Some things to note before the Astros try and go 2-0 for the first time since 2003.
1) This will be Houston's second crack at Yu Darvish having faced him once in his rookie season. Darvish had little trouble with the Astros last June going 8 innings and fanning 11 while allowing just 2 runs (an rbi infield single by Jed Lowrie and a solo home run by Justin Maxwell) on 7 hits. The good news? Two of those hits were by Maxwell, two more by Brett Wallace, and another from Jason Castro. Don't expect to see J.D. Martinez though as he went 0 for 4 against Darvish while fanning 3 times.
2) As I mentioned above, Houston hasn't started a season 2-0 since 2003 and even that was dicey. Houston had to score 5 times in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Colorado Rockies 8-7. The late Jeriome Robertson was beaten the next day to end the streak at 2.
3) Lucas Harrell was the only Astros pitcher to beat the Rangers last season, and finished the year 1-1 against them with a 4.91 ERA. He surrendered home runs to David Murphy in his win, and Nelson Cruz in his loss. Harrell is coming off a strong spring in which he posted a 2.25 ERA in 6 appearances spanning 24 innings.
4) The Astros struck out a Major League leading 289 times this spring as they prepare for Darvish who fanned 10.4 per 9 innings as a rookie in 2012. The Astros fanned 13 times on Opening Night led by 3 apiece by lefties Brett Wallace and Carlos Pena.
5) The Astros hit .474 (9/19) on balls they put in play on Sunday night. Compare that to .357 in spring training and just .316 in 2012.
6) Justin Maxwell hit just one single during spring training. Eight of his nine spring hits went for extra bases and he added two more triples Sunday night.
7) For all the talk about the Rangers pitching depth, the Astros actually had a lower ERA this spring (4.76 vs 4.82) than the Rangers did.
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