Results tagged “astros”

Given their recent losing streak and struggles, one wouldn't think the White Sox would be able to pull off one of the season's most thrilling rallies. But that's exactly what happened as the Pale Hose - down to their last strike - rallied for four runs in the ninth off Twins closer Joe Nathan to pull off an improbable 4-2 victory. Down 2-0 with two outs and an 0-2 count, Gordon Beckham fought his way back in the at bat and smacked a solo shot that cut the lead to 2-1. Paul Konerko followed and, after also being worked to a two-strike count, also smacked a solo shot to tie the game. Next, Nathan walked Jermaine Dye (replaced on base by Dewayne Wise) and Carlos Quentin before being yanked. Matt Guerrier got the Twins once more a strike away from ending the Sox half of the ninth with an 0-2 count on Alexei Ramirez but Ramirez won that battle with a single that plated Wise and sent Quentin to third. Quentin would score on a wild pitch to the next batter, Alex Rios, putting the Sox up by two runs. In the bottom of the ninth, reliever Bobby Jenks allowed a two-out single but the Twins couldn't replicate the two-out rally as Jenks got the final out to secure the save. Perhaps the most appropriate quote on the ridonkulous win in the most unfriendly setting for the Sox came from ace Mark Buehrle, who said, "Just about the time we played our last game here, I think we figured out how to win."

The Struggles of the Sox continued Tuesday night as the Pale Hose dropped another game to Minnesota, 4-3. John Danks had a decent outing, allowing three runs over seven innings pitched. The offense also managed to produce a few runs to keep the Sox in the game: Alexei Ramirez hit a solo shot in the fifth and Gordon Beckham added a two-run shot in the eighth, but the Twins got the winning run off of the Sox bullpen in the bottom of the ninth. After the game, Beckham voiced the frustration many Sox fans feel: "It's tough because we are losing heartbreakers. It's our third last at-bat or extra-inning loss in a week and a half. But we are still fighting and working as hard as we can to win. We just aren't finding ways to win." The two teams finish up their series today at 12:10 p.m. (WGN).

Rich Harden, fresh off of not being traded, had issues on the mound as Houston topped the Cubs 5-3. Harden struck out nine over five innings but also walked six and gave up five runs, a deficit the Cubs were unable to overcome, in spite of two runs in the fifth and a solo D-Lee homer in the eight. But don't tell Harden the issue was over this weekend's waiver claim. Said Harden after the game, "You can't just ignore [the rumors], but the whole thing was ridiculous and had nothing to do with my performance today. I won't make excuses. I still knew I was starting on Monday and I had to prepare myself, and I got prepared and I just didn't get it done." Houston and the Cubs do it again tonight at 7:05 (WGN).

An outbreak of offense and a stellar outing from Randy Wells powered the Cubs waaaaay past the Houston Astros today by a score of 12-0. The Cubs put up six runs in the first inning alone, half of that off a three-run homer from Alfonso Soriano. Aramis Ramirez homered in the second, and the Cubs put up two more in the fourth. A few more late-inning runs from the Cubs, including a solo shot from Andres Blanco in the eighth, wrapped up the blow-out. All told, the Cubs used every available position player and knocked 14 hits off the Houston pitching staff. As for Wells, he was nothing short of fantastic on the mound, throwing eight shut-out innings, scattering six hits and striking out two for his seventh win of the season. Mitch Atkins made his major league debut by pitching a scoreless ninth. But the story today was the offense which, for the third time since the All-Star Break, hit double-digits in the runs scored category, a feat they accomplished only twice before the break. And since the break, the Cubs are now 10-3 and they're 5-1 on this homestand which wraps up tomorrow. The team, now back in a temporary first place tie with the Cardinals who play later tonight, hits the road after tomorrow's matinee finale.

Mark Buerhle's bid at back-to-back perfection fell a few innings short on Tuesday night as the White Sox were defeated by the Twins 5-3. Buehrle set that Major League record for the most consecutive batters retired with 45, but, unfortunately for the Sox, his transition back to normalcy was not a graceful one, as the Twins tagged Buehrle for five runs by the end of the seventh inning. Chicago, who had scored one earlier on a homer by Jermaine Dye, added two more in a ninth, but could not close the four-run gap. The loss drops the Sox into a second-place tie with the Twins, still two back of the slumping Tigers. The two teams will close out their three-game series tonight at 7:10.

The White Sox bullpen blew a brilliant performance by Gavin Floyd but were fortunate enough to be on the winning side of a walk-off win as a Scott Podsednik single in the bottom of the ninth gave the Pale Hose a 4-3 win over the division rival Detroit Tigers. After a nearly three-hour rain delay to start the game, Jim Thome gave the Sox an early 1-0 lead when he hit his 553rd career home run in the second. In the third, Thome added to the lead when he smacked a bases loaded single. Meanwhile, on the mound, Floyd had a brilliant outing for the Sox, allowing only one run on five hits and striking out five over eight solid innings. The Sox took a 3-1 lead into the ninth when Bobby Jenks suffered his second blown save of the season, giving up a two-run homer in the ninth to Curtis Granderson. But, as we mentioned, the Sox turned this one around and Ozzie described the love-fest in the dugout: "Today, everybody could have just gone down and said, 'Oh, there we go again,' when Granderson hit the home run. Everybody went back to the dugout and was rooting and cheering for each other."

First, it was Jake Peavy turning down the White Sox. Now, it's the Astro's Roy Oswalt. Speculation swirled over the weekend that the veteran ace may be on his way to the Sox, but he also turned the team down.

Cubs Shut Down 'Stros

Zambrano No-Hits Astros

Cubs Drop Fifth Straight

Cubs Drop Fourth In A Row

'Stros Shutout Cubs

The Cubs beat the Houston Astros 11-4 this afternoon on the back of a huge third inning that saw Mark DeRosa blast a grand slam and a three-run shot from Alfonso Soriano. Embattled pitcher Jason Marquis got his first victory in almost a month and a half, giving up four runs over six and one-third inning and helping his own cause by knocking in a run. Sean Marshall and Jeff Samardzija did clean-up duty to secure the win.

The Cubs now have fewer than ten games remaining on their schedule, and after Wednesday night's 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, they sit alone atop the NL Central — the Brewers lost to the Astros in extra innings. Lou Piniella's short-rest experiment worked Wednesday night, as Ted Lilly looked sharp, pitching seven innings while allowing two runs and striking out eight. While he didn't earn the victory, he kept the Cubs close enough that...

With barely two weeks to go in the regular season, the Cubs remain in the thick of the playoff hunt and regained sole possession of first place on Thursday by beating the Houston Astros 6-2 on the strength of a four run first inning and four total home runs. The victory gives them a half game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers, who were idle on Thursday.

If the past week is any indication, it's beginning to look like Houston could end up as the winners of the NL Central this year. While a Cubs surge through June and July allowed them to catch the Milwaukee Brewers in the standings last week, since that time neither club has looked like they want to win the division crown. Last night, Carlos Zambrano got rocked for seven runs over 5.2 innings as the Astros...

Between Jeanne Zelasko, Kevin Kennedy, Tim McCarver, the miked bases and all the other bells and whistles, we try to forget Fox broadcasts Major League Basebell. But when we're tipped to a clip like this, we need to share it. Via Best Week Ever, here is Cubs pitcher Rich Hill announcing the starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Astros. Not content to just run through the lineup, Hill gets his natural clown on...

Come on, Chicago -- we know you're better than this. While your signs and banner should show support for your team, and maybe strike some fear in the opponent there are certainly limits to how far to go. You don't insult their mother. You don't question their sexuality. And you most certainly don't compare the game to a natural disaster that nearly wiped their city off the Earth. Yet one Bears fan's thought it would...

Last year at this time, Juan Uribe was busy gunning out Red Sox, Angels and Astros at first base as the White Sox plowed through the playoffs on their way to the World Series title. With no playoffs this year, Uribe's home in the Dominican Republic and apparently up to no good as he's accused of having a role in a shooting that took place on Friday.

Between them, they have a combined 667 wins and 11 Cy Young awards. Clemens currently has 342 wins and 7 Cy Youngs, while Maddux has 325 wins and 4 Cy Youngs. The last time two pitchers with more than 667 wins faced off? 1911 and Cy Young himself was one of the two!

It's been a rough year for the Cubs and their fans, for the most part. However, Monday night's game in Houston was a bright spot.

Already up 3-0 on the Houston Astros in the World Series, the White Sox swept the Astros by winning Game 4 1-0. The lone run was scored by Willie Harris on a single by World Series MVP Jermaine Dye with two outs in the 8th inning.

The Astros jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Jon Garland before the White Sox finally figured out Roy Oswalt in the 5th inning. Joe Crede lead off with a home run and by the time the inning ended, the Sox sent 11 guys to the plate and took a 5-4 lead. The score remained that way until Jason Lane doubled off Dustin Hermanson in the 8th to tie the game 5-5. The score remained tied at 5 for 6 innings, despite both teams having a number of opportunities to score. Astros left countless men on base -- it seemed like every inning they had two on with zero or one out. But the bullpen held them inning after inning. Finally, "scrub" Geoff Blum hit a home run to right field to break the tie. A couple of infield hits and a couple of walks added another run. Damaso Matre started the 14th for the Sox, and when two runners reached base Ozzie Guillen brought in Mark Buehrle to record the final out and seal the victory for the White Sox.

That positive premonition was right, as the White Sox won both games at the Cell this weekend! They took Game 1 5-3 Saturday night and won 7-6 in Game 2 Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series at they now head down to Houston.

While the White Sox dismissed the Red Sox and Angels in pretty short order, this series promises to be a much more tightly contested affair. With both teams sporting incredible pitching rotations, the series should be one low-scoring pitchers' dual after another. The Astros look tough with their rotation that includes Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt. But the White Sox foursome of Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia look like they're ready to go toe-to-toe.

The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 last night behind the strong pitching of NLCS MVP Roy Oswalt to capture the NL Pennant, the first trip to the World Series in the franchise's 40+ year history. That means it's a White Sox-Astros World Series -- too bad there's no Houstonist to place a wager with! UPDATE: Looks like Austinist is pulling for the 'Stros. Maybe we will have to make a little wager with them!

We voiced our frustration a couple weeks ago at the difficulties in trying to get ALCS tickets through TicketBastard. From the comments our readers left, we saw we weren't the only one that had issues with the online ticketing.

With last week's end of the World Series, teams have begun planning their rosters for next season. Players have begun to file for free agency and teams have started making out wish lists of player to target.

We're now well into the last week of baseball's regular season, and there are still a whole pack of teams fighting for that lone NL Wild Card playoff spot, with the Cubs thick in the middle.

Remember 1987? Think Debbie Gibson, Poison, and Spuds McKenzie. That was also the last time Greg Maddux didn't win at least 15 games in a season! Maddux hit the 15 win milestone for the 17th straight year on Thursday, adding to the record he claimed from none other than Cy Young himself.