Since the Astros visited Corpus Christi to play an exhibition game, it allows me, a minor league contributor, to write a recap involving the big boys. Corpus Christ Caller reporter Greg Rajan even gets the call up to post the MLB recap in the place of the illustrious Allyson Footer.
Corpus Christi enjoyed it’s first visit from a major league time since 1958 when the Giants played the Indians. Whataburger Field sold more tickets than ever before (9,118); beating the previous mark (9,022) set when Roger Clemens was on his minor league whirlwind tour. This despite the fact that tickets cost $26.50 more than they did in 1958.
The best part of the game for the Astros was Wandy Rodriguez’s dominate performance on the mound. He faced one over the minimum for 6 innings. He gave us a double to Wlad Sutil but fanned 11 Hooks batters along the way. He left the game with a 2-0 cushion that wasn’t safe.
The Hook’s starter, Felipe Paulino wasn’t bad facing the Astros starters. He went 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk. He fanned 3. The important thing was, he kept the Hooks in the game.
The bullpens for both teams struggled. Jose Capellan was anything but impressive. He let the Hooks get back in to the game and take the lead with 2 innings of shoddy relief work. He gave up a 2 run home run to Jhon Florintino in the 7th and a solo shot to Andrew Locke in the 8th.
The Astros had added 3 runs of their own in the 8th and took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Chris Salamida, who will likely pitch for Corpus Christi this year, was wearing an Astros’ uni last night. He faced two batters in the 9th. Mitch Einertson singled to start the inning and then much traveled catcher Brian Esposito took a 0-1 pitch over the right field wall to cap off a memorable evening for the Hooks players and fans.
“It was one of those things where we went out and decided to play hard, not worry about who’s on the field,” Esposito said. “We’re trying to get our team ready for opening day (on April 9). We put together a pretty good effort out there.”
Hooks manager Luis Pujols was pleased.
“I liked what I saw,” Hooks manager Luis Pujols said. “I was expecting a good game. Everyone was talking about it being sold out and standing room only. That was an exciting game for us to have the opportunity to play a major-league club.
“We hit some balls to the right place tonight. The guys played the ballpark the right way today.”
Cecil Cooper talks about Astros’ prospects:
“Well, you know what, I think they’re all dead wrong. I’ve heard all the talk,” Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. “We had a chance this spring to see a lot of our young kids play. Yes, we do have some young kids in the system, we do have somewhat of a void at a couple of the levels. But it’s just because we didn’t sign a lot of guys in ’06 and ’07.”
He adds some thoughts about Chris Johnson as well:
“Chris is a kid who I really think belongs at the major league level. He’s shown that he can handle it defensively,” Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. “He has struggled a little bit offensively, but you can see that there’s power in that swing. He has very quick wrists, he’s got a pretty good idea of the strike zone. He just needs to play a little bit.
“He had a pretty good year here last year, got a chance to go to Triple-A. He struggled a little bit at Triple-A. He just needs to play there a little more, and he’s got a chance to do that at the start of year. I expect Chris to be in the major leagues before the year is over.”
Berkman adds his two cents on the prospects:
“Well, I think there’s no doubt we’re thin or probably as thin as we’ve been in a long time with our minor-league system,” admitted Astros first baseman Lance Berkman, who served as Houston’s designated hitter Thursday night. “But that doesn’t mean that we don’t still have guys that are talented that are going to be knocking on the door and helping us out.
“Right now I think for so long our system has had so many good players in it. Inevitably every system is maybe going to go through a little bit of some hard times,” Berkman said. “But there are some guys out there that are going to be competitive at a high level.”
Pence talks up his buddies:
“We’ve got people who’ve come up through the system when I was there. You’ve got me and Sampson up here right now. A lot of young prospects like Towles,” Pence said. “We’ve made big trades to get Miguel Tejada here for some of the guys I came up with. We got to see Jason Castro in big-league camp this year and, I mean, that guy looks phenomenal. We’ve got some pitching that we saw early in camp. So there’s a lot to look forward to.”
The Hooks roster is set for the first two series. Sergio Perez will be the opening day starter, followed by Polin Trinidad, and Casey Hudspeth. Douglas Arguello and Brad James get their first starts in the second series.