I had told Lil Miss (my niece) that it looked as if it was gonna be just us 2 grrrrls going off for a night of getting to watch baseball. I figured – well, seeing as how it is just an exhibition game and the boys (apparently) don’t want to go to no baseball games no mo, we could head out around 6, leaving Husband and Brother to watch the boys – AND we wouldn’t have real too much trouble finding free parking, as fan enthusiasm wouldn’t exactly be at fever pitch to watch 2 unspectacular pitchers from 2, uh, unspectacular teams. And with this bad economy, there wouldn’t be real too many folks lining up to pay 50 smackers to get The Baggy’s autograph.

And Lil Miss didn’t previously (ahem) express the slightest bit of interest in lining up AFTER the game started to get autographs from a bunch of Old Guys she never watched. And she KNEW that we were NOT going to go Saturday and stand in endless lines to PAY for an autograph from Michael Bourn.

But kids, uh, um, forget – yeah, that’s the word – forget. Just as they always seem to “forget” that I JUST told them not even ONE minute ago that they are NOT getting soda/chips/ice cream/cotton candy/hot dogs/hamburgers/anything even MORE expensive.

So, the boys, uh, um, forgot – yeah, forgot, that going to the baseball game is for grrrrrrrrrls and next thing you know, I had crying, pouting, sulking, whining boys wanting to know how come GRRRRLS get to go and they don’t. And then Lil Miss um, uh, forgot – yeah, forgot to mind her manners and she insisted that I had promised that it was gonna be just us grrrls, and I reminded her that it was gonna be just us grrrls because the boys said they didn’t wanna goooo, and Big Brother walked in the door just in time to get roped in to taking the boys with Lil Miss and me and we barely made it by first pitch.

Not that we missed anything. There were hardly any people there – maybe 8000 total, and the streets were almost empty. Amazing. A line was forming for people to get free autographs from Jimmy Wynn and JR Richard and Shane Reynolds (and a few more guys) and I didn’t want to stand in it because I wanted to check out the new players and didn’t want to miss first pitch.

Not that I missed much. The Jays put 3 runs on the board before the first out – guess the fastball wasn’t moving much.

So here’s how things looked:

Feliz played at 1B and was a little shaky, but overall, did an OK job. It must be weird to see the balls coming in from the wrong direction. He handled some grounders and also some 3-1 with only one almost bobble. He didn’t do anything with the bat, but he did take a walk from lefty Ricky Romero, who threw a lot of pitches out of the strike zone.

Actually, Astros hitters went to 3-something counts an unusually high nine times.

Chris Johnson looked decnt at third – he didn’t have any great plays and he didn’t look like a butcher, neither. He had 2 singles, one a bloop tweener to shallow center and another just inside the first base line. I’ll take it.

Towles continued his ofer – he’s ofer his last 4 games – the boy best pick it up right quick. But he sure looked great with the glove – catching stuff all ovah the place.

Michael Bourn is hot – stole another base, walked twice, hit a clean single to center, darn near hit another to left, only the fielder made a great diving catch.

Clank had an unusual amount of trouble stopping himself from swinging at sliders and didn’t drive in any of the 5 runners.

Which reminds me – the Astros left bases loaded THREE times.

Tommy Manzella looked great with the glove – not quite Everett, but head and shoulders better than Miggy, but the bat looks like Everett’s.

Saw Brandon Lyon for the first time. He has an unimpressive 90 MPH Fb and a slider and gets GB outs. Amazing how few pitchers I see have what I think is incredible stuff. But all that matters is getting outs, and Lyon took 11 pitches to get 3 outs. Fine with me.

Actually, I noticed that the Jays had plenty of called strikes, but only 4 swinging strikes all night.

Chris Shelton had an OK glove at first. He hit a double to the RF gap, but didn’t look to pick up the 3B coach, made WAAAAYYY to wide a turn, stopped when it was too late and got thrown out. Bad baserunning. But that double tied the game because Cory Sullivan was on second – he tried to bunt, but popped it up and that popup went over the first baseman’s head. One of those weird things.

And speaking of weird things, the OTHER run scored when Chris Johnson’s single advanced Michaels to third, then Quintero hit a high popup between first and second. the second baseman somehow missed what should have been an easy out, and Johnson, who had had to stay at first, was barely thrown out at second when the RF picked up the ball got him. So Quintero got a RBI FC. Any way you can get it is good, as they say.

As for the kids, well, Lil Miss and the twins and Brother waited in line – made it back by the middle of the 4th, and all Lil Miss could talk about was how HUGE and I mean HUGE JR Richard’s hands are. He shook her hand after she thanked him for signing the card and she kept saying – his one hand is bigger than both of mine TOGETHER. It is really amazing how much kids absolutely treasure those autographs. They didn’t know who any of those players were (except for Jimmy Wynn – they have his bobblehead that the Astros gave out when they retired his number) and now they can’t stop talking about them. The kids are wanting to know if Enos Cabell was as good as Michael Bourn – I told them they’d have to ask their granma.

It is too bad they don’t have more sessions like this with the kids and the Ex-Stros from the different eras. It is a great way to really connect the kids with the team’s past and its history. I’m kind of sorry they had the signing during the game because I would have liked to see those huge hands of JR Richard. And tell Jimmy Wynn he’s great. And tell Shane Reynolds I liked watching him pitch. And tell Enos Cabell that I wished I could have seen him play. And tell all the other guys I wish I could have played, too….

I was pretty surprised so few people showed up for fireworks night. Maybe more will come tomorrow afternoon. Opening Day isn’t sold out, either….

Well my friends, things don’t look real too good at this point.

Roy was the only pitcher who had been doing well, but he pulled his hammy after 4 innings and is ending his ST time with a grand total of TEN innings pitched. He’s going to get his leg examined by the team doctors. Wonderful.

Wandy, who pitches this afternoon, has been, um, “working on” stuff. The best thing I can say is that he’s hardly walking anybody – just 4 walks over 13 IP. Fewer than the number of homers he has given up, unfortunately.

Norris – well, he “won” today with 4 innings of relief, giving up 3 R; He’s now pitched a total of 10.2 innings and given up 4 homers, 7 BB, 6 K and 11 ER (you don’t wanna see this ERA neither.)

Paulino has pitched 11 innings, but given up NO homers. Which is cause for celebration right there. His ERA is 4.09, but half of those innings came against the dreadful Pirates, in which he gave up only 1 run, but walked 4.

Wesley Wright got sent down to work on starting.

Chris Sampson, throwing a new changeup, is pitching lights out, but naturally, he can’t be considered for the rotation because, uh, well, you see, there are all these guys who could pitch in the bullpen and there is a real competition, so we can’t have Sampson starting because, um, he hasn’t done it this ST. YEAH, that’s the ticket.

Among other starting candidates, Brian Moehler, uh, um, hasn’t looked sharp – 9 IP, 17 H, 6 ER. Shane Loux got sent down and Casey Daigle is seriously being considered, in spite of the fact that that he’s been a reliever since 2004, and not a great one at that. But hey, he’s got that Veteran Presence oozing out all ovah and Fast Eddie’s nostrils are twitching.

But, I keep reminding myself that Roger Clemens had like a 8 something ERA in ST in 2005 and he darn near won another Cy Young. Maybe the guys will step it up. Maybe, if Roy and/or others are too hurt to pitch, Chris Sampson will get a start. And they’ll call me too – I’m a VERY crafy lefty…

Good news is that most of the guys still at ST are hitting VERY well, especially Chris Johnson, outhomering Pence, Feliz and Clank, who naturally has zero chance of making the ML roster because of Feliz, Who Knows How To Win (just not How To Get On Base.) Should I note that minor leaguers TJ Steele and Andrew Locke are hitting decently (don’t get on my butt about small sample size) and hopefully going to AA instead of A+ this year. Maysonet is outhitting and outslugging Keppinger (and we all know what kind of chance May has of making the ML roster.)

Actually, I am hearing rumors that it is possible that with Berkman on the DL, that Chris Shelton will make the ML roster instead of Keppinger. Hard to believe. But I have also been hearing that OTHER teams are VERY interested (so the Astros aren’t, like WHY????) in Chris Johnson, Maysonet and Towles – wanna bet that Fast Eddie trades em for a nice middle reliever?

And speaking of Towles and Castro and the catching job, I want to point out that Castro is not hitting for any power – only 1 double in 30 AB, whereas Towles has 6 doubles and a triple in 29 AB. But Astros fans really only care about BA, so I don’t guess it will matter.

I guess you could call it amusing that the Astros are having all these guys supposedly “compete” for Spring Training jobs when the GM decided BEFOREhand who the position players on the 25 man would be.

It certainly isn’t batting average or slugging, let alone fielding, that made Yordany Ramirez get sent down or Alex Romero get released. Ed Wade had ALREADY decided, no matter what, that his backup OF were gonna be Cory Sullivan and Phillies Michaels. Chris Johnson and his .325 BA and .750 SLG never stood a chance, unless Feliz and Keppinger BOTH went on the DL.

Morgan Ensberg says in his wonderful blog, that communication of almost any sort is almost nonexistant in pro ball. I’m starting to REALLY like that guy. I’m pretty cynical about professional athletes and their public vs private personas, and don’t exactly expect good human beings because of athletic prowess, but I think that Mo probably IS the decent guy he sounds like. Probably because he was NOT one of those guys who was The Popular Kid or The Supastah in hs – he certainly wasn’t in college. Yeah, sure, he’s aggressive and competitive, but I think that goes along with being male – most guys are aggressive and competitive about SOMEthing.

Anyway, he had said that he LOVED Jimy Williams as a manager – because Jimy did the 3 things well that Mo believes a manager should do: 1 – protect his players from the media (and he surely did THAT and the media hated him for it); 2 – teach – even major leaguers learn something new constantly. How many guys have said that they wish they had the body now that they are old to do what their bodies could do when they were young? 3 – COMMUNICATE – explain what they want clearly so that guys know what’s going on.

The Astros Organization is pimping the living heck out of Jason Castro – not sure if he has all these redeeming features that make him worthy of deification, or if he is just an ordinary catcher, but he was the guy they picked as their number 1 pick – picked before better ranked guys, who COST MORE (ahem) and who are proof of the wonderfulterrificness of The New Ed Wade Regime. They point to his good Spring Training numbers as the Proof of his wonderfulness.

What does this tell Maysonet, Johnson and every other guy who was told he is “fighting for a job” when in fact, their faces are being lied to? When Ed Wade, the FIRST day of ST tells the media that maybe some day Johnson and Maysonet etc might have a place on the Astros roster?

sigh

Same thing it tells me when Ed Wade can’t WAIT to praise Paulino (another guy the Organization is crazy in luuuuvvvv with) for beating the crappy Pirates – something even Mike Hampton managed to do.

We all have it figured out – Shelton, Maysonet, Johnson, Ramirez and every other guy who put up great lines in ST never were going to get anything. What does the Organization tell these guys? ANYthing? Do they praise the guys when they do well, or even bother to tell them how they could improve so that they could ever have a chance of making the team, or being traded to a team that will use them? How do guys not lose hope?

I wonder what they have told Towles, who has certainly out-performed Castro. If he hits like Piazza ‘99 all year, what then? Why has Quintero been guaranteed a ML job in spite of the fact that Towles is a better defended and hitter? What do they tell him about THAT?

Ida know.

Pitchers? Well, the only ones who don’t look awful are Roy, Sammy G, Lindstrom and Sampson. I keep telling myself about Clemens in ST of 05 and his 8 something ERA and saying – well, this is what happens when guys work on stuff. Casey Daigle, who has 100+ crappy minor league innings pitched, has thrown 10 good innings this ST, and may actually get a roster spot instead of Sammy G. Casey, by the way, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2006, when he threw 12 OK innings for the Dbax in relief. They’ll give Casey a chance, a guy who is a NRI, but they won’t give their own minor league position players a sniff.

I heard from a few good sources that Brad Mills didn’t want it that way, but Fast Eddie did. So when the New Old Guys suck, I won’t blame Mills.

As all yall know, I have 3 young sons and am raising my niece as well. I read over and over again that pretty much as a rule, the children who do best in school and in life are fed a good breakfast before school, eat dinner with the rest of the family, and their mean, cruel Mamis (and Daddys – let me not be sexist here) make them go to bed and get enough sleep. Oh yeah – and parents make sure they get plenty, but not too much NUTRITIOUS food, so they will be healthy and grow to their full potential. And it is unbelieveable how much food growing children eat – and as my Mama warns me – you just wait until they are teenagers because teenage boys will eat a huge dinner, then complain that they are hungry 5 minutes later.

I believe it because they often do it already, and they aren’t even teenagers yet. It is amazing how much I spend on food every week – AND I don’t buy junk or sodas neither.

So I was dumbfounded to read that minor leaguers are given $20.00/day for meal money, most of which they have to pay to a clubhouse manager who may or may not even bother to get decent food – often they have pizza or other greasy, carbohydrate rich, nutrient poor food.

This is what minor leaguers are paid:

Rookie League, A ball short season: $850/month x 3 months = $2550/year
A ball long season: $1050/month x 5 months = $5250/year
AA: $1500/month x 5 months = $7500/yr
AAA: $2150/mo x 5 months = $10,750/yr

I know that these are all first year salaries, and that minor leaguers with more years experience are paid more – sometimes not much more, until AAA, BUT the players have to pay all their rent, equipment, clothes, everything out of that meager amount. Sure I know that guys picked in the first 2 rounds get enough bonus money to buy decent food and decent housing, but the rest?

What exactly kind of nutrition do you think an 18-22 year old is going to be able to obtain on 25 bucks a day, most of which, as I said, goes to the clubhouse manager who may or may not procure nutritious food. The only way they can actually get a LOT of calories – and remember, they are not in they mama basement reading, they are under a great deal of stress, they are athletes, and most important, they are still growing adolescents.

I don’t get this, I really don’t. What on earth is the point of squeezing the food budget for young males? Why half starve them? Survival of the fittest? They figure the guys in the first 2 rounds are the only ones they care about anyhow and the rest of the players are just the supporting cast so who cares what happens to them? What is the point of THAT? Why not try to get the most, the best out of the players you DO bother to draft? Would it be a terrible thing if an Organization was able to create, say, 6 major league quality players a year instead of none or 1 or 2?

It couldn’t possibly cost a major league club that much to pay to feed their players quality food, at least at home. The better the nutrition, the better the performance. EVERY adult does better when his/her nutrition is optimal. You don’t put kerosene in a performance car, so why put junk and crap in a high performance athlete?

Look, I know that the draft really IS a crapshoot, for the most part, and that many first rounders get to the major leagues ONLY because they were first rounders – if some 30th rounder had the same stats, he wouldn’t be treated the same. But since it IS a crapshoot, why on earth not try to increase the odds?

sigh

I suppose it is the habit of billionaires to pinch pennies, to try to continue to get everything for nothing, to consider generosity and decency as character flaws. Perhaps they think that athletes who are fed decently will lose their hunger to play MLB, their competitive edges. But most likely, they simply don’t care and figure that there will be those who are married to rich women or who have rich families who will see that their sons are decently fed, and that the remainder will either be cannon fodder or will survive on crap.

One of these days, some number cruncher will convince some billionaire that pocket change invested in good food will produce more and better ballplayers, who will be younger, healthier and CHEAPER and perhaps THAT will spur change.