Joba Live!

Since this is my first ever blog, I figure what better way to start than with a live blog of Joba Chamberlain's 3rd major league start. 

Tonight's match-up is the New York Chamberlain's against the Houston Astros. 

Early prediction of Joba's final line: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 28 K's, 81 pitches. Joba will strike out 4 batters in the 5th inning after a runner reaches base on a wild pitch. The official scorer will then change the ruling to a passed ball after realizing the ball reached the backstop only because Joba's slider is so awesome. 

Bottom 1: Hunter Pence hits a rocket to left-center, followed by a Kaz Matsui pop-up and Miguel Tejada groundout. 3 up, 3 down on 6 pitches. Well, there goes my prediction. 

Bottom 2: There isn't anything like watching baseball with a deaf gambling addict. I think Sammy has $3K riding on Chacon winning this game. 

The seemingly immortal Lance Berkman, batting .366 on the year, flies out to Abreu. 1 away. 

El Cabayo (Carlos Lee) ground out weakly to A-Rod on two pitches. Joba's retired the first five Astros on 13 pitches. He's like Greg Maddux, except with a 150 MPH heater. 

Ty Winnington singles to right. There goes the perfect game. To be fair, Abreu gave a half-hearted effort on that one. Can we give him an error?

Michael Bourne promptly grounds out on the first pitch. Still 0-0 in Houston.

Bottom 3: The Corpse of Brad Ausmus delivers a leadoff single. Here comes Shawn Chacon to sacrifice him over. 

Chacon helps his own cause by bunting Ausmus to 2nd. 1-4 on the putout. You've gotta love NL ball. 

Pence hits a flair up the middle but Cano makes a ranging play, moving several feet to his right, to throw him out at 1st. 

3-2 pitching coming to Kaz Matsui. By the way, remember when "experts" predicted he would be the best Matsui to come out of the Japanese leagues?  Oops.  Kaz makes me looks like a genius as he grounds out weakly to Giambi, 3-1 on the putout. Still scoreless. 

Bottom 4: Miggy leads off the inning with a rocket up the middle just under Cano's glove. 1 on, no outs. 

On the first pitch from Joba, Berkman grounds out on a fielder's choice, 4-6. You'd think the Astros would be more patient at the plate knowing Joba's being held to a strict pitch count. Maybe that's just me. 

Lee walks, two men on and 1 out. 

The 'Stros botch a double steal and Berkman ends up getting caught in a rundown. Fine base-running there. Lee ends up on 2nd. 

Lee scores on Ty Winnington's RBI single to left. The Astros are on the board. 1-1 in Houston. 

Winnington promptly steals 2nd base. 

Joba walks his 2nd batter of the inning, the venerable Michael Bourne (.593 OPS on the season). Anytime Bourne reaches base, it's by accident. 

Wild pitch by Joba, runners advance a base, now 2nd and 3rd with 2 down. Giradi elects to put Ausmus on base with the pitcher on deck. 

Chacon flies out on the first pitch. 1-1 after 4. 

Bottom 5: Thinking about going to 7/11 or throwing some steaks on our $6 hibachi we bought at Star Market. 

Joba strikes out Pence to begin the inning, his first K in 4 1/3 IP. Shouldn't a guy with "electric" stuff have more than 1 K against the Stros? I don't know, maybe I'm a cynic. 

Matsui reaches on an infield single. The umpires momentarily stop the game to allow the bat boy to fix the starting blocks at first base. 

Two pitches and Matsui swipes 2nd. Predictable. 

With first base open, Joba issues a free pass to Berkman. El Cabayo's coming up with 2 on and 2 out.

Lee his a flare to shallow center, but the Melk Man makes a nice running catch to save a run. Still 1-1. 

Bottom 6: You know, electing to stay in and live blog instead of hitting up a bar is looking like a poor decision on my part. Did I mention it's Friday night?

Wiggy (can I call him that) starts off the inning by ground out softly to Cano. 

Bourne hits a 40 hopper through the right side, man on 1st with one out. Let's just say the likelihood of Bourne's stealing 2nd right now ranks right up there with Sammy watching Letterman tonight, A-Mac swearing at the TV and O.J. stabbing someone. 

Joba botches a pitchout, throwing wide of Posada, as Bourne prances into 2nd base. 

Bourne gets greedy and tries stealing 3rd base. Somehow Posada shot-puts the ball to 3rd in time. 2 Down. 

Ausmus goes down swinging. 2 K's on the night for The Savior.  Looks like he's done for the night. His final line -- 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K -- isn't very impressive, and he weaved in and out of trouble all night. But he kept his team in the game and didn't make any big mistakes. 

That's it for me. Be sure to tune into our show next Thursday.