George who? Astros have opening day down

Excuse me, but George who? Odd isn’t it, how a win on opening day can cause you to forget an entire pre-season of frustration? At least for an evening.

The Astros have this opening day stuff down! If everyday was opening day, Houston would never have another problem!

Yes, even Bo Porter can bask in the success with his all-time opening day record is 2-0.

Let’s remember, though, that the Astros were 8-2 winners last opening day over the Texas Rangers, then promptly scrambled back for two shutout losses en route to a six-game losing streak. Let’s don’t talk about Yu Darvish.

Some of you may have seen Tuesday’s game. Others of us struggled along on MLB Gameday. Still others may be just learning now about the 6-2 win in front of 42,117 fans.

Yeah, I noticed the Astros had 11 Ks and one BB. Yes, they were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. But forget that, at least for the next 24 hours.

How ’bout that pitching? Scott Feldman, Chad Qualls, Matt Albers. What was that you were saying about L.J. Hoes? Jesus Guzman? Not to mention Jose Altuve and Dexter Fowler.

Save your rants for another day, there’ll likely be plenty. For one day, though, celebrate with what went right for the 1-0 Astros.

 

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24 responses to “George who? Astros have opening day down”

  1. i think the hbp of jeter was an accident, but it also could have been a young team indicating they would not be pushed around, even by the 200 million dollar yankees. if so to me thats a good sign.

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  4. A number of things to say:
    – Like how Feldman went out and showed the kids what to do
    – Is Strom going to do like the Cards would do and turn a #3 starter into something more?
    – Fowler did like Feldman and showed the kids how to do it right out of the box
    – Like I wrote elsewhere today – You just can’t expect the poor Yanks to compensate for this huge payroll differential.
    Hey its just one but I’m happy to have it.

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  5. Always good to get a win at the opener. And my favorite manager is off the hook. The 15 game losing streak is over! That Guzman shot was a real rocket. Feldman kept the ball around the plate all night and threw 102 pitches on his first night out. Our number three hitter even drove in runs in his first two at bats. Good stuff, but I must report all. Had Fowler been running when he left the box on his shot to the hill leading off the game, he would have been standing on third with a triple. Only slow guys get doubles out of balls on the hill. And he’s not slow. Our temporary right fielder also hit quite shot out above the Crawford Boxes. But he did get doubled off at first on a pop up to right. Our first base running blunder of the season. All in all, a good game for the home team, but not without a couple of those issues that seem to plague our club.

    I can’t say the same about the quality of experience at Minute Maid though. The concession stands were overwhelmed from early on. The condiment bars became a mess quickly. And I know they could have sold more beer had the lines not been so long. But going to the rest room in the 7th and finding every towel dispenser empty was simply unacceptable. I’ve been to many full houses over the years at Minute Maid, and for that matter, at all of the stadiums here in Houston, and I’ve never seen such a sloppy performance. They got caught with their pants down tonight.

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  6. Good game all around! The best part was, the Yankees had a 6-0 mark coming in to tonight at Minute Maid Park…….THAT got erased tonight.

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  7. Overnight further thoughts:
    – My gosh – wouldn’t the world have ended on ESPN if Jeter had been injured and out for the season (his farewell tour)? It would have gotten Tim Tebow-ish coverage.
    – I rag on him myself, but Bo Porter looked a lot smarter when his players played a lot better.
    – One thing about the Yankees – in 2013 they were not much better than the Astros on the offensive side. The Yanks were 10th in runs scored in the AL – the Astros 14th and the Yanks were 14th in OPS – the Astros 15th. And then the Yanks lost Robinson Cano – who led them in HR, RBI, BA, OBP, OPS and tied for most runs scored.
    – Nice to have good debuts by Feldman and Fowler and fun to see local kid Matt Albers pick up his 1st major league save.

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  8. Above 500 again? It has been such a long time, I forgot what the air feels like up here. Breathe deeply, everyone – and take a selfie pr two as long as we are here.

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  9. I have a question for anyone who went to the game or saw it on TV (I was at choir practice and followed on my phone….)
    I heard they lowered the infamous signs in left field (true?)
    I heard it in a replayed interview with Jim Crane this morning – so having been well trained not to believe anything he says I wanted to check. I think I was listening to him on KDEV 666 AM…… and ever since I have felt like doing bad things to old people, animals and babies…..

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  12. It was glorious for a night, but the offense squandered a couple of scoring chances after the 6 runs. That’s the kind of thing–that lack of a killer instinct–that needs to be fixed.

    And we made it eight batters without a K, then the K parade began.

    Thank goodness for the pitching.

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  13. We will know more after two months. So far so good.
    I read about last night and recall all the articles about Feldman coming in and being a leader. I have to say that after his opening night performance that looks true.

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  14. Ahhhhhhhhh a good cup of coffee and the Astros are in 1st. I loved the first 2 innings,after that, not a lot of good at bats. Domingo looked totally lost at the plate Ugh. Come on lets win the 1st series of the year, it would make us all smile.
    I cant remember seeing Feldman pitch before. Has he always been a soft tosser?

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  15. Chron and Astros County have lists this morning of where the minor leaguers are assigned and how they were acquired.
    One name I noticed currently missing is Blaine Sims, the recently acquired lefty knuckleballer. I assume he has stayed in extended spring training to work on that pitch and if it is any good he will be assigned later.
    Sims had been shown on the CC roster before the recent assignments.
    Would love to see this guy pitch because I have never personally seen a professional lefty knuckleballer.

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