The (L)Astros get started on a losing note...

As I have done every year for past many, I joined several old friends (Gardner, Mike, Ken & Lars) for the Houston Astros Opening Day festivities.  At game time the Astros are off to another miserable start of 1 win, 5 losses as Mr. McClane continues his quest to sell the team.  As such, the player payroll is at an all time low so that the new owner can then re-structure the team as he/she sees fit without worrying about long-term contract obligations with expensive players.

The festivities begin at The Flying Saucer

Nevertheless we had a wonderful time.  Our ticket acquisition expert Gardner Biggs did a bang up job and got us tickets nearly behind first base about 25 rows up...prime foul ball territory - more on that later.  A little background on tickets.  For the past few years Mr. Biggs has done a eloquent job of placing us in the worst tickets in the stadium, literally in the top row of the upper deck.  To say that he has redeemed himself is an understatement.  While we did endure a little sun for the first couple of innings, once the sun went down we were in hog heaven.  The beer flowed nicely, great views around the stadium and the Astros playing slightly better than expected, until the 7th inning of course.  The game was very exciting with the Astros giving it their best shot with a home run in the 9th to bring it close.  With a runner called out stealing at 2nd it was all over but for the long walk back to our cars.

Pre-game introductions

My first $7.50 contribution of the season

Ken enjoying himself!

Gardner, Lars and Butterfingers on the end

A beautiful night for baseball

The really big excitement came in the 8th when a foul ball hit a chair 2 sections in front of us, bounced up behind us and then quickly came screaming and spinning right at Mike sitting in the aisle seat.  This ball was angry!  Mike was able to get a few fingers on it but it then scurried on down a few rows before being picked up by another fan.  Although we knew catching that sucker would have been extremely difficult, don't think we didn't give Mike a complete ration of crap for missing his opportunity!

Anyway, another opening day done and as always, a load of fun.  It's great to have old friends and have a chance to just go be boys.  Thanks guys for including me and thanks again to Gardner for his strategic ticket procurement.