I still believe the nature of the ballparks coupled with the long hot Texas summers will normalize the contributions of any star added to the baseball teams there.

Minute Maid Park has a roof, Jeb. And A/C. And plumbing.

Thanks for trying to help, though.

Yeah, they have to pay you more to make up for the living conditions. :) What made you leave?

They had to pay me more for the conditions in Celle, Leeds, Macae, Pau, and on and on. I suppose the big city was fascinating to a wide-eyed kid, but it does get old after a quarter of a century. Garrison now has 846 citizens since the spouse and I moved in and thus far, we're wallowing in the contrast. It's the traffic that turns you off.....has to be. You can't possibly run out of things to do in Houston......but you do have to adjust to the often ridiculously rude drivers.

Did you get to catch a 'Stros game?

I admit that I've never actually lived in Houston, I've only visited relatives several times a year and nowadays my stepkids' mom lives there so we're in the neighborhood a couple of times a month. Traffic is certainly awful, but it's more the terrible humidity, lack of trees, general urban grunginess, and unpleasant people I've encountered. I'm sure there are lots of pleasant people there too (two less now though, right?) :)

Oh sure, keep trying to drag us back on topic... I saw one once, it was okay, no better or worse than any other major league baseball game.

That's it. I'm writing to my senator to demand your state be disallowed the use of plumbing :P

The fact still remains it's a hitters park. Also I'm of the mind just living (not playing) in a hot climate can have a taxing effect on some players. You can blame the Cardinals all you want but the Astros, like the Rangers, haven't lived up to their billing in recent years.

Humidity
 

Clod and Jeb.........you're both right as rain. Most of us that have lived in Houston for any length of time don't need plumbing, we've grown gills. And yes, there's a lot of urban sprawl but the real problem is the number of lawyers per capita. Almost as many as Austin ;)

I don't blame the Cards for the 'Stros shortcomings. I blame Jim Edmonds. The man must hate us. If it were me, I'd tell whoever was on the mound at the time to throw four pitches out into the Crawford boxes, else Edmonds is gonna put it there for you.

Tony La Russa apparently had a bit too much fun last night.

Going to Opening Day!! Behind first base, twenty rows up. Me, MrsV and SonofV The Younger! We'll be taking our gloves, of course.

Are the M's actually going to do something good this year? ;)

What, you mean like donate to charity? :)

M's are scheduled to suck, although I don't think it will be as bad as last year. Angels are projected for 1st in the AL West, which I begrudgingly agree with. I call A's for 2nd even though there is good talk about Texas. Texas just never lives up to their billing. Needless to say there is a lot that can happen during the season.

If Oakland is a charity...

Who the hell knows? I promise they will exceed my expectations and fall short of my hopes. I've been *so* discouraged by the performance of the last two years, that my baseball interests have grown a big protective callus of indifference. This was reinforced by yesterday's sports headlines "M's not negotiating with Ichiro". Great, thanks for nothin.

We'll see. I really love baseball, but there's been no fire in this years hot stove and it'll take a while to warm up.

Jason Hirsch
 

Hirsh, Jason Hirsh, not Schmidt. Hyoi's a senile old hross.

As I posted earlier, the Astro management is terminally stupid. They traded Jason Hirsch and the kid's gonna be an All-star:

Making his Rockies debut, the towering right-hander allowed just one run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out a career-high eight and walked one as the Rockies won 4-3 for their third straight victory. Denver Post 7 April 2007