B-Rabbit said:
It's time to dredge out one of my all-time Astro horror stories that you guys from the 1980s will recall fondly.
It was a beautiful August day in 1989. My brother was off somewhere with his stoner friends, my parents were both working, and the Astros had an 11:35 AM game with the Reds at Riverfront on Channel 20. I sat in the most comfortable chair in the house, walked over our 19 inch RCA, pressed the "2" and the "0" and sat back to enjoy some baseball.
The Astros, despite getting rid of Nolan and replacing him with Jim Clancy, were cruising along at 61-47. We were a game behind the Giants as Kevin Mitchell rode the steroid train to an unlikely MVP, and even better, a year after their Cinderella BS World Series win, the Dodgers were 51-58, on their way to a losing record for the season.
Of course, Clancy - or as my dad used to call him "WTF is wrong with this guy?" - was starting that day against Tom Browning. Clancy was 4-9, Browning was 8-10, so not exactly a mismatch.
The good guys went 1-2-3 in the top of the first with some offensive woes that we know all too well in the 2020s. Billy Hatcher popped out on the infield on the first pitch of the game, Gerald Young struck out, and Billy D blasted one to deep left center that Eric the Red ran down.
Then came the bottom of the first, with Clancy on the mound.
Mariano Duncan walked.
Duncan stole second.
Luis Quinones reached on a bunt single to Clancy.
Eric Davis singled to center, scoring Duncan, 1-0 Reds
Ken Griffey, age 38, hit a 3-run homer to left-center, 4-0 Reds.
Rolando Roomes, yeah, I forgot about him too, single to shortstop.
Todd Benzinger singled to right.
Jeff Reed singled to center, 6-0 Reds
As memory serves, Art Howe went out to the mound and shot Clancy in the face at this point. Bob Forsch came in after they had cleaned up the blood.
Forsch threw a wild pitch, 7-0 Reds.
Tom Browning grounded out! See, was that so hard?
Duncan double to right field 8-0 Reds
Quiones singled to left
Davis singled to right, 9-0 Reds.
Griffey singled to left, 10-0 Reds
Roomes singled to third
Benzinger doubled to right, 13-0 Reds
Jeff Reed singled to center
Ron Oested singled to right, 14-0 Reds
Tom Browning singled to left
Duncan flied out to left
Quiones flied otut to right
14 runs, 16 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOBClancy's line for the game: 0 innings pitched, 6 hits, 7 earned runs, 1 walk. ERA: infinity
Forsch sucked it up and pitched the next 6 innings. His line for the day: 7 innings pitched, 18 hits, 10 earned runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts. That's a solid 12.86 ERA for the day.
Glenn Davis tried to start an answering rally with a homer leading off the 2nd, but it didn't pan out. Reds won 18-2. They had 26 hits and only 1 walk. Their team batting average for the day was .529.
Astros fell to 61-48, played sub .500 baseball the rest of the way (25-28) and missed the playoffs by 6 games.
