AnotherHotCornerHasBeen

I have watched the Houston Astros throughout their history. The one position for which they have never raised a star player is catcher (I know Biggio began as a catcher). The best catchers have been Brad Ausmus and Alan Ashby. Neither was much of an offensive threat. I am in hopes that the young man the ‘Stros drafted last year out of Stanford, Jason Castro, will be that star catcher we have been waiting for for all these years.
Today it was announced that the Astros have reached an agreement for a one-year contract with Ivan Rodriguez.

He is one of the top catchers of all time. And I believe he will add more offense to the lineup than the departed Ausmus, even though I-rod is well past his prime. Perhaps it was a marketing move based on the horrendous record of the team in Spring Training. I hope Ivan can stay healthy for the season and have a renaissance season that makes the move a remarkable one.

Every trip to the ball park makes the day a good one. A couple of weeks ago my family attended the Thursday night game at Minute Maid Park in Houston, despite the fact that Hurricane Ike would be slamming into our area.

Last night we went again to see the Astros, our first time since the storm. It was a fun game, with the Astros winning over the Atlanta Braves on a home run in the bottom of the ninth by Darin Erstad. I even caught a ball off the bat of Chipper Jones during batting practice.

But once every season there is a bittersweet day at the ball park. It is on the day that you know it will be next April before you will get to go to a ball game again. That was how it was last night. By the time I got to the car, the Brewers had finished their game with a win, thus eliminating Houston from the post season(I knew that the Cubs, who had already clinched the division title, would lose a game against since the  loss would make it unnecessary to come to Houston on Monday for a make-up game).

I will watch the playoffs and the World Series, but I won’t get to see a game in person again till spring! Heavy sigh!

It has been a long time since I posted anything here about the Astros. I was gone for a week, then when I got home the team was in such a funk that it was hard to find anything to post. They lost 20 0f 24 games during the stretch.

I had not been to a game at Minute Maid in six weeks, until Saturday night. And what a game to return to active fandom. The game against the Red Sox ended up with an 11-10 victory for Houston. The stadium was full and the intensity was really high. I believe part of the reason for the energy was the number of Sox fans in attendance.

I was very proud of the ‘Stros for not giving up when they went down by two runs late in the game. And I am glad the Houston fans did not leave then, but stayed around to witness the outstanding finish!