Yesterday was Opening Day for my beloved Astros. You know what that means...it is about time for my annual nervous breakdown. The season is only one game old and already I am pulling my hair out. Jimy Williams did his best Grady Little impression last night by allowing Roy Oswalt to face Barry Bonds with two runners on and a three run lead in the eighth. Granted, Oswalt is the ace, but this was the first game of the season. It doesn't take a "genius" like Tony LaRussa to guess that Roy's stamina might not yet be in midseason form. One pitch later the game was tied. To make matters worse, Octavio Dotel took the loss in his first ninth inning of the season, by hitting a batter, throwing a wild pitch, and allowing a sacrifice fly to plate him.
A rational man may point out that there are still (at least) 161 games still to be played. A rational man would take solace in the pitching matchups for the next three games (Pettitte-Tomko, Clemens-Jerome Williams, Miller-Obermueller). A rational man would note that Oswalt pitched a gem, despite the one bad pitch. A rational man would appreciate the fact that the Astros were beaten by Barry Bonds, one of the greatest to ever play the game. A rational man, though, is not a baseball fan.
As a sports fan, I have lived a pretty good life. Sure, I had to live through years of Oiler collapses, but I've seen lots of success. The Rockets won NBA championships in 1994 and 1995, Nebraska football won three in the nineties, and Rice baseball broke through to
3-25-04 - Sweet Sixteen Picks
3-24-04 - Monday Drinking
3-23-04- Those 70's Thoughts
3-22-04 - Thoughts of the Fabulous Alex Fay
3-17-04 - Hari is Re-Employed
3-12-04 - Blake's Guest Column
3-11-04 - Rule #10
Archives
1) "Dice" - Finley Quaye (w/ Beth Orton)
2) "Right in Time" - The French Kicks
3) "So Much Water" - M. Ward
4) "Car Radio" - Spoon
5) "No Weather" - Stellastarr*
6) "Off You"- The Breeders
7) "Matinee" - Franz Ferdinand
8) "I Know the Pattern" - The Thermals
9) "Step Into My Office, Baby"- Belle & Sebastian
10) "Rhyme Slayers" - Atmosphere
It is not an exaggeration, though, to say that I would trade all of those championships for one World Series championship for my Astros.
Basically, I have three major weaknesses in life: gambling, ex-girlfriends, and Astros baseball. No matter how many times each breaks my heart, I can't stop myself from going back each spring. My heartbreak has nothing on a fifty-year-old Cubs or Red Sox fan, but I will gladly match it against Boston and Chicago fans my age. As much as their histories of failure are a national story, at least they have won a playoff series before. Heck, they both did it last year! The Astros are currently 0-for-7 in playoff series. I can count down the playoff heartbreaks like Alex can count down his hook-ups this year; in 1986 the Astros would have had the unhittable Mike Scott going in Game 7, but the Mets won 7-6 in 16 innings in Game 6 to clinch the series.and my seven year old life was crushed; in 1998, everyone thought we had the best team in the National League...well, the best team that couldn't get Jim Leyritz out or hit Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock (Sterling Hitchcock!!!!); In 2001, Julio Lugo couldn't field, Larry Dierker couldn't manage, and no one could hit.
For me, though, the most painful loss came in a series that almost no one remembers. In 1999, I was sure that the Astros finally had the Braves number. This was our third straight trip to the playoffs, and we looked primed for a break through. More than anything else, this was MY team. It was the last season in the Astrodome, so my dad couldn't give his tickets away to clients. as a result, I was using his season tickets all of the time. Between my dad's tickets, my lack of concern about class work, and my lack of fear of credit card debt, I probably went to forty games that season. And what a season it was...my favorite Astro, Ken Caminiti (this was before he was outed for cocaine and steroids), was back in the fold....Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell were probably both in the last season of their primes...Carl Everett was clutch all season, nearly singlehandly destroying the Reds...Jose Lima and hiis contagious energy won 21 games...my favorite pitcher, Mike Hampton, had a sparkiling 22-4 record...Billy Wagner was lights out in the bullpen. I was very emotionally invested in the team...this had to be the year.
The series started out perfectly. Shane Reynolds outpitched Greg Maddux to lead the Astros to a 6-1 victory in game one in Atlanta. In Game 2, Kevin Millwood shut the Astros down 5-1, but I wasn't concerned. The best of five series was coming to Houston for two games, and we had our ace Hampton ready for Game 3. When Kiley and I got to the game, the atmosphere was more electric than any sporting event I had ever attended. Mattress Mac had towels made for the game, and everyone in the stadium was waving them. More than that, though, there was a sense of belief running through the usually cynical Astros crowd. The mood got even better when the Astros quickly put up two runs on Glavine in the first. The Astros wasted chances to tack on runs in the third and fourth, but no one was too concerned because Hampton was cruising through five. In the sixth, though, Hampton got in some trouble. A two out walk and a bloop single put two runners on for Astro-killer Brian Jordan. One bad pitch, possibly the only one Hampton threw all day, left the Astros down 3-2. The Astros bench helped them battle back in the 7th. Russ Johnson pinch hit for Mike Hampton and hit a one out double. Designated speedster Glen Barker pinch ran for Johnson and stole 3rd base. After Biggio struck out, pinch hitter and fan favorite Billy Spiers singled in Barker to tie the game. Neither bullpen could be touched, and the game went into extra innings.
After Doug Henry pitched a scoreless tenth, the Bagwell led off the 10th with a walk, Caminiti followed with a single, and the stadium was electric. Pinch hitter Stan Javier hit a sharp single up the middle and the bases were loaded with nobody out. Everett, who had been a monster in these situations all year long, was up. The Braves brought in anti-christ John Rocker to face him, and the decibel level was threatening to blow the roof off of the dome. Rocker got Everett to tap back to the mound and Bagwell was forced at home, but the bases were still loaded with only one out. Up to the plate came to Tony Eusebio. Eusebio simply scalded a ball between short and third against the Braves drawn in infield. The crowd started to erupt, but realized that Walt Weiss had made what Chipper Jones described as "the single greatest play (he) had seen in (his) life." The ball nearly ripped the glove off the hand of the diving Weiss, who somehow managed to hold on, hop to his feet, and throw out Caminiti at home. The crowd was stunned, and the air quickly went out of the dome.
Although there was one more out in the inning (Ricky Gutierrez meekly struck out) and two more innings (Jordan doubled home two in the 12th), all Astros fans knew the game and the series were over when Weiss made that stab. After the game, I was inconsolable. Kiley had only been dating me for five months at that point, and had no idea how to handle me. She even made the mistake of suggesting that it was "just a game". I went to Game 4 the next day (a 7-5 Braves victory), but other than that, I hardly spoke for three days. To this day, I still hope Weiss, Rocker, and Jordan die slow, painful deaths. I still practically tear up thinking about that game.
A non-baseball fan would certainly think that I am crazy for letting the outcome of a game affect me in such a way. But we baseball fans are a different breed. If you want to know our mood on a given day, check the previous day's box score. The amount we care about something as trivial as a baseball game is incomprehensible to most people, which is probably why we relate so well to those who are of the same breed. For instance, I think the reason Jeremy and I keep in touch so well is because he is just as insane about the Cubs as I am about the Astros. We make fun of each other's team because they are division rivals, but we also commiserate about their shared history of failure. If the Cubs win it all this year, even if it is at the expense of the Astros, I will be happy for him...I'm sure he'd feel the same way if the Astros won.
But in the interim, we will live and die daily with the fate of our teams. This is going to be a long season...