Last night at the Astros home opener against the Cardinals, I had the single worst experience I have ever had at Minute Maid Park when I ended up in line for 25 minutes waiting for two pizzas and a coke (at the bargain price of $19.25 I might add) and missed 2.5 innings of the game. I am not even going to go into detail because if I think about it again, steam might come out of my ears. And this was after waiting for 20 minutes in the will call line to get our tickets. When we got to the front, they gave me my tickets for every game that I’d already ordered for this season, from last night through September 28. No wonder the line was taking so long. Why on earth didn’t they just print the tickets for last night’s game in an effort to shorten the lines??
The game itself was a good one. Wandy Rodriguez battled the Cardinals in a pitcher’s duel until the Astros went ahead 2-0 in the 7th on back-to-back home runs by Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee. Wandy left the game after 7 1/3 and Brocail finished the 8th. The Asros added a third run in the 8th on another solo shot by new catcher J.R. Towles. Then came the top of the 9th.
Over the off-season, the Astros finally parted ways with sometimes-awesome, sometimes-crappy closer Brad Lidge. He was never really the same after that home run that Pujols hit off him in the 2005 NLCS, but that’s another story. In his place, the team picked up Jose Valverde, a fairly solid closer who will hopefully pitch well this year. However, he didn’t exactly pitch well last night.
Valverde promptly gave up three runs, with the third scoring on a play at the plate where the runner knocked the ball out of the catcher’s hands. Tie game. Wandy’s win gone and replaced with a no decision. I sighed a big sigh and sat down, hoping that this wasn’t a harbinger of what the rest of the season will be like.
Things turned out well though. Carlos Lee led off the bottom of the 9th with a single, and Miguel Tejada hit the 4th home run of the game to give the Astros the walk-off win by a score of 5-3 (which, ironically, is the opposite of their current record after 8 games).
The game was over so fast (about 2 hours and 5 minutes) that I was home just after 9:00 and got to watch the second half of the NCAA championship! I gotta admit, a fast baseball game is pretty nice sometimes.
Woo hoo I have Tejada on my fantasy team. I also have Oswalt, what is up with him this year???
Look at Minute Maid – so pretty! I can’t go to any of the home games this month. 🙁 Interested in Milwaukee or Washington in early May?