Astros start the season off just right

Well, it looks like our little engine that could is rolling along. The Astros followed a dominant Saturday night victory with a nice come from behind effort on Sunday, 3-2. Bud Norris was very good giving up only a 2-run homer but was bettered by story of the year candidate Juan Nicasio over 7 innings. Jose Altuve would spark the ‘Stros and Brian Bogusevic continued to prove more than a few folks wrong with the game winning single. It was what most long time Astros fans would call a vintage Astrodome game, a low scoring game with very good pitching and defense until the 8th. An error by Rockies 3rd baseman Jordan Pacheco would open the door for Bogey to drive in the winning run against lefty stud Rex Brothers. The Astros start the season 2-1 and are over .500 for the first time in 2 years.

The offense was largely silent as Juan Nicasio threw one great game. The guy is coming off a broken neck but looks the part of a top of the rotation pitcher. Bud Norris made one mistake to rookie stud Wilin Rosario but other than that, looked ready to roll in 2012. Norris would pitch seven strong innings and Brett Myers would work around a lead off double in the ninth to finish off the feel good win. The Astros starting pitchers were outstanding this weekend and certainly set the tone for the season.

The offense did just enough against tough lefty Rex Brothers in the 8th to take advantage of a bad error. Jose Altuve drew another walk and had a triple besides the rally starting single in the 8th. Jose looks a lot better at the plate and is starting to show the plate discipline we had craved out of the kid. Carlos Lee continued to impress and J.D. Martinez looks very comfortable at the plate, so far in 2012. The offense should improve quite a bit once Jed Lowrie returns Friday but defensively Marwin Gonzalez looks fantastic. The kid had issues on Friday but has looked very good the last two games. He’ll be fine as a backup to Lowrie this season. The Atros go for a 3-1 start tomorrow against the struggling Braves, J.A. Happ vs Brandon Beachy at the juice box.