Roger's Return - Live Blog

Not really sure It's going to be your typical live blog.. but maybe.. If you're watching the game, stay around and comment.. or you can look me up on gmail at StrifeV@gmail.com if you are currently a gmail user.  There's a chat feature for G-mailers only.  Send me a message!

Game On!

7:05 pm, the umpire crew heads to the mound while the teams exchange lineup cards.. The crowd is buzzing in preparation for the Rocket!  Media is everywhere!  Looks like the 'Stros are back in the World Series.

7:07 pm, Roger takes the mound to a standing-0.  Not as loud as I expected it though. 

7:10 pm, game actually begins with a first pitch strike from the Rocket to Castillo.  The crowd cheers for the first pitch.

7:11 pm, a high tapper to pitcher which Clemens makes an error on after leaping into the air to grab it, thinking he has it, when he lands it falls out of his glove.  Hope this isn't a sign of more to come...

7:13 pm, 4-6-3 double play!  Roger pumps his fist as the 2nd out is made.  The Astros lead the league with 87 double plays(thanks JD for that info).

7:15 pm, strike out to end the inning!  No hits, no runs, one error.  Rocket looks pretty good, his split has some action on it and his fastball is running up in the 92-93 mph range. 

7:18 pm, Biggio up to bat, swings at the first pitch hitting a ground ball to 3rd base and is thrown out at first.. 

7:19 pm, There ya go Burke!  After taking a few pitches from Liriano, he drives the ball over the shortstop for a single.  Next up Berkman hits a soft grounder to short stop for the 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Inning Over - probably won't go into that much detail anymore.. 

7:29 pm, Roger has 2 down in the 2nd inning which means he lasted longer than an inning and a 3rd.  That's for you Nick.  =)

7:33 pm, Roger ends the top of the inning with a strike out leaving 2 on after giving up a double and a walk in the inning. 

7:38 pm, Preston Wilson takes a one out walk.. Yes Wilson walked.. I know what you're thinking..  Liriano has pretty good stuff.. just hit 98 on the gun and has a pretty good slider.. This is my first time seeing him pitch and so far I'm impressed.

7:41 pm, Jason Lane hits into a double play to end the inning.. the 2nd of the night in as many innings for the Twins.

Inning Over

7:44 pm, whoa!  Look out.  I know you're not a batter, but put some more pine tar on there Liriano.  Liriano strikes out swinging, in doing so throws his batter over the Twins first base coach. 

7:49 pm, Kuble hits a long double to left center scoring Castillo.  Roger gives up his first run of the year. 

7:51 pm, Rafael over at the Space Race has some awesome pics of Roger already in the game.  Raffy, I'm jealous.  Roger induces a ground ball to himself, looks Kuble back to 2nd and throws to Lance at 1st base for the 2nd out of the inning.

7:54 pm, Cuddyer of the Twins rips a single up the middle scoring Kuble from 2nd.  Twins lead 2-0.

7:59 pm, Roger walks Morneau to put runners on first and 2nd.  Hickey goes to the mound probably to give Roger a rest.. Torii(two I's, one R) Hunter is up who's faced Roger 21 times in his career.. still waiting on his first hit.

8:02 pm, make that 22 times Hunter has faced Roger.. still waiting on his first hit.  Hunter has now struck out 13 of 22 times against Roger(thanks Brownie).

8:04 pm, went and go the 'Stros hat.. Just the regular black one with the logo on the front, size 7 1/2 for those who care. 

8:07 pm, 2 down and Roger takes his 2006 MLB debut at bat.  He'll have a lot of 2006 debuts tonight..  He already had his 2006 MLB debut first pitch, his 2006 MLB debut first fist pump..  now he has his 2006 MLB debut first offensive strike out(there are others that I haven't mentioned).  Loriano has faced 9 Astros through 3 innings.. 

Inning Over

8:15 pm, Top of the 4th over, no damage done.

8:27 pm, a little delay for me, my internet just went dead for about 10 minutes.  We're having some bad weather in Northern Houston which is probably the culprit.  Roger is sitting at 90+ pitches so the Astros have Russ Springer up in the pen.  I think Roger is on about a 100 pitch count for the night and he's getting really close to that.

8:28 pm, 3-6-1 double play baby!  A ground ball to first which Lance takes and fires to Everett who's covering 2nd who throws it back to Clemens who is sprinting to first, catching the ball right as he hits the base. 

8:29 pm, after a pop up to first base, the inning is over.  Will Roger continue?  I sure hope so!

8:33 pm, Loriano starts off the inning by striking out Morgan Ensberg.  Wilson follows with a line drive hit over short for the Astros 2nd hit of the night off Loriano. 

8:35 pm, Ja La(Jason Lane) is up against Loriano.  Like most batters so far, he starts off behind in the count 0-2.  Loriano has some good stuff, there's no doubting that. 

8:37 pm, Lane hits into a double play to end the inning.  Very close call at first but it looks like the ump got it right. 

Inning Over

8:39 pm, Well all of you media-types can leave now.  Roger Clemens has left the building.. well the mound at least.  Roger went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 runs, walked 2 and struck up 3.  He hit the 100 pitch count exactly.  Not a great outing by Roger, but not that bad. 

8:40 pm, Springer's first batter takes him deep into the Astros bull pen.  Twins lead 3-0. 

8:41 pm, It looks like the Astros are returning to last years form..  that is they are giving Roger absolutely no run support.

8:49 pm, Ausmus is struck out watching.. I say it's a bad call and so did Brad, the pitch looked high and inside to me...  but I guess that's what the Umps get paid for. 

8:50 pm, Everett is stuck out on a beautiful pitch on the inside corner by Loriano.. couldn't have done anything with that if he wanted to . 

8:51 pm, Willy T is pinch hitting for Russ Springer.  Bunt and run!  That's my suggestion.

8:52 pm, Willy T flys out weakly to right field.  Inning over.  Through 6, Loriano has faced 18 batters. 

Inning Over

8:54 pm, Just wanted to say hey to Lisa, me and Raffy were wishing you were around to influence the Astros into some explosive hitting.  Hope you have a safe trip girly.

8:56 pm, Fernando Nieve, a day after learning he would leave the rotation and go to the bull pen enters the game to start the 7th inning.  Starts off with a lead off walk. 

8:58 pm, Nieve induces Castillo into a double play.  That's better Fernando..  just because you're in the pen, you can still get a win. 

9:00 pm, Nieve gives the crowd something to stretch about by striking out Kubel to end the inning.  It's 7th inning stretch time...  hope the Astros stretch, we need some runs!

9:03 pm, just heard that Loriano was at 64 pitches starting the 7th inning.. that's crazy.. We need to take some more pitches.  Roger left after the 5th with 100 pitches. 

9:08 pm, Lance hits a pretty decent line drive to right field, but right to the Twins.  Biggio's sitting at first after taking a lead off walk and Ensberg is at bat.. Guess what.. he's down 0-2.  Loriano gives Ensberg an inside pitch(brush back?  doubtful) and the Houston fans boo him. 

9:10 pm, Ensberg strikes out to end the inning.

Inning Over

9:11 pm, the Clemens/Carr/Pettitte HEB commercial comes on the tube.. I love those commercials!  If you haven't seen it, check it out.  HEB has some of the coolest commercials I've seen in a while.  Here's the link.

9:18 pm, Mauer scores on a single by Torii Hunter.  Come on Wilson, I could have made a better throw than that and I have a bum shoulder.  Twins have runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.

9:20 pm, Finally the inning is over.  Two runners stranded but the Twins push another run over and are sitting pretty with a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th.  The Astros really need to get Loriano out of here.  So far he's been dominate giving up 2 hits through 6 innings.

9:23 pm, SWEET!  July 4th is 1$ hot dog day at Minute Maid Park.. If there's no better reason to head down to the "Juice Box" and watch the 'Stros play, then at least head down for cheap food.  The hot dogs are great and you can't beat them for a buck!

9:24 pm, After I just got finished griping to Raffy about Preston Wilson's arm, he gets a single off of Loriano to lead off the bottom of the 8th.  Jason Lane is batting and guess what.. he's behind in the count 1-2.

9:26 pm, GO TO YOUR HOME!  Thank you Jason Lane.  Jason Lane hits a 2 run blast into the Crawford Boxes after falling behind 1-2 to Loriano.  I say it's a blast.. it barely went over, but it was a line drive and it was a home run, so who cares, it counts. 

9:31 pm, Bruntlett pinch hits for Nieve with 2 outs.  Bruntlett flies out to end the inning. 

Inning Over

9:32 pm, Trever Miller enters the game for the Astros.. last time he came up it took all of one pitches for him to give up a home run.. Let's just say he's not my favorite pitcher in the Astros pen.. I don't hate him, I just think there are normally better choices.  I mean, like right now for example.. he's supposed to be a left handed specialist, and he's facing a right handed batter..  For what it's worth though, I think he does better against right handers..

9:41 pm, after another lapse in my internet connection, Trever Miller does a nice job with a 1-2-3 inning.  Take that me for putting him down. 

9:43 pm, well we're down to our final 3 outs, trailing the Twin 4-2 with Biggio, Burke and Berkman coming to the plate.  I want to hear the buzz!!!!  Happy to hear that Joe Nathan is entering the game after blowing a save to the Astros on tuesday.  Let's go 'Stros!

9:45 pm, B-G-O!  B-G-O!  B-G-O goes down swinging for the first out of the inning.  :(

9:47 pm, Chris Burke.. down 0-2 in the count..  It's like a freaking broken record. 

9:48 pm, Burke goes down looking on a nice pitch by Nathan.

9:48 pm, Lance Berkman is up to bat.. GO LANCE!

9:51 pm, Game isn't over yet!  Lance Berkman almost takes Joe Nathan's head off with a line drive single up the middle.  Morgan Ensberg comes to the plate.  Let's go Mo!

9:52 pm, Game Over.  Roger Clemens gets his first loss of the year in his first game of the year to the Twins 4-2 with Joe Nathan earning the save.  What can we say about Loriano.. he was outstanding giving up 2 runs in 8 innings.  The Astros were just outclassed tonight.  Astros record falls back to 37-36.  Good game by the Twins.  The Astros lose their 2nd series in a row.  It's not going to get any easier, now the Astros head to Chicago to take on the White Sox and then to Detroit to take on the Tigers.  Good night everyone and thanks for sticking around.