taste of things to come

[Fredia]

two 9 p,m. games in a row. next year there will be a whole lot of that going on.  when a game is ongoing i dont go to sleep till the final out

[Duke]

two 9 p,m. games in a row. next year there will be a whole lot of that going on.  when a game is ongoing i dont go to sleep till the final out

So you know how Fox replays the Ranger's games the next day at lunch time in 1 hour?  Wonder if they will do that for the "Stros?

[Navin R Johnson]

So you know how Fox replays the Ranger's games the next day at lunch time in 1 hour?  Wonder if they will do that for the "Stros?

Probably not since the Astros will be on Comcast Sports next year, or is that 2014?

[jbm]

I'm pretty sure it is next year

[ValpoCory]

two 9 p,m. games in a row. next year there will be a whole lot of that going on.  when a game is ongoing i dont go to sleep till the final out

When not matched up with the AL West in interleague, like this year, the Astros have about 20 games in the Pacific or Mountain time zones.   When not matched up with the NL West, like last year, the Rangers play about 30 such games.  So it is not as huge of a change as I once thought.

[Mr. Happy]

When not matched up with the AL West in interleague, like this year, the Astros have about 20 games in the Pacific or Mountain time zones.   When not matched up with the NL West, like last year, the Rangers play about 30 such games.  So it is not as huge of a change as I once thought.

+1

We're going to the AL and will have to play more games in the Pacific time zone. The sooner everyone (not you, ValpoCory) gets their bitching out of their systems, the better off everyone will be.

[juliogotay]

I managed to stay awake throught the entirety and I'm glad I made it. The team's best win of 2012 so far? Beat the team with the best NL record in their home park where they have been almost unbeatable and had the reigning CY winner on the mound. Yea, that's a pretty good win.

[Mr. Happy]

I managed to stay awake throught the entirety and I'm glad I made it. The team's best win of 2012 so far? Beat the team with the best NL record in their home park where they have been almost unbeatable and had the reigning CY winner on the mound. Yea, that's a pretty good win.

+1 We caught a break last night in that Kershaw had no command of his fastball whatsoever. That pinpoint surgical precision of his inside game wasn't there.

[Matt]

+1

We're going to the AL and will have to play more games in the Pacific time zone. The sooner everyone (not you, ValpoCory) gets their bitching out of their systems, the better off everyone will be.

And we're gonna break some shit when we get there next year!

[Noe]

+1 We caught a break last night in that Kershaw had no command of his fastball whatsoever. That pinpoint surgical precision of his inside game wasn't there.

Kershaw was not bad, in fact, he was pretty nasty. But his fastball to both Altuve and JD were down and in and those two guys love the inside fastball. I don't think Kershaw was off, it was just a tip of the cap to both Altuve and JD for getting a quick bat on inside pitches. The one mistake Kershaw made was on Lowrie. He left the slider up in the zone and Jed didn't miss it. Other than that, it wasn't about knocking him around.

Last night was a good old fashion NL pitchers game.

[jbm]

Agreed.  I thought he had his stuff. The pitch to Martinez was right on the mitt.  The mistake was where to pitch him, not the execution of the pitch. 

[Mr. Happy]

Kershaw was not bad, in fact, he was pretty nasty. But his fastball to both Altuve and JD were down and in and those two guys love the inside fastball. I don't think Kershaw was off, it was just a tip of the cap to both Altuve and JD for getting a quick bat on inside pitches. The one mistake Kershaw made was on Lowrie. He left the slider up in the zone and Jed didn't miss it. Other than that, it wasn't about knocking him around.

Last night was a good old fashion NL pitchers game.

Kershaw may not have seemed off, but compared to some of the times that I've seen him go, he just didn't have the same command. He's got nasty stuff. But it's his pinpoint command that I think he didn't have last night. He gave up several hard hit balls last night, which you rarely see.

[Noe]

Kershaw may not have seemed off, but compared to some of the times that I've seen him go, he just didn't have the same command. He's got nasty stuff. But it's his pinpoint command that I think he didn't have last night. He gave up several hard hit balls last night, which you rarely see.

I dunno, he looked pretty darn impressive other than two pitches, one to Lowrie and one to Lee. Other than that, dude only allowed 3 runs and one was unearned. Basically, last night's game should have been a good old fashion 2-1 win by the Astros. You tip the cap to the team that won, not say that they caught a break in such a game. But that's just me.

[HudsonHawk]

The hardest part playing on the west coast is making sure you have enough whisky.  On CDT, if you realize in pregame that you're running low, there's still time to pop down to Specs.  On Pacific time, however, you gotta be on your toes.  Next year is gonna be pure hell.

[Mr. Happy]

I dunno, he looked pretty darn impressive other than two pitches, one to Lowrie and one to Lee. Other than that, dude only allowed 3 runs and one was unearned. Basically, last night's game should have been a good old fashion 2-1 win by the Astros. You tip the cap to the team that won, not say that they caught a break in such a game. But that's just me.

I didn't mean to minimize the win in any way. In my opinion, the Astros missed several pitches that they should have hit hard. Maybe I just watch pitchers with a more critical eye; maybe too cirtical. I'm just saying that I've seen Kershaw pitch several times even better than he did last night. I saw him live last season and at least three other times on television during his lights out second half, and I was grading him an "A" in every category (command of every pitch, changing speeds, pitching on both sides on the plate, working both up and down in the strike zone, etc.) every start. I didn't grade him as high last night.