter rally. – Got it? 🙂