Strat-O-Matic Game of the Week - Astros vs. Brewers

As I type this, the Brewers are about to take the field for the second game of their 3-game set against Houston.  I played out tonight's matchup using the announced starting lineups for both teams.

But first, a quick recap of the first Strat-O-Matic matchup:

The first game of the week played out the Brewers/Reds Opening Day game, and for the most part my fantasy game was eerily similar to what really happened.  Beyond some of the smaller details (Braun and Votto each homered in my game and in real life), the flow of the game was almost the same - the Brewers jumped out to an early lead, built on that lead, and the Reds rallied late.  The difference of course was that in fantasy world the Reds had the tying run on base but came up short, whereas in real life a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 9th ruined my day.  End result:  Strat-O-Matic is 0-1 in predicting the outcome of the game.

For today, I can only hope that reality follows fantasy, because it was an awesome day for the Crew in Strat-O-Matic!

The Astros' Brett Myers mowed down the first 10 Brewer batters in order, but then the Brew Crew offense came back in a big way starting in the 4th inning.  Carlos Gomez broke up the perfect game with a single and stole a base on a busted hit-and-run attempt by Ryan Braun.  Prince followed with a 2-out RBI single.  Then Casey McGehee blasted a 2-run homer, and the Brewers had a 3-0 lead.

In the 5th, Betancourt lead off with a double, followed by a single by Lucroy.  An RBI groundout by Counsell and a sac fly from Gomez made the score 5-0 Brewers.

The Crew added another run in the 6th, and McGehee came up with a 2-run double in the 7th, bringing the score to 8-0 and the rout was on.

In the 8th Counsell reached on an error, and then singles by 5 of the next 6 Brewer batters brought the score to 12-0.

While all of this was going on, Shawn Marcum was absolutely stellar on the mound.  Through the first 8 innings he allowed no runs and just 3 hits. Unfortunately a pair of singles to open the 9th put runners on the corners, and Carlos Lee's double-play groundball managed to break up the shutout.  Final score:  Brewers 12, Astros 1.

For the Astros it was 1 run on 5 hits, 1 error, 4 left on base.  For the Brew Crew it was 12 runs on 15 hits, no errors, and 8 left on base.  Winning pitcher was Shawn Marcum with the complete game, losing pitcher was Brett Myers.  The star of the game was Casey McGehee, who went 4-5 with a HR, a double, 2 singles, and 4 RBIs.

And now as I wrap things up, Carlos Lee has already hit a 2-run homer in the first putting the real-life Brewers in a 2-0 hole.  Grrrrr......

Go Brewers~!