Finally, the day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived.  Opening Day is here!!!  I think tonight's game will be a really good game, but in the end... I believe the Astros will come out on top.  Why?  Well, I'll put it as simple as this...  I think the starting pitching match up is pretty much a wash; Oswalt and Peavy are both Cy-Young caliber pitchers and either can be the other on any given day.  Offensively, I think the Astros are a much better team and should be able to do more against Peavy than the Padres will do against Oswalt.  So that's my reasoning.  I know it's simple(maybe too simple), but over complicating it in my opinion isn't needed... so there you go. 

Last year, the Astros opened up their 2007 season at home against the Pirates and we're beaten 2-4 with Roy-O going 7.2 innings and giving up just 2 runs.  This game was the beginning of the end for Brad Lidge who blew his first save of the year in the 9th inning by giving up the game tying run(game was 2-1 Astros at the time) to send the game into extra innings.  Qualls pitched the 10th and gave up 2 runs to earn the loss.  The best offensive player in that game was Luke Scott who went 2-4 with 2 RBI's and a home run.  Luke, you and your Star Wars themed intro music will be missed.

Some Astros Opening Day Stats

• Astros have played the Dodgers on opening day more times than any other team(11 games).
• The Astros have never lost (only counting teams they have played) to the Cubs(2 games), Marlins(1 game) or Padres(1 game) on opening day.
• The Astros have never beaten the Reds(1 game), Braves(1 game), Phillies(3 games) or Cardinals(2 games) on opening day.
• Astros record on opening day is 22-24.
• The 2008 opening day will be the 2nd time the Astros have ever started the season in March(last time was 3/31/98 against the Giants)
• The Astros have shut out the opposing team 2 times on opening day.
• The Astros have been shut out 4 times on opening day.
• The Astros have scored 10 or more runs 4 times on opening day.
• The only Astros on today's opening day lineup, that also started last year are Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, Brad Ausmus and Roy Oswalt.

Lineups
Houston			San Diego
1.	Bourn, CF		1.	Giles, RF
2.	Pence, RF		2.	Iguchi, 2B
3.	Berkman, 1B		3.	Kouzmanoff, 3B
4.	Lee, LF		4.	Gonzalez, A, 1B
5.	Tejada, SS		5.	Hairston, CF
6.	Wigginton, 3B		6.	Greene, SS
7.	Loretta, 2B		7.	Bard, C
8.	Ausmus, C		8.	McAnulty, LF
9.	Oswalt, P		9.	Peavy, P

Yes, that is Ausmus instead of Towles.  Towles isn't hurt, Roy requested that Ausmus catch for him because he is so comfortable with him.  Looks like Brad will be Roy's designated catcher all season.