Astros 12 Pirates 8

How to make a somewhat promising situation into a 5 run deficit in 5 easy steps:

1. Insert Ty Wigginton to pinch hit for Rob Mackowiak
2. Watch Wigginton strike out on three pitches without taking a full swing.
3. Insert Rick White into the game.
4. Watch balls get blasted around the park.
5. Watch Ty Wigginton field a sharply hit grounder with runners on first and third and throw to an unassuming Ryan Doumit at home plate who (along with myself, Bob Walk, and every other semi-intelligent human watching the game) was expeting Wigginton to go to second on what should've been a taylor made inning ending double play only to have the ball end up at the backstop and the base paths turn into a carousel.
   

On the bright side (if you can call it that) that sequence of events lead to Ezequiel Astacio on the mound in the 9th instead of Brad Lidge. That in turn lead to Brad Eldred's mammoth 400 foot bomb to the second level of bleachers (which would've made it 10-8 except for the sequence of events described above). Of course I'd trade a 400+ foot homer for a chance at completeing an 8 run comeback against the Wild Card leaders with Lidge on the mound (who we've owned this year), but that's just me. For those counting, Doumit also hit a massive homer tonight. Big, long home runs are always more exciting than winning, right?

Let's see, another key point of the night would have to be the sacrifice bunt by Jack Wilson with Freddy Sanchez on second WHILE WE WERE DOWN BY EIGHT RUNS. I'll go ahead and assume Jack didn't call for that himself. Jack's only the hottest hitter on the team right now, it made perfect sense to take the bat out of his hands when you need eight to catch up (Bay doubled in Sanchez anyways, good thing he was on third). And of course I'd like to thank Kip Wells for that snowman being on the board in the THIRD INNING. Kip's 7-17 now. Thanks for stopping by this season, though it would've been nice if you brought some effort with you.