Astros Playing Great

The Astros are back to .500 at 43-43. They beat the Washington Nationals tonight in the bottom of the ninth. It is exciting to see them playing so well. It is going to be fun to watch them in the second half. They are always a great 2nd half team.

This is a picture from last weekend when we went to the game. We had a really good time. I remember when Aidan said, "This is the most awesomest day of my life," as he glanced down from peanut heaven on Minute Maid Park.

Baseball is Back.. tonight

Very excited about the new baseball season. Can't wait to see my Astros take on the Cubs tomorrow night. Every home game this season and most of the road games are in HD on the Astros TV network. That is going to be great. I am so glad to have DirecTV to be able to catch it all.

I am optimistic about this team. We have some of the best players in baseball:
starting pitcher Roy Oswalt
first baseman Lance Berkman
left fielder Carlos Lee, El Caballo (The Horse)
and
closer Jose Valverde (led baseball in saves the past 2 seasons)

It should be a cool season. Brand new stadiums in New York. The new MLB Network to tune into. And lots of great young players.

Spring!

How do I know it's spring? 4 words: "Pitchers and Catchers Report."

Astros Report to Kissimmee, Florida.

KISSIMMEE, FLA. — For most of the winter, manager Cecil Cooper envisioned countless scenarios as he pondered the pitching and catching questions the Astros face this spring.

Those two areas are littered with unresolved issues, and the club likely will need all seven weeks of spring training and some of the season to figure them out.

Cooper starts the quest for answers today when the Astros open their 25th camp at Osceola County Stadium with workouts for pitchers and catchers.

“You hope this and you hope that, but you got to see them,” Cooper said. “That gets you feeling good when you see them (and) when you hear the mitt popping and all that stuff. I can’t wait.”

So it begins again. Baseball. :)

Astros 4 - Mets 0 ... Astros Sweep!

We had a great day yesterday at Minute Maid Park and at Discovery Green. Aidan didn't get a nap, but he did go to sleep early and exhausted. A full day.


Aidan at that whole hot dog. Norma and I had NO ballpark food. We are being so great with our new diets. I am seeing a big difference. It's funny. We spend all day begging Aidan to eat and all day trying not to eat anything ourselves!



Discovery Green is wonderful. It's not as big as I had hoped. They are building two new huge skyscrapers right around the park. Which is kind of messed up. Struggling economy? Not in Houston! But, the area that they put the park on is awesome. It just isn't big enough. Houston is a huge city and the number of parks is so small. Sad. But, why am I complaining about something that they did a great job putting together. After all, it wasn't even there a year ago.

The day didn't cost us very much money either. (Not that it is the most important thing but...)
Tickets - $15 (7 a piece for Norma and I and $1 for Aidan)
Food - $20 (which is pretty ridiculous that a hot dog, 2 drinks and cracker jacks are almost 20 bucks. We also picked up 2 drinks at Discovery Green)
Parking - $10 (we parked very near Discovery Green, walked over to the game and then walked to DG afterwards. Worked out perfectly.)

So all told - around $50 bucks. Can't beat it. Before we left Norma and I loaded up on salad so we were 'kind of' full. We are both getting a little tired of salad. But, we are doing our best to motivate each other. I am definitely feeling great. So that is motivation alone.

Anyway, a great day. As summer boils to an end (and Edouard rolls towards us!) we are very pleased with what a wonderful summer we have enjoyed. We are so lucky!

If anyone wants to see all the pictures from the game and Discovery Green:
Astros Game Pictures

A Fun Time at the Game

Last night was a "Suite" night indeed. A fun time at the game. The Astros did not win, they lost 8-4 to the hated Cardinals. But, sitting in the suite level was an experience all to itself. I doubt I'll ever have the chance to do that again.

The suite level is sweet. Wide and carpeted. Catered and comfortable. What a way to watch a game. I felt for a night what it must be like to be one of those "big cat" business owners.

The teachers who got to go were smiling ear to ear. There were only 4 pairs of people there. I spent a lot of time talking to the woman who organized the night. She is the person in charge of grant writing in our district. She helped to organize a fund raiser for AVID this spring that raised $6,000. We discussed the future of AVID and how I would be glad to do anything to help raise money for the program. That was a nice hidden advantage of going last night.

It was also great to be out with just Norma. As much as we love Aidan and taking him out and experiencing things, it is wonderful when we get a date night. They are few and far between. It reminded me off all those games we used to go to together in the old Astrodome and all the fun we've had together at the new stadium.

But, I also thought a lot about taking Aidan to his next game. He has gone to two games and enjoyed it. This year he should REALLY enjoy it. The Astros have a lot of great things for kids to enjoy and keep entertained. It really is a wonderful family experience.

We are thinking about getting him down there during an afternoon or evening in the month of July.

A Suite Deal

Norma and I are heading to the Astros game tonight. As a part of the "Teacher of the Year" stuff I have been invited to attend in an executive suite. I am very excited. We have never sat in an executive suite and it's the only place in the stadium that I have yet to visit.

Some details:Seating Capacity 14-110 (suite sizes vary)
2008 Price $150 per seat
$300 per seat on (6/13-6/15, 6/27-6/29)
Legends Suite
If luxury is your goal, our suites are the ticket. Beautifully appointed with a bar/buffet, socializing area and closed-circuit TVs, our suites offer privacy and comfort for personal and business entertainment. Luxury suite catering is available with an array of food and beverage packages with service attendants.

Suites offer the privacy and comfort for personal and business entertainment.

Amenities
All of our Minute Maid Park Executive Suites come equipped with the following amenities:

* Television monitors, telephones and in house stereo system.
* Theater style seating along with living room style atmosphere in majority of suites.
* Enclosed private climate controlled concourses with lounge areas.
* First class catering provided by ARAMARK catering services.
* Large floor plans and spacious interiors.
* Attentive Suite Staff.
* Club Level access.
* One Lot A Parking Pass included per suite.
* Sliding glass doors open to stadium chairs, which are conveniently designed to seat your guests in two rows.

We have a parking pass. And the tickets say, "Price: $150.00" Amazing! It should be fun. I'll write more when we get back and I might snap a few pictures. :)

Astros Pick - Jason Castro

The Astros selected a catcher in the first round today: Jason Castro, Catcher, Stanford U.

6'3" 215 lbs. Good bat from the left side and a very quality throwing arm. I am excited by this pick because it certainly is an area of weakness on the major league club. But, with any catchers, they take time to develop. College coaches call all the pitches, so a young catcher has to come in and learn to work with pitchers and call a good game. But, he went to Stanford... so dude is probably working pretty well between the ears!

According to the Stanford baseball website, it says that Castro's "Favorite Stanford Baseball Road Trip: Texas." So he'll get to see Texas again real soon. :)

BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O …

Goodbye Craig. You had a hall-of-fame career. He will always be Mr. Astro in Houston. Biggio Goes Out in Sytle as Astros Win Finale

Great Time at the Game

We had a great time at the Astros game last night. Thanks to Uncle Bill and Aunt Aimee for the tickets! :)

It was so funny, we were getting out of the car downtown and I said to Aidan, "Check out all those big buildings!" He looked up and then said, "SpiderMAN!" We were cracking up. He really had fun. We bought him a new Astros hat and he looks super cute in it.

We only go to about a game a year right now. It's not easy to take him down there in traffic and fight the crowds. Last night's game was a sell out. Unfortunately the Astros dropped a heart breaker to the Brewers. It is just not our year.

Aidan was great though. I can't even imagine how much better he will be next year at this time.

The Kind of Move the Astros Have to Make

Wheeler Shipped to Rays for 3B Wigginton

Although I hate to see Dan Wheeler go - he is a tremendous competitor and I will always have great memories of our World Series season with him - this is the kind of move my Astros have to make. They trade a setup guy for a starting third baseman. They have to gamble and make some moves like this to set things up for next year. But, Wigginton has to turn out to be an everyday starter for this deal to be a winner for the Astros. At this point that is a big "IF".

Glass is 1/2 Full

In a week dominated by terrible news in sports (and I'm not going to even mention the stories - they are horrible), it was great to see two GREAT stories in Houston.

Texans-sized gift makes mom a home owner

Grand Day All Around for Biggio
On the day he announces his retirement and just after a short video on the jumboscreen thanking the fans, Biggio hits a grand slam home run. Amazing.

Biggio Uses Astrosfans.mlblogs.com to Write and Open Letter Thanking the Fans of Houston

And for my wife, here is a video that you'll love:

3,000 Hits!

I am posting this for my wife Norma.
Biggio Reaches Career Hit Milestone: 3,000

Since we are in Pittsburgh and feel a million miles away from home and Houston... we missed watching this. It's a shame because Bidge is her favorite Astro.

My favorite Astro of all time was there to celebrate with his former teammate:


Pretty cool. Finally something nice to celebrate in an otherwise forgettable season to be an Astros fan.
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Astros... ouch.

Good golly! My Astros haven't won in over a week! Holy crap.

Maybe it's time for a major change? I don't remember them sliding this bad since the 2000 season (first season in Minute Maid). Could this be the end of the Phil Garner Era?

I think they just have too many position players that are bad hitters. Catcher, Short, Third and Second are killing them at the plate. And I love Craig Biggio and all, but he can not continue to lead off every day while having a .200 on base percentage. He'll still get his 3,000 hits easily, but move him down and move Hunter Pence up.

My fear is that Phil Garner wants to change his lineup, but the ownership will not let him. I thought this was all supposed to be about winning games? Doesn't look like it from where I am sitting.

Norma, Aidan and I really have to get to a game soon though. We didn't go to a single one last year. It has been too long. I bet Aidan will have a ball there this summer. The problem is finding a good time to go. Games at night start too late. Maybe a good 6:05 start on a Saturday might work out well? We will have to order some tickets this week.


WOW was he little!


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Astros Rollin

I am really enjoying these 2007 Astros. They got off to a slow start, but they are now rolling. Swept the Reds tonight after being down 6-0. 8-6 win! Sweet.



Carlos Lee is the real deal! El Caballo (The Horse) rides again!

On to Milwaukee!
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A Blast From My Past!

Ever google yourself? I do from time to time. Mostly to determine what my students could find out about me if they searched. I want to be sure that I am not leaving an embarrassing trail of stupid comments on someone's blog... or anything worse. I came across this tonight and was very excited:

Under the Clouds in Kissimmee
LINK
added 03/18 by David D.

I had checked the spring schedules and considered driving south to see if I could at least catch some baseball on my final full day in Florida. Surely the Astros-Phillies game on Sunday would be rained out. The skies were already blackening on Saturday and the forecasters were happily calling for rain to douse the drought stricken Central Florida landscape. But, nothing compelling jumped off the Spring schedule at me and 80% chance of rain also means that there is a 20% chance that it won't rain, right?

Well, Sunday was cloudy, cold and dreary but there was no rain in Kissimmee. My wife and I took in the final game on our spring training trip's schedule and it was another win. The Astros beat the Phils 2-1 in a boring game that was highlighted by solid pitching and a Lance Berkman first-inning dinger deep over the right field fence. Kent Bottenfield pitched very well. As I watched Bottenfield toss his warmup pitches, 3 words came to mind: "Beer League Softball." Bottenfield is a big man. But, he hit his spots with a lively fastball and kept hitters (if that's what you want to call the Phillie lineup) off balance. The only blemish was a couple of hits in the second inning and a run scored by Phillie playboy Pat Burrell.

Scott Linebrink, Doug Brocail and Billy Wagner pitched an inning a piece to finish off the game. Wagner looked impressive and K'd one. He ended the game by getting Pat Burrell to bounce sharply to short.

There was a crowd of just below 3,000 at Osceola County Stadium and it was dreary and cold. There was a good solid Phillie contingent and they were their normal rude and rowdie selves. These pasty fans were booing the umpire and hissing at called third strikes. I could hardly call it "being in mid-season form" because there is no real form to being a Phillie fan. They were born to boo. In fact, when the doctor smacks a Phillie baby's behind as it is born the baby doesn't begin to cry; it says, "What'da'ya talkin' bout? Youze callin' that a strike ump? C'mon."

It was our first visit to the facility and it was easily the worst spot we visited during our trip. The hotdogs were crummy, the lemonade was actually water that maybe someone twisted a lemon into. The only good thing about the stadium that I could see was the playing surface. It looked to be in great shape. There are only a few seatback chairs that line the first few rows of the stadium. The rest is of the metal bleacher variety. On a scale of 5 grapefruits, it gets 1 and a ½.

I'm very surprised that the Astros have re-upped their deal with Kissimmee. But, it's a good spot geographically with plenty of teams to play in the area. Overall, our trip was a great one and we really had a super time. The traffic on 192 in Kissimmee was terrible. The hotel we stayed in was below average. But, the baseball was good and we totally enjoyed Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure on Saturday afternoon. It was a great day to be outdoors and anyone that's a roller coaster fan should ride the Incredible Hulk! Great coaster. Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Berkman each had a home run a piece in the three games we saw. And we also witnessed very solid pitching by Jose Lima, Wade Miller, and Bottenfield. And we saw Wagner pitch 2 innings and look like his old self. The positives far out weigh the negatives at this point of the spring.

Can't wait for opening day!

I wrote it when Norma and I went to spring training. I watched the games, jotted down some notes and then emailed them to the Astro's Daily website. Back then I had a website called: "Mission Control" that was one of the first Astros websites on the Internet. It was a fun pasttime (although Norma knows it took up WAY too much time) while I was teaching.

I had no idea that these archives were out there. Very cool. Brings back memories of some of my early Internet posting days. It's true what they say, "You leave a trail on the Internet and nothing ever really gets deleted!" How true!

Here's another posting from Kissimmee that year: View from Kissimmee

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Baseball Fever: Will Ensberg Hit?

It is really interesting how newspaper guys are now using the power of the internet to post video articles and discussions. Pretty neat. In this houston chronicle video piece, Richard Justice leads the baseball writers in Houston about a discussion about the every-other-year Ensberg.

Morgan has hit one year and had an off year the next. Luckily for us this year, last year was a down year. Maybe this is the year he bounces back?

With Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman... if Morgan hits this lineup could be potent!

Check out the videos on the Chronicle Astros Page
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Christmas Comes Early for Astros

Talk about BLACK Friday! The Astros got two big pieces to their 2007 puzzle today. Carlos Lee and Woody Williams are now Astros. Pretty sweet.

Left field in Minute Maid will now have a new name. Lee's nickname is "El Caballo," which means "The Horse." He was given his nickname by White Sox television announcer Hawk Harrelson. When he played for the Brewers, there was a sign in the left field corner that read "El Caballo's Corner." I can see the left field corner of the Crawford Boxes becoming The Big Horse's corner.

It will be fun to watch him work. The guy is a super slugger. But, he does not strike out a lot. He will provide a lot of protection in the order for Lance Berkman. I can see a lineup that looks like this:

1. Taveras, CF
2. Scott, RF
3. Berkman, 1B
4. Lee, LF
5. Ensberg/Lamb, 3B
6. Biggio/Burke, 2B
7. Everett, SS
8. Ausmus, C

It's a MUCH better lineup with El Caballo in there. It helps the weak bottom portion of the order. Everett/Ausums suck at the plate, but provide great D.

The starting rotation may look like this now:
1. Oswalt
2. Williams
3, 4, 5. Buchholz/Albers/Hirsh/Sampson

The 3, 4, 5 starters would be a battle in spring. Each of these young guys has shown some promise. Of course, Clemens and Pettitte could be back, but I am not counting on it.

Looking forward to Baseball starting in just a few months. I have something to look forward to now, The Big Horse is now the stable.

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Stayin' Alive

The Astros will live to fight another day. Astros 5, Braves 4. Tomorrow it's do or die... and hope the Cardinals lose. The Cards need 1 more win or an Astros loss on the final day of the season to go to the playoffs.

I am proud of this team that they have come back and fought so hard to make the playoffs. It was a pretty dreary season, but they polished it up down the stretch. At least they made things interesting. It might just be VERY interesting. The Cardinals are no great shakes right now. They barely were able to win late in the game on Saturday. The Astros win will force them to pitch their best pitcher against the Brew crew tomorrow.

It's must win Sunday. The Astros always seem to be coming down to the final day of the regular season to win. Keeping my fingers crossed for some good luck.


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Messing with new blogger templates

I have had a frustrating week. Been messing with the new blogger templates and I am not happy with it yet. You may see some changes here from time to time until I can get it right.

Unfortunately there isn't much time to work on it right now.

School has been pretty whack. We are doing massive schedule changes this weekend that will take place on Monday morning. I am losing a Level World History class and gaining a Pre-AP one. This is making for massive shifts in my classes. So far the numbers look like this:

1st period - 30 kids, lost 6, gained 3 and 5 of them went to other periods
2nd period - 28 kids, lost 4, gained 3 and 4 of them went to other periods
4th period - 30 kids, lost 6, gained 3 and 6 of them went to other periods
5th period - 16 kids so far - brand new class, but mostly made up of old students from other periods.
7th period - 25 kids, lost 3, gained 2 and 0 of them went to other periods.

It's pretty wierd. But it has to happen to level our classes. We hired 10 new teachers and that has added 50 new class periods. In World History we are getting 2 new class periods of students. So that will help a little. Of course, one of my level classes is going to a new teacher and I am taking on a brand new section of Pre-AP. That will help the over crowding in the Pre-AP classes.

I am pretty sad about it actually. I was just getting used to my kids and the class size. I will really miss a few of them. Great kids.

Out of all of my classes so far (and this could change over the weekend and next week), I have lost 5 students that I will no longer have. 6 of the students on my rosters are now brand new and they are transferring in from another teacher. 18 of my students are moving from one period to another (not counting 5th period which most of that class is moving to a new teacher).

Crazy huh?

Well, time for me to get some sleep. Oh yeah, my post on the Astros jinxed them, huh?

Oh also, I failed to mention... our kitchen sink is again backed up. Time to call on some plummers. Everything seems to be breaking at the same time. And it is costing us an arm and a leg... and we are running out of arms and legs.
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Astros Making History

ESPN.com Astors Win 9 Straight!

This is just a remarkable story.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The clock hasn't stopped ticking on the Houston Astros, who keep staging one of the greatest stretch-drive comebacks in major-league history. No matter how long it takes.

Roy Oswalt picked up a weary bullpen with seven shutout innings and the Astros ran their improbable late-September winning streak to nine games, enduring an afternoon-long rain delay before beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 on Thursday.

They needed nearly five hours to win the night before. This time, they waited for 3½ hours just to play. Time is running out on the Astros, but it's not stopping them from winning.

A three-game sweep in Pittsburgh highlighted by a 7-6, 15-inning marathon win Wednesday night at least temporarily cut Houston's deficit in the NL Central to one game behind St. Louis, which had lost seven of eight going into its night game against Milwaukee. The Astros were 8½ games out on Sept. 20.

I hardly want to post about it... because I am so afraid of jinxing it... but I can't hold it anymore. I am so pumped!

I am taking my Stros jersey to school tomorrow. It is "Camo" day since we play the Bears in football on Friday, but I might have to wear my jersey over top of my camo. Amazing.

They have sucked all year... but these guys never quit. They didn't last year when they had their greatest season ever after a HORRIBLE start. Now they are writing history. With St. Louis losing big tonight... they could be a FREAKING 1/2 game out tomorrow morning! Wow.

GO STROS!