Live from Kissimmee!

After two games, a few initial observations from Astros Spring Training...

I already knew that it was going to be a very different team this year, after all the trades and acquisitions over the winter. But I am still surprised how different it is. The past couple of years at Spring Training, I could recognize most of the players at a glance, without having to check out the backs of their jerseys. Not so (yet) this year. There are so many new faces on the roster, not to mention the non-roster invitees and guys with really large jersey numbers up from the minor leagues up for a cuppa. This early in Spring Training, there are lots of players rotating out on the field. I try to photograph as many different players as possible -- who knows who will make the team, or will be a star in the future? But then I can't always figure out who they are when I format the pictures. This picture, by the way, is Nick Gorneault scoring the tying run in the 9th inning of Friday's come-from-behind win.

A second observation: I know that I'm not seeing the Starting Day lineup (especially in yesterday's split squad game), as there are a lot of guys that Cooper and the coaches want to take a look at. But so far the scoring has been pretty light - 4 runs in Friday's win, 3 runs in Sunday's loss to the Nats. It would be nice to be seeing some of those 8- or 9-run games that have been predicted. Yesterday's game was practically poetic - to borrow inaccurately from T.S. Eliot:

This is the way the game ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Pitching - the big question for this year - has been mixed so far. Oswalt was Oswalt on Friday. I'm hoping to see him pitch again later in the week. Brocail and Valverde were terrific on Friday; both got beat up on Sunday. Brocail's back-to-back homers must have been pretty disappointing for a guy who'd like to spend the year back in Houston. Paulino's looking great. Chacon was good on Sunday, despite a double and homer that put the Nats ahead in the first. Cassell got clobbered on Friday. Non-roster invitee Carlos Hines has pitched scoreless 9th innings in both games I attended so far. I haven't seen Villareal or Geary pitch yet.

Trivia: Cooper seems to be keeping up Garner's tradition of moving his catcher to an infield position for an inning or two. Quintero played a reasonable first-base on Sunday. I heard from another fan that J.R. House had played first on Saturday, with less effective results.

Well, I'm off to see the Astros beat the Yankees. I expect the stands to be pretty packed, and the Yankees fans to be as annoying as usual.