Happ-tacular!
(c) Associated Press
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Thanks, Roy! The bounty in the trade for Roy Oswalt played key roles in Houston's 3-0 whitewash of the Cardinals Monday night. J.A. Happ was masterful in hurling a two-hit shutout while Brett Wallace had his first three-hit game as a big leaguer, just missing his first homer.
Happ allowed a first-inning single to Randy Winn and an eighth-inning base hit from Yadier Molina. He walked Colby Rasmus and that was it from the Cards the entire night. Happ struck out four in an efficient 114 pitches. The entire contest was over in two hours and one minute.
The statheads keep telling us that Happ is overrated and lucky. He seems to be overly lucky then at Minute Maid Park, crafting a 4-0 record since he arrived in the deadline deal from Philadelphia. He's allowed three runs in 27-1/3rd innings in his new home.
Wallace popped Jake Westbrook for a pair of singles before smashing a double high off the visitor's bullpen wall to drive in Chris Johnson in the seventh. It would have found the Crawfords if it had been a few feet to the left. He later came in on a double play ball hit by Jason Castro.
The other run came in the first when Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee both went to right field with a single and a bloop double respectively. The score stayed that way for the next six innings before Wallace opened it up.
A winning month wraps up Tuesday when Wandy Rodriguez (10-12) duels Redbird ace Chris Carpenter (14-4) in a 7:05 Central contest. The Astros hit the 60-win mark with 31 games to play. A 21-10 finale gets them to .500 for the season but I'm sure most Astro fans will be happy just to post a third consecutive winning month.
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