Houston began the season in grand fashion, managing to lose 5 of 6 vs Bethlehem. This in spite of a team era of 3.89. Houston hit only .239 in the 6 games. THey were victimized repeatedly by Luke Scott who hit .667 for the series, with 9 of his 12 hits going for extra bases including 3 HR's. The TExan bullpen was also a problem. Thought to be an improvement over the recent past, the bullpen went 1-3 with 0 saves. THe starting pitching was remarkably good, only to see the bullpen squander leads late.
Ft Worth began the season in grand fashion also. BUt they did it the right way, taking 5 of 6 vs Wadsworth. Ft. Worth combined pitching (3.05 era) and Hitting (.289 avg 8 hr's) to win the series. Wadsworth got offense from Mauer and Johnson, but noone else. Of note, in game 2 Zach Duke hit 3 Bulldoggers in the 1st inning. Ft Worth could only manage one hit in the inning and got the minimum of 1 run out of it.
Line scores
Wad 3 Ftw 0 Jose Contreras with opening day shutout
