GAME 12: Astros Win First Series!

GAME 12 - April 18: Astros 3, Cubs 2

WHAT A GREAT GAME! My heart's still going pitter-pat, I'm juiced on excitement and a bit of excellent Israeli fume blanc. The Astros won the game today, earning their first series win, and extending their winning streak to TWO GAMES! That may sound puny to Yankee fans, but considering where we're coming from, it's HUGE to us.

Between afternoon games while I'm at work and Sabbath games while I'm not online, I hadn't actually seen a winning game live before today. For both of the previous wins, I already knew the outcome when I watched the game. But I watched this one live, and experienced real heart-pounding excitement for the first time this season. The Astros came from behind, tied it up, went into extra innings, took the lead, and didn't screw it up -- all in one game! What more could a Fan in Exile (or any Astros fan) ask for?

Not to be too critical, but we might have wished that they'd done their heroics just a teensy bit earlier, while Wandy was still the pitcher of record. Mind you, I'm not complaining. I'm just kind of sorry for Wandy, who pitched his best game of the season and didn't get the win. Seven innings, two runs on 6 hits and 1 walk, 3 Ks. But the Astros didn't score their first run until the eighth. They even threatened to tie it up or better - there were two runners on base when Feliz struck out looking to end the inning.

But Wandy's probably not complaining either - the Astros were shut out in his first two starts, and he was still on the hook for the loss right up until the ninth inning today. But with Cubs closer Marmol on the mound, Pence singled and stole second. The Blum hit a double to score Pence, tying the game 2-2. That got Wandy out of the running for a loss.

Wandy had terrific support today from the bullpen, which kept the Cubs from adding on to the two runs they had scored back in the third inning. Moehler, who hadn't seen action in more than a week, pitched a perfect eighth, giving the Astros space to catch up. Byrdak got two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth, then walked two batters. Pitter pat, pitter pat, went my heart. That's about when I poured my first glass of wine. The next batter flied out to end the inning still tied, and the game went into extra innings.

Extra innings!  To get into extra innings, you have to NOT be losing hideously after nine! We were tied.

Top of the tenth: It was the perfect opportunity to score, with the pitcher's spot leading off and our two most consistent hitters, Bourn and Kepp, to follow. Jason Michaels' pinch hit double started us off perfectly. He advanced to third on Bourn's sac bunt. Thinking that the Astros were going for the squeeze, the Cubs threw a couple of pitchouts, then intentional walked Keppinger to set up for a double play. But Feliz - who had popped out, grounded out twice, and struck out looking in his previous at bats - managed to bop the first pitch into center field. Redemption! JMike scored to give the Astros a 3-2 lead. That brought up Carlos Lee. In a fairy tale ending, El Caballo would finally find his swing and launch a powerful blast into the bleachers, despite the wind blowing in. In the actual game, Lee flied out to right field, this last activity of a 0 for 5 day. Mills did a double swap to bring in Matt Lindstrom in Lee's spot and JMike moved to left field for the bottom of the inning.

Happily, today Lindstrom looked a whole lot like a closer protecting a one-run lead. The first batter, pinch hitter Mike Fontenot, struck out on 3 pitches, just gawking at the curve ball that was called strike 3. Then back to the top of the Cubs lineup. Theriot got 2 strikes, then 3 balls, a foul, and then watched a fastball go by for called strike 3. Two down, with heavy hitter Marlon Byrd at the plate. Byrd, who was credited with the 2 Cubs runs, singled to bring up a very dangerous Derreck Lee - 0 for 4 and hungry. Two balls (no, no, no, don't give him anything good to hit!), then three strikes... and you're out! Striking out the side is such a closerly thing to do. Nice work, Lindstrom!

Nice work, Astros! I don't think that Wandy is actually complaining. At least he didn't get stuck with another loss for his good start this time. The person who was really cheated was Cubs starter Ryan Dempster, who pitched into the 8th inning, giving up only 1 run on 4 hits and striking out 8, then watched his closer blow the save. But hey, tough luck. I'm certainly not complaining.

Day off tomorrow. Tuesday, back in Houston, to continue The Streak against the Fish.

GAME 11: Roy O Gets his W

GAME 11 - April 17: Astros 4, Cubs 3

I read afterwards that Roy Oswalt hid in the bathroom during the ninth inning, he was so nervous that the Cubs would score and he'd lose his change for a win. He had his reasons. Remember his 2009 record-setting 16 no decisions? Remember Oswalt's first win last season - on May 10th? Remember his two solid starts this season - resulting in a pair of losses when his teammates didn't score even a single run on his watch? You can bet that Oswalt remembers. So there he was, according to the media reports, hiding in the bathroom when Matt Lindstrom got the last out of the game and the Wiz got his W.

Oswalt certainly earned the win - he pitched 7 shutout innings, gave up 5 hits (4 singles and a double), not a single walk, and struck out 6. He threw a lot of 92-94 MPH fastballs/sinkers and sliders in the early innings, adding in his wicked curveball (as low as 63 MPH) starting in the third inning. Oswalt's win put him at 138 career, taking over second place from Larry Dierker (137 from '64-'76) on the Astros all-time winningest pitcher list. Joe Niekro's first place position -- 144 ('75-'85) -- is definitely within range for Oswalt this year, assuming he stays healthy and the team backs him up. In this game, the Wiz looked like the classic Roy that we didn't get to see much of this time last year. This is one of the factors that makes me think that, despite the current standings, there's reason to hope for the Astros this season. Before the season started, people said that without a good year for Oswalt and Berkman, the Astros would be in trouble. So far Oswalt's pitched much better than his 1-2 record shows - and much, much better than last April. The jury's still out on Berkman, since he's on the DL.

The other hero of this game was the much-berated starting catcher wannabe, JR Towles. Coming into the game with a batting average in the fifties, he didn't seem to be much of a threat to the Cubs. But he turned into their biggest enemy, after Oswalt, going 3 for 4, to raise his batting average about .130 points. His first hit was a bloop RBI single in the second inning, which might not have even been a hit if Soriano didn't play left field quite so deep. His next hit was completely legit - a leadoff homer to left field in the fifth. His third hit, another soft single to Soriano, got him on base, setting him up to score the Astros fourth and final run of the game.

Not to nitpick, but there were also a few things not to like in this win. The first was Brandon Lyon, who nearly gave away Oswalt's great start, allowing the Cubs to earn back three runs in the eighth inning. I'm still trying to figure out why the Astros signed him to such a nice deal in the offseason - so far he hasn't been really impressive as a setup man, let alone a potential closer. His line for this game: two-thirds of an inning, giving up 3 runs on a single and then 3 doubles, before Sampson came in to rescue him.  I know it's early in the season, but so far he's not looking too good - with a ERA over 10 to back up that impression.

The second thing not to like was not seeing Bourn - he's out for a sore groin. With Bourn one of the few Astros who hasn't been in a slump, we can't afford to miss him. Hopefully, he'll be back after the day off.
In his absence, Keppinger got the leadoff spot in the lineup. Hitting over .350, Keppinger is making it hard for Mills to use Matsui (only 2 hits in his 21 at bats).

The third thing not to like were the infield fielding errors - one by Feliz and one by Manzella with 2 outs  in the ninth (which probably added to Oswalt's nervousness in his hideout). No one's perfect, but with the offense so miserable, we can't afford to give anything away.

On the subject of our miserable offense... I'm not going to run through a bunch of stats this week. Our place in the standings and win-loss record gives a good indication of how the Astros compare to everyone else. It's just depressing to talk about being worse than the Nationals. But here's one astounding statistic: Four of the six top batting averages on the team are held by pitchers: Paulino (.500), Wandy (.500), then after our one-two stars Kepp and Bourn, Norris (.333) and Myers (.250). I do like a pitcher who can help himself at the plate, but really - this is incredibly bad. Lee and Pence, two would-be offensive star players whose slumps are helping to doom the Astros, both went 1 for 4 in this game, improving their batting averages to .116 and .122 respectively. Maybe when Lee spent an inning sitting with the relievers during Spring Training, he was thinking of trying out for a spot in the bullpen. I just wish he wouldn't get batting average mixed up with ERA.

Hopefully, this situation will start to improve a bit when we get the Puma back in the lineup later this week. He's on a rehab in Round Rock this weekend. He didn't get a hit in Saturday's game (0 for 2), but he did contribute a game-tying RBI sac fly. Unfortunately the Express went on to lose the game. In a worrisome parallel universe, the Astros Triple A team is mirroring the big leaguers, with a 2-8 record to start their season. It would be nice to think that even if the Astros don't have a great season this year (and I'm not giving up yet!), they're rebuilding for the future. But our farm teams are still not highly regarded, to be charitable.

Next up: Wandy's pitching this afternoon, looking for his first win of the season. Can we beat our streak - with two consecutive wins?

GAME 10: The Winning Streak Ends - at 1 Game

GAME 10 - April 16: Cubs 7, Astros 2


The Astros winning streak didn't last long: Just one game later, they returned to their pattern of losing games on sad offense, and in this case, a pitching meltdown.


The only really good thing about Friday's opener against the Cubs was that they got it over with in the afternoon, so I didn't have to wonder about the outcome over the Sabbath. The game started while I was at work. I took off a little early, and checked the score on my Blackberry as I ran into Giant to pick up a few things for Shabbat: The Astros were leading 2-1 midway through the seventh inning, Paulino throwing a real nice game.  A few things ended up being a cartful, and by the time I got out of the grocery, the Astros had already blown the game. Paulino stayed in just a little too long, starting with a pair of leadoff doubles in the bottom of the seventh to tie up the game. A walk, a steal, another walk... The bases were now loaded with no outs, and Mills had enough. Paulino was done. 


This was not, unfortunately, one of those days where the bullpen was stellar. It would have been too much to hope that Brydak could get out of this mess without allowing the Cubs to take the lead. A pair of fly balls and a single later, there were two outs, but the Cubs had two more runs to show for it. With Derek Lee coming to the plate, Mills brought in Fulchino, who promptly gave up a home run to clear the bases and leave the Astros behind 7-2. That's where things stayed for the rest of the game. Wilton Lopez allowed a pair of singles, but no runs in the eighth. 


The Astros scored their pair of runs in the fourth inning. On what should have been a 2 out fly out by Pence, the Cubs center fielder dropped the ball. Chris Johnson's triple scored Pence, and Manzella lined to left to score Johnson. Quintero struck out to end the inning - one of 8 Astros Ks in the game - but Houston had taken a tenuous, temporary 2-1 lead. Scraping the barrel for other tidbits to like in this sad loss... Paulino hit a single to continue the hitting spree by Astros pitchers. Carlos Lee went 1 for 4 to raise his batting average over .100 - just barely. Unfortunately, Bourn and Keppinger  (the Astros one-two punch that has been nearly the only dependable source of offense so far) combined to go 1 for 8, with no runs or RBIs between them. 


Ten games into the season, the Astros have a 1-9 start, tied for the Astros' worst-ever start in 1983. However, they went on to have a winning season in '83, and I still think there's no good reason for not doing the same this year. It would be really sweet if they could start turning it around soon.

GAME 9: Astros on a Winning Streak!

GAME 9 - April 16: Astros 5, Cardinals 1

Okay, I'll admit that it's a streak of one game. But after losing the first 8, Astros fans will take what we can get!

Rookie Bud Norris was the first Astros pitcher to earn his W, with a performance that was short in innings but long on quality. He threw 5 innings, giving up only one unearned run on 4 hits and 3 walks, and striking out nine - including Pujols' first two at bats. He also hit an RBI single for the Astros first run of the game, and did some nice fielding as well. He left the game with the Astros ahead, but just barely - the 2-1 score was not exactly a comfortable lead.

The bullpen really pulled behind Norris to get him the win. Chris Sampson followed with perfect sixth and seventh innings. Lyon and Lindstrom each pitched a one-hit scoreless inning to give the Astros their first win of the season.

Just in case things didn't work out so well for the bullpen, the Astros came through with another 3 runs in the eighth for a bit of insurance. Johnson led off with a ground out. Quintero singled, but was still standing on first when Sullivan lined out for the second out. Happily the Astros had their one-two punch coming up next. Bourn and Keppinger are among the very few Astros players not to be in batting slumps. Bourn doubled, moving Q to third. Then Kepp followed with a 2-RBI single. Feliz followed with a double, scoring Keppinger. That brought up Carlos Lee, who grounded out to short. What a surprise.

Lee is having a miserable season start. He was 0 for 4, ending the game with a .086 batting average. To add insult to injury, he dropped a routine two-out fly ball, setting the stage for the unearned run that was subsequently scored. His huge salary is a bone of contention with lots of folks, even in a good year. This is not a good year, at least so far.

I'm not good at keeping secrets. I'm typing this up the day after, and the Astros have already finished their day game against the Cubs. The winning streak ends at 1.

Catch up with you again after the Sabbath.  The Astros are playing in the afternoon. Hopefully I will turn on my computer after dark and find out that there's a great Astros win to watch tomorrow night.

Shabbat Shalom!

GAME 8: This One Will be Short

GAME 8 - April 14: Cardinals 2, Astros 1

I'll keep this very short and not so sweet. I'm only bothering to write up loss #8 for the sake of completeness, because I already know that the losing streak is over. The Astros won this afternoon, while I was at work, and I can't wait to watch the game. (Sorry to give away the ending, in case you hadn't heard.) But first, I'm going to conclude this bad chapter with a quick game report, and then I'm going to treat myself to a nice glass of win, and the recorded ball game from this afternoon.

I've been prepared to dislike Brett Myer since I heard that the Astros picked him up in the off season. No need to rehash his domestic issues; I just have kind of a thing against big guys who knock around little women. I thought the Astros had a similar kind of thing, based on the Lugo case a few years back, but apparently they're over it. Anyway, I'll have to hold my nose and cheer for him anyway this year, since he's in the rotation whether I like him or not.

I have to admit that Myers pitched a very solid game yesterday, even if he took home a loss from it. It was similar to Oswalt's last game - a 2-1 loss. After giving up 2 runs in the first inning (only one of them earned), he held the Cards to 6 more scoreless innings - bottom line of 4 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Lyon and Byrdak split the eighth inning, to maintain the close game. So another very nice performance by the pitching staff.

The offense was deadly. The Astros scored early, but not often. Bourn led off with a single, advaned to second on a flubbed pickoff attempt, moved to third on Matsui's ground out, and scored on Feliz' sac fly. So there it was: The Astros only run of the game, scored on exactly one single and a bunch of Bourn base-running. Bourn did his part in this game - he hit a single and a double, and is sitting on a .379 batting average - approximately the same as Matsui, Pence, Lee, and Towles' batting averages all added together. This is really, really sad.

I actually didn't see the Astros score, since I was at an office dinner. I got home in time to see the Astros throw away a chance at a win in the eighth inning. They loaded the bases on a single and a pair of two-out walks.  But Matsui (batting .118 and not making a good case for being an Astro after this year) grounded out to end the fun.

One might have hoped with a 2-1 game, and the 3-4-5 batters coming up, the Astros would have had another chance in the ninth. But it only took the Cards pitcher 6 pitches to take out Feliz, Lee, and Pence. Lee (AKA El Slackero per Austin's blog) is now down to a .097 batting average. I'm not sure what they can do with a guy who's getting a huge chunk of their salary budget and not doing diddlysquat. He looks really terrible at the plate, so it's not clear that things are on the verge of turning around. Might be worth sitting him for a day or two, maybe watch a few videos and think happy thoughts. Maybe he has something in his eye?

Well, enough gloom. I've had enough of writing disappointing endings. I'm going to pop the cork on a nice bottle of Rioja and sit back to watch Bud Norris lead the Astros to their first win. A winning streak! But that's my next blog...

GAMES 6-7: At this Point, Let's Go for a Record...

GAME 6 - April 11: Phillies 2, Astros 1
GAME 7 - April 12: Cardinals 5, Astros 0

The last time that the Astros opened a season with such a dismal string of losses was 1983 - the summer that I moved away from Texas with my husband and two sons, ages 4 and 10 months. Those two sons are now married men, an architect and lawyer respectively, who live in NY, cheer for the Yankees*, and pity me for my loyalty to the Astros. After starting with 9 consecutive losses, the Astros went on to eke out a pretty nice 1983 season, with an 85-77 record, third in the NL Western Division.

Fast forward to 2010, and here we are just 3 losses away from passing that landmark of terrible season starts. Not that I'm wishing for more losses - they are disheartening to watch live, and I just can't force myself to watch a loss after the fact on the mlb.tv archive. Especially a shutout like yesterday's 5-0 loss to our erstwhile foe, the Cardinals. But if we're going to lose 9, then let's break through '83, lose a nice round 10 to start the season, and then ...  go on to win the pennant. Kind of a condensed version of 2005's 15-30 season start.

On the other hand, 10 consecutive losses would mean digging out from 10 games under .500. It's a deep hole. Although the 1983 Astros ended up with a winning record, they didn't end up in the playoffs. That first couple of weeks killed their chances. Had the Astros started the season strongly in '83 - say 6-3, instead of 0-9 -- they would have tied the division leading Dodgers.

I just want to clarify that I am not advocating going all-out for record breaking in this statistical category. We aren't looking to top the 1988 Orioles' 21 losses to start the season. In fact, even imagining such a thing has made me change my mind - let's rest up today (an off day) and go start a winning streak tomorrow.

I have to find something to like in the most recent embarrassments. If nothing else this year, that will be the purpose of my blog, as everyone else is busy trashing the Astros. So what to like...?

In Sunday's finale against the Phillies, Ray Oswalt pitched a valiant battle. After giving up a lead off homer, he was pretty much vintage, alternating his 96 MPH fastball with a curve that was clocked as low as 64. Nice to see that he's got that curve this year, after such a bad start last year. Not that it's kept him from being on the wrong side of the loss - he's got an 0-2 record to start the year. But he's pitched really well. It probably goes without saying that the other Roy - Halladay - also pitched pretty well, all the way to a one run complete game.

It's hard to find much to like in a shutout - the Astros' third already in the first week of the season - but I'll have to stretch. The starting pitching isn't worth bragging on - Wandy came out on the wrong side of the battle with Pujols, whose 4 RBI all came off his pitches. I guess Michael Bourn is my man for this game -  he got the Astros first steal of the season, and hit two singles, driving his BA up to .346. On a team with several other starters who are batting under .120, that's kind of nice. Bourn also got up close and personal with the Cards' outfield wall, hitting it hard and falling onto the field, but he doesn't seem to be injured.

I also liked the bullpen work in these two games - in 7 innings, the Astros relievers only gave up one run (by Wilton Lopez, up from Round Rock to fill in for Sammy Sidearm).

Don't get me started on what I didn't like about a shutout. I don't even want to look at the team stats, for fear that the Nats have left us in their dust. The off day today is a welcome break. Unfortunately, most of this week will be afternoon games, meaning that I won't get to see them until I get home from work. But I'm promising now: I'm not going to watch any shutouts, unless we've broken into the W column.

In other interesting news: Andy Pettitte (who the Astros did not want to give a 2 year contract to, some years back, since he was getting kind of old) pitched enough shutout innings in the Yankee's home opener to get the win. To the best of my knowledge, Clemens is still in the process of retiring.

GAMES 4-5: How Deep a Hole is Needed for a Good Foundation?

GAME 4 - April 9: Phillies 8, Astros 0
GAME 5 - April 10: Phillies 9, Astros 6

When Elizabeth and I were down in Florida for Spring Training, we took advantage of an off day to go to the beach. It was a little cool for swimming, but just fine for making the peculiar form of sand castle that we devised in our childhood Sundays at Galveston beach -- the drip castle. Here's how to make one: You start by digging a hole in the sand. Pile up the sand you dig out on the land side of the hole, as a base for your structure. (That way the hole becomes a moat when the tide comes in.) When you get down to water in the bottom of the hole, you can start dripping the watery sand on your structure to create turrets and buttresses and all kind of other sandy gingerbread. It results in a very organic kind of a structure - more like a mountain range than a castle. 

Like everything in the real estate business, it's all about location, location, location. You need to dig far enough from the waterline so that your structure doesn't get washed away, but close enough that you'll get water in the bottom of the hole without having to dig too deeply.  I didn't gauge the location decision quite right down in Florida - our first attempt was too far up and we had to dig down a couple of feet before we got enough water in the hole to start making drips. If I'd realized how far it would be, I probably would have changed the plans earlier, but I kept thinking we were on the verge of hitting water any minute. We weren't. Eventually we abandoned the site, and started over closer to the water. There we hit water quickly and succeeded in creating a nice little drippy castle before the incoming tide caused it to collapse - the problem with being too close to the water.

Somewhere in this beach story, there's a metaphor for the Astros losing their first 5 games of the season, digging themselves a hole that's getting deeper and deeper. It's not time for doom and gloom - it is highly unlikely that they can sustain their perfect record for a whole season. It is, after all, still the first week of the season. On the other hand, these games do count just as much as the ones in September. At some point a little before the All Star game, we'll all be thinking about what it will take to get back up to .500 -- a preliminary step before we can count on our traditional strong finish to get us into the playoffs. And each one of these first-week losses is another game under .500 to dig out of.

I'm not sure what lesson the Astros could take from my castle building. It's not as if they have been stubbornly clinging to the same losing pattern, game after game. Each game has featured different  lineups, as well as rotating pitchers. But each game has also had the same result - not even close to a winning outcome. The early games featured solid pitching - quality starts from the top of our rotation and good relief pitching. The later games showed less and less solid pitching from both starters and bullpen.

But all of the games were notable for ineffective offense. Even Saturday night's 5-run third inning was kind of lucky - the pitcher hit a two-out double to start a rally that included 2 homers and gave the Astros their first lead of the season. They eked out another run in the ninth. But aside from that, there were 7 goose eggs to add to the 9 from Friday night's shutout. Very similar pattern to the first two games against the Giants when the Astros didn't score in 17 of their 18 innings.

Another odd pattern: In their first 5 games, the Astros have a total of 5 BBs. The next lowest team in the walk category has more than double that number, and the Phillies have over 30. Does this mean that the Astros are being directed to be aggressive at the plate? Are they just trying too hard? Somehow it doesn't seem like a GOOD thing - a walk is just as good as a single for getting a runner to first base. Berkman would likely have had more than 5 BBs all by himself, but he's going to be on the DL until after the upcoming road trip.

I don't know why the BB stat bugs me so much. There are other distressing offensive stats: The Astros are in the league cellar for on base percent (.249) -- 20 points below the next worst Padres (.269), in part a reflection of that lack of walks. The Astros are in last place in the NL in slugging (.320), compared to the next worst Brewers (.356) and best in league Phillies (.540). They did not get their first home runs until yesterday's pair of dingers from Michaels and Pence, 5 games into the season. They are the only team in the NL with no stolen bases, in part a reflection of the lack of opportunity. Oddly, in the team stats, the top three batting averages are held by Houston starting pitchers (Wandy, Paulino, and Myers), who each got a hit and ended up batting .500. Maybe they thought if they didn't hit, no one else would either.

On the pitching side, the Astros are tied with the Nationals for giving up the most runs (35). No Astros starting pitcher has a WHIP under 1.50. Opposing batters are hitting .350 against Astros pitchers, compared to .315 for the Nats, and .190 for the Braves. On base percent against our pitchers is .411, with only the Nats at .419 worse. Our starting pitchers are averaging just over 5 innings per start; again only the Nats are worse. As a Washington-area resident, I can tell you that being categorized with the Nationals for anything this season is not a good place to be. But even the Nats have a couple of wins so far. Why not us? Are we digging our hole too deep in the wrong place?

The only bright spot in the stats seems to be in our improved infield defense. The Astros 9 double plays so far are next to the best in the league, and probably account for why we aren't absolute bottom in some of those pitching categories. As a team, we only have 3 errors, and 2 of those were misplays by pitchers. I have to look for a bright spot somewhere.

I'm not going to bother looking for something to like in Friday night's shutout. I didn't bother to go back and watch it after the Sabbath ended. I really hate being on the wrong end of a shutout. Saturday's game had some likable moments - especially the five-run blitz in the third, which happened before I turned on the computer after the Sabbath ended. Michaels, who got a start in center field, hit the first Astros homer of the season, followed shortly after by a long ball from Pence. But all the fun was initially kicked off by a 2-out double by Paulino - I always like it when a pitcher helps himself at the plate.

It was more than Paulino did for himself on the mound, though - he gave up 4 ER on 4 hits and 4 walks, in 5 innings. That was not the worst performance by an pitcher wearing the Astros '65 retro jersey last night: Honors go to Brandon Lyon, whose 3-run seventh inning blew the Astros' tenuous lead and earned him the loss. He got 2 quick outs, then walked Utley on a 3-2 pitch, and it was downhill from there - a home run and 3 singles put the Astros behind for good. There are a lot of people who wonder how it is that Lyon is worth the $15M deal he got, and yesterday's game didn't buy him much good will in those circles. The Astros other off-season pitching deal, Matt Lindstrom, didn't fare much better, giving up a two-run home in the ninth. But the damage was already done. The Astros had a little rally in the bottom of the ninth, with Bourn's pinch-hit double, scoring on Michaels' single, but it fizzled when Pence struck out swinging.

While I'm on the theme of hole-digging and implosions, here's a bit of nostalgia for Texas sports fans: The demolition of Texas Stadium early this morning. (You can watch the video here.) I wasn't ever in this stadium, and I'm not a Cowboys fan (although I used to fib that Bob Lilly was my cousin when I lived in Texas), but it was still kind of sad to watch the stadium go down. That ugly domed profile reminded me a bit of the Astrodome, which may eventually have a similar poignant and dusty moment of its own. I see that there's a petition on the web to save the Astrodome, but I'm not sure that the expense of keeping it around for the occasional hurricane housing justifies the cost. Perhaps they'll blow it up as part of the Astros 50 year anniversary party in 2012. I'd sure go down to Houston to watch that!

Oswalt on the mound at 2 my time. Time for a bit of gardening, before I come in to watch Houston win its first game of the season. Ever the optimist. Didn't you hear? We're going to win the pennant!