It's cold and rainy out today - the same nasty weather as the last time I saw the Astros, back in May, at the rained out game against the Nationals. But unlike May, there are no games - rained out or otherwise - to watch today.
The season is over. But all is not gloom and doom. It's time for awards for the good things that happened last year. It's time to rebuild for next year. And it's time for me to catch up on those hundreds of pictures that I took last year at Spring Training, and then got to busy to post.
Let's talk about awards for good things, starting with the Astros first Golden Glover outfielder since Cesar Cedeno. Michael Bourn's award caps a major career season, in which he topped the league in steals, bunt hits, and infield hits, and came in second for triples - all categories that reflect his speed on the basepaths. But his Golden Glove reflects his speed in the outfield, where he became a defensive monster this year, standing guard out in front of Tal's Hill. Great fielding isn't enough to get the Glove though (remember poor Adam Everett?) - a golden bat helps too. After a terrible start with the Astros in 2008, Bourn was like a totally different player this season, and developed into the real leadoff batter that the team had hoped for.
It was one of those ironic twists that the two principals in the 2008 Phillies trade - Bourn and Lidge - traded places in fan favor this season. Lidge was last year's golden boy, with his perfect save record - who can forget the sight of him dropping to his knees after the last pitch of the game that won the 2008 World Series for the Phillies? Meanwhile Bourn struggled terribly his first year with the Astros, leading many fans to question Ed Wade's sanity for making the trade. This year, it all flipflopped - Bourn was the team MVP and the NL's Golden Glove outfielder, while Lidge went back to his pre-trade performance, marked by blown saves and a dismal ERA. I'm not gloating - I like Lidge and cheer for him (as long it's not against the Astros' interests). But I love a Cinderella story. Last year Lidge got his, and this year was Bourn's turn to shine.
Anyway, mazel tov to Bourn on a great achievement and well-deserved recognition. In honor of his Golden Glove award, I'm dedicating my Astros
Daily Booth to Bourn this week. This website is intended for users of Mac Photo Booth to snap pictures of their narcissistic little faces and post them every day for the world to see. But who wants to see me? Instead, I'm using it to post pictures of my guys. Every day I publish one or more photos of Astros from the collection of thousands that I've taken at Spring Training and the occasional regular season game that I get to. I think that I have enough pix to post for about 10 years without repeating - and then of course, I take more every year in Kissimmee. So go to my Daily Booth (
http://dailybooth.com/astrosfaninxile) and enjoy the pictures.
Let me know - here or over there - who else you'd like to see, once I've finished turning Michael Bourn into baseball god of the week. Left to my own devices, I'd probably post Bagwell pictures every day.
I'm trying to decide, this offseason, what is the right set of online tools to keep - the Astros Fan in Exile
website, the
blog, the
Daily Booth,
Twitter, or what? Each one has a different purpose, and they all kind of overlap. I'm considering moving my photo albums to a free site, and killing off the website, which is hosted on Homestead and (I think) too expensive for what I get. But one way or another, I'll be around to hang out with you - my fellow online Astros fans.
It was one of those ironic twists that the two principals in the 2008 Phillies trade - Bourn and Lidge - traded places in fan favor this season. Lidge was last year's golden boy, with his perfect save record - who can forget the sight of him dropping to his knees after the last pitch of the game that won the 2008 World Series for the Phillies? Meanwhile Bourn struggled terribly his first year with the Astros, leading many fans to question Ed Wade's sanity for making the trade. This year, it all flipflopped - Bourn was the team MVP and the NL's Golden Glove outfielder, while Lidge went back to his pre-trade performance, marked by blown saves and a dismal ERA. I'm not gloating - I like Lidge and cheer for him (as long it's not against the Astros' interests). But I love a Cinderella story. Last year Lidge got his, and this year was Bourn's turn to shine.
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