Predictably, all over the map.
Says McTaggart:
Roy Oswalt pitched pretty well with the exception of a couple of solo homers to two guys who hit a lot of home runs. The Astros actually managed to get some runners on base against nemesis Carlos Zambrano and probably should have pushed a few runs across.
What was especially encouraging about the offense was how well Michael Bourn did at the bottom of the order. Hitting in the No. 8 hole, he went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Miguel Tejada went 3-for-4 and played a nice game, too. If Pudge Rodriguez and Carlos Lee (combined 0-for-8) join the offensive party, the Astros should have little trouble scoring runs.
Says Jerome Solomon:
Olympic sprinters don’t talk about fast starts as much as the Astros have this spring. Yet when the gun sounded and the race began, they acted like they didn’t want to run. While the word lackadaisical is overstating it, the season opener was a yawner for the most part,
Says Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune:
If the rest of the season follows this script, boredom could be Piniella's biggest problem in August and September, as it probably has been since arriving in Mesa, Ariz., almost two months ago.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
