Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

[TheNumber35]

The Story Thus Far:
Read here: Holdin’ Onto Hope

OR

Spoiler

Lucas Harrell ended up in the hospital after a brawl in a Houston bar 2 weeks before Spring Training of 2012 started. “Jeff Luhnow” (or who we think to be Jeff Luhnow) is linked to the incident, claiming that Harrell failing is the first step in his plan. A plan that would give him controlling stake of the Astros.

Fast-forward a couple days, Jim Crane (Astros Owner) has just finished giving the commencement speech at EMU when a young man, Brandon Gillespie, approaches him and asks for a job in Houston. Crane is impressed with Gillespie and decides to give him a shot, which causes Brandon to pick up and move to Houston with his long-time girlfriend Lisa.

Brandon works with the newly healthy Harrell on his mechanics in Spring Training, causing Harrell to pitch unbelievably well (to the tone of an undefeated record, and an ERA of 0.00), which causes Luhnow to freak out, because Harrell isn’t failing. He vows to find a new plan and get things working in his favor again. A couple days later, Luhnow trades Carlos Lee away so he can control the team playing around Harrell, and hopefully cause Harrell to fail.

We now learn about the bet Crane made to save his job and his team. Luhnow has some faulty evidence linking Crane to sketchy activity, activity that could get him thrown in jail and have the team turned over to Luhnow. Which led Crane to make a desperation bet that Lucas Harrell could be an average big league pitcher. His frustration with the bet leads him to inadvertently discover evidence against Luhnow, evidence that could switch the tide of this battle.

Spoiler

It seemed someone was pulling Luhnow’s strings the whole time, we later discover this to be Mark Cuban. Cuban wants the team so he can run it into the ground and make money off sports gambling. Meanwhile, Crane uses the evidence to blackmail Luhnow into getting rid of his evidence on Crane. Unfortunately for Crane, this is exactly what Luhnow wanted. Jeff plotted to get Jim on tape blackmailing him, so he could take it to the police and bust him. Right before Crane was taken, he sent Gillespie off to find some men, claiming that “their worst fear could be realized in 3 weeks time.”

These men ended up being Astros Hall of Famers Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. Gillespie tracked them down and found out the truth about the situation he had gotten himself into. Also, he learned that the Jeff Luhnow we’ve been shown is actually a doppelganger, someone paid to impersonate Luhnow and do Cuban’s bidding. After a little deliberation, the men successfully kidnap the doppelganger and send the real Luhnow home.

The doppelganger’s real name is Henry and after he was interrogated by Biggio and Bagwell we see for the first time, Cuban’s right hand man. He talks very vaguely about “taking care of the real Luhnow” and kills Henry with some sort of poison.

The real Jeff Luhnow goes to work for the first time in months, and promptly gets blackmailed over the phone by Cuban’s right hand man. The man kidnapped Luhnow’s wife but says he will return her unharmed. However, he claims if the Astros aren’t turned over to him in 6 months, he will do it again and then kill his wife.

Finally, Brandon Gillespie goes home for a vacation and receives a call from a blocked caller, who ends up being Jim Crane. Crane’s call is static-filled and difficult to understand, but all Brandon really hears are the words “explosion…people…but…me…dead” The call cuts out after that, leaving Brandon confused and bewildered.

Oh, and there was some baseball too…the Astros were bad, finishing 66 and 96 on the season.

Alright, now we’re back…after some internet troubles and what feels like an eternity of turmoil in La Casa de Gillespie (in real life of course.), its offseason time! When we left things off, the Cincinnati Reds were holding the trophy and celebrating their World Series Championship. Congrats again to the champs, but now it’s time for us to bolster this stupid team a little bit and look forward to 2013.

First things first…we need a new manager. Because Brad Mills sucked a hard one. Eventually, after scouring the list of potential hires, we landed on Ned Yost. Yost is an experienced hand that could help develop our talent and potentially lead this team to the World Series when we’re ready. So we settled on a 3 year deal with Ned and moved on to bigger fish, namely the actual team we put on the field.




Now then, let’s take a look at the top free agents of 2012:




Victorino heads the list of position players, while E-Jack heads the list of pitchers. Both are premier players, and both want nothing to do with Houston…of that we can be sure. Let’s focus our efforts on players that we can renew and retain first, then take a look at what’s left in free agency. After getting all our guys locked up (with the exception of Brett Wallace, Chris Snyder, some relief pitchers, and Matt Downs.) we take a look in FA to see this name pop up:



Alex Gonzalez is still unsigned? Are the Brewers going crazy? This guy had a 20+ homer season with 77 RBI last year and his .277 average would have led our god-forsaken squad. Sign em’ up boys! Because we are Houston, and because Alex is merely a stopgap until Correa is ready to play, we decided to lowball him with a one year deal as Spring closed in and see what happens. And what do you know? He signed with us. That solves our SS issue this season, as Villar did nothing to impress us down in OKC last season. We also picked up Ryan Theriot to be our utility infielder, a job that Matt Downs was filling before signing a deal with Oakland.*


*Side note: San Fran is stockpiling free agent talent after their lost play-in game last season. They picked up Victorino to man Center for them and Dotel to sure up the bullpen.*

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Anyways, we took a shot at Bryan LaHair on a cheap 1 year deal as well, but St Louis of all places, swooped in and picked him up before we could even think about the possibilities of a power hitter in Houston. We also tried with Jesse Carlson on a cheap deal, but he said no way. After it was all said and done, Gonzalez and Theriot were our only big pickups, oh that reminds me...speaking of Theriot:



Anyways, most of our signings were either for depth or they were fringe arms for our bullpen/rotation in the minors and bigs. The one guy to watch of those fringe arms is Hector Noesi. Hector was with Seattle last season, had a poor season in the rotation on that 107 loss Mariner squad. But he has good stuff and could be a helpful bullpen arm in the No-Name Bullpen we’re going to feature.

Notable Free Agent Signings:
Edwin Jackson: NYY
Anibal Sanchez: SD
JD Drew: SD
Dioner Navarro: SFG
Octavio Dotel: SFG
Shane Victorino: SFG
Jhonny Peralta: NYY
Brett Wallace: NYY
Ryan Madson: NYY
JJ Putz: TB
Ichiro Suzuki: TOR
Rod Barajas: DET
Andruw Jones: KC
JP Howell: LAA
AJ Pierzynski: LAA
Jason Kubel: LAA
Matt Downs: OAK


Look at LA and San Fran...both look to be bolstering their squads for postseason runs with solid pickups. And New York as well, considering Jeter and Mo retired last season...signing Peralta and Madson were solid pickups that fulfilled huge needs for them. And Houston? Well we're still going to be bad, but at least we didn't spend ridiculous amounts of money for average players (I'm looking at you Yankees! 43 million over 4 years for Peralta? Haha good luck with that man.)

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Onward to Spring! Maybe this can be our year (doubtful, but you never know.)


I had to start out with the good thus far, as we've played 3 games this Spring and JD hit that mammoth HR off former Astro and current Blue Jay Wandy Rodriguez. It was a 3R HR that led to a Houston win against the Suzuki led Jays.

Onto the construction of the team, which is honestly not as wide open as last year. The only competition to watch is the bullpen. Since most of our young arms and position players are around another half year away from contributing in the rotation, the bullpen is the place to watch for movers and shakers. Not to mention our pitching staff and lineup are both pretty set this year, with our rotation looking like this:


Bud Norris
JA Happ
Kyle Weiland
Jordan Lyles
Lucas Harrell

We didn’t want to resign Happ, but apparently someone really wanted him…as he was inked anyways. And since we really can’t drop a 3 year contract into free agency without some ramifications on our budget, we’ll stick with him for now. Hopefully someone will want him later in the year or something. I would have loved to give Cosart or Folty a shot up here this season, but with the contract of Happ, I can’t do that in good conscious.

Our starting 8 looks like this:
C: Castro
1B: Hessman
2B: Altuve
3B: Johnson
SS: Gonzalez
LF: Martinez
CF: Maxwell
RF: Bogey

Really no surprises here either, but considering Singleton, Springer, and Correa are both at least a year away, we needed some veteran help at 1st, center, and short. Enter Hessman and Gonzalez. Hessman performed well down the stretch for us, we so wanted to give him another shot, and Gonzalez is a proven threat in a lineup that brings the glove as well. Both guys are going to be keys to the offense this year and make up 2/5 of our infield. Maxwell speaks for himself in Center. After taking the job from Schafer, he hit 19 dingers and played solid defense all year long. So of course he retains his job for now.

The bullpen is a bit shakier than everywhere else as of right now:
LR: Wilton Lopez/Anthony Bass/Craig Stammen
MR: Wesley Wright
MR: David Carpenter/Juan Abreu
MR: Rhiner Cruz
MR: Hector Noesi/Anthony Bass/Craig Stammen
SU: Fernando Rodriguez
SU: Kevin Jepsen
CP: Sergio Escalona

All these roles are subject to change, except Escalona as the closer because of his stellar 2012 campaign. Whoever pitches the best will be in the key roles and situations this season, as it should be on any club.

As for our bench, it looks like this as of right now:
LF Travis Buck
SS Ryan Theriot
C Johnny Monell
CF Jordan Schafer

A five man bench is something I’d like to have but with our rotation’s struggles last season, it’s safer to carry 13 pitchers and 12 position players for now. Schafer gives us speed and defense off the bench, Theriot is our utility guy since he can play pretty much every position except catcher. Monell is our backup catcher, he was acquired in the Brandon Lyon trade last season and looks to make an impact as a backup. And Buck gives us a guy who can spell Bogey or JD in the corner OF spots, as well as a solid pinch hitting option.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Brandon Gillespie's Apartment
Houston, TX
February 26th, 2013


It had been about 4 months since the call. The call that shook his entire foundation, that defined everything he had thought or done in the last 4 months.

We don't...much time Brandon...listen careful...There...an explosion...hundreds dead and unaccounted...but I'm...the gist of things is this: people...I'm dead and.....

That voice still haunts him from time to time and there were so many questions to be answered because of it. What did he want from Brandon? What happened to Jim? Why call Brandon of all people in his last moments? All questions that ate away at the 24 year old on a daily basis. It was about that time to start the season again, time to get things going again, time to take his mind off his old friend. He was gone and it was high time Brandon moved on to bigger things. Like his promotion, Brandon had been promoted because of his hard work and excellent eye for talent to the Assistant General Manager. Jeff Luhnow was still the GM and owner, the Jerry Jones of the MLB...except without all the winning and money of course.

Jeff had seemed off since the end of the season, for whatever reason. Brandon didn't make too much of it, as he couldn't really do much to help in whatever problem Jeff was having anyways...plus Brandon was having his own demons come back up with the whole Crane thing. The news had just gotten a hold of the story of Crane's death and things were looking bleak.

Jim Crane, former owner of the Houston Astros was one of the 143 unaccounted for prisoners after the prison explosion of 4 months ago. Crane, a wealthy man in his own right, was serving a 3 year sentence after he reached a plea bargain in a blackmail and extortion case. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, although authorities have preliminarily guessed it was caused by some sort of gas leak...

Brandon clicked off the TV, he couldn't listen to this anymore. Jim was still haunting him and he'd be damned if he made this worse by continuing to feed his own fire. It was time to move on, Jim Crane wasn't coming back...he was gone forever.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

That may be the last update you guys get until I get my internet back at home, I'm working on one more funny story spot. But I may be leaving Panera soon, as my ride works in 40 minutes lol and still needs to go home and change. So we'll see. Also, I'm working on switching up my playing style. I'm thinking I want to go to a play 1 sim 1, or to playing every game...thoughts?

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Jay Crawford: This just into Sportscenter, according to the Houston Chronicle, Astros pitcher JA Happ has been discovered to be an illegal immigrant from Russia. Happ's real identity is unknown at this time, however he is believed to be former KGB assassin Sergei Nikolav. Happ is considered to be very dangerous and not to be approached for any reason. The Astros organization, via Owner/GM Jeff Luhnow, have released this message in response to the news on Happ's identity



"We are extremely disappointed to find out about JA...or whatever his name is. We will fully cooperate with the FBI in handing over any and all information about him that we have."

Houston opened Spring camp earlier this week with Happ slotted to be their #2 starter, this is a huge blow to a team without much pitching depth and organizational depth in general. Houston finished 29 games out of first place last season with a record of 66 and 92. Spring Camp now opens up a job for one of the talented prospect arms the Astros have in the minors, possibly top pitching prospect Jarred Cosart or 25 year old Paul Clemens. Houston also has Jeanmar Gomez, Felix Doubrount, and Anthony Bass in camp this Spring trying for AAA and AA pitching spots, so they could also be options.

[jknott10]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

That may be the last update you guys get until I get my internet back at home, I'm working on one more funny story spot. But I may be leaving Panera soon, as my ride works in 40 minutes lol and still needs to go home and change. So we'll see. Also, I'm working on switching up my playing style. I'm thinking I want to go to a play 1 sim 1, or to playing every game...thoughts?

How bout play 1 sim 2 or play one game a series then 2 games per division series. You get more played games in and the season still moves at a decent pace

[AC]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Wow, I missed a lot! Like yours, my internet was out. But since I'm such a brilliant mind, I fixed it.

Spoiler

All I did was reset my router..... But you've probably tried that.

[xboxxerx]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Saw you have Kevin Jepson in your pen. He should be a great setup guy for you. Between him and Downs in my Angels chise the 8th was horrible for the opposing team. But I didn't see him on your F/A acquisition list. Its the same guy right?

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Saw you have Kevin Jepson in your pen. He should be a great setup guy for you. Between him and Downs in my Angels chise the 8th was horrible for the opposing team. But I didn't see him on your F/A acquisition list. Its the same guy right?

To answer your question, Jepsen was sitting in AA ball for the Angels along with Romine...so I acquired the two of them in the Brett Myers trade.

Anyways, my internet is finally back! So expect at least 2 or 3 updates today (mainly baseball related haha.)

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Sergei Nikolav? Damn…that’s one cold a** name man. If only we knew his name when he was a ‘Stro, those would have been some fun times and some awesome one-liners would have arisen.

But I’m getting beside myself, the point here is this: sometimes things just work out for the best. Example, we didn’t want Happ and we didn’t sign him. But he managed to find his way onto our Astros anyways, but he’s on the FBI’s most wanted list and won’t be pitching this season (or anytime soon I’d imagine.) Enter Paul Clemens and Jarred Cosart, two guys who I’d have loved to have compete for the 5 th spot in our rotation. They were blocked by Happ’s presence in the rotation, but since he’s going MIA and released unconditionally (obviously) there is now an opening in the Houston rotation. Open competition time, looks like this is going to be an interesting spring after all. The other three candidates for the 5 starter spot are Jeanmar Gomez (former Indians RHP), Felix Doubront (Former Red Sox LHP) and Anthony Bass (former San Diego RHP). These guys were signed as minor league depth and now have a shot to beat out one of my two young guns for a spot in the Show. Although they are real long shots to take this thing from Clemens or Cosart, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t give them a shot right?

With the release of Happ/Nikolav, the organization signed a random closer for minor league depth at the league minimum salary. He’s nothing special, had a good fastball and looked like he might be able to amount to something, and if nothing else, he’s a good person to stick at closer in AA or AAA when I deplete the valuable arms for the Big Club.

Basically Spring Training is now the battle for the 5th spot in the rotation. Everything else is all but decided (injuries withstanding, knocking on wood for even mentioning it) so this will take center-stage in our Spring coverage this season. Get ready to see some epic battles for a spot that probably won’t impact too much in the end. And at the very least, we'll see some young arms competing for spots...which is always exciting.


Oh, that reminds me! Check out the start Kyle Weiland turned in for us.




I handed him the ball and he gave me 5 perfect innings. Then allowed 2 hits in the 6th and ruined any hopes I had of a no-hitter. Whatever, we still won by a lot because we got to Hamels early and often.

Back to the original point here: Sergei...we're gonna miss you around here. Even if you were some mega-assassin for the KGB. That outing he gave us in New York was one of the better performances we've had from a starter since the beginning of these Chronicles, and its unfortunate we had to part with him this way...hell, I'd have rather dealt him for more prospects if he HAD to leave.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

You know that old saying, that a whole is greater than the sum of its parts? Well that’s how this year’s Astros are looking like they’ll shape up early on in Spring. The guys are playing a lot better baseball than last year. We’re 7 and 10 through 17 games and considering the stinker of Spring Training we had last year (winning 4 games TOTAL), I’ll sure as hell take this. Hector Noesi has been the best pitcher in our bullpen thus far, appearing in 10 games with a 1.37 ERA and totaling 12 punchouts.





As for the lineup, JD Martinez and Jason Castro have both been swinging hot sticks while Mikey Hessman hasn’t been. Hessman is the only hitter in the lineup who hasn’t been hot at some point, which isn’t necessarily bad. Chris Johnson has also been solid and has been taking a lot of reps at 1st base here in Spring, to perhaps allow Matt Dominguez a shot at making the club at 3rd base if Hessman doesn’t perform. Dominguez has been an average hitter with above average defense at 3rd ever since he arrived here in Houston and is hitting .357 in just over 70 ABs this Spring. Hessman needs to start raking or his league minimum salary won't discourage an early departure to OKC to start the year.

Now, on to the 5th rotation spot. Bass and Doubront have both eliminated themselves from contention with back-to-back horrid outings. Gomez has pitched decently, but the story has been Clemens and Cosart. Both guys have been unbelievable here in Florida and are making this decision way harder than it should be. Clemens and Cosart both are sporting sub 2 ERAs and have done it in different ways. Cosart has been a strikeout machine while Clemens has had great stuff, but relied on his location and weak contact for most of his outs.






Solid work for Jarred, he just may have a leg up in this two-horse race! But wait, Clemens' numbers have been equally impressive.






Those line score pictures are from two different points in Spring. Clemens' is from his first start, while Cosart's is from his 3rd. Regardless, both guys have been very very good and are making Jeff Luhnow and Ned Yost's jobs very difficult. How can you go wrong with either of these two? Both have been dominant at times, and average at others...which makes them better than whatever else I could run out there at 5. It looks like this battle will come down to the end of ST and in all honesty, I wouldn't have it any other way.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Well, Spring Training is fun and all...but I'm ready to head back to Houston and get this season underway. But we've got a little house keeping to deal with first, mainly the two battles we've got brewing. The second one may be a surprise, but after an 0-52 stretch by 1st baseman Mike Hessman there had to be something done about his awful hitting. The main thing with him is that he may not make the club as Matt Dominguez has been swinging as hot a stick as he can, with a .357 average this Spring and he's also played a good 3rd base. With Chris Johnson playing 1st about as well as Hessman could have, and Dominguez raking more than Hessman has, Mike may not make the team out of Spring.

Onto the other battle on our team in the rotational duel. Cosart and Clemens have been neck and neck all month, which has led to a hell of a battle. Cosart pitched a lot of really dominant baseball and his last start of the Spring was a good one.


He looked like he finally got a leg up on Paul, mainly because this was against the Cardinals who have a pretty good lineup. So on the last day of camp we handed the ball to Paul Clemens, and allowed him free reign. "Throw until your arm falls off Pauly." That was our motto coming into a game against the 101 win White Sox from a year ago. We face a 16 game winner from last season in Jake Peavy and things probably would go south real quick for the boys facing this team. They were very superior to us in every way, I mean come on...this battle was way over right?


Yeah, about that...hot damn Paul. You are one bad mutha' (you guys get the point.) How in the hell are Yost and Luhnow supposed to make this decision? There's two spots for one guy, and both guys have been so good. This is gonna be one tough decision. I need to rest on this sucker for a couple minutes. So I'll come back to the baseball after this short commercial break.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Minute Maid Park Owner's Box
April 3rd, 2013
12:04pm



Brandon was sitting alone in the owner's box. There wasn't a game today and he wanted to come to the park to meet with Craig and Jeff before the season started, to get an update on how all things Cuban were going.

He was there because he had been given an open invitation to watch all the home games at Minute Maid Park by Jeff Luhnow...not unusual for the Assistant GM to have that offer, but it was something new for Brandon. To actually be somebody, to have options, to have a great job. It had been a long year since he graduated and he'd come so far in such a short amount of time. Which is hard to believe considering the field he decided to get into, a field that required you know somebody to get a start in...he got lucky. He introduced himself to a commencement speaker at his graduation and got a job out of it. But he didn't just get a job, he got much more than that too. He got a friend, someone who he'd learned to trust and who trusted him. Friends like that are tough to come by, which made sitting in this abandoned box even harder.

Just as Brandon's thoughts drifted to Jim Crane, Jeff and Craig knocked on the door and walked in.

Jesus kid...sit in a more depressing situation why don't ya?

Jeff, take it easy on him...he's had a rough couple months. Brandon, how ya holdin' up?

Good enough Craig, good enough. I've had an up and down couple months but the fact of the matter is that I'm alright. Now, what's the status report on our little situation?

Well I've got two things for you right now. First off, Cuban has gone completely dark...he's underground right now and I haven't heard or seen anything of him in about 2 months. He's up to something and we need to find out what it is.

And secondly Craig? Mind telling him what else we found?

What else did you find? Something on Jim?

Not on Jim, but related to him. We just took a trip to the prison where the explosion took place last week, and we found something the police overlooked. There was a car in the basement of the prison...the police overlooked it as the car was reported to have always been there. But that may not be the case. I have good reason to believe the explosion originated from the car.

An car bomb? But what does it all mean?

That's where what I found comes into play...the remains of the car didn't leave much, but they did leave something that you may find interesting. There were traces of an explosive that hasn't been used by bomb makers in the world in 20 years. Well, all bombs made in the world that don't come from Russia that is.

Wait a minute...you don't mean to tell me that he...no he couldn't have...it was.....

Yes, we believe that Sergei Nikolav, or the person known to you as JA Happ was responsible for the explosion. I don't know what this means yet, but I can say with mild confidence that Happ was behind this.

Jim...what the hell did you die for?

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Opening Day! It's a day of hope and promise, a day where everybody can potentially go 1-0 and lead their division (only if its even for a day.) Here's our final Opening Day Roster, starting with our lineup and bench.


No real surprises here, outside of Dominguez making the club to play 3rd while CJ shifts over to play some 1st base this season, which should be interesting. Coming off a 19 homer season in which he led the club in RBIs with 78, Johnson is looking to build on that and improve his average on the .265 clip he hit last season.

Now, here comes the most interesting part of the update (well outside of the game but that's later) the rotation battle. Oh the build-up has been intense! Let's get to it...and the winner of the 5th starter on a bad team is:


Paul Clemens. Cosart had been equally good as Clemens in Spring, but Pauly's last outing showed ownership how dominant he can be against good big league hitters. And that's an appealing quality to have in a young guy considering how awful the rotation was last season. Clemens' first start as an Astro will be in St. Louis against the Cardinals. Looking elsewhere in the rotation/bullpen, there really aren't any surprises in these races. All the guys we anticipated making our roster at the end of last year made the squad this season, with Noesi really impressing in ST.

Now, onto our game!


Wait, the Pirates are 1-0? What the hell happened there? It turned out that they played a 1 game series against the World Champion Reds before coming to Houston for this series. Anyways, on to the game at Minute Maid Park. Bud Norris versus Jeff Locke in a matchup that actually favors us for once.


There's Bud...entering his age 27 season and boy oh boy did he have the number of these Pirates today. He pitched 7 sparkling innings of shutout baseball. He gave up 6 hits and punched out 8 batters before departing. But we'll get back to Bud after we talk about another Astro who had a hell of a day. Chris "Put Me In Coach" Johnson. His first AB off Locke ended the same way his last AB of Spring did.


With a longball of course! What a shot off his bat into the Crawford Boxes and we had a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. And he comes up again in the 3rd inning, and survey says:



Yeah, he hit another one. This one was also into the Crawford Boxes, and it was a bomb. Wow, 2-2 with 2 HRs (both were solo shots but we'll look past that for now.)


He added an RBI double in the 7th inning to give us a 3-0 lead. Fans rejoyce!

But then the Bullpen imploded after a couple errors that weren't ruled errors for some reason. Jepsen blew a 3-0 lead to tie the game at 3's and there it would stay for 3 innings until Hector Noesi allowed a 2R-HR in the top of the 13th inning. Hanrahan got into a bit of trouble, but an interesting mistake cost the Astros a 2nd and 3rd with nobody out situation. Jordan Schafer came in and stole 2nd base, but right after stealing...took off towards 3rd base despite the runner there not breaking towards home. It was a boneheaded mistake and one that cost us a solid opportunity. But Joel gets the save and we take a heartbreaking loss. Final Score 5-3


Ouch, that one hurts a little. But it is only one game, we can take solace in the fact that we'll be able to better compete with teams this year than we ever could have last year.