There's something about being a diehard sports fan that allowed me to experience such an amazing night with two of my favorite teams. Two exciting games caught my eye tonight, and I was rewarded with a lot of excitement. The first game featured the Houston Astros and Miami Marlins in the second game of the weekend series. The teams were coming off an exciting 11 inning thriller on Friday and were set to continue the series as soon as the night began. The game began with a great first inning by the Astros, who scored the first run of the game and pressured Carlos Zambrano with a bases loaded situation.
Although the Astros had taken the early lead, the Marlins were not ready to let the game get out of hand. They responded with a run in the bottom of the inning, and used dominant pitching to shut down the Astros' momentum. Zambrano found his stride after a tough 1st inning and settled down with the stout defense of his fielders. He escaped two difficult situations in the first three innings and finished the night with six innings of work. Miami's relief pitchers took over for Zambrano and continued handling Houston, retiring 13 of 14 batters heading into the game's final inning. Miami's first year closer Heath Bell was in charge of finishing off the young and feisty Houston team. The three-time All Star had years of experience with the Padres, but was looking for his first save with the Marlins after blowing Sunday's game against the Reds. Tonight would not be much different, as he allowed four runs and four hits in the inning and blew his second save opportunity in six days. The Astros used late-game heroics and Marlins errors to steal the game, even the series, end a three-game losing streak, and get back to .500 on the season. The teams return to Marlins Park tomorrow afternoon for the decisive game of the three-game series.
In the other game, the San Antonio Spurs hosted the Phoenix Suns in a potential playoff match-up at the AT&T Center. Both the Spurs and Suns were among the league's best since the All Star Break and were fighting for separate playoff spots, so tonight's game was important for both sides. The Spurs were coming off a crazy week and needed to take care of business tonight against the Suns. San Antonio did exactly that, beginning the game on a 23-5 run and leading by double-digits after each quarter. Tim Duncan set the tone early with his 19 points and 11 rebounds, and all thirteen Spurs contributed points in the 105-91 victory. The Spurs are playing championship-caliber basketball at the right time of year, with only eight regular season games remaining before the playoffs, and are expected to compete for another championship come June.
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