Ted Lilly follows Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter with six near-perfect innings to start the game, before giving up a hit (or two?) in the seventh, this afternoon in Milwaukee. Lance Berkman walked in the second, and was promptly picked off by Lilly. Reggie Abercrombie led off the seventh with a ??-able error scored on Aramis Ramirez. Mark Loretta followed with a clean single to right-center to end the no-hit bid.
This would be the only hit the Astros would get in this two game set in Milwaukee, as Carlos Marmol, Jeff Samarzia and Bobby Howry would combine to shut the 'stros down the rest of the way, preserving the one-hitter.
If Lilly had been able to finish the deal, it would have been the first time no-hitters have been twirled by pitchers from the same team in back-to-back games.
The Giants Gaylord Perry and the Cardinals Ray Washburn combined to pitch back to back no-no's in the same series, but for separate teams.
These two games were laden with controversy as the Reggie Abercrombie hit that was scored an error brought back memories of the questionable scoring call that went against C.C. Sabathia in Pittsburgh and cost him a chance at a no-hitter. Today, Lilly was given a questionable second life, which Loretta would later turn into a moot point. But it seems like rarely does a game go by that a scoring decision isn't dripping with home-cooking. Something needs to be done about that situation. It's turning into a bit of a joke. There was a blind fan in Section 103 screaming at the press-box that it was a hit, that's how bad the scoring was.
The old school maxim that the first hit has to be a clean one was stretched to the absolute limit today.
The second questionable item was the propriety of moving the game from Houston to Milwaukee in the first place. The Astros were are competing directly with the Brewers for the wild-card spot, so in fairness to the Astros, you would think the game could have been played somewhere other than the Cubs backyard.
By the way, in case your scoring at home, Sundays game drew 23,441 and this afternoons matinee managed to pack in 15,158 otherwise unoccupied Cubs fans. The two-game average of 19,300 is right about the Rays regularly-scheduled game average.
Considering these were unscheduled games, moved into a division rivals stadium, with a fan base that has it's own local flooding problems due to the weekend hurricanes, that's fan support the Cubs can be proud of.
Maybe that's why the Commish moved the games here. Another chance to ring the register. HAHAHAHA.
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