NL Central Update
By Tom Brew
wagerweb.com Contributing Writer
You'd like to think the Houston Astros still have a run in them. They've got the track record to prove it.
But this is a different Astros team this year. They get great starting pitching most nights, but either the offense disappears or the bullpen implodes.
Andy Pettitte was the victim Monday night. He pitched great and left with a 3-0 lead against the Cincinnati Reds, the team the Astros are chasing in the National League wild-card race.
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But then Cincinnati's Rich Aurilia hit a monstrous blast off Astros reliever Chad Qualls, highlighting a four-run eighth-inning rally that allowed the Reds to send the Astros to a devastating 4-3 loss Monday night at Great American Ball Park.
"Just stings even more because they scored a bunch of runs late," Qualls said. "They've always scored late, but just the way they scored. I felt good out there and made a couple of good pitches here and there. The one mistake I made, they made me pay for it."
The Astros have lost eight of 10 games and to fall six games behind Cincinnati in the wild-card race with 37 games remaining. That's a lot of ground to make up, especially since there are also a half dozen other teams to hurdle in the process.
"It's certainly very disappointing," first baseman Lance Berkman said. "There's not much you can say about it."
Astros manager Phil Garner couldn't hide his frustration, not only because his team blew a 3-0 lead in the eighth but because the offense managed only two solo homers by Aubrey Huff and one by Berkman.
"It just ticks me off," Garner said. "We haven't put anybody away since Pittsburgh (in a sweep from Aug. 8-10). We had one game against Pittsburgh when we scored 14 runs, and we haven't done anything since.
"One night we had seven runs (Thursday in Milwaukee), and we should have had 17. You can't count on the bullpen to close them down every night. It's a combination of things. We needed (Qualls) to close it down [Monday], and he didn't. We needed to put some more runs on the board. We didn't."
The Reds have been doing this all year, coming up with exciting late-game rallies.
"It's a shame we weren't able to pull this one off," Pettitte said. "They've been playing extremely well and coming back late in games all year it seems like. We need to win the next two here. That's it. And go on and have a good series in Pittsburgh."
That's the difficult thing with the Astros when it comes to baseball betting. A baseball wager often hinges on the starting pitchers and with the Astros, that usually gives them an edge. But when they get blanked, or blow a late lead from the pen, then those starters are rendered useless and meaningless. It makes it tough.
This 2-8 skid is proof of that. They've blown great starts by Pettitte and Roger Clemens, and let a win slip away for Roy Oswalt as well. Now they face a must-win Tuesday night and are forced to rely on rookie Jason Hirsh (1-1, 6.75 ERA) against the Reds and Kyle Lohse (0-0, 2.33 ERA). You can't blow a great Pettitte start then rely on a rookie. Lohse has been very good for the Reds too. WagerWeb.com has the Reds as a -$124 favorite, and with good reason.
The Astros had their chance Monday night. The Reds can put the hammer down Tuesday.
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by Tom Brew at
wagerweb.com on August 24, 2006
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