Traveling in Austin this week, I was able to take in a game at Round Rock where the Express tangled with the Memphis Redbirds.  First of all, I loved the 2007 Express baseball card giveaway, complete with Hunter Pence card (mint condition, not taking it out of the pack I guess).  The park was nice, especially the tribute to the older-style upper deck porch in left.  

On the field, Matt Albers looked tough at times, while Tomo Ohka was unimpressively mixing in a 91 mph fastball with 83 mph crap.  Albers located his off-speed stuff early but couldn't find the strike zone with his 94-mph fastball until the 3rd.  Once he was on, he looked solid.  Rick Ankiel (0-5) started in CF and batted 2nd.    

I was surprised by five really nice performances more than anything though.  Mike McCoy started at SS for Memphis and played some really sharp defense, ran well and had a nice flare to left in the 1st.  Josh Anderson played solidly in CF, but more impressively he really showed great patience and a nice stroke at the plate, fouling off pitches until he found one to hit sharply.  Tagg Bozied (2-4, 2B, 10th HR) hit the ball hard off Albers and played effectively at 1B.  Troy Percival was mixing his 93 mph fastball (nice movement too) with an 83 mph change and a filthy 76 mph curve.  And finally, Mark McLemore (no not THAT one) had some dominating stuff in the 7th for Round Rock.  Looking back at his game log, he fanned 11 against Memphis in 6.0 IP on May 19th.  

Overall, a good time, and I hope worthy of this diary.