What a difference a week makes.
Last Sunday, Roy O nailed Michael Barrett and the Cubs pounded the Stros so badly that I wrote off the Stros playoff chances completely. Just to make sure, the Cubs pounded a listless Stros team again this past Thursday. The Stros appeared washed up.
Then, the Cubs’ Barrett confronted Oswalt in the batters’ box in the second inning of Friday’s game and, almost magically, the fortunes of these two clubs changed. The Stros were galvanized, and started cranking against any Cubs pitcher who took the mound. On the other hand, the Cubs began pitching and playing tentatively, and before you know it, the Stros had scored 32 runs in the final three game of the series, won them all, and now find themselves four games out of the Wild Card playoff spot with 32 games to go.
I don’t think the Stros can win the Wild Card, but I did underestimate the pluckiness of this club. They will not go down meekly. They have now won 11 of their last 14 games.
Lance Berkman homered and Carlos Hernandez earned his first major league win in almost two years in leading the Stros to a 10-3 win over the Cuts at Wrigley on Sunday afternoon in the final meeting of the two clubs’ chippy season series. Jeff Bagwell capped a big weekend with three hits for the Stros as he went 10-for-18 with seven RBI in the four game series.
As was typical of the last five games between the clubs, getting hit by pitches was a big part of the game. Carlos Beltran left with a bruised knee after he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning and is day-to-day. Later in the inning, Berkman was plunked in the helmet by Cubs’ reliever Mike Remlinger. Berkman went to the ground and stayed down for several minutes.
Incredibly, Remlinger and some of the idiot Cubs believe Berkman was pulling a stunt. Accordingly, in one of the more classless displays that I have seen in quite some time, a good part of the Cubs crowd actually booed Berkman when he came to the plate again in the ninth!
The Stros proceeded to score five times in the eighth inning to add to its 5-3 lead and put this one away for Hernandez, who was making his fourth start after coming up from AAA New Orleans, Hernandez allowed three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The benches emptied for the second time in the four-game series and the third time in a week when new Stros reliever Dan Wheeler (just acquired from the Mets) hit Derrek Lee in the back with a pitch in the ninth (what did the Cubs expect after the Beltran and Berkman beanings?). Wheeler and Garner were ejected and Remlinger and JK jawed with each other colorfully, but no punches were thrown.
The Stros are now off to Cincy to face the Reds, who have the worst pitching staff in Major League Baseball. So, it is time for the Stros to pad their hitting statistics, particularly given that Pete Munro and Brandon Backe are doubtful to keep the hard-hitting Reds’ lineup from scoring quite a few runs in the first two games of the series. After three games in Cincy and an off day on Thursday, the Stros return to the Juice Box for a weekend series with the Pirates and three more next week with the Reds.