Done Diddley Done For

Are the Astros done for the year? Judging from what I saw of them the last three days, I say yes.

Getting rolled by a team as bad as the Cubs isn’t a good thing to begin with. But each of those three games was exceedingly winnable. But thanks to the Astros’ lousy lineup (which was shutout in Games One and Three, despite the plethora of walks handed out by Cubs pitching) and a porous bullpen (Brad Lidge blowing another save in Game Two), they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

This afternoon’s game just might be the low point of the Astros’ season. Dusty used everyone on his staff last night, except Carlos Zambrano (who went Tuesday) and Carlos Marmol (who went Monday). That included the guy who was supposed to start today (Rich Hill, who got the win).

Since Scott Eyre helpfully pulled his groin, the Cubs were able to DL him and pull some guy off the Iowa roster for an emergency start. I’ve never heard of this guy, which shows you how obscure he is.

Fortunately, the I-Cubs were in Round Rock this week. So young Ryan O’Malley hopped in a limo at 6:00 am so he could get to Houston for his 1:00 pm Major League debut. And somehow this schmuck managed to out-duel Andy Pettitte. Pettitte made one mistake (an 0-2 gopher ball to Barrett), but it was enough to make him a 1-0 loser.

O’Malley wasn’t exactly sharp. But if it’s possible to “scatter” 11 base runners over the course of eight innings, O’Malley managed it.

Give an adequate offense 11 base runners, and it should manage to push one or two of them over the plate. Houston’s problem is that it doesn’t have an adequate offense. Not with out machines like Willy Taveras, Brad Ausmus, and Adam Everett cluttering up the lineup. And three months of Roger Clemens won’t be enough to overcome that weakness.