Okay, That's More Like It!

The Astros and I are on the road this week. They are in Seattle, playing my parents' beloved Mariners, and I am in LA, playing with my beloved Reuben. Reuben's just two and half months old, and many of the Astros players these days are just a bit older than that. The nice thing about being on the West Coast is getting to watch live Astros games on mlb.tv without staying up half the night. Victory over time zones!

And victory over the Mariners too. Since the Astros only previous win was on opening day, which coincided with Passover, I hadn't gotten to see a single winning game yet this season. Last night's 16-9 blowout didn't make up for a week of losses, but it was pretty entertaining. Twenty-two hits, including 5 homers, was a nice change for a team that had only scored 9 runs in the previous 6 games. Reuben enjoyed watching the game with me, while his mom went to the gym to sweat off the last few ounces of babyfat. Actually, Reuben lost interest after the first 3 innings, and dozed through much of the rest.

Highlight of the game: Mighty Mouse Altuve got 4 hits, including a homer, with 4 RBI. Nice first start for pitcher Eric Bedard, who pitched 4 scoreless innings, before getting to his pitch limit. His teammates gave him nice support, and he left the game with a 13-0 lead. Not enough innings to qualify for the win -- that honor went to Paul Clemens, who just came up from Triple A for his chance in the bigs. His line for the night wasn't beautiful - he gave up 5 ERs on 6 hits, including 3 homers, in his 4 innings. But a first ML win is an accomplishment nonetheless!

Low point of the game: Brett Wallace struck out 4 times, giving him 17 Ks in 6 games, not an auspicious start. But it's still early days, and there's months and months to go. I don't expect this to be a playoff year, or even a winning season, it does have its moments.

We're going out to dinner tonight, so I will have to sneak peeks at the last game of the series on my iPhone. Dare I hope for a series win?

I Think I'm Back

For anyone out there who might have noticed that I bailed on last season's blogging, here's an update. I went back and forth about whether the move to the AL -- and worse, the move to AL WEST -- was enough to drive me away. The stupid DH rule, games too late at night for me to watch live, and the years of rebuilding ahead... was all of that enough to give up 50 years of cheering for Houston's baseball team? After 30 years of living in the Washington area, shouldn't I just switch  to my current home team - the Nats are going to be contenders!

New season, old habits. I started watching the Astros play and started getting hooked. Hey, for one day -- first day of the season -- they had a winning record, before they went into a dizzying plunge. And then there was that thrilling game when they outwitted a perfect game. Okay, they were shut out, but at least they avoided the humiliation.

Now, thinking that we're probably going to move to LA in the not-so-distant future, things look a little different. Those really late night games, from an East Coast perspective, are prime time in California. And with the Angels in the same division, there will be lots of chances to go cheer in person. I'm going to be in LA this week; maybe I'll head down to Anaheim for the Sunday game...

I think I'm back. 

HOMERS? The Astros???

So I got my first dose of Spring Training today. I watched the Astros beat up the Nats 10-2, winning a second game on the power of their ... HOME RUNS?!? CJ knocked in the winning 2-run homer yesterday, and today's blowout was courtesy of 3 home runs, including a pair of 3-run babies by two guys named Martinez (JD and Fernando). Two games (and two first-week-of-Spring-Training games at that) is too small a sample to draw conclusions from, of course. But for a team that didn't have much in the way of homers last year, it was fun to watch. The other thing that was great to see was the way that the Astros generated those runs -- mostly with 2 outs on the board. Nice thing about a young team with some competition for the roster: They aren't slacking off in Florida. 


It was a MASN broadcast, since the game was in Viera, and the Nats' broadcasters pointed out how hard the wind was blowing to left field. That was a likely factor in the Astros' homers, but the Nats had the same windy field to play on. The Astros also benefited from 8 walks (more than they had in the first couple of weeks of last season, I think), 2 Nats errors, 3 wild pitches, and a hit batter. Every little bit helps.

Given my dilemma about whether to try to switch my allegiance from my original home team (after 49 years) to my current home team, it was a good chance to see both teams. Stephen Strasburg has a good first spring start, lasting into the third inning. The Nats have a bunch of the Astros' former players -- Lidge, Fulchino, and Michaels were all in today's game.

Hi to Carole and Mitch and my other Spring Training buds - wish I were down there too!

Missing Spring Training

This morning I was just about to write my Goodbye, Astros blog. I'd made my decision: Try to become a Nats fan, let the Astros go their merry way (to the AL!), time to part after 49 years. But first I took one last look at astros.com... and just like that I got sucked back in. Before I knew it I was checking the Spring Training schedule, looking at Osceola Park seat availability, checking out whether there were any cheap last-minute flights to Orlando, and thinking that maybe I'd try to get down to Kissimmee just for a couple of days. The pull of Spring Training is overwhelming.

The long and short of it: Plenty of seats in the ballpark, but no cheap flights, and no, I can't really take off work this week. Reality check. But sitting in my kitchen in Maryland, I can close my eyes and picture that first glimpse of the field when you walk up the ramp, and it's so hard not to just pick up and go. There's nothing I need more right now than a few days in the sun, watching practice and games that don't matter, and talking baseball with friends that I only see in Kissimmee.

The chances that I can get down there even for a couple of days are next to nil. But I'm going to watch the ball game today -- the Astros are playing the Nats -- Strasburg's Spring debut -- and the game will be on local TV. I'll give you an update after the game.

End of an Era?

Hi, I'm Susan, your blogger. But you all know me as Astros Fan in Exile. The blog, the website, the custom jerseys. Starting back in the early 2000’s,  the miracle of the Internet meant that an out-of-town fan could get more than two sentences and a box score in the next day’s newspaper. First it was full game writeups, with pictures. Then pitch-by-pitch, with more and more stats every year. Then, in 2004, I got my first subscription to mlb.tv, with live video coverage of virtually every game. In 2005, I went to Spring Training for the first time, and sitting behind the bullpen, I had my epiphany — a vision of the Astros in the World Series. And then it turned out to be true, despite the naysayers. Astros Fan in Exile went online the following spring, and being an Astros fan-atic has eaten up a good deal of my waking hours, 7 to 8 months of every year since. It takes a lot of time to watch and write up nearly every game of the season. Despite the Astros' tumble into the major league gutter (a cellar is way too nice to describe their most recent season), I’ve tried to find reasons to stay the course — we’re rebuilding for the future, it’s fun to watch the young kids play, we get first pick next season…

And now, going into their 50th anniversary year, the Astros have been sold and banished to the American League.

And I’m thinking of becoming a Nationals fan.

I’m not jumping ship without thinking it through. I feel a bit like Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof: On the one hand… on the other hand…

Reasons for moving on: (1) I don’t like the designated hitter version of major league baseball. It ruins the strategy. Pitchers are professional atheletes — let them bat and run! (2) With the Astros in the AL West, a large proportion of their games will start so late at night (after 10:30 my time) that I won’t be able to watch live games and still get up in the morning for work. (3) I don’t know any of the players. The era of my beloved Bagwell and Biggio is long gone, and most of my more recent favorite players have already been traded. If I’m going to jump, this is the perfect time for it. (4) If I become a Nats fan, I can actually go to real live baseball games all summer long.

Reasons for staying: (1) All those great fans I’ve met in Kissimmee at Spring Training, who stay in touch in email and Facebook in the off season. (2) Fifty years of cheering for the Astros, from back when I went to my first baseball games in Colt Stadium as a little kid! It’s really hard to abandon a tradition like that.

I need to decide in the next couple of months. If I’m going to learn to cheer for the Nats this year, I really ought to go to Viera (near Cocoa Beach), not Kissimmee, for Spring Training, to get to know the team. Should I just do it? Or maybe, with the AL move still a year away, I should just give it one more season to decide? 

Help me out! What should I do?

What to do in the Astros Off Season - Part 1

The Astros were eliminated in August. Now the team I was cheering for in the playoffs (Phillies, for Pence and Roy O) are out. I don't really care about the outcome of the playoffs. And, given the remaining teams, the TV advertisers are probably less than celebratory also. The Yankees are so great for business.

So what to do, now that Astros baseball is over but the hot stove hasn't started heating up? Well, there's Real Life to attend to. Now that Yom Kippur has passed, it's time to build our sukkah! If you don't know what that is - it's a little temporary branch-covered dwelling we build to live in (or at least eat our meal in) for the weeklong Jewish holiday Sukkot. (If you really want to know more, check out Wikipedia.) Here's your Fan in Exile in the sukkah - walls are up, but no schach (branches on top) yet. The holiday starts Wednesday evening.

Another, less joyous thing to do in the off-season: Read about the trouble that the Astros' youngsters get into when they aren't busy playing baseball. Two in the past week, one tragic and one just stupid, and both probably avoidable: The Astros' 34th pick prospect, 18 year old Dustin Kellogg, was killed in a late night traffic accident, after cutting across 4 lanes to hit an 18-wheeler head on. The reports didn't give a reason for why the accident occurred, but it's hard to keep from wondering what might be behind this driver error. Very sad anyway, whether it was vehicle malfunction or impaired judgement. The second incident was definitely impaired judgement: Our young center fielder, Jordan Schafer got arrested for felony possession of marijuana, while puffing away and driving his car. He's lucky that it was an arrest and not an accident that resulted. It's also idiotic -- with the field wide open for young players on a team that's rebuilding, this doesn't exactly help his chances.

I'll figure out some more things to do in the Astros Off Season and post them in future blogs. Meanwhile, reply to this blog to give me YOUR ideas for how to pass the time until Spring Training!

There's Always Next Year (with Photos)

I have a confession to make: I bet against the Astros this year. I bet my sister Elizabeth (the one who came with me to Spring Training) $18 that the Astros wouldn't win 60 games this year. She was willing to make the bet at 64 games, but I was pretty certain that 60 would be unattainable. As it turned out, there was plenty of room to spare, as the Astros finished the season with only 56 wins and a whopping 106 losses. One for the record books -- time to start thinking about what to do with that first pick in next year's draft! I'm saving the $18 to take Elizabeth out for a vegetarian Indian dinner at Woodlands in Orlando, when we go to Spring Training to check out the upcoming crop of baby Astros. We'll be rebuilding for a while...

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures that I took at the Astros vs Nationals game here in Washington on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The Nats fans went home happy, having seen Strasburg pitch, and the Nats win 8-2. I went home happy, just having seen the Astros for the first and only time this season. Given the outcome of the standings, it really didn't matter whether we won the game. It was just a great day to celebrate our national pasttime!

Fan in Exile happy to see the Astros for the first time this season

Me with my friend (normally a Twins Fan) Ann 

Altuve takes batting practice, but (alas!) had the day off

Schafer and Bogusevic miss the catch

Martinez makes a good throw from the outfield 

Downs blows bubbles - got the start at second

Schafer waiting for a can of corn to drop into his glove

Corporan behind the plate 

Sosa in trouble after giving up 3 homers in a row 

Not an Astro - but who could pass up wanting to take pictures of Stephen Strasburg?

Wallace and Bogusevic during BP

Martinez batting, Lee on deck

Can you find the BALL?

No Caption required...

The Nat in the Hat?

Unfortunate end to Lance Pendleton's Astro's debut:
He struck out 2, then hit 2, then gave up a RBI hit

Melancon throws - NOT a save situation

Goodbye and good riddance, Astros Season 2011! I don't have a real favorite for the playoffs so don't look for much blogging on that subject. I guess I'll cheer for the Phillies, for Oswalt and Pence. (After all, Pence was the Astros' MVP this year! How sad is that?) I'll be back in the off-season to talk about trades, rebuilding, and plans for going to Kissimmee. There's always next year, you know!