Sorry, Charlie.....

 8  2

I am never one to dwell too long on losses, so I will try to make this one quick. The Bucs had plenty of chances to win this ballgame, but seemed to have very little interest in doing so. We started the scoring early when The King led off the bottom of the 1st with a single and was bunted over to 2nd by d'Arnaud. GI Jones walked and Cutch singled to left to score The King and give the Bucs a 1-0 lead. The Pride of PR then battled Bud Norris for an extended at-bat, fouling off pitch after pitch. Eventually, Walker smoked a hard line drive to left field that for whatever reason lead Jones to make a break for 3rd base on contact. Land Mass Lee promptly chucked  the pill to 2nd to double off Jone and end the inning.

That would do it for the scoring until the top of the 6th inning, when the wheels totally came off. Great Stuff Morton had a good line going into the fifth, but had allowed a few base runners when he wasn't facing t he Astros 7,8, and 9 hitters. You could see all night he was going to his curveball too much and wasn't getting much from it. In the 6th, he couldn't make anything work and also didn't get much help from his defense. Bourn started the inning off by reaching on a d'Arnaud error. Angel Sanchez followed with a double to right center, scoring Bourn. Cutch had trouble picking the ball up and getting it from his hand to his glove and Sanchez made it all the way to 3rd. Hunter Pence then gave the Astros the lead with a single to right. Land Mass Lee was next and he brought Pence around with an RBI triple to center on a HORRIBLE misplay by Cutch. It's a play an All Star Center Fielder should make and a play I have seen Cutch make plenty of times.

Keppinger was next and lashed a double to score Lee and give the 'Stros a 4-1 edge. Morton finally got an out before surrendering an RBI single to Clint Barmes to make it 5-1. That was all for Morton on the night, 5.1 IP, 8 Hits, 5 R, 4ER, I BB and 6 Ks. Morton's ERA on June 4 was 2.52; it now sits at 3.80.

Anyways, the Bucs closed it to 5-2 when Cutch got an RBI groundout but the Astros drew more blood in the 9th when they tacked on 3 more runs. Final Astros 8, Bucs 2.

Player of the Game- Hunter Pence 3 for 5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored

Head Scratcher of the Game- Jones getting doubled off of second base.

Face Palm of the Night- The top of the 6th inning. The fielding was subpar and Morton was also serving up batting practice.

The Bucs still won the series and the Astros were eventually going to get back into the win column. They had lost 9 out of 10 games, something was gonna give at some point, right? But I think it's the way the Bucs lost this one that is frustrating. While we've certainly had a good season so far, the things that have the potential to kill this team in the long run showed themselves again last night. Inability to get runs in, no power in the lineup, mental mistakes, and errors. Obviously, leaving guys on base and making errors is a recipe for disaster for any ballclub, but for a team like the Bucs to survive in the playoff race, they have to limit their mistakes and cash in on every precious chance they get to score. The Cardinals can make an error and cost themselves a run or two because they can get it back in one swing from Pujols, Berkman, or Holliday. The Brewers have the same luxury with the Brontosaurus, Braun, Weekes, Hart, and  even McGehee to some degree.

I mention those teams and their great hitting because those are the teams we are going to have to go through to win the Central. With a winnable series against the Cubs kicking off tomorrow night, the Bucs have the chance to stockpile some wins heading into the All-Star Break. After the break, things are going to get tougher once the Bucs leave Houston, facing the Reds, Cards, Braves, and Phillies to close out the month. We will then have 7 games against the Brewers in mid-August and we all know how tough they are for the Bucs to beat.

As a side note, listening to the game broadcasts and reading DK's tweets and PG articles and listening to Jake Taylor droning on about it, I can't believe  grown men whine so much about an All-Star snub.