I got to watch the game thanks to the free week of Extra Innings. Wandy is fun to watch. Tejada was impressive with his glove as well. El Caballo is still a natural hitter if there ever was one, although when you guys come up to Milwaukee, he shouldn't stand next to any of the racing sausages as southern cooking seems to agree with him. Come to think of it, just have him stand next to Prince and you guys will think he's slimmed down...

The whole Valverde thing is crazy. Not a good start of the year for a few closers. I think Tony Gwynn jr broke Trevor Hoffman last year. We've got Gagne. He coughed up 3 in a game that went a lot like this one. He did have a nice close a couple games ago, although not against the likes of Pujols et al.

It was also fun to watch your youngbloods. Hope you guys do well... except of course when you play the Brewers (of course).

Congrats again.

tonight's win was huge. It's probably gonna take a lot of pressure of the hitters and allow them to stop pressing at the plate. And I'll give Valverde a break since it was the home opener on a new team.

Is 'Valverde' Spanish for 'Lidge'?

Pence is struggling, but there's no way he should go down to AAA. Maybe you were saying he just looks like that. He's both earned the chance to work out his problems here and there's nothing at AAA that would be a huge upgrade or is as much a part of our future.

The week has certainly been a weird one, with the SP being relatively good, while the relief pitching and offense has been below average. It's likely those will flip as the season wears on, but we'll see. I think Wandy may have a reasonable shot to build on what he showed last year, road troubles notwithstanding, and Backe has always had promise, but I still think he's pitching over his head the past two starts.

it gave an opportunity for Tejada to hit a walk of HR. And that kind of big hit in the 9th may be just what the doctor ordered for the offense.

Cooper doesn't have much choice but to say what he did about Valverde. Demoting him, even temporarily, probably would create more confidence issues, and I don't get the sense that Valverde (like most closers) can be as effective pitching in another inning. He has to ride the big guy for every save opportunity and hope things work out. It's certainly not the way you like to see Valverde's Astros career start off. The odds are that this period will be a blip on the screen, when we look back at the end of the season. I hope so. It's not like the Astros have another closer in the bullpen. I'm not exactly comfortable with our set up guys, Villareal and Brocail, even though Brocail has gotten out of jams.

Made the drive down again from Austin this year for the opener. It was such a beautiful night for baseball. When Valverde gave up the 3-spot in the ninth we had the sickening feeling that history was repeating itself. So very Lidge-like. Wandy just looked incredibly sharp out there. One thing that impressed me is that he worked quickly, a la Oswalt. He did not let the hitters get comfortable out there. He seemed to have amazing control of the strike zone and command of all his pitches. Anyway, the outcome sure made the drive to Austin a lot more bearable than last year.

is looking like a fantastic pitcher so far. If he keeps this up, Wandilicious! might make its way into the lexicon of people outside CFB.

and didn't see a replay on Tejada's relay to the plate that rolled away from Towles and could have ended the game. anybody want to comment on what exactly happened? somebody told me it was a one-hopper, but it looked right on target and in plenty of time. not that i'm calling for his head, but Towles apparently needs to work on his ability to make those crucial plays at the plate (ala Brad Ausmus). seems to me he botched one or two of those in ST as well.

sure the blown save sucked, but it still was a fun game and a great win. Wandy looked great and hopefully he can keep it up, but Tejada is clearly the game hero. fantastic diving play with the backhand toss to 2nd to end the 9th with the game still tied (i know Everett probably makes that play without diving or having to make a circus throw, but still... nice play by Tejada to get it done) and pending somebody telling me otherwise, i thought his relay throw to the plate earlier in the inning was just about perfect. one of the few things he might have over Everett is arm strength and making good strong relay throws to the plate is something that Tejada clearly brings to the table.

i actually bought a ticket at the box office right at 6pm yesterday, so i'm not sure if it actually sold out, but the crowd was great last night. great atmosphere for a home opener. i'll be there again tonight, so hopefully it'll be another packed house. and hopefully our late-game scoring from last night will carry over into tonight and we'll give Chacon enough runs to give him a win this time.

go Astros!