Miss Me?

It's my last day in Israel. 

Later I'll wander over to the Carmel shuk to buy a mind-boggling assortment of gummy worms for my kids (they are never too old for gummy worms), a couple of "Israeli" scarves (imported from India), and a few last-minute things for my daughter's apartment here in Tel Aviv. 

But first I'll catch up on the baseball game from Shabbat, the Friday night one that they won. I tried to watch Saturday's evening game live, since Roy O was on the mound, but the 2 AM start time did me in. I managed to stay awake until the middle of the top of the third inning - long enough to see a less than magical start by the Wizard. This morning I woke in a series of mini-dreams where I checked the final score over and over, and kept half waking to remind myself that I didn't actually know yet whether they really lost - or whether they came back to win the game for Oswalt despite the bad start. I wasn't very shocked when I finally got out of bed and saw that they lost.

I'll miss today's game - it's a day game, so it will start in prime time in Tel Aviv. But I'll be at the airport, waiting to get on my plane to come home. 

It's really hard to leave. I'll miss so many things here, starting of course with my daughter Miry. She is so perfectly at home here it's hard to imagine her living anywhere else. It will be a bummer not seeing her smiling face every day, and hearing "Hey Miry!" from everyone as we walk down the street. 

I'll also miss: 

The incredible - and cheap - produce in the shuk (a two-minute walk): 2 shekels for a kilo of delicious cucumbers (who knew cukes actually had a flavor?) - that's about 25 cents a pound, 3 shekels a kilo for gorgeous tomatoes, a shekel and a half for a huge bunch of fresh herbs.

The Mediterranean beach (a five minute walk to the closest, 15 to stroll down to the beach near Jaffa).  Spent hours yesterday afternoon building a huge "drip castle" on the beach, with the help of a flock of local kids, both Jewish and Arab. They asked me "Is this how they make them in America?" I think I started a new sand castle fad here.

The restaurants - I've heard that Tel Aviv has more sushi restaurants per capita than any city except Tokyo. Even in Tel Aviv (a much more secular city than Jerusalem, which is kind of Holy Disneyland) there are kosher restaurants everywhere. Fancy restaurants, kiosks, street food, people here seem to be eating all the time. If they didn't walk everywhere, they'd be as fat as Americans.

The amazing diversity of people here - whoever thinks that Israelis are a homogeneous population because most of them are Jewish has obviously never been here. It boggles the mind that anyone would use the term "racist" to describe a country that has people of so many different colors and national backgrounds. Hanging around the shuk area, I've seen a lot of Sephardim (Jews from North African and Eastern/Middle Eastern countries), Arabs, and also "Filipinos" (who could be from the Philippines or from any of a dozen other South Asian countries).

The culture - literature, performing arts, and visual arts. We spent half a day wandering around the Tel Aviv art museum, an evening at a Ehud Banai rock concert, a poetry night at the Writers' House (featuring my husband's Hebrew poetry), the arts & crafts fair down the street every Tuesday and Friday...

And of course, I will miss the newfound family members I met on this trip - the family I never knew that I had in Israel until my son's genealogy research discovered new branches of our family tree: The cousin in El Rom, a kibbutz all the way at the top of the Golan Heights, my grandmother's cousins Clara and Chava who came here from Argentina 50+ years ago, and the chassidic branch in the Old City in Jerusalem. 

It's a bummer to leave. Our two week trip went by so fast and I can't wait until I can come back again. When I get on the plane to come home, I will console myself with reminders of what I have to look forward to when I get back:

My job - just kidding. It's going to be crazy catching up.

My other daughter Leah, who stayed home (with various friends) to babysit my house and dog. She told me on the phone this morning that she has a surprise for us - I think she turned her bedroom into an art studio.

My dog Shana. Miry's dog Leroy Brown Jr is a sweetheart, but I miss my pup.

Speaking English - or more specifically, speaking intelligently. I am so embarrassingly bad at speaking Hebrew that I sound like an idiot whenever I open my mouth. Resolution for my next trip: Improve my Hebrew language skills. I'm bringing home dozens of menus from restaurants for practicing with, since food is one of the things that I like to talk about the most (how to cook it, grow it, match it with wine). Of course I like to talk about baseball - and the Astros - most of all, but there is really no one to talk baseball with here. 

And, of course, I am looking forward to watching live Astros games in the evenings, not in the middle of the night or reruns in the morning. I was hoping for a bit better outcome of the 2 weeks that I was gone. I wanted to come back to a team that was at least one game over .500; instead they are 6 games under. There are some bright spots, especially in the hitting - Tejada and Pence are in the top 5 for the NL, Lee and Bourn continue to do well at the plate, Maysonet has been a terrific addition. Berkman is slowly creeping up to where he should be, although I hoped to see him on the good side of .250 by my return. The pitching has been sporadic - Wandy an All Star Wannabee vs Wandy ("Is He Tipping His Pitches") the Loser, Classic Wizard vs last night's Roy ("Which Way is the Plate") O, Backe is Back - but should he be? Half the bullpen seems to be injured. Matsui is on the DL (what a surprise - NOT), but I'd rather see Maysonet playing anyway. 

Let's just net it out to say that I'm coming back to a team with some challenges. (Did I mention that they are in last place in the division?) And, wow, I can't wait to see them! 

Now for that Friday night win on the archive...

Baseball for Breakfast

Morning in Tel Aviv: The macchinetta is bubbling on the hotplate in my daughter's kitchen. A cup of home-made espresso is just moments away; I can already smell it.  My husband has wandered down to the little grocery on the corner to get some milk and maybe a fresh baked egg and cheese boreka. I watered the plants on the front step and shooed out the neighbor's cat. Just a typical Middle Eastern morning...

And I'm watching last night's Astros game against the Rockies on my daughters Mac. Ian Stewart just hit a 3-run bomb to tie the game - that guy has been a total pest against the Astros this year - what's that, 10 RBIs off homers already, including the grandslam in that blowout in Denver? Of course, I already know that there is a happy ending. The Astros are going to come from behind and win it. 

After last week's losing streak, I decided that I needed to add some positive fan vibes to help out the Astros, so I've been watching the games from Israel. What can I say? Anecdotal evidence has shown that they win more when I'm watching. Being a good luck charm is hard work - vacation is just not an excuse. 

The Astros are going to come from behind in the next inning but I'll have to watch that later in the afternoon. Right now I'm going for a stroll in Old Jaffa. 

. 

Happy Birthday, Jeff Bagwell!

Birthday greetings to my favorite baseball player of all time, JEFF BAGWELL, from Tel Aviv, Israel!

Good News, Bad News

Good News: I can access mlb.tv from Israel! I didn't think I'd be able to, but it turns out that the only people who are blocked are those who are too close to the games, not too far away. With my daughter's high speed Internet, I actually get better live video streaming on her computer than on my own at home. Go figure.

Bad News 1: The games, of course, are generally in the middle of the night. A typical 7:05 PM start time in Houston is 3:05 AM here. Afternoon games are prime-time, but there aren't many of those. I might get up early and watch the last couple of innings live - and of course, I can watch the whole game on the archive if I want.

Bad News 2: The Astros have lost every game since I left. I know that I should not take this personally. But remember how they started winning at Spring Training when I got to Kissimmee? Well... 

I'm not going to attempt to write up all the games while I'm away. But I will post when I can just to stay in touch. 

Here's a few fun things from Israel. I'll post some pictures later... My daughter lives near Shuk ha Carmel (Carmel's open market) in a not-yet-yupped-up neighborhood in Tel Aviv. The produce in the shuk is AMAZING and very cheap. E.g., to-die-for gorgeous sweet fresh-picked tomatoes are 3 shekels a kilo - that's about 37 cents a pound. The olive guy has about 100 types of olives - he filled up a big bag of mixed ones and charged Miry (who is young and pretty) 10 shekels - about $2.50. The beach is a five minute walk from my daughter's apartment. Haven't been swimming yet, but took a long walk on the boardwalk. 

There's no professional baseball league in Israel this summer. It fizzled after one season in 2007, and while there's talk of trying it again, there are no local ball games. Someday when baseball is back, I hope to be asked to lead Take Me Out to the Ballgame - in Hebrew of course. There is a Hebrew translation, which was done by my-husband-the-Hebrew-poet (the only Hebrew poet from Lubbock, Texas). I sing TMOTTBG loudly in Hebrew at every game I attend (Spring Training, Nationals Stadium), but of course no one can hear me over the crowd. Once in a while I get a funny look when I sing, "Im lo nenatzeach OY VEY!" (if they don't win, oy vey!"). If you want a copy of the lyrics, just ask.

Off to the art museum... we're going to galleries and concerts and soaking in the cultural scene here in TA. Then I can come back home and return to my normal summer - sitting around watching ball games on the Internet, tweeting at my imaginary electronic friends. :-)

GAMES 38-40: Back to the Cellar After a Bad Brew

May 19: Brewers 4, Astros 2
May 20: Astros 6, Brewers 4
May 21: Brewers 4, Astros 3

It's really befuddling how an Astros team with so much talent could be at the bottom of the heap, but that's where they are after sipping some bad brew from the Brewers. It's so annoying: Houston could have been back at .500 (for the first time since Game 2 of this disappointing season), but they just let the chances slip away in 2 of the 3 very close games of this series.

Here's one take-away for the Astros: If you want to beat the Brewers, you have to score the runs before the ninth inning. That's when Trevor Hoffman takes the mound. Since returning from the DL, he's had about a dozen chances to show how nearly perfect he is, and two of those came in the games you lost to Milwaukee this week.

Game 1 provided Astros fans with a bit of a scare, as yet another pitcher was pulled unexpectedly for an injury. This time it was Mike Hampton, yanked with only 60 pitches, after throwing 4 inning, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks. It turned out not to be anything too terrible - a cut on his finger - and he'll be able to make his next start. There were three things to like about this game: (1) Matsui's stealing home in the first inning, (2) Ortiz's solo homer - first by an Astros pitcher this year, and (3) Fulchino's perfect three innings in relief. Aside from the Hampton scare, there was one thing to dislike about this game: The Astros lost. After those two runs, they couldn't manage to squeak out anything else - Berkman, Lee, Blum, Pudge all finished the game with oh-fers. By the time Hoffman took the mound with the Astros two runs down, the game ended (as the poem goes) "not with a bang, but a whimper."

Game 2 went a lot better, as we've come to expect when Wandy's on the mound. I don't actually mind saying "I toldja so" - I've been saying since Spring Training that this year is Wandy's big one, if he just stays healthy. It was another dynamite performance for our pint-sized lefty: He pitched 7 innings, giving up only one run on a solo homer (his first HR since last August). Six hits, just 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts - low for Wandy. This performance earned Wandy his 5th win of the season, and lowered his ERA to 1.83, second best in the NL.

The game had an odd start: Bourn was finally tasked to lead off, and did so with a hit - only to be immediately called back to hit again. Matsui, who had never come to the plate, was declared out. (The pitch-by-pitch scored it as: "Matsui grounded out to catcher.") Turned out that Coop had told the team of the change in the batting order, but not the ump - the lineup card was wrong. Bourn went on to walk, and scored on Berkman's double.

The Astros hitters rallied for Wandy, scoring runs in each of the first 3 innings and throwing in an extra pair for good measure in the sixth (turned out that they were needed after all). Tejada hit a solo homer to lead off the second. Pence hit a 2-out 2-RBI triple in the third to give Houston a 4-0 lead after 3. Pence led off the sixth with an infield single, then scored on Tejada's double. Pudge's groundout put Tejada on third, and he scored on Wandy's first hit of the season. Wandy actually smiled as he stood on first base - not something you see much of when he's on the field.

Once Wandy was done for the night, the Brewers attempted a comeback. Reliever Arias, who pitched a perfect eighth, led off the ninth with two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. That caused Coop to bring in Sampson, who allowed two of the runners to score on a double, and then another of his own, before ending the game with Wandy's win preserved.

Game 3 was the biggest disappointment. I ran home as fast as I could from work so that I could see Oswalt pitch. I will admit that this wasn't his finest start - he gave up only 1 run while he was on the mound, but was in and out of trouble with 10 hits over his 6 1/3 innings. His Astros team mates didn'g give him much room for error: Their measly 3 runs all scored on homers, a 2-run shot by Pence in the second, and a solo number from Tejada in the fourth.

The Astros had another big chance, when Berkman slid into home plate to score in the fifth inning - and was called out by the ump. The Puma jumped high into the air, tossed his helmet, stamped his feet and yelled (looking more than anything like a giant 4 year old having a tantrum). The only thing that he got for his troubles was an instantaneous ejection. Then, of course, Cooper had to jump into the fray to show solidarity, and got himself thrown out also, leaving third base coach Ed Romero at the helm for the fateful decisions in the seventh.

After striking out the first batter of the seventh inning, Oswalt allowed a single and a walk; he seemed a bit gassed after 106 pitches and several high-intensity situations. That was enough for our Cooper Wannabee to pull him. Eight pitches and two pitchers later, Roy O had yet another no-decision. Fulchino hit his batter to load the bases. Byrdak give up a single to Fielder, allowing Oswalt's two runners to score, tying up the game. Corey Hart doubled off Sampson the Astros' third reliever of the inning, scoring the Brewers' go-ahead run.

Wright and Hawkins did a great job of keeping the Astros in the game. Each pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two. But the Astros did not threaten until the ninth. Hoffman gave them a tease, allowing Blum and Pudge to single before shutting down the side. It's probably good that the Astros didn't tie it up in the ninth, if they were going to ultimately lose. Romero had already used up just about the whole bullpen.

I think I almost felt worse about Oswalt not getting a win out of it than I did about losing the game - andthe series. It's ridiculous that the Wiz only has one win for the season a quarter of the way through - what, he's going to end the season with 4 wins? NOT.

This could be my last blog entry for a couple of weeks. I'm going to be on vacation, and I doubt if I'll be able to watch any games. It would be nice if my house/dog-sitters could keep up my blog, but alas, they are not Astros fans.

I'm hoping that by the time I get back, the Astros will be well above .500, and that Berkman will be pushing .300. This too shall come to pass. It's hard to imagine that they could do this without my faithful virtual attendance at their games and my tweeting cheers. One can only hope.

GAMES 36-37: It Ain't Over Till It's Over...

May 15: Postponed (rain)
May 16: Cubs 5, Astros 4
May 17: Astros 5, Cubs 4

One of the things I like best about baseball (besides a bunch of youngish guys running around in tight pants) is the lack of the clock. The game isn't over until the last out. It may look hopeless. FanGraphs might put the win probability at 0. But until the last pitch, anything could happen.

That's why I didn't buy into the idea, claimed in Selena Robert's recent tell-all book, that A-Rod only tipped pitches in games where it didn't matter, where the score wasn't close, where the outcome was already decided. It's not really clear whether the alleged pitch-tipping actually happened (a NY Times statistical analysis claims that it's unlikely), but the whole notion that there is a situation in which the game is "decided," before the last pitch, just doesn't compute for me. The game is never over until it's over - anything can happen right up to the very last pitch.

This weekend's two game in Chicago were a case in point. Saturday's game looked like a typical Houston-getting-shutout bummer, right up until the ninth inning when the Cubs' 4-0 lead disappeared out from under Chicago's closer. After eight innings of scoreless frustration, Berkman hit the first pitch of the ninth into the stands. Carlos Lee followed suit with a solo homer of his own, cutting the Cubs' lead in half. Tejada and Pence singled, then Blum was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That set the stage for Pudge to hit a 2-run single to tie the game. Surprise! It ain't over till it's over.

Back-to-back fly balls by Michaels and Matsui gave the Astros 2 outs. Bourn walked, bringing up Berkman with the game tied, two outs, and the bases loaded. A year ago that would have been an automatic grand slam. This year it was a ground out to end the threat.

But it ain't over till it's over. The Cubs came back in the bottom of the inning to score a run off the Astros' closer du jour, La Troy Hawkins. Nothing dramatic - a walk, a sac bunt, and a single. Game over. Tilt. At least Roy O didn't get stuck with the loss, after his teammates didn't do anything to help him get a second win of the season. (Now a quarter of the way through, the stats would project 4 wins for him in 2009.)

The Astros got payback on Sunday in the final game of the series. In celebration of my dad's birthday, they took a nice fat 6-3 lead into the ninth inning. With Hawkins out after yesterday's game, it was Sampson's turn to play closer. Second batter hit a solo homer, to make it 6-4. Three singles later, it was 6-5 with 2 on and 2 outs, Nail biting time. The count went to 3-2 before the batter, Soto, hit a sharp liner to third - right into the glove of Jeff Keppinger - to end the game.

Notable stats of the game: Pudge hit a solo homer, his 300th career long ball. Mazel tov. Astros Starter Moehler pitched 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, a wild pitch, a hit batsman, and 4 strikeouts. It earned him his first win of the season. Mazel tov. Berkman was 2 for 3 with a double and a single and two walks. His BA is up to .230 - not exactly where it was this time last year (about double that!), but about 50 points over where it was a couple of weeks ago. I predicted a few weeks ago that the Astros would hit .500 when Berkman hit .250. With the Astros at 17-19 (plus the "tie" in DC), we could be at .500 later this week. With a couple of multihit games, Berkman could be past .250 moving up to where he ought to be in the same time frame. Gezhuntheit.

So the Astros and the Cubs split a rain-shortened series in the Windy City. As for the missing game of this series, the Friday afternoon game that was rained out, I have a suggestion: It should be played in the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, to balance out the Astros' hurricane-plagued "home games" last season that were played up in Milwaukee. Fair is fair, right?

GAMES 33-35: Astros Give Up 26 Runs - and Win Series

May 12: Rockies 12, Astros 1
May 13: Astros 15, Rockies 11
May 14: Astros 5, Rockies 3

It's not a good sign when the Astros give up 26 runs in a 3-game series - in fact, it sounds like a recipe for being swept. But when you're playing a mile high, strange things can happen. High scoring games are an every-day event out at Coors Field in Denver, as the Rockies reminded the Astros with a 12-1 win in Game 1. But the Astros caught on fast, and had a big game of their own in Game 2, evening up the series with 15 runs on 24 hits. (Let's not talk about the 11 runs they gave up!) Compared to these slugfests, Game 3 was practically a shutout, with a measly 5-3 score, as the Astros squeaked out another series win.

Game 1 was pretty much of a disaster. The Astros were shutout until the seventh inning, when they scored their only run on three consecutive singles (Pence, Blum, Pudge). All of their 8 hits in the game were singles. Meanwhile, all but 3 of the Rockies' 12 runs scored on homers, including a solo and a grand slam by Ian Stewart. All of the Astros' pitchers were beaten up, Starter Paulino got tagged for 8 runs in 4 innings. He left the game with the bases loaded in the 5th, Rockies ahead 5-0. Brydak promptly gave up the grand slam, dumping 3 of the 4 runs on poor Paulino. Ortiz came in for the last 3 innings, giving up another 3 runs, but they were all gratuitous - fun for the Denver crowd, but with the Astros not scoring, meaningless in the outcome.

By Game 2, the Astros had figured out that the way to win in Denver was to pile on the runs. They scored 15 of them on 24 hits (one short of the franchise record for hits in a game) - and amazingly, none were homers! There were 6 doubles and 18 singles, but nary a home run. (Someone should check on that humidor.) Astros starter Mike Hampton, after his years in Denver, did a little better than Paulino - he gave up 5 runs in 6 innings, only 2 on homers (another by that pesky Ian Stewart). Hampton also has been quite a good hitter in his day, and went 2 for 3 in this game, scoring 2 of the Astros' runs. All of the Astros' starting lineup had a multiple hit game: Berkman was 4 for 4, plus a walk, 2 RBIs and 3 runs. Lee, Tejada, and Pence each had 3 hits, while Matsui, Bourn, Blum, Quintero joined Hampton with 2 hits apiece. Most of the damage came off of Jason Marquis, who allowed 9 runs without making it out of the fourth inning.

Unlike Game 1, however, the Astros didn't really have a sure thing going. They went into the ninth inning with a 15-6 lead. Seven batters later, Geary had given up 5 runs - including another grannie - but could not manage to finish off the inning. With the lead now eroded to 15-11, and that pesky Ian Stewart at the plate, Coop called for his substitute closer. Hawkins did the job - he got the out on 4 pitches to even up the series. Not a save situation, but still a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, after this latest in a series of poor performances by Geary, the Astros finally admitted that he's been pitching injured, with right biceps tendinitis, and put him on the DL. It's amazing that the Astros were using Geary so heavily when he was pitching poorly, costing the team several games as he tried to heroically muddle through. Now Geary will be able to keep Valverde and Brocail company on the DL, while Fulchino has been called back up.

Game 3 was a very different kind of game. With the Astros best 2009 pitcher on the mound (Wandy, not Roy!), the Rockies only managed to score 3 runs, none of them on the homers that had beseiged Houston's pitchers in the earlier games. It was another fantastic start for the pitcher I've been boosting all season -Wandy went 7 innings, giving up 3 runs (1 unearned) on 5 hits and no walks, striking out a career-high 11. No Rockie grand slams in this game - Wandy hasn't given up a home run this season. In fact, he hasn't allowed a homer since August last year. Sampson and Hawkins each pitched a hitless, scoreless inning to help Wandy to his fourth win of the year. His 1.90 ERA is now second in the NL.

The Astros put the first 3 runs on the scoreboard in the first inning, with a lot of little small-ball moves: Matsui hit a bunt single. Bourn followed with an infield single, bumping Matsui over to third. Berkman was safe at first on an error, allowing Matsui to score the first run. Lee's fielders choice erased Berkman, but moved Bourn to third with one out. Tejada struck out, but Lee and Bourn took off on a double steal, landing Lee on second, and Bourn with his first steal of home plate. Pence's single scored Lee to give the Astros a 3-0 lead in the top of the first.

More small ball in the xth for the Astros' fourth run: Bourn singled, moved up to third on an fielding error, and scored on a sac fly. The Astros got their one and only homer of the series in the eighth, when El Caballo knocked the first pitch of the inning over the left field wall.

So the series wasn't pretty, but at this point the Astros will take a win any way they can. Since I last saw them in that ugly Stinko de Mayo "tie" game, they've won 5 of 6 games. They aren't at .500 yet, but they also aren't off to as bad a start as the 2005 Astros - and we all know where they ended up: In the World Series. I'm not writing this team off yet.