The Pecan Park Eagle

Astros Manager Bo Porter congratulates Rick Ankiel on 1st Astros AL History HR.

Sun., 03/31/13, was a night for 1sts in Astros Baseball History …

1st win as an American League club, 8-2, over the Texas Rangers;

1st time to lead the entire American League with a perfect record of 1-0;

1st base hit in AL history, a single by Jose Altuve on the 1st pitch of the game to the Astros in the home half of the 1st;

1st two triples in Houston AL history, both struck by center fielder Justin Maxwell;

1st run scored in Astros AL history when Brett Wallace crosses the plate in the bottom of the 4th;

1st two RBI in Astros AL history when Justin Maxwell triples in the bottom of the 4th, scoring Wallace and Pena.

1st pinch hit in Astros AL history when Rick Ankiel homers to right in the bottom of the 6th;

1st HR in Astros AL history when Rick Ankiel pinch hits a 3-RBI blast in the bottom of the 6th;

1st pitching win in Astros AL history when starter Norris departs with 2 outs in the 6th and a 4-2 lead that holds;

1st pitching save in Astros AL history when Erik Bedard earns it by holding Texas scoreless in final 3.1 IP of 8-2 win;

1st win in Astros AL history for new manager Bo Porter;

1st win in Astros AL history at Minute Maid Park.

We could go on and on, but those are the big ones as “1sts” on a beautiful new start. We don’t expect everyday to finish this grand – or even a third of the games in 2013 to work out this well, but they did yesterday – and yesterday was Opening Day. – it all just made Opening Day all the sweeter.

And, I gotta tell you something else too. Maybe it’s my long-term and late in life liberality coming hard and fast together when it comes to change as a good thing, but I didn’t inch away from the game for any kind of break in front of the screen at home last night until the game was over. I just watched and enjoyed, and never once did I feel cheated that I wasn’t getting to see the pitcher bat.

In fact, had the NL rules been in effect, the Astros might have taken Bedard out in the bottom of the 6th since the ninth man in the order made the last out in the Astros order – and that would have denied Bedard the chance to pitch three more innings of fairly brilliant relief for a much deserved save credit.

I’m going to save my angst for “meaning of life questions,” and, for me, at least, those queries have nothing to do with pitchers batting, the DH, or the American League game. What I watched last night was baseball at it’s finest, as far as I’m concerned – and that was good enough for me.

Have a nice week, everybody!

Oh, yeah! I forgot something. Here’s how the MLB standings look after the first day of play. …

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NATIONAL LEAGUE