April 13: Pirates 7, Astros 0
There really isn't much to say about the Astros' first game of the season against the Pirates. Just more of the same. Their pitcher is going to get the Cy Young - there wasn't anything we could possible do against him. Well, he'll have to tie with the others who have pitched against the Astros lately. No comment. I didn't even see the game - I was at work and it was all over hours before I left. And, no, I didn't want to watch it on the archive... Too bad that Coop didn't do what the Yankees did yesterday - faced with a huge deficit, they put in their center fielder, Nick Swisher, to pitch. He did really well. Now if Bourn pitched the ninth inning, that would have been worth watching.
I'm just as glad today's an off day.
I'm going to go light my end-of-Passover holiday candles and start my two-days of self-imposed isolation from all things baseball. Hopefully sometime between now and Thursday night, when the holiday ends, the Astros will do something that will be entertaining to watch on the archive.
Happy end of Passover. Hit those matzah balls 400 feet!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
GAME 6: Shut Out and Swept Away...
April 12: Cardinals 3, Astros 0
There was a time at the beginning of last season when it seemed like every opposing pitcher was an ace. Game after game, their pitcher was having a big game, and our guys just couldn't figure him out. Unfortunately, this pattern seems to be recurring in the early days this spring, capped by Kyle Lohse's shutout today, to complete the Cardinals' series sweep. Over the weekend in St Louis, Astros batters were outscored 19-5.
Wandy had a solid start -- not at all terrible, but still just enough to join the other Astros starters in the loss column. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 BBs, stiking out 4. The Astros' bullpen was the only really bright spot in this game. Byrdak followed Wandy with a perfect seventh, striking out 2 and fielding the third out himself. Valverde, needing exercise at the end of a very light work week, pitched a scoreless eighth.
After giving up 27 runs in the previous 3 games, the Astros should have been able to overcome a mere 3 run defecit. But from Lohse's first pitch, which Matsui punched into left for a single, up until the ninth inning, when Bourn and Pence singled, he did not allow a single base runner. Three up, three down, three up, three down... the same old depressing pattern we've seen in many April games.
(On the other hand, it wasn't quite as depressing as the way the Mets let down Santana today. He pitched 7 innings, giving up 2 unearned runs on 3 hits and one walk, striking out 13 Marlins - and he lost. Reminded me of what the Astros used to do to Clemens back in '05...)
I'm certainly not giving up on the Astros, or preaching gloom and doom, this early in the season. But today's game was the only one I'm going to be able to watch liveover a 10 day period, due to holiday observance, off-days, and afternoon games. I just wish it had been a bit more FUN.
There was a time at the beginning of last season when it seemed like every opposing pitcher was an ace. Game after game, their pitcher was having a big game, and our guys just couldn't figure him out. Unfortunately, this pattern seems to be recurring in the early days this spring, capped by Kyle Lohse's shutout today, to complete the Cardinals' series sweep. Over the weekend in St Louis, Astros batters were outscored 19-5.
Wandy had a solid start -- not at all terrible, but still just enough to join the other Astros starters in the loss column. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 BBs, stiking out 4. The Astros' bullpen was the only really bright spot in this game. Byrdak followed Wandy with a perfect seventh, striking out 2 and fielding the third out himself. Valverde, needing exercise at the end of a very light work week, pitched a scoreless eighth.
After giving up 27 runs in the previous 3 games, the Astros should have been able to overcome a mere 3 run defecit. But from Lohse's first pitch, which Matsui punched into left for a single, up until the ninth inning, when Bourn and Pence singled, he did not allow a single base runner. Three up, three down, three up, three down... the same old depressing pattern we've seen in many April games.
(On the other hand, it wasn't quite as depressing as the way the Mets let down Santana today. He pitched 7 innings, giving up 2 unearned runs on 3 hits and one walk, striking out 13 Marlins - and he lost. Reminded me of what the Astros used to do to Clemens back in '05...)
I'm certainly not giving up on the Astros, or preaching gloom and doom, this early in the season. But today's game was the only one I'm going to be able to watch liveover a 10 day period, due to holiday observance, off-days, and afternoon games. I just wish it had been a bit more FUN.
GAMES 3-5: Bitter Herbs
April 8: Cubs 11, Astros 6
April 10: Cardinals 5, Astros 3
April 11: Cardinals 11, Astros 2
My favorite of the symbolic foods on the Pesach seder plate is the maror, or bitter herb. This vegetable may be horseradish, endive, chervil, or even romaine - any herbaceous food with a bitter flavor. One of the characteristics of the maror is that it might initially taste sweet, before one chews it, breaking down the cell walls to release the bitterness, which may range from mild (romaine) to blow-your-head-off (horseradish). The rabbis compare this to our ancestors' experience in Egypt, which at first was pleasant before enslavement made it harsh and bitter.
I, of course, find a parallel in Astros baseball. My younger son, who has a fantasy baseball team, arrived on Thursday with the news that Astros players had hit 5 homers in the game Wednesday night. Sweet. Since I was in the first day of my Passover-induced baseball isolation, I did not actually know the outcome of the game until one of my seder guests arrived with the sports section of the Post. Bitter: The five dingers accounted for the Astros' 6 runs, but the game was long-since lost on Brian Moehler's early inning meltdown. Moehler's first start was a polar opposite of his Spring Training prep - he gave up 5 runs on 8 hits in 1 2/3 innings. He left a pair of base runners for replacement Russ Ortiz, whose first pitch went over the wall to add another 2 ERs on Moehler's debit card. Five home runs later, the Astros had still not made up for that start.
I had planned, in my last blog, to spend Saturday night, after the Sabbath, watching all of the games I'd missed for holiday/Sabbath observance. But when I went online at 8:30 last night, I saw that the other two games were just more maror. Friday night, Mike Hampton had a lukewarm start in his Astros' homecoming against the Cards, while the lineup piddled away precious opportunities to score.
Saturday afternoon, Oswalt was slammed. His fifth inning was capped by Pujols' grand slam, leaving the Astros in the hole 6-0. The relievers jumped on the bandwagon - Wesley Wright, who didn't give away anything in the Spring, allowed 4 runs in his inning on the mound, including another homer to Pujols.LaTroy Hawkins added one for good measure. Meanwhile, the Astros lineup forgot how to score until the last inning, when they eked out a couple of runs. Thus they avoided that other seder plate symbol: The Egg.
Faced with all these bitter scores, I was perplexed about which of these games to watch first. In the end I opted to skip them all and go to bed early.
To recap a few highs and lows of the games I missed and the season so far...
Highs: The five home runs on Wednesday were hit by Matsui, Keppinger, Berkman, Pence, and Pudge. The new guy Keppinger is hitting .571 with 1.00 slugging. Pence is hitting .368 with .737 slugging, on a pair of home runs. Lee, who didn't hit all spring, went 3 for 4 with a homer on Friday night. Blum, who's getting about 2/3 of the playing time at 3B so far, is hitting over .400.
Lows: Brocail - who gave up a home run on Wednesday and then another run on a hit and three walks Friday - turns out to be injured with a right rotator cuff strain. He's day to day. After the first nine position players (counting both Blum and Kepp), the rest of the team has a batting average of .000 on 10 non-pitcher at bats. In the first 5 games, the starting rotation has allowed 23 ERs in less than 30 innings - that includes two appearances of our ace, and one relief appearance by Ortiz. Ouch - do the math. When you take out Wandy (1 ER in 6 innings), it's even worse. One week into the season, none of the starting pitchers has a win yet. Brocail, who has the only win, threw only 2 pitches in that game. Valverde has only appeared in one game.
I should review the statistics on how the Astros do when I'm watching live and when, due to Sabbath and holidays and work-day afternoon games, I have to miss them. It always seems to me (a highly unscientific statistical measure) that the Astros disproportionately lose these games. Unfortunately, after today's games, I will not get to watch a live game for the rest of the week due to a day game, an off-day, the end of Passover, and then the Sabbath. Wah.
This afternoon, Wandy returns to the mound to turn the tide - or to split the Cardinal Red Sea, sticking with my slightly forced Passover motif. I'm still betting on Wandy: This is finally going to be his career year.
April 10: Cardinals 5, Astros 3
April 11: Cardinals 11, Astros 2
My favorite of the symbolic foods on the Pesach seder plate is the maror, or bitter herb. This vegetable may be horseradish, endive, chervil, or even romaine - any herbaceous food with a bitter flavor. One of the characteristics of the maror is that it might initially taste sweet, before one chews it, breaking down the cell walls to release the bitterness, which may range from mild (romaine) to blow-your-head-off (horseradish). The rabbis compare this to our ancestors' experience in Egypt, which at first was pleasant before enslavement made it harsh and bitter.
I, of course, find a parallel in Astros baseball. My younger son, who has a fantasy baseball team, arrived on Thursday with the news that Astros players had hit 5 homers in the game Wednesday night. Sweet. Since I was in the first day of my Passover-induced baseball isolation, I did not actually know the outcome of the game until one of my seder guests arrived with the sports section of the Post. Bitter: The five dingers accounted for the Astros' 6 runs, but the game was long-since lost on Brian Moehler's early inning meltdown. Moehler's first start was a polar opposite of his Spring Training prep - he gave up 5 runs on 8 hits in 1 2/3 innings. He left a pair of base runners for replacement Russ Ortiz, whose first pitch went over the wall to add another 2 ERs on Moehler's debit card. Five home runs later, the Astros had still not made up for that start.
I had planned, in my last blog, to spend Saturday night, after the Sabbath, watching all of the games I'd missed for holiday/Sabbath observance. But when I went online at 8:30 last night, I saw that the other two games were just more maror. Friday night, Mike Hampton had a lukewarm start in his Astros' homecoming against the Cards, while the lineup piddled away precious opportunities to score.
Saturday afternoon, Oswalt was slammed. His fifth inning was capped by Pujols' grand slam, leaving the Astros in the hole 6-0. The relievers jumped on the bandwagon - Wesley Wright, who didn't give away anything in the Spring, allowed 4 runs in his inning on the mound, including another homer to Pujols.LaTroy Hawkins added one for good measure. Meanwhile, the Astros lineup forgot how to score until the last inning, when they eked out a couple of runs. Thus they avoided that other seder plate symbol: The Egg.
Faced with all these bitter scores, I was perplexed about which of these games to watch first. In the end I opted to skip them all and go to bed early.
To recap a few highs and lows of the games I missed and the season so far...
Highs: The five home runs on Wednesday were hit by Matsui, Keppinger, Berkman, Pence, and Pudge. The new guy Keppinger is hitting .571 with 1.00 slugging. Pence is hitting .368 with .737 slugging, on a pair of home runs. Lee, who didn't hit all spring, went 3 for 4 with a homer on Friday night. Blum, who's getting about 2/3 of the playing time at 3B so far, is hitting over .400.
Lows: Brocail - who gave up a home run on Wednesday and then another run on a hit and three walks Friday - turns out to be injured with a right rotator cuff strain. He's day to day. After the first nine position players (counting both Blum and Kepp), the rest of the team has a batting average of .000 on 10 non-pitcher at bats. In the first 5 games, the starting rotation has allowed 23 ERs in less than 30 innings - that includes two appearances of our ace, and one relief appearance by Ortiz. Ouch - do the math. When you take out Wandy (1 ER in 6 innings), it's even worse. One week into the season, none of the starting pitchers has a win yet. Brocail, who has the only win, threw only 2 pitches in that game. Valverde has only appeared in one game.
I should review the statistics on how the Astros do when I'm watching live and when, due to Sabbath and holidays and work-day afternoon games, I have to miss them. It always seems to me (a highly unscientific statistical measure) that the Astros disproportionately lose these games. Unfortunately, after today's games, I will not get to watch a live game for the rest of the week due to a day game, an off-day, the end of Passover, and then the Sabbath. Wah.
This afternoon, Wandy returns to the mound to turn the tide - or to split the Cardinal Red Sea, sticking with my slightly forced Passover motif. I'm still betting on Wandy: This is finally going to be his career year.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
GAME 2 - Astros Win - Let's Dance!
April 7: Astros 3, Cubs 2 (10 innings)
Now that was fun: Game 2 goes into extra innings. (That didn't take long!) They bring in the new guy, Keppinger, at the end of the game, with the score tied 2-2, the bases loaded and one out. He punches a single into left field, scoring Pudge from third. They can call it a "walk off," but it's more of a "run on," as all the players dash out onto the field to participate in the ritual head thumping of the hero of the day. Brain damage is such a small price to pay for popularity on the team. What's a few IQ points less between friends?
Everybody's happy. And we're talking about some exalted everybodies here. In addition to the many Astros guests who were there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the "new" stadium, my favorite Astros fan was sitting right behind home plate. I'm talking, of course, about Barbara Bush. She's easy to locate from the big white cotton candy do; that little man sitting next to her is #41. Truthfully, I didn't have any use for Bush 1 or Bush 2, and hope never to see another one within 100 yards of the White House, but I do like Barbara. Especially her taste in ball clubs.
Although he didn't get the decision, Wandy had an excellent season start. He pitched 6 innings (89 pitches), giving up only a single run on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 4. I sooooo want Wandy to have a real career year this season - it's one of the necessary elements for the Astros to go all the way.
The Astros only spent a couple of innings behind tonight. The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the third on a two-out RBI single by Derreck Lee. But Pence hit a massive blast to center to lead off the fifth, tying it up. It was the Astros first extra-base hit of the fledgling season. In the sixth, a trio of two-out singles by Blum, Pence, and Bourn pushed across another run, giving Wandy a chance to get his first win. Blum, sliding into home, just barely scored before Pence got caught running between second and third, ending the inning. That run put he Astros ahead 2-1 -- their first lead of the season. O joy!
Chris Sampson relieved Wandy in the seventh. I'm sure he went home happy tonight - he dispatched his 3 batters with a mere 7 pitches, and made a terrific play at first to boot. LaTroy Hawkins didn't fare as well in the eighth: That pesky Soriano hit another solo homer, tying the game and losing Wandy's chance at for the "W."
Valverde was pretty forceful in setting down the Cubbies in the ninth, notching a pair of Ks. Tejada made a fantastic play at short, shooting the ball to Berkman for a very lucky third out. (Lucky because the ump gave it to them - looked on the replay like the runner was safe.) Valverde allowed himself a little celebratory jig (something that he didn't really do in Spring Training, alas). The Astros looked good to break the tie in the bottom of the inning, as they got their first two runners on. Keppinger came in at this point as a pinch runner, but nothing came of it.
Extra innings. Two games into the season, and they're already playing extra innings. Byrdak did some lovely work, striking out the first two batters before the third reached on Tejada's throwing error (balanced out his much harder play in the previous inning). At this point, with the pesky Soriano coming up, Coop switched pitchers, bringing in a righty - Brocail - to handle him. He did the job, throwing 2 pitches, to end the Cubs' half of the inning.
Bottom of the tenth, repeat of the previous inning: Rodriguez and Berkman hit back-to-back singles. Pinch hitter Michaels flied out, moving Rodriguez to third. The Cubs decided to IBB Tejada to load the bases. That's when Kepp did his instant-popularity trick, singling in the run to win the game, enduring only the loss of his bat (broken) and a minor concussion as a result of the celebratory head thumping. Just kidding - he looked fine in the post-game interview. Or was he? When asked how many times in the past he's hit the winning walk-off RBI in extra innings, he allowed that he couldn't actually remember any cases. Was that because he didn't have any - or because his joyous team mates bashed in his brains? (I expect that RoundRock15 can probably answer that question.) Oh well, Keppinger's not a catcher; he doesn't need brains, right?
Due to the quirky rules for awarding wins to pitchers, Brocail's two pitches to one batter in the tenth earned him the "W."
I took a lot of little penciled notes during this game. Otherwise, I wouldn't remember anything - I spent the game with one eye on my laptop and the other on my office computer, doing last minute work before shutting down for a 3-day absence for Passover observation. After the game, I turned off the computer and spent the next few hours doing the last of the Passover cleaning. Now it's all done: Everything's clean, the fridge is full of food just waiting to be cooked for the seder tomorrow night, boxes of matzah are stacked where my computer stuff usually sits on the kitchen counter. Now at 3 AM I can finally relax, and write up the game.
That's the good news. The bad news is that due to personal priorities, I don't watch TV or use the computer on Jewish holidays and the Sabbath. That means that I'm about to go into a 4 day baseball hiatus, from tomorrow night through Saturday night. We dropped our newspaper subscription, due to an editorial disagreement with the Washington Post, so I won't even see the outcomes of the next three games until Saturday evening. So don't look for anything on my blog until then. For the next few days, I'll be celebrating freedom from all that enslaves us, eating delicious holiday foods, crunching on big round matzahs baked by Hassidim, enjoying being with my family, drinking quite a bit of very good Israeli wines... basically, doing everything that's relly fun except for watching ball games.
But Saturday, after dark, I'm going to stay up all night watching those three games on the mlb.tv archive.
Happy Passover! Over and out, for now...
Now that was fun: Game 2 goes into extra innings. (That didn't take long!) They bring in the new guy, Keppinger, at the end of the game, with the score tied 2-2, the bases loaded and one out. He punches a single into left field, scoring Pudge from third. They can call it a "walk off," but it's more of a "run on," as all the players dash out onto the field to participate in the ritual head thumping of the hero of the day. Brain damage is such a small price to pay for popularity on the team. What's a few IQ points less between friends?
Everybody's happy. And we're talking about some exalted everybodies here. In addition to the many Astros guests who were there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the "new" stadium, my favorite Astros fan was sitting right behind home plate. I'm talking, of course, about Barbara Bush. She's easy to locate from the big white cotton candy do; that little man sitting next to her is #41. Truthfully, I didn't have any use for Bush 1 or Bush 2, and hope never to see another one within 100 yards of the White House, but I do like Barbara. Especially her taste in ball clubs.
Although he didn't get the decision, Wandy had an excellent season start. He pitched 6 innings (89 pitches), giving up only a single run on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 4. I sooooo want Wandy to have a real career year this season - it's one of the necessary elements for the Astros to go all the way.
The Astros only spent a couple of innings behind tonight. The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the third on a two-out RBI single by Derreck Lee. But Pence hit a massive blast to center to lead off the fifth, tying it up. It was the Astros first extra-base hit of the fledgling season. In the sixth, a trio of two-out singles by Blum, Pence, and Bourn pushed across another run, giving Wandy a chance to get his first win. Blum, sliding into home, just barely scored before Pence got caught running between second and third, ending the inning. That run put he Astros ahead 2-1 -- their first lead of the season. O joy!
Chris Sampson relieved Wandy in the seventh. I'm sure he went home happy tonight - he dispatched his 3 batters with a mere 7 pitches, and made a terrific play at first to boot. LaTroy Hawkins didn't fare as well in the eighth: That pesky Soriano hit another solo homer, tying the game and losing Wandy's chance at for the "W."
Valverde was pretty forceful in setting down the Cubbies in the ninth, notching a pair of Ks. Tejada made a fantastic play at short, shooting the ball to Berkman for a very lucky third out. (Lucky because the ump gave it to them - looked on the replay like the runner was safe.) Valverde allowed himself a little celebratory jig (something that he didn't really do in Spring Training, alas). The Astros looked good to break the tie in the bottom of the inning, as they got their first two runners on. Keppinger came in at this point as a pinch runner, but nothing came of it.
Extra innings. Two games into the season, and they're already playing extra innings. Byrdak did some lovely work, striking out the first two batters before the third reached on Tejada's throwing error (balanced out his much harder play in the previous inning). At this point, with the pesky Soriano coming up, Coop switched pitchers, bringing in a righty - Brocail - to handle him. He did the job, throwing 2 pitches, to end the Cubs' half of the inning.
Bottom of the tenth, repeat of the previous inning: Rodriguez and Berkman hit back-to-back singles. Pinch hitter Michaels flied out, moving Rodriguez to third. The Cubs decided to IBB Tejada to load the bases. That's when Kepp did his instant-popularity trick, singling in the run to win the game, enduring only the loss of his bat (broken) and a minor concussion as a result of the celebratory head thumping. Just kidding - he looked fine in the post-game interview. Or was he? When asked how many times in the past he's hit the winning walk-off RBI in extra innings, he allowed that he couldn't actually remember any cases. Was that because he didn't have any - or because his joyous team mates bashed in his brains? (I expect that RoundRock15 can probably answer that question.) Oh well, Keppinger's not a catcher; he doesn't need brains, right?
Due to the quirky rules for awarding wins to pitchers, Brocail's two pitches to one batter in the tenth earned him the "W."
I took a lot of little penciled notes during this game. Otherwise, I wouldn't remember anything - I spent the game with one eye on my laptop and the other on my office computer, doing last minute work before shutting down for a 3-day absence for Passover observation. After the game, I turned off the computer and spent the next few hours doing the last of the Passover cleaning. Now it's all done: Everything's clean, the fridge is full of food just waiting to be cooked for the seder tomorrow night, boxes of matzah are stacked where my computer stuff usually sits on the kitchen counter. Now at 3 AM I can finally relax, and write up the game.
That's the good news. The bad news is that due to personal priorities, I don't watch TV or use the computer on Jewish holidays and the Sabbath. That means that I'm about to go into a 4 day baseball hiatus, from tomorrow night through Saturday night. We dropped our newspaper subscription, due to an editorial disagreement with the Washington Post, so I won't even see the outcomes of the next three games until Saturday evening. So don't look for anything on my blog until then. For the next few days, I'll be celebrating freedom from all that enslaves us, eating delicious holiday foods, crunching on big round matzahs baked by Hassidim, enjoying being with my family, drinking quite a bit of very good Israeli wines... basically, doing everything that's relly fun except for watching ball games.
But Saturday, after dark, I'm going to stay up all night watching those three games on the mlb.tv archive.
Happy Passover! Over and out, for now...
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
GAME 1 - That's the One to Throw Away...
April 6: Cubs 4, Astros 2
I just turned off my office computer, after having to work late tonight, but I can't go to sleep without saying a few words about the Astros' Opening Night game:
WAH WAH WAH.
Just kidding. Actually the word in my head during the game was "momentum." Or in this case, lack of ... It wasn't that the game was boring exactly. (Disclaimer: I may have been a bit distracted by having to work on my offfice laptop, while the game was on my personal laptop.) But there just didn't seem to be a whole lot of movement. You know, home to first, first to second, second to third, and so on... I'm not just talking about the Astros - both teams scored all their runs metered out one per inning.
Being the first game of the season, it was supposed to be a duel between our pitching aces. Zambrano was tough, no surprise there. But, unlike the last time we saw him, in that ridiculous "Astros home game" in Milwaukee, he wasn't unhittable. He scattered some base runners around - 5 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings. But all but one were left stranded in variations on the theme of missed opportunities.
Missed opportunities: First inning, Zambrano walked Matsui, who advanced on Berkman's single. Lee grounded into a double play to end the fun. Third inning, Bourn and Matsui on the corners with one out and the top of the lineup coming to bat. Frittered away. But the most disappointing missed opportunity: Seventh inning, Zambrano tiring, Tejada singled, Blum walked, and Pence up to bat with no outs. The Cubs changed pitchers. It was the chance for the big play, but instead it was a double play. Tejada went on to third, and then scored on Bourn's two-out swinging bunt for the Astros' first run. Pence came back in the ninth and hit a sac fly to score Tejada for the second run, but it was too little, too late...
Oswalt, unfortunately, allowed the same number of baserunners as Zambrano - 7 hits and 1 walk, but with worse results, largely due to a pair of solo homers. (The game's leadoff home run to Soriano kind of set a bad-luck tone of the game.) He actually outlasted Zambrano, going 7 full innings, throwing 93 pitches. Not a horrible start, but not a classic Oswalt performance. Geary relieved him, and gave up one run on 2 hits and a walk.
Offensive kudos go to Tejada, who went 3 for 4, scoring both of the Astros runs. (The other time he got on base came to a quick end when he was caught stealing.) Berkman also got to base 3 times, on a single and a pair of walks. Bourn was 2 for 4, with an RBI hit.
The Fan in Exile Experience pretty much sucked at the beginning of the game, as the MLB.TV folks seemed to get confused about when to actually stream live video. For the first few innings, they streamed live camera feeds (with off camera remarks by the broadcasters who didn't know they were on mike) between innings. Then when the game was actually in progress, they swithed to their commercial blocker - an annoying but mute ad for their Premium service. It just played over and over, as I watched the game on the Sportsline pitch-by-pitch. This was apparently an isolated fluke, as other games were broadcasting correctly. I called MLB.TV help number to report the problem, and got their "due to a higher-than usual number of calls" message, which means it would be a long wait to talk to a human. Eventually I did get a help desk guy, who wanted all of my contact info - email address (which I had to repeat a couple of times), phone number, and my first and last name. He couldn't find my account at first, since he was spelling my name Suzan instead of Susan. (I don't think I've ever met a Suzan.) All this was fairly useless information anyway, since I wasn't calling to say my account wasn't working, just reporting a technical problem on their end. But he has his process to follow, and that probably accounts for why the wait time is so long.
Ironically, just as he answered, the broadcast resumed the correct streaming - live video of actual plays. Of course. After that, I was able to watch the rest of the game, although some of it was still shots rather than video - that happens sometimes and I'm never sure whether it's them or me. The audio was fine. All in all, I'd have to give MLB.TV a C- for tonight. Yeah, I know it was the first day of the season, and they had glitches. But hey - it was the First Day of the Season - I wanted to watch the game!
Now for something completely different: What was the meaning of the quartet of Black Hawk helicopters flying over in the sixth inning? Was this supposed to redefine the term "high chopper"? Please - don't think I'm unpatriotic - but I really don't like to mix baseball and military hardware. It's philosophical - unlike sports where players align at two ends of a field and protect their goals (the classic war story), baseball has a different paradigm. But I'll have to write more about that sometime when it's not after 1:30 in the morning, and when I don't have to get up at 6... The good thing about going to bed so late is that I know that there will be another baseball game later today!
I just turned off my office computer, after having to work late tonight, but I can't go to sleep without saying a few words about the Astros' Opening Night game:
WAH WAH WAH.
Just kidding. Actually the word in my head during the game was "momentum." Or in this case, lack of ... It wasn't that the game was boring exactly. (Disclaimer: I may have been a bit distracted by having to work on my offfice laptop, while the game was on my personal laptop.) But there just didn't seem to be a whole lot of movement. You know, home to first, first to second, second to third, and so on... I'm not just talking about the Astros - both teams scored all their runs metered out one per inning.
Being the first game of the season, it was supposed to be a duel between our pitching aces. Zambrano was tough, no surprise there. But, unlike the last time we saw him, in that ridiculous "Astros home game" in Milwaukee, he wasn't unhittable. He scattered some base runners around - 5 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings. But all but one were left stranded in variations on the theme of missed opportunities.
Missed opportunities: First inning, Zambrano walked Matsui, who advanced on Berkman's single. Lee grounded into a double play to end the fun. Third inning, Bourn and Matsui on the corners with one out and the top of the lineup coming to bat. Frittered away. But the most disappointing missed opportunity: Seventh inning, Zambrano tiring, Tejada singled, Blum walked, and Pence up to bat with no outs. The Cubs changed pitchers. It was the chance for the big play, but instead it was a double play. Tejada went on to third, and then scored on Bourn's two-out swinging bunt for the Astros' first run. Pence came back in the ninth and hit a sac fly to score Tejada for the second run, but it was too little, too late...
Oswalt, unfortunately, allowed the same number of baserunners as Zambrano - 7 hits and 1 walk, but with worse results, largely due to a pair of solo homers. (The game's leadoff home run to Soriano kind of set a bad-luck tone of the game.) He actually outlasted Zambrano, going 7 full innings, throwing 93 pitches. Not a horrible start, but not a classic Oswalt performance. Geary relieved him, and gave up one run on 2 hits and a walk.
Offensive kudos go to Tejada, who went 3 for 4, scoring both of the Astros runs. (The other time he got on base came to a quick end when he was caught stealing.) Berkman also got to base 3 times, on a single and a pair of walks. Bourn was 2 for 4, with an RBI hit.
The Fan in Exile Experience pretty much sucked at the beginning of the game, as the MLB.TV folks seemed to get confused about when to actually stream live video. For the first few innings, they streamed live camera feeds (with off camera remarks by the broadcasters who didn't know they were on mike) between innings. Then when the game was actually in progress, they swithed to their commercial blocker - an annoying but mute ad for their Premium service. It just played over and over, as I watched the game on the Sportsline pitch-by-pitch. This was apparently an isolated fluke, as other games were broadcasting correctly. I called MLB.TV help number to report the problem, and got their "due to a higher-than usual number of calls" message, which means it would be a long wait to talk to a human. Eventually I did get a help desk guy, who wanted all of my contact info - email address (which I had to repeat a couple of times), phone number, and my first and last name. He couldn't find my account at first, since he was spelling my name Suzan instead of Susan. (I don't think I've ever met a Suzan.) All this was fairly useless information anyway, since I wasn't calling to say my account wasn't working, just reporting a technical problem on their end. But he has his process to follow, and that probably accounts for why the wait time is so long.
Ironically, just as he answered, the broadcast resumed the correct streaming - live video of actual plays. Of course. After that, I was able to watch the rest of the game, although some of it was still shots rather than video - that happens sometimes and I'm never sure whether it's them or me. The audio was fine. All in all, I'd have to give MLB.TV a C- for tonight. Yeah, I know it was the first day of the season, and they had glitches. But hey - it was the First Day of the Season - I wanted to watch the game!
Now for something completely different: What was the meaning of the quartet of Black Hawk helicopters flying over in the sixth inning? Was this supposed to redefine the term "high chopper"? Please - don't think I'm unpatriotic - but I really don't like to mix baseball and military hardware. It's philosophical - unlike sports where players align at two ends of a field and protect their goals (the classic war story), baseball has a different paradigm. But I'll have to write more about that sometime when it's not after 1:30 in the morning, and when I don't have to get up at 6... The good thing about going to bed so late is that I know that there will be another baseball game later today!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
One More Day...
My husband and I recently celebrated our Baskin Robbins Anniversary (#31, as in 3
1 Flavors). A couple of months after we were wed, I called my parents to tell them that they were going to be grandparents, and my mother's response was "But I haven't even sent you the wedding pictures yet!"
I was thinking about that late last night, realizing that Opening Day is nearly here, and I haven't yet finished posting the 2009 Spring Trainin
g pages in my website Photo Album. It will take me well into the season to update all the player pages with new pictures, but I did hope to post a nice collection of pictures from each game before the season started. That's becoming unlikely, since the first game is tomorrow, but I took another step by formatting and publishing another page of Spring Training pictures - photos from the Astros' M
arch 22 win over the Nats.
A couple of notable things about this game: First, it was Pudge Rodriguez's first game in an Astros uniform. Maybe because he's new he spent quite a bit of time running out to the mound to chat with his new battery mates, which of course makes for great photo ops. Pudge hit a single in his first at bat, which endeared him to many fans. I probably took enough photos of him just from this game to make up what will be his player page in my online photo album.
Another notable item, on a personal level. I've always wanted to take one of those Flying Shortstop pictures, but I've never managed to catch one. I finally did, at this game. It was the Nationals' shortstop (Hernandez) who was aloft, with Bourn sliding neatly under him for a stolen base.
I almost fainted when I saw this picture - the flying shortstop, no arms or legs cut off, not even out of focus. The best baseball picture I've ever snapped. Afterwards, of course, I started to nitpick - it would be better if the shortstop was our guy, and if his face was visible in the picture. This is how I motivate myself for next time, always trying to improve. But for now, this picture graces the desktop off both my home and office computers, and I'm thinking that a framed print would be nice too.
There are a lot of nice photos from this game. One reason was that we had fantastic seats for shooting pi
ctures. Our actual tickets were just behind home plate - ideal for game watching, but a bit annoying for photography because of the safety netting. (The pictures from the March 18 game against the Yankees reflect this challenge.) Rather than fighting the Old People who safeguard the sanctity of the aisles at the ballpark, I decided to ask one of them for help. When the Old Lady patrolling my section came to tell me to sit down now, I asked sweetly whether it would be possible to move to another section, not behind the netting, so that I could take pictures without blocking the aisle. She allowed that (since I had tickets for the best seats in the house), it would be okay to move down a couple of section. So my sister and I moved to first row seats, right over the visitors' dugout. These seats were just about ideal for pictu
re taking - I'd have had to be actually on the field to get a better view. Second base was directly in front of me, with first base angled off a bit to the right - so I could get great shots of plays at second without the first base folks blocking the scene. And of course, it was a fantastic location for shooting pitchers and right-handed batters.
When I have time (after the season starts), I'm going to write up a guide for taking pictures in Osceola County
Stadium. After five years of attending games there, I've got a lot of suggestions for other amateur camera buffs who'd rather go home with a couple of thousand photographs than a handful of autographs. It's hard for me to tell, just from looking at my website stats, whether other people enjoy my Astros photos. But I never tire of looking at them - as a Fan in Exile, who doesn't often get to see the team in person, my pictures bring back wonderful memories of being there in the spring.
1 Flavors). A couple of months after we were wed, I called my parents to tell them that they were going to be grandparents, and my mother's response was "But I haven't even sent you the wedding pictures yet!"I was thinking about that late last night, realizing that Opening Day is nearly here, and I haven't yet finished posting the 2009 Spring Trainin
g pages in my website Photo Album. It will take me well into the season to update all the player pages with new pictures, but I did hope to post a nice collection of pictures from each game before the season started. That's becoming unlikely, since the first game is tomorrow, but I took another step by formatting and publishing another page of Spring Training pictures - photos from the Astros' M
arch 22 win over the Nats.A couple of notable things about this game: First, it was Pudge Rodriguez's first game in an Astros uniform. Maybe because he's new he spent quite a bit of time running out to the mound to chat with his new battery mates, which of course makes for great photo ops. Pudge hit a single in his first at bat, which endeared him to many fans. I probably took enough photos of him just from this game to make up what will be his player page in my online photo album.
Another notable item, on a personal level. I've always wanted to take one of those Flying Shortstop pictures, but I've never managed to catch one. I finally did, at this game. It was the Nationals' shortstop (Hernandez) who was aloft, with Bourn sliding neatly under him for a stolen base.
I almost fainted when I saw this picture - the flying shortstop, no arms or legs cut off, not even out of focus. The best baseball picture I've ever snapped. Afterwards, of course, I started to nitpick - it would be better if the shortstop was our guy, and if his face was visible in the picture. This is how I motivate myself for next time, always trying to improve. But for now, this picture graces the desktop off both my home and office computers, and I'm thinking that a framed print would be nice too.
There are a lot of nice photos from this game. One reason was that we had fantastic seats for shooting pi
ctures. Our actual tickets were just behind home plate - ideal for game watching, but a bit annoying for photography because of the safety netting. (The pictures from the March 18 game against the Yankees reflect this challenge.) Rather than fighting the Old People who safeguard the sanctity of the aisles at the ballpark, I decided to ask one of them for help. When the Old Lady patrolling my section came to tell me to sit down now, I asked sweetly whether it would be possible to move to another section, not behind the netting, so that I could take pictures without blocking the aisle. She allowed that (since I had tickets for the best seats in the house), it would be okay to move down a couple of section. So my sister and I moved to first row seats, right over the visitors' dugout. These seats were just about ideal for pictu
re taking - I'd have had to be actually on the field to get a better view. Second base was directly in front of me, with first base angled off a bit to the right - so I could get great shots of plays at second without the first base folks blocking the scene. And of course, it was a fantastic location for shooting pitchers and right-handed batters.When I have time (after the season starts), I'm going to write up a guide for taking pictures in Osceola County
Stadium. After five years of attending games there, I've got a lot of suggestions for other amateur camera buffs who'd rather go home with a couple of thousand photographs than a handful of autographs. It's hard for me to tell, just from looking at my website stats, whether other people enjoy my Astros photos. But I never tire of looking at them - as a Fan in Exile, who doesn't often get to see the team in person, my pictures bring back wonderful memories of being there in the spring.
Friday, April 3, 2009
I'm Glad I'm Not in Kissimmee
For the first time in weeks, I can honestly say that I'm glad that I'm not down in Florida - but only because the team has moved on. With much glee (well documented by Alyson Footer's camera), the big league roster guys checked out and headed out for the big city. Well, actually, they headed out to Corpus Christi, but it's in the right direction.
They left some of the minor league contingent back in Osceola Land, to play one more just-fer-fun against the Braves. The Astro-wannabee team lost 2-1, but they acquitted themselves very well, thank you, behind an excellent start by Bud Norris. He threw
4 innings, giving up only a single run on five hits (including a solo homer), walking no one, and striking out 4. Sergio Perez came in behind him with 4 well-pitched innings, giving up one run on 2 hits and a walk. Neal Musser threw a hit-free ninth. It was a doesn't-matter game, attracting less than 2500 fans (probably including some of my die-hard new friends with their season tickets). But still nice to see some muscle on the mound from our much aligned farm hands.
Meanwhile the Big Boys were off to Corpus to play the Double A Hooks - the first time since the 50's that a major league team has graced that fine city with a ball game. (That was before the Astros were born.) This occasion drew almost 4 times as many baseball fans as the earlier game in Florida - a record breaking crowd of over 9000 for a Corpus ball game.
Though this game was not the pitchers duel of the earlier one, it started off with a terrific performanc
e by Wandy Rodriguez. He pitched six shutout innings, giving up only one hit, walking no one, and striking out a whopping 11 batters. We can make some excuses - it was just a bunch of minor leaguers, after all - but in Wandy's last three plate appearances, he's pitched 16 innings without giving up a run, striking out 20 in the process. The guy is locked in. If he can stay healthy, this could really (finally) be his year to shine. Despite his diminutive size on the mound (a midget next to hunks like Valverde), Wandy can really pitch. I vowed last year that, if Wandy would grow up in pitching stature, I'd start calling him by his last name. Now with a second Rodriguez on the team, it's not worth the confusion, so I'll stick with Wandy and Pudge. But I'm going on record now, predicting that he's going to come into his own this year.
As good as Wandy was, Capellan was bad: In his 2 innings, he was in trouble all over the place, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits - including two home runs - and 5 (FIVE!) walks. Maybe he was just disappointed that Ortiz made the team and he got sent to Round Rock. At any rate, his performance didn't do anything to challenge the wisdom of that move.
I listened to this evening game on the radio broadcast after work, and found the announcers to be nearly giddy in their presentation of this who-cares game. The one thing that they did not say, but what I suspect in my heart o' hearts, is that the Astros threw the game to the Hooks. It went back and forth, with the Astros taking a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth. At that point, they made a curious pitching move - they handed the ball to one of the Hooks' own pitchers, Chris Salamida. (Kind of a conflict of interest there? Read on...) The lefty threw to only two batters in the ninth: The first hit a single, and the second homered to give the Hooks a walk-off 5-4 win. Okay, using Valverde might have been overkill - although the Corpus fans would have loved to have seen him. Perhaps the Astros hadn't brought any extra relief pitchers with them? I don't believe that. I think they put in the kid with the express (oh wait - that's the AAA team) purpose of throwing the no-account game to the home team crowd. Whatever the motivation, the crowd loved it. David slew Goliath and everyone went home happy.
I've had a crazy time at work since I've been back from Spring Training, with barely time to listen to the games on the radio, let alone format pictures and write about baseball. It's going to be much worse over the next couple of weeks, between my work at the office and the Passover holiday (don't get me started!). But the clock's ticking - just two more exhibition games and then...
THE SEASON'S STARTING MONDAY!
They left some of the minor league contingent back in Osceola Land, to play one more just-fer-fun against the Braves. The Astro-wannabee team lost 2-1, but they acquitted themselves very well, thank you, behind an excellent start by Bud Norris. He threw
4 innings, giving up only a single run on five hits (including a solo homer), walking no one, and striking out 4. Sergio Perez came in behind him with 4 well-pitched innings, giving up one run on 2 hits and a walk. Neal Musser threw a hit-free ninth. It was a doesn't-matter game, attracting less than 2500 fans (probably including some of my die-hard new friends with their season tickets). But still nice to see some muscle on the mound from our much aligned farm hands.Meanwhile the Big Boys were off to Corpus to play the Double A Hooks - the first time since the 50's that a major league team has graced that fine city with a ball game. (That was before the Astros were born.) This occasion drew almost 4 times as many baseball fans as the earlier game in Florida - a record breaking crowd of over 9000 for a Corpus ball game.
Though this game was not the pitchers duel of the earlier one, it started off with a terrific performanc
e by Wandy Rodriguez. He pitched six shutout innings, giving up only one hit, walking no one, and striking out a whopping 11 batters. We can make some excuses - it was just a bunch of minor leaguers, after all - but in Wandy's last three plate appearances, he's pitched 16 innings without giving up a run, striking out 20 in the process. The guy is locked in. If he can stay healthy, this could really (finally) be his year to shine. Despite his diminutive size on the mound (a midget next to hunks like Valverde), Wandy can really pitch. I vowed last year that, if Wandy would grow up in pitching stature, I'd start calling him by his last name. Now with a second Rodriguez on the team, it's not worth the confusion, so I'll stick with Wandy and Pudge. But I'm going on record now, predicting that he's going to come into his own this year.As good as Wandy was, Capellan was bad: In his 2 innings, he was in trouble all over the place, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits - including two home runs - and 5 (FIVE!) walks. Maybe he was just disappointed that Ortiz made the team and he got sent to Round Rock. At any rate, his performance didn't do anything to challenge the wisdom of that move.
I listened to this evening game on the radio broadcast after work, and found the announcers to be nearly giddy in their presentation of this who-cares game. The one thing that they did not say, but what I suspect in my heart o' hearts, is that the Astros threw the game to the Hooks. It went back and forth, with the Astros taking a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth. At that point, they made a curious pitching move - they handed the ball to one of the Hooks' own pitchers, Chris Salamida. (Kind of a conflict of interest there? Read on...) The lefty threw to only two batters in the ninth: The first hit a single, and the second homered to give the Hooks a walk-off 5-4 win. Okay, using Valverde might have been overkill - although the Corpus fans would have loved to have seen him. Perhaps the Astros hadn't brought any extra relief pitchers with them? I don't believe that. I think they put in the kid with the express (oh wait - that's the AAA team) purpose of throwing the no-account game to the home team crowd. Whatever the motivation, the crowd loved it. David slew Goliath and everyone went home happy.
I've had a crazy time at work since I've been back from Spring Training, with barely time to listen to the games on the radio, let alone format pictures and write about baseball. It's going to be much worse over the next couple of weeks, between my work at the office and the Passover holiday (don't get me started!). But the clock's ticking - just two more exhibition games and then...
THE SEASON'S STARTING MONDAY!
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