While listening to the early parts of this game, I had hoped that Andrew McCutchen grabbing Lance Berkman’s double off of the Astros’ stupid hill in center field and getting a throw to Jack Wilson who relayed it to the plate to nail the glacier-esque Miguel Tejada and keep the Astros lead at 1-0 would be enough to light a spark under a team that seemed listless in the early going. I was wrong. Charlie Morton kept getting hit hard (10 hits and all five runs in three innings) and for the third time in four games, our offense was completely shut down, pairing 11 strikeouts with only five hits. There’s nothing else to say; so long as we don’t hit, we won’t win.
After the game, Steven Jackson and Steve Pearce were optioned to Indy. Jackson’s going down to make room for Donnie Veal, who has to be recalled or offered back to the Cubs, but there’s no immediately apparently replacement for Pearce. Ryan Doumit’s not due back soon and there aren’t any other outfielders deserving a call in Indy. It could be an infielder coming back up (Bixler or Cruz to provide depth with Freddy’s back problems, perhaps), or maybe Lastings Milledge’s rehab is going to be shorter than we all expected. Well, that or someone’s traded. But it’s probably one of the first two.
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