[Astros.com (The Cat)] Astros Walk Off Winners Thanks to Lee

Congrats The Cat! Picked a nice game to start...

 

Hey Mig... post the full version, you know, with quotes and stuff.

Astros walk off winners thanks to Lee
Pence's two-run shot ties game, sets up heroics in 10th
By Ben DuBose / MLB.com

HOUSTON -- When Carlos Lee hits, the Astros are a scary team to face.

Lee and his Astros continued their recent surge, with the $100 million slugger going 4-for-4 with two home runs, including a massive, 393-foot, walk-off home run to left-center that gave the Astros a 6-5 victory over the Giants in 10 innings Tuesday.

"That's why they pay you the big bucks," Craig Biggio yelled to Lee in the clubhouse.

The 2007 Houston offense has a more energetic feel to it than its previous counterparts, and two of the leaders in that regard are the always-smiling Lee and the ever-exuberant rookie Hunter Pence.

Fittingly, it was those two that delivered Houston its most thrilling victory of the season.

After trailing, 5-3, heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, Lee laced a one-out single to right field just over the outstretched glove of second baseman Ray Durham. Then, one at-bat and four pitches later, Pence hit a towering shot off Giants closer Armando Benitez that clanged off the left-field foul pole, tying the game and bringing the crowd of 33,490 to a frenzy, drawing a curtain call from the rookie.

"I was in shower shoes and an undershirt [in the clubhouse] and I ran into the dugout fired up," starting pitcher Woody Williams said of Pence's blast. "Just having [Pence] around adds a lot of excitement. He's like a little kid in that you don't know what he's going to do. It's fun to watch and fun to be a part of. He's just enjoying himself and doing a great job right now."

That set the stage for Lee in the 10th.

"It was a great comeback," Lee said. "This year is a different kind of year. We never quit. You have to win the ones when you're strong enough to tie it up -- you have to win it.

"We know we can do a lot of damage and score a lot of runs."

When the Astros started the season 9-6, Lee hit .293 and had an on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) of more than .900. During the team's slump where it lost nine of 10, however, Lee saw his average plummet to a season low of .242 on May 1.

But since then, Lee is hitting .520, with five consecutive multihit games. The Astros are 9-4 in that stretch and have scored five runs or more in six of the team's last eight games.

The hot hitting overshadowed a terrible night from the top three of the Astros' order, with Craig Biggio, Mike Lamb and Lance Berkman unable to reach base in each of their 15 plate appearances. But the 7-for-7 combined performance from Lee and Pence with three home runs and five RBIs was enough to offset it and give Houston the victory.

"That was a good win," manager Phil Garner said of the comeback. "You're not going to have everybody do something every night. It boils down that every night you might have one chance to break through and win a game, and you need to make a play."

Williams kept his team in the game, shutting out the Giants for five innings and allowing four runs in seven innings overall. But perhaps more impressive -- and certainly more shocking -- was the 2-1 low fastball from Matt Morris that Williams lined to left field and into the first row of the Crawford Boxes for a third-inning home run that gave the Astros a 2-0 lead.

But everything changed in the sixth with a leadoff homer from Randy Winn, and Ray Durham followed four batters later with a two-out, two-run home run to tie the game at 3. Winn and Bengie Molina delivered RBI singles in the seventh and eighth innings to give San Francisco a 5-3 lead, setting the table for Houston's late heroics.

"I thought Woody threw the ball well, even in the sixth and seventh when he gave up runs," Garner said. "He changed speeds well and had his good breaking stuff."

The win brings the Astros to .500 for the first time since April 23, and Lee's dramatic shot gave Houston its first walk-off home run this season.

Benitez blew his first save of the season for the Giants, surrendering the blast to Pence in the eighth. The RBI double and home run gave Pence five extra-base hits in his past six games.

"It's a huge win," Pence said. "Those build momentum. For the team to come back from being down after we jumped out to a lead, it showed some character just to finish the job. To tie it up is one thing, but Carlos Lee hitting that home run shows the team got it done."

 

congratulations, the cat. good stuff there. so are you replacing the chick or just in addition to?

 

congrads Cat, good read

i was about to say "who's this moron thats writing this horseSH*T".... hehehe

i keed....

 

Cat, that's great!!!

Congratulations!

 

Great first article! Congratulations.

 

Dude, if it came to pass that TheCat was porking Alyson Footer, he would reach BBS legend status the likes of which few have attained.

 

You're no Richard Justice...... and that's a good thing.

No doubt.

 

That pic of her on Astros.com does her no justice.

 

Congrats, Cat. Good gig.

 

Good job Cat ... glad someone has a fun job

 

qft.

nice job dubose.

here's a nice gift for you.



Findog19: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...tent_id=1966506&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou
Findog19: take note of the author
wogitywogitywogi: world is coming to an end
wogitywogitywogi: just goes to show you anyone that tries hard enough can do stuff like that
wogitywogitywogi: i know more about the game than he does, but it doesnt matter

 

You should add the "Cat" to your name there... Like John Cougar Mellencamp...

 

Who is that? Nomar?

 

Congrats, man!

One quibble:

Lee laced a two-out single to right field just over the outstretched glove of second baseman Ray Durham. Then, four pitches later, Pence hit a towering shot

- It was a 1-out single
- Scott had a 6-pitch AB & lined out preceding Pence
- "towering HR"? It was a 316 foot pop fly.

 

vick.

 

Yeah, I noticed that pretty much the second I got home (that I forgot about the Scott AB). I sent them an edited version, but for some reason it hasn't been updated yet. Hopefully it gets taken care of. If you'll notice, the version in this thread has already been edited.

I used towering because of how high it was... seemed like a really high pop fly when it was in the air. Felt like it took forever to get there.