A Major League Day

I launched my MLB season today from the first base-side seats at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Great game, really worth the $41 the Astros wanted for a rematch with their postseason nemesis, the Cardinals. The Cards had just kept the Astros out of the World Series last fall, so the rematch this spring was all about who had improved more. Andy Pettitte was making his first start on the mound after last summer's arm surgery, so hopes were high in the park with the roof open on a stunning spring afternoon. It's April in Texas, so the moist Gulf air hasn't made Houston the dismal summer swamp it always becomes.

Pettitte — the first pitcher since Babe Ruth to post a winning record in every one of his 10 seasons — had a rough 2004. The trouble began last year on Pettitte's very first National League at bat. The righthander had always been an American League pitcher up to last year, so he only had 28 at-bats over his first nine seasons. He didn't even bat at all in 1995, 1996 or 1997. That's what the Designated Hitter is for. Feh, American League ball.

In this National League park last year, Pettitte tore a muscle in his pitching arm during his first plate appearance. He wasn't right for the rest of that year, managing only a 6-4 record before he went under the knife in August. Today he looked ready to repay the promise Houston paid for with an $8.5 million contract. 71 pitches, 47 strikes, 3 strikeouts. Only one home run marred a low-speed, high control day. Walked none. Bagwell and Biggio, Houston's redoubtable Bs, combined to give Pettitte a run to start with. He left after six strong innings with the game tied 1-1. Into the eighth, a 1-1 tie. Shades of 1968 baseball, a real throwback.

Then the Cardinals bullpen blew up and surrendered three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Houston touched up Julian Tavarez, who wears the Dirtiest Cap in the Major Leagues. The right-hand side of the bill is a high-funk area by mid-April, because the man grabs that bill between every pitch. Some say there's been more than sweat on that bill. Toss in the high emotion Tavarez brings to his job — he broke his hand in a fit during the 2004 NL Championship series after giving up a homer to an Astros slugger — and the Astros fans were delerious with joy as their team sent him to the showers.

Then Houston's lights-out reliever, Brad Lidge, came on to put the Cardinal batters in their place. Ledge set the place on edge when he walked the first batter, then set down the side in just 10 pitches. Houston entered the win column for the first time in 2005, tied with the Cardinals' record at 1-1. All of this put my Cincinnatti Reds into first place with a 2-0 record. A short stay for the Reds, I suspect. But April baseball is all about promise. Pettitte delivered on his, even if he didn't have his speed up yet. At times the pitch display reported things like "82 MPH Fastball," as if such a thing existed.