Slow Start

Well, the season has started and the Astros, having gone through so much change over the winter, have not really changed that much. We have now lost at least three games by less than two runs in the first seven games. Where is this offense we read about all off season? I hope it shows up this week at home! The St. Louis Cardinals are coming in town with a league best 5-1 record, with all their starters recording the wins.

The Astros need to make a statement today and start this home stretch off with a dominant win over our division rival.

Play Ball!

The season has started! Baseball is finally here! I have waited five months. I have sat and read the same type of articles over and over again for five months. Constantly checking the Astros website for something new, watching the MLB website for trades and the new young guys coming up. The wait is over and the season is here. I am extremely excited.

It feels weird to be excited and pissed off at the same time. Giving the ball to Roy Oswalt six times in a row for opening day is sweet music to all Astros' fans, except for yesterday. Oswalt lasted 5.1 innings and gave up 3 earned runs with 11 hits. He is one hit away from tying his career high on hits allowed. This is very unlike Oswalt.

I can live with the Astros only getting 4 hits because we were facing the reigning Cy Young winner along one of the best bullpens in baseball, but Oswalt's performance? He was facing one of the worst hitting teams in baseball!

For all the Astros' fans, lets pray Oswalt hasn't taken a turn for the worse and this offense Ed Wade purchased can turn around, after facing San Diego's Peavy, and threat 1,000 runs for the season.

Church season - Lent

It is here! Ash Wednesday was yesterday (which ended about 10 minutes ago) and we have the next couple weeks till Easter. The time for fasting and self-examination is now.

I have been looking forward to this for a long time now. This will be my first time fasting with the Church, and I am extremely excited. I will be fasting from any type of meat from Ash Wednesday, February 6, till Easter Sunday, March 23. This will be a time for practicing self-discipline and a time of repentance. I hope to be reminded of my need for God and His mercy. I pray this will be time well spent and that Christians all throughout the world are able to unite through this spiritual discipline, and all worship the Creator together in reverence and in awe.

The primary aim of fasting is to make us conscious of our dependence upon God. (Recall the children of Israel on the journey to the Land of Promise.) Real hunger, which produces tiredness and physical exhaustion, leads to a sense of inward brokenness and contrition. When we are always full, we feel autonomous and over-confident in our own self-sufficiency. Hunger creates in us a poor spirit aware of its dependence on God.

Outwardly, fasting (total abstinence) produces in our bodies a sense of lightness, wakefulness, freedom and joy. Many find that, after a time, they need less sleep, think more clearly and work more decisively. Fasting can be cleansing and can help eliminate toxins from our bodies and restore us to greater balance. But fasting is not a mere diet. Its inward moral dimension is marked by a converted heart and will. In returning to God, we fast not just from food but from sin.

~The Rev. Hartshorn Murphy

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.

~Lenten Invitation, Liturgy of Ash Wednesday, BCP pg. 265

A sad day in professional sports

Well, I was wrong. I will come out and say it right away. I confidently believed the New England Patriots would walk over the New York Giants and send Eli Manning home with that same stupid look on his face (ya know, that look like he just had his milk money stolen by a big, bad, bully). But I was wrong. The Giants came up big when they needed to and beat the best team the NFL has seen in easily 30 years. Its hard to say it; I almost need to pinch myself to make sure I'm still not sleeping Saturday night, waiting for the big game.

One thing is for certain, Eli Manning will go down as one of the worst Super Bowl MVPs ever. He has coasted through the NFL with mediocrity and terrible decision making skills. From now on, if anyone finds pride in winning the MVP at the Super Bowl, many people are just going to think, "So what, so did Eli Manning!"

Nothing makes sense anymore. The best team did not win, they lost. The worst team from the NFC came out of nowhere and reminded us sports fans that anything can happen.

(Even if it is as shameful as handing Eli the MVP trophy when it should have gone to the entire defense.)

Arbitration Good or Bad?

It's almost time for Spring Training! This is a very exciting time for all baseball fans. It is still January and raining outside, but I can tell April is just around the corner.

The Astros have done so much this off season, it is hard to remember all that happened. One big pick-up for this team was trading for Arizona closer, Jose Valverde. He will be the glue that holds this new bullpen together. The negotiations between him and his new team did not get off to a great start, as shown by him (and Mark Loretta) heading towards the arbitration hearings in early February. I am afraid this is a big mistake by Ed Wade. We absolutely need Valverde and we need him in a good mood.

It is no secret that Valverde plays with all his emotions. One can assume this type of aggressiveness is not easy to turn off once off the field. I am afraid by taking him to arbitration and not allowing the team to come to agreements on its own, the Astros are pushing his wrong buttons. The team needs him to be 100% committed to this season. Without having any other options for the back end of the bullpen, he is the Astros' only man.

We can only hope Valverde realizes the business aspect of the job and disregards the negative comments heard at the hearing and allows his pitching to speak volumes this season.

(Mark Loretta is old and has only one/two good seasons left in him, so I'm not too worried about him being upset about the hearing process.)

Go Ahead and Hand Them the Trophy Now

Well, go ahead and give them the trophy now. I will come out and say it now, there is no way the New York Giants are going to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. I don't care how close it was during the last game of the season, there is no way Tom Brady and Randy Moss are going to lose to Eli Manning and, um, there is no one else really big on the Giants. I will give them they have a great receiver in Plaxico Burress. With 154 yards in 11 receptions, he led the game among all receivers. I am just led to believe this type of offense was allowed by the Green Bay defense. They were constantly in man-on-man coverage and his defender was again and again spun around. His two previous games, he had a total of 5 completions with no touchdowns.

The New England Patriots will come ready for Burress. I hate to sound too confident, but I don't feel the defense needs to worry too much for Manning (remember, this is Eli were talking about). Brady had his first bad game of the season yesterday. It was his 18th game of the season and he finally had a bad game! There is no way he will have two of these in a row. But, even with a bad game the Patriots found a way to win. On that same note, Randy Moss has only two receptions the entire post-season, but this team has found other players capable of the big play.

The Patriots are going to smoke the Giants. I truly believe the Packers had the best chance out of the two teams to compete against Belichick and his gang of perfect football players.

Go Patriots!

Astros Catchers

Baseball Baseball Baseball! It is time for football playoffs and we are almost a full week into January 2008. Even with all the excitement of the Patriots perfect season and post-season football, I can't help but be excited for the upcoming baseball season. All I can do is keep checking the internet and reading articles here and there to keep myself under control. Pitchers and catchers report in 40 days for Spring Training! That isn't too far away. Before we know it, Opening Day will be here and the longest season in American sports will begin. The Houston Astros have completed a major overhaul of players. One position that needed a drastic change was the catcher.

Brad Ausmus has been a catcher for the Astros for 9 seasons now, 1997-98 and 2001-2007. He will be back for the '08 season, but this time he will not be the everyday starter. This role has fallen into the lap of the young J. R. Towles. He will be a young 24 when the season starts in April.

Towles started the '07 season in Single A Salem and worked his way through the system to end up with the Astros in September with the roster expansion. While with the Astros he hit an average .375 with 40 AB. With his 15 hits came 5 Doubles, 1 Homerun and 12 RBI's. On September 20 against the St. Louis Cardinals, Towles set a franchise record with 8 RBI's. It seemed apparent this guy could hit.

It has been great having Ausmus behind the plate for 9 years and having him call all those games. On the other hand, I believe his time has come (may have come and passed by now). It is time for another guy to step in and call these games. Over the 9 seasons with the Astros, Ausmus has never hit above .269 and has hit as low as .229. Towles isn't expected to continue his tear through the National League pitching, but anything is better than an old Ausmus at the plate. Towles has the potential to be a great major league hitter. "He can wear out third basemen and the left-field wall", said GM Ed Wade. As well as picking up the slack at the plate, Towles will have one of the best minds of baseball coaching him throughout the entire season. Ausmus has always been regarded as one of the most smartest catchers in baseball. With Towles being as young as he is, it was great to see Ausmus step down from the starting role to the bench/coach role.

I am extremely excited to see someone new behind home plate this next season. With that said, I am also extremely excited to see Ausmus on the bench willing to help out Towles and be there for the learning experience.



Written in response to Around the Horn: Catchers written by Alyson Footer
Quote taken from Around the Horn: Catchers written by Alyson Footer

New Years Eve

I ended up hanging out with my girlfriend Kim, and some of her friends from school. We all met up at downtown Pasadena for dinner and decided to camp out for the Rose Parade. I had never done this before so I thought, whatever. It ended up being a lot of fun. It was crazy to see how many people were out for this and decided to sleep out on the street. There were so many cops and people throwing stuff at cars. Luckily Sonya the Saturn had nothing done to her.

We slept near the beginning of the parade and had good seats right on the street. The night wasn't the worst part of sleep, but the morning was. It was so cold! My body was warm in my Mummy Sleeping Bag, buy my face was sooo cold.

I would recommend everyone to do this at least once in their life. It was a fun experience.