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Astros suffer heart breaking loss on Opening Day
By Editorial Staff
If before today you were to tell me the Astros would lose to the Phillies 5-4, I would be pretty happy that we were able to get four runs against Roy Halladay. However, Brandon Lyon blew a two run lead in the bottom of the 9th as the Astros let a win slip through their fingers. The team started off very strong and did a lot of good things and it would of been a great day if baseball games were only 7 innings but unfortunately for Houston there was two more innings to be played and the Phillies took advantage. With that said here is some good and bad things that I saw during the game today.
The Good
Michael Bourn did a great job both in the field and at the plate today. He went 1-4, scored a run and knocked in two more to go along with a walk. Bourn’s one hit came in the 7th where he knocked a triple off the right field wall bringing home Brett Wallace and Humberto Quintero.
Another positive that came from this game was seeing the Astros as a whole work the count well, forcing Halladay out of the game earlier than I am sure he wanted. Halladay threw 101 pitches in only six innings of work and the Astros did what they had to by working the count they were able to attack one of the weaker parts of the Phillies, which is their bullpen.
The Good/Bad
Brett Myers falls into this category because he did pitch pretty well going 7 innings only giving up two runs, one of which was earned, on three hits. Myers worked effectively today throwing 9 or less pitches in three of his 7 innings. However, Myer’s kind of fell apart in his last inning of work throwing 23 pitches. He also did not record one strikeout, which is hard to believe considering in the NL you get to face the pitcher and had three walks. In the end, Myers had a good day and put the Astros in a position to get the win but these are little things he will need to work on to become that top ace the Astros need.
The Bad
Chris Johnson is one of the young players on this team that gives Astros fans hope for the present and the future. He will need to have a year similar to last for the Astros offense to be decent. However, 2011 did not start off great for Johnson as he went 0-4 with three strikeouts today. Now Johnson does have a little bit of an excuse as he did have to go against Roy Halladay, one of the best pitchers in the game today but Johnson will need to put this game behind him and try and get on track tomorrow.
The Really, Really, Really Bad
This award goes to Brandon Lyon, the current, but hopefully not much longer, closer for the Houston Astros. Lyon walked into a game with a two run lead and seemed like he could not get the ball into Quintero’s glove. Only registering one out, he gave up six hits, three runs in 30 pitches and got the Astros their first L of the season. As a fan this was tough to watch as it looked like Lyon was not making any adjustments on the mound during his appearance.
With the weather in Philadelphia today being as cold as it was maybe Lyon had trouble gripping the ball, I don’t know but I am trying to find some explanation here. However, Myers did not have trouble today with the cold, neither did Wilton Lopez, who pitched a pretty good 8th inning. If I was Lyon, I hope that I don’t have another inning like that for a long time or Lopez will be getting the call in the 9th over Lyon.