Post by Fish Troll on May 26, 2007 10:14:12 GMT -5
Astros struggle as skid hits six games
Williams, bullpen have tough night; bats plate just three runs
By Jason Grey / Special to MLB.com
PHOENIX -- There are some things that are just bad combinations.
Oil and water. Dogs and fleas. Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Unfortunately, for the last week you can add the Astros offense and the Astros pitching to the list.
Arizona rolled to a 13-3 victory over Houston on Friday night in front of 23,298 at Chase Field.
"We got beat up tonight," said manager Phil Garner.
The loss was the team's sixth straight, but it's how the losses have occurred that is more disturbing at the moment.
The numbers speak very loudly: During this six-game skid the team has been outscored 53-8 in a sort of perfect storm of misfortune. It has scored more than one run in a game just twice, and has allowed nine or more runs in four of the contests.
"I don't know, we all stink," said starter Woody Williams. "It's not going our way right now. We're not hitting the way we can, we're not pitching the way we can, and we're not fielding the way we can."
The game started off promising, as the team took an early 1-0 lead as Hunter Pence's infield single drove in a run in the top of the first. However, the Houston bats managed just one hit over the next four innings off of D-backs starter Edgar Gonzalez.
Gonzalez (2-2) was making a spot start in place of the injured Randy Johnson, and he held Houston to one run over his five frames.
Williams (1-7) started off well, facing the minimum nine batters over the first three innings, but he ran into trouble in the fourth. The D-backs sent nine men to the plate and scored four, with the key blow being Carlos Quentin's three-run double.
"He pitched pretty good, even in that inning," said Garner. "I thought he had good pitch selection, but they just found the holes."
"It's just one of those things, all I can do is just try to make another good pitch," said Williams. "I threw a ball down in the zone [to Quentin] and he went and put a good swing on it."
Williams gave up four runs in five innings, and was lifted for a pinch-hitter with the team mounting a rally in the sixth. Down 4-1 at the time, the Astros pushed across a run as Pence hit his second RBI single of the game. They loaded the bases, but reliever Tony Pena struck out pinch-hitter Luke Scott to end the threat.
In the bottom of the inning, the game got out of hand as the D-backs set franchise records for an inning by putting up eight runs on eight hits. Rick White bore the brunt of it, as seven of the runs were charged to him.
"It's the worst outing I've had in a couple of years," said White. "I just couldn't get anybody out. Point blank."
D-backs rookie third baseman Mark Reynolds was the star with a five-hit game. Included in his night were two homers, a triple, four runs scored, and four RBIs.
"It was certainly his night, and it was certainly their night," said Garner. "Everything we threw, they hit."
Entering this series, the D-backs were one of three National League teams with a batting average lower than the Astros, but Arizona has scored 22 runs in the first two games of this four-game set.
The positives were Carlos Lee's two doubles, Pence's two RBI singles, and a pinch-hit homer by Morgan Ensberg, his second round-tripper in three games.
Unfortunately, there were too many negatives on this night, and there have been too many negatives this week.
"Right now, everything's going wrong and it's kind of snowballed," said Williams.
That pretty much sums up the state of the Astros at the moment. So where does the team go from here?
"You don't go in and give a Knute Rockne speech when you get beat up like that," said Garner. "Good teams need to bounce back from tough games and tough weeks, and we've had a tough game and a tough week. We've had a history of playing better as the season goes on. We know we're capable, but it doesn't make it any easier."
Jason Grey is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Williams, bullpen have tough night; bats plate just three runs
By Jason Grey / Special to MLB.com
PHOENIX -- There are some things that are just bad combinations.
Oil and water. Dogs and fleas. Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Unfortunately, for the last week you can add the Astros offense and the Astros pitching to the list.
Arizona rolled to a 13-3 victory over Houston on Friday night in front of 23,298 at Chase Field.
"We got beat up tonight," said manager Phil Garner.
The loss was the team's sixth straight, but it's how the losses have occurred that is more disturbing at the moment.
The numbers speak very loudly: During this six-game skid the team has been outscored 53-8 in a sort of perfect storm of misfortune. It has scored more than one run in a game just twice, and has allowed nine or more runs in four of the contests.
"I don't know, we all stink," said starter Woody Williams. "It's not going our way right now. We're not hitting the way we can, we're not pitching the way we can, and we're not fielding the way we can."
The game started off promising, as the team took an early 1-0 lead as Hunter Pence's infield single drove in a run in the top of the first. However, the Houston bats managed just one hit over the next four innings off of D-backs starter Edgar Gonzalez.
Gonzalez (2-2) was making a spot start in place of the injured Randy Johnson, and he held Houston to one run over his five frames.
Williams (1-7) started off well, facing the minimum nine batters over the first three innings, but he ran into trouble in the fourth. The D-backs sent nine men to the plate and scored four, with the key blow being Carlos Quentin's three-run double.
"He pitched pretty good, even in that inning," said Garner. "I thought he had good pitch selection, but they just found the holes."
"It's just one of those things, all I can do is just try to make another good pitch," said Williams. "I threw a ball down in the zone [to Quentin] and he went and put a good swing on it."
Williams gave up four runs in five innings, and was lifted for a pinch-hitter with the team mounting a rally in the sixth. Down 4-1 at the time, the Astros pushed across a run as Pence hit his second RBI single of the game. They loaded the bases, but reliever Tony Pena struck out pinch-hitter Luke Scott to end the threat.
In the bottom of the inning, the game got out of hand as the D-backs set franchise records for an inning by putting up eight runs on eight hits. Rick White bore the brunt of it, as seven of the runs were charged to him.
"It's the worst outing I've had in a couple of years," said White. "I just couldn't get anybody out. Point blank."
D-backs rookie third baseman Mark Reynolds was the star with a five-hit game. Included in his night were two homers, a triple, four runs scored, and four RBIs.
"It was certainly his night, and it was certainly their night," said Garner. "Everything we threw, they hit."
Entering this series, the D-backs were one of three National League teams with a batting average lower than the Astros, but Arizona has scored 22 runs in the first two games of this four-game set.
The positives were Carlos Lee's two doubles, Pence's two RBI singles, and a pinch-hit homer by Morgan Ensberg, his second round-tripper in three games.
Unfortunately, there were too many negatives on this night, and there have been too many negatives this week.
"Right now, everything's going wrong and it's kind of snowballed," said Williams.
That pretty much sums up the state of the Astros at the moment. So where does the team go from here?
"You don't go in and give a Knute Rockne speech when you get beat up like that," said Garner. "Good teams need to bounce back from tough games and tough weeks, and we've had a tough game and a tough week. We've had a history of playing better as the season goes on. We know we're capable, but it doesn't make it any easier."
Jason Grey is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
houston.astros.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070525&content_id=1985990&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou
