Went to the Cardinals-Astros game tonight (Houston won 2-1). From the perspective of a Cards fan, it was disappointing watching our crushers get handled by the likes of Brandon Backe. But then, we threw Haren out there and he held Houston to two runs, and I'm reasonably sure he won't be making too many appearances in the playoffs.
Oh please oh please.
Nice vision, by the way, Mr. Home Plate Cyclops, who called Reggie Sanders out at home on a throw from Beltran. I knew something was up when they didn't replay the play on the Jumbotron, but any suspicion that I was merely being a St. Louis homer went out the window on the drive home when I listened to the postgame radio guy state that catcher Brad Ausmus "clearly missed" the tag. Not much you can do about it, but maybe they were making up for that weird first inning call when Ausmus was trying to throw Pujols out at first and ended up hitting Edmonds' bat and sending the ball into the stands. Pujols went to 3rd, and I thought I was going to get severely beaten, even though I didn't know exactly what was going on at the time.
People can talk about the Cards laying down now that they have the division sewn up, but LaRussa trotted out a gimpy Rolen (until the 6th), Pujols, Edmonds, and Walker (whose HR off the New York Mercantile Exchange sign in left field was a beautiful thing), and used Mabry and Womack as well. The conspiracy theory that St. Louis is letting the Astros catch the Cubs (who lost to Cincinatti) is stupid since I can't imagine anyone looking forward to facing Clemens and Oswalt in the post-season.
But enough about the game, what about the Minute Maid Park experience?
There was a decent sized crowd, and most stayed until the end, which is a rarity for Houston baseball fans. There were still those clueless boobs who kept trying to start a wave during the Astros at-bat in the 6th (I'm sure Jeff Kent was thrilled), and - while it's hardly exclusive to Minute Maid - those goddamed inflatable whacking sticks are going to drive me to commit an aggravated felony one of these days. Why not just give the whole stadium air horns and cowbells and be done with it?
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the guy who brought his son down from St. Louis just for this game and had seats next to mine. Seems they're on a father-son mission to visit every ballpark, which is cool no matter how you slice it, or whichever team you root for. They were pretty impressed with the stadium, even if most parks comapre favorably to Busch Stadium, and the boy seemed to have a little trouble handling his burrito.
There were actually a decent number of Cardinals fans in my particular area (section 132 - left field). And all of them apparently live within five miles of my grandparents.
The roof was open the whole game, and it was a fine evening, loss or no. There were only a few jackass fans, some of whom started the chant, "Cardinals Suck" as that scrub Reyes loaded the bases in the 8th (Ray King came on and put and end to that). The only tense moment was when I turned around to ask them who won the NL Central.
It's not a trick question.
But I'd sure like it if the Cards were playing a little better down the stretch.
Eating at ballgames interferes with my alcohol absorption.
Pete, Did you have any of those buffalo wings Ken Hoffman is always raving about in the Chronicle?