my time at the Astros DBacks game today + rant

Sorry for the rant but it's my first live Astros game in several years, I'm a H-Town-born homer that used to watch the Bagwell/Biggio era live at the Dome as a kid, and I drove six hours round trip so here goes:

I went to the game today. It was beautiful outside with the roof open to blue sky and a mild breeze at 70°.

Pena makes really good hard contact.

Blanco's fastball is at 97-98 and his cutter 88-90. Despite the walks; he created several big whiffs in his outing. Very excited to see how he looks come October. Javier looked awesome.

Lots of hard hit balls that made me go: "Oh f**k! I hope this dude in front of me with a glove knows how to use it, lol(neglected to bring my fancy Ken Griffey JR edition from high school: fail)

Altuve almost hit one out but it went foul, Breggy almost knocked one out. Same with Pena X2.

The ball explodes off of Pena's bat when he makes contact. I think by mid-to-late season hitting in this lineup he's gonna be a stud and a potential playoff hero.

Got to watch a bunch of s**t-faced(presumably frat boys) who were shouting and talking s**t to Diaz in Left get kicked out hahahah!

Just wish I'd overnighted my Space City snapback for it but I swooped a sweet ticket for super cheap at the last minute so I'll attribute that to the savings on shipping.

Btw. Diaz is the best utility man in baseball by a long shot right? He's + defensively wherever he plays and he is going to rake at the plate when he gets older. He's our first bat off the bench if he's not playing. He's solid. He might be our team MVP.

Tbh in a way. Diaz might be my favorite. Obviously I love several of these guys but.. Diaz is the shape-shifting glue that holds it all together. He's untouchable in my eyes cause I envision him winning a gold glove someday at 1st when Yuli retires but he may never play enough games at one position to win a gold glove despite being a fixture and that's a good problem to have.

Kinda reminds me of how much I loved Bill Spiers, Brad Ausmus, Tim Bogar, and Hidalgo for some reason. Ooof or when we had Jose Vizcaino. Or that one time I was at a game where Tony Eusebio hit a home run!

Man.. a Tony Eusebio home run was such a special thing.

Or the time my dad, brother, and I ran into Jose Lima at a car wash on our way to the game and my dad made an ass of himself praising him and asking when he was pitching next and he said: "I'm Pitching today!" I knew it but my dad and bro didn't. Jose Lima was such a fucking nice man btw. He was so gracious and friendly. He signed autographs for us and gave my brother and I high fives and told us to root for him. I don't remember if we won or lost that that game, or how Lima pitched; but I'll never forget sitting there at the carwash with him after already adoring his pitching and his personal flair. He was a true gentleman.

Another jersey I regret I don't own.

Makes me think of seeing Craig Biggio, wife, and kids at the Houston airport traveling alone as a young boy to see my grandparents and catch a Royals game in KC(my grandfather taught me how to keep score and told me who Carlos Beltran was when he was still in their minor league system) I wanted to approach them so badly but didn't want to disturb their meal. So I just watched. I reckon I would have met Cavan. I dream of him replacing Altuve when he retires someday.

Biggio was such a class act in Houston and a deserving HOFer.