Lee takes Lee deep; Phils prevail

Wandy Rodriguez didn’t bring the magic to Philadelphia tonight and the Astros dropped to 0-2 with a 9-4 loss to the Phillies. Wandy gave up a pair of runs in the first, but the fourth inning was the real turning point in the game. The Astros closed the gap to 2-1 on an RBI triple by Carlos Lee. But El Caballo was left stranded at third when whiff king Bill Hall failed to make contact and Chris Johnson followed with a weak roller back to the mound. In contrast to that poor display of hitting the Phillies were able to turn a walk and a hit batsman into two runs in the bottom half of the inning.  Cliff Lee sacrificed the runners into scoring position and Shane Victorino plated them both with a clutch two-out hit.

Wandy was sent to the showers after giving up three straight hits to start the fifth. All three of those runners would come around to score giving the Phils a comfortable 7-1 lead. Phillies starter Cliff Lee fanned 11 on the night, but the Astros were more patient than usual and hit some balls hard. My favorite overweight slow-footed left fielder drove in all four runs for Houston. Carlos was only a double shy of the cycle. That’s right. The fat man actually had a triple! Angel Sanchez had two hits again today and scored three times. Remind me again, why did the Astros acquire Clint Barmes? Aneury Rodriguez issued a free pass to his first big league adversary and allowed one run in his only inning of work. We’re going to call our newest Rule 5 guy “AnRod” from here on out. When he and Wandy team up in the same game, like tonight, they should be known as 2-Rod.

Tomorrow is another day and the Astros will try to avoid a sweep. Our old buddy Roy Oswalt wiil start for the Phillies who continue to run All-Star hurlers out to the hill. Bud Norris takes the ball for the Astros. J.A. Happ was scheduled to start but will need a little more time to rest his strained oblique. Happ should be able to start Tuesday’s game in Cincinnati after Monday’s off day.