St. Louis Cardinals @ Houston Astros GameThread, Apr 7, 2008 6:05 PM CDT

St. Louis Cardinals at Houston Astros : Astros Home Opener

by Stros Bro on Apr 7, 2008 8:46 AM CDT

St. Louis Cardinals @ Houston Astros

Houston Home Opener

St. Louis Cardinals Viva El Birdos
@ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes

Monday, Apr 7, 2008, 6:05 PM CDT
Minute Maid Park

Todd Wellemeyer(1-0, 1.80) vs Wandy Rodriguez(0-0, 7.20)

The Astros finally get to come home after a rough 1st week on the road in which the Astros went 2-5 and find themselves in the cellar, 3.5 games back of the Cardinals. The Astros start their home series with a 3 game series against those 1st place Cardinals who have started the season off 5-1 and are tied with the Brewers with the same record.

If you are one of the lucky ones that either were off today, or took off of work to enjoy some of the opening day festivities(or even luckier to attend the game), there is a lot of stuff to do today. I just hope you got tickets to the game already, because they are sold out!

Schedule of Events

11:00 AM - 4:00PM - Opening Day Street Festival at Halliburton Place : free to the public
12:30PM - 1:00PM - Pep Rally featuring Drayton McLane, Milo Hamilton, Cecil Cooper, Miguel Tejada, Jose Valverde, Michael Bourn, Jose Cruz Jr and Geoff Blum
3:00PM - Gates Open
5:30PM - Pregame ceremonies including the 2007 5A state champion Cy Fair High School baseball team holding an over-sized American Flag as well as the US Navy Lap Frogs parachuting into Minute Maid Park and presenting GM Ed Wade with the first-pitch ball, which he will use to throw to Cecil Cooper to get this thing started.

Lance, being Lance...

Lance Berkman, who strained a neck muscle running the bases in Chicago, would like to play Monday, but the fact that it's the home opener adds no extra incentive. For him, it's just another day at the ballpark. "For the players, it's more of a pain in the rear, [because of] the [pregame] ceremonies and stuff like that," he said. "It's really just another game. We've already played seven of them by that point, so it's not like any great extra incentive." ...

Cooper doesn't feel the same way.

"You wait a week, so there's a little buildup," he said. 'We're excited to get home, to have the fans yelling and cheering for us." .

If any of you are able to attend the game and take pictures, feel free to e-mail them to me... I'll host them and display them on the CFB.

0 recs | Comment 103 comments

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Comments

My God

It's amazing to listen to JD and Bill.

Bourn to Run!

by jsams on Apr 7, 2008 6:28 PM CDT 0 recs

Hehe, how many people are at the game?

by BTastros on Apr 7, 2008 6:36 PM CDT 0 recs

hopefully about 10K times more than on this chat

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 6:52 PM CDT up 0 recs

Magic Wandy looking good through 3

1 hit, 1 strike out so far

by entropic soul on Apr 7, 2008 6:41 PM CDT 0 recs

I'm one of those...

... unfortunate Astros fans who doesn't live in the Houston area and must live vicariously through gameday and the pictures my brother is texting me from the game

Looks like Wandy is keeping his pitch count down which is good (knock on wood)

by blakemusn on Apr 7, 2008 7:10 PM CDT 0 recs

same here...

I live via mlb.tv though.

by BTastros on Apr 7, 2008 7:22 PM CDT up 0 recs

Is it worth it?

I was actually thinking about signing up for it this year... I did mlb radio last year but my attention span only takes me so far with that. Who does the PBP, is it the local people?

by blakemusn on Apr 7, 2008 7:29 PM CDT up 0 recs

Finally!

Another hit

by blakemusn on Apr 7, 2008 7:11 PM CDT 0 recs

cards fans upset

berkman do something?

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 7:34 PM CDT 0 recs

hr to center

ok. gameday is running WAAAAY behind tonight.

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 7:35 PM CDT up 0 recs

Go Lance!

Homerun!

by blakemusn on Apr 7, 2008 7:34 PM CDT 0 recs

carlos adds on?

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 7:35 PM CDT 0 recs

Back to back!

Great to hear J.D. and Brownie making the call, too.

by BTastros on Apr 7, 2008 7:36 PM CDT 0 recs

two questions...

do they leave wandy in?

and

how long before they cut B Ausmus?

by blakemusn on Apr 7, 2008 7:40 PM CDT 0 recs

ausmus isn't going anywhere

and I think this may be Wandy's last inning

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 7:45 PM CDT up 0 recs

except it isn't

coop pulls wandy. pujols is 4th in the 9th inning i think

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 7:46 PM CDT up 0 recs

Optimistic...

I guess I'm just optimistic that they'll cut Ausmus and take Q back... keep ausmus as one of those special assistants and he can still coach Towles

by blakemusn on Apr 7, 2008 7:48 PM CDT 0 recs

Q is one of those guys...

who you always hate to lose, but it's really not that big a deal. I'm not sure exactly how old he is, but he's not a kid anymore and the marginal wins added by a no-hit, great defense backup catcher are very minuscule. if Bradley wasn't hanging around, we'd keep him for sure, but he won't be too hard to replace next year I don't think.

For the record, if Ausmus would have agreed to your "retire and hang around as a coach" idea, I'd be all for it.

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 7:50 PM CDT up 0 recs

Q???

Ew, no, hated that guy for some reason. And by hate, I mean HAAAATE. Chamo though, he's a backup catcher I miss tremendous.

But Towles ain't looking so bad anymore :)

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 7:53 PM CDT up 0 recs

If Q is claimed on waivers....

which is very likely, he isn't available to the Astros anymore. He can't be pulled back off waivers and put back on the roster. If he clears waivers and doesn't sign with somebody else, he could be retained by the Astros. If something happens to Towles or Ausmus, we will probably see Josh Paul, who was just acquired, called up.

by clack on Apr 7, 2008 11:03 PM CDT up 0 recs

That's my Wandy!!!

I still love that kid, lol.

2008: Return of the Koopa

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 7:48 PM CDT 0 recs

Wandilicious!

by BTastros on Apr 7, 2008 7:49 PM CDT up 0 recs

Heh it's about time I drag out my t-shirt

I don't wear it too often since most people don't get the reference, but if he keeps this up I'm adding it to my weekly rotation.

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 7:50 PM CDT up 0 recs

Towles!

by BTastros on Apr 7, 2008 7:53 PM CDT 0 recs

wonder when the last time

our catcher had 2 HR thru the first 8 games?

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 7:55 PM CDT 0 recs

BTW

This place is so faaaancy now. It'll take me a year to learn everything again, lol.

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 7:56 PM CDT 0 recs

the keybd shortcuts for new comments

are a nice touch. need to build up the class participation though.

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 8:00 PM CDT up 0 recs

I was around religiously the past two years

But school and work's (ew, I know) gotta come first. Luckily I work split-shifts now so if they play during the 6:05 or 7:05 timeslot, I should catch most of the night games.

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 8:01 PM CDT up 0 recs

Heh

I can't get used to not refreshing every few seconds.

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 8:06 PM CDT up 0 recs

Fattie is a damn fool

Ugh, pickoffs piss me off.

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 8:00 PM CDT 0 recs

yep, big puma certainly has his Brainchild moments

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 8:01 PM CDT up 0 recs

not to mention there's no reason for it.

trailing another man on base, Lee at the plate. just a brain fart I would have to assume, no matter how good an arm the catcher has.A

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 8:06 PM CDT up 0 recs

I just bit the bullet

and bought the mlb.tv... just in time for Towles' homer

by blakemusn on Apr 7, 2008 8:01 PM CDT 0 recs

Astros up 3-0

Just got home, I heard the back to back jacks by Lance and Carlos and got to watch Towles go deep. Hopefully Valverde can have a scoreless save.

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Apr 7, 2008 8:02 PM CDT 0 recs

What on earth is wrong with Pence?

Is he going to regress this season? Say it ain't so.

by garageinc on Apr 7, 2008 8:03 PM CDT 0 recs

not

hitting breaking pitches.

by Triple347 on Apr 7, 2008 8:06 PM CDT up 0 recs

Yep

last at bat I don't think he got a fastball.. missed most of them swinging..

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Apr 7, 2008 8:09 PM CDT up 0 recs

wonder if he's pressing

all the talk about moving back to the 6 hole when matsui comes back. i think he'll be ok.

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 8:07 PM CDT up 0 recs

Don't disappoint Valverde

Or I'm gonna start calling you Velveeta.......

by saylinara on Apr 7, 2008 8:06 PM CDT 0 recs

Valverde

Bah! 2 straight baserunners.. WE WANT AN EASY SAVE!

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Apr 7, 2008 8:06 PM CDT 0 recs

that's

too much of an effort for him, I think!

by Triple347 on Apr 7, 2008 8:07 PM CDT up 0 recs

reminds me of lidge..

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Apr 7, 2008 8:08 PM CDT up 0 recs

please dont say that

: (

by garageinc on Apr 7, 2008 8:09 PM CDT up 0 recs

well

that was a blast by Pujols, thankfully came up short.

by Triple347 on Apr 7, 2008 8:10 PM CDT up 0 recs

milo's talkin' to valverde

on the radio. hilarious.

by lnewcomer on Apr 7, 2008 8:07 PM CDT 0 recs

Speaking of Milo

Drayton was in the booth while I was driving home and was there for the 1st half of the 6th(I think) and It was over really fast and Drayton asks if he could stay for another half inning and Milo just says "It's your booth".

I laughed...

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Apr 7, 2008 8:08 PM CDT up 0 recs