Wednesday, April 10, 2013

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?


Monday, April 8, 2013

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.