Red likes baseball but going to more than 5 or 6 games a season starts to seem like work.  Red was out at Minute Maid Park for the second time this season to see the suddenly stagnant Astros against the Detroit Tigers.  But even though they lost, Saturday night was fun because they welcomed back the 2005 NL Champions.  That will be the first and only National League Pennant the ‘Stros will ever win barring another realignment.  Red shares some random observations with the loyal readers:

1. Luis Valbuena is pretty darn good defensive first baseman. Too bad defensive first basemen are a dime a dozen and there are too many nights when LV can’t hit his way out of a paper bag.
2. Preston Tucker seemed to catch Ian Kinsler’s sinking line drive to end the 5th inning.  When the call was overturned on replay, the umpire determined that the baserunner would likely have scored from second and the Tigers took a 1-0 lead and the Astros defense was called back into the field.  How do you make a credible determination in real time that the runner would have scored?  If Tucker had come up throwing instead of trying to sell the catch, it could have been a close call at the plate.
3. The Detroit Tigers’ bat boy is bigger than most of the players.
4. Orbit looks like he needs a good dry cleaning. Red aint touching that fur.
5. The Astros’ Dugout Girls (Red has looked for their official name and can’t find it) all have rag arms.  Only one of them can throw a free T-Shirt 12 rows.
6. The waffle cone stuffed with mashed potatoes and fried chicken with honey mustard is pretty damn good.
7. Saturday night games should not start at 6:10.
8. From the 2005 team, Brad Lidge still looks damn good.  Jeff Bagwell – not so much.
9. If you are picked to sing the National Anthem – don’t start off with God Bless America.  To her credit, the young lady admitted her goof and then belted out a very credible version of the Star Spangled Banner.
10. It was cool that Brad Ausmus (now Tigers manager) could join his mates from the 2005 team in the pre-game festivities.  Then he had to go ruin the occasion by winning.