Astros take Wild Card Lead
Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman homered in the same game for the 4th time this season and 2nd time this week to power a 5-2 Astros win that catapulted them into the outright Wild Card lead. For the 2nd night in a row an Astros rookie (Wandy Rodriguez) outduelled an opponent with better credentials (Kris "My wife is a massive ****" Benson). In addition the combination of the Cardinals loss in L.A (Matt Morris seems to have lost whatever he had at the beginning of the year 3-3 in his last 7 starts) put the astros only 8.5 games back. Now "Thats too much" i hear many of you saying – but think about this – if the astros had not stumbled out of the break and gotten swept by the Cardinals then they may be only 4.5 or 6.5 games back. 8.5 is not insurmountable when you consider Rolen is out (possibly for the year), Walker is out, Sanders is out and Pujols has a bad left shoulder (Although he is still very much producing). So don’t think for a second that the Astros have given up on the division.
It was great to see Mo Ensberg get back his swing with a 2 run dinger in the 6th inning for the insurance runs. Lets hope that gets his swing going again after a brief cool down.
Preview of games to come – Pettitte faces another one of the pre eminent lefties of his generation when he draws Tom Glavine in what is sure to be another SRO crowd at Minute Maid. And Sunday sees Roy Oswalt look to Keep pace with Chris Carpenter and notch his 15th win – i definitely believe Roy will notch his 2nd consecutive 20 win season.
For those of you who doubt the astros as real contenders consider how scared the division leaders must be when in a five game series they have to face Clemens (1.46 ERA), Oswalt (2.33 ERA) and Pettitte (2.73 ERA).
Thats about all for now except to say that the cubs are holding on by the skin of their teeth – while only 3 games behind the stros in the wild card – they could easily be 6 games out if not for some Jeremy Burnitz and Aramis Ramirez heorics in their final at bats this week. Their bullpen looks very shaky – and i am very much looking forward to september when the astros play them several times. I guess they have to stay this close – that way when they miss out – it hurts so much more.
Oh and if any of you are wondering its www.annabenson.net – the woman who famously promised she would sleep with everyone of her husbands teammates is he ever cheated on her.
More tomorrow.
Astros have their Mojo Working
I have been having an awesome time in Houston, and yes as Lisa pointed out – it has been opressively hot – but that brings into focus another great feature of Minute Maid – the roof and the air conditioning. I am told that during the cooler months they open the roof (all 18 million pounds) during the 7th or 8th – unfortunately that has not happened while i have been around – however here is what has happened.
The third game of the Phillies series had Roger going for the sweep – and he pitched like he has all year – picking up his 9th win after allowing 2 runs over 7 innings. In the post game arena it was revealed he was almost scratched because of back spasms – and yet he goes out and pitches like a genius against a lineup that can put some hurt on the opposition (Abreu, Utley and Burrell). Another note about this game was that it was the first appearance of Brad Lidge for me – and can i tell you to atmosphere goes nuts when he comes to the mound. I though the pop that Roger was getting was huge but its nothing like lidge.
So if your keeping track thats three astros games and three wins.
So lets move to Thursday night and the entrance of the Man who provided so many moments last October – my personal favourite was the homer of Tavarez and his eventual reaction when back in the dugout. I felt kind of sorry for him to be honest – he really copped it from the announcement of the lineup to every time he stepped to the plate and even to every time he took a step towards a fly ball – but what i can say is that this is how much they would have cheered for him had he stayed. Anyway – the stros are getting better production out of Willy Tavarez for minimum salary anyway.
The atmosphere is absolutely incredible – unlike any other ballgame i have been to so far – even if many people are just there to boo Beltran.
On paper this is not a matchup that the Astros are supposed to win Pedro Martinez – one of the best pitchers in recent times – against an unknown rookie with 1 career win. The prize – an equal share of the Wild Card lead after Washington’s loss to Atlanta. Zeke Astacio matched Pedro for 6 innings allowing just a first inning run that while called "earned" was possibly not. There was sort of an uneasy feeling in the park being down 1-0 against pedro – given his previous performance (a 2 hit game back in June) – However that all changed when Everett sent a long drive (well long for Minute Maid) to the Crawford Boxes to tie the game up in the 5th inning. All of a sudden – new ballgame.
Qualls comes in to start to 7th Inning facing Miguel Cairo – who promptly takes the lead back with a ball that cleared the yellow line by 8-10 inches. But the Standing room only crowd did not give up but rather cheered louder and were, for the 2nd night in a row, rewarded with a Brad Ausmus squeeze bunt to tie the game at 2.
After 8 innings and 115 odd pitches pedro was spent – and in trots Roberto Hernandez from the Mets Bullpen. First batter up is Orlando Palmiero who slaps a ball to right field – after an Everett Sacrifice up steps the 7th inning hero Brad Ausmus. Who lines a ball in to the right centre field gap as the Astros win in Walk off Fashion for the 2nd time in 3 games. Something that maybe not many people noticed – beltran was left holding the ball (kind of ironic) as astros streamed onto the field congratulating Orlando and Brad on delivering a 5th straight victory and 11th in 12 games – and a share of the Wild Card lead.
Astros are now 4 for 4 in games that i have attended. I don’t want to suggest that i am the reason – but theres something special going on here.
The real key here is that these are the game that the Astros were not winning at the beginning of the year – and the games that they won last year.
Astros So Far
WOW WOW WOW – now most of you will think i am biased when i say this – but honestly Minute Maid Park – is an awesome baseball park. And by far the best yet. Super wide concourses – extra comfortable seats – great food and of course the best Home record in the majors.
After almost missing the first game of the homestand (bloody american airlines) i arrived in my seat 2 mins before first pitch. To be met with an Andy Pettitte 8 pitch first inning. Followed by back to back shots by Biggio and Berkman. The later of which went out to Centre Field – an estimate 440 feet. The best part was the third inning when they did it again to become only the 5th set of teamates to ever go back to back twice in the same game. The final result was a 7-1 Astros win as Pettitie improved to 5-0 since the beginning of June.
The 2nd game was a 2-1 astros win and i saw my First Walk Off home run – a sole shot to right field by Mike Lamb on the 2nd pitch of the 9th innning. This gave Roy Oswalt a much deserved 14th win and catapulted him into the league lead for wins (along with Chris Carpenter). Roy who had not received a No Decision all year pitched a complete game gem allowing only 7 hits. More importantly he put the astros in a very strong potision to sweep the Wild Cards contending Phillies with the Rocket on the mound tonight for the sweep. The game was completed in 2hrs and 15mins – quickest game of my tour so far.
I will update again tomorrow. I also just noticed that my last post was censored – which i guess is okay the word was C-R-A-P. this was probably in those terms and conditions that i agreed to rather blindly.
On another note i finally posted those 2 photos of me with Jon Miller and Willie McCovey in San Francisco – i am hoping to post more in the next few days from the other parks. I will also rank the parks so far in a few basic areas.
Alex
St Louis Review
I have to Admit that i was expecting big things from Busch Stadium – after all it is the most hyped baseball experience in the majors. I went to two games between the cardinals and the cubs – which I expected to be top notch after the Cardinals won in extra innings on David Ecksteins Suicide squeeze bunt the night before. The two games were totally different experiences.
The first game was played during the day in sweltering 112 degree heat which is not fun for anyone – and my initial disappointment was that Pujols, Rolen, Walker and Sanders were all injured or just benching. But it was a very tense game which resulted in a 6-5 win for the cardinals after Dempster got lucky enough that Pujols line drive was hit right at the shortstop and they doubled up to end the game. For this game i was sitting in the second deck in the middle of the first base line in the front row – excellent seats (it cost me a fortune on Stub Hub but it was worth it). I was sitting with knowledgable fans (one who used to be a ball boy down the right field line when busch first opened in 1966). All in all despite the heat it was a great game and a great experience.
The second game was a great game of baseball. It was Mark Prior vs Jeff Suppan and the game started with a bang when Nunez, Edmonds and Mabry all went deep in the first inning – leaving prior rather shell-shocked. However he setttled down for the next 6 innnings as the cubs chipped away to make it a 3-2 game. In the 8th innning after about the 50th call to the bullpen by La Russa – out trots Julian Tavarez to face Aramis Ramirez – who had homered the day before. Low and behold a rocket shot into the cubs bullpen gave them the lead 4-3. In trots dempster again but this time he blows the save after some tense action including a stolen base – David Eckstein ties the game with an RBI single. Pujols then grounds out with 2 men on to end the ninth and off to extra innings we go.
In the top of the 10th i got to see something i had not seen before when Neifi Perez lined a Grand Slam down the right field line to puts the cubs up 8-4 which would be the final score.
My overall impressions of busch were reasonably positive however i still wouldn’t put it in the number 1 position – it ranks 3rd so far after San Francisco and Arlington (Rangers) on an overall sense. I think the new stadium is going to be very nice and interestingly it actually will overlay old Busch stadium (they have this miniature foul pole in the middle of the right field stands which is going to be the new right field foul pole in new busch).
I would recommend shelling out the extra cash and sitting in the lower seating areas if your doing a visit – the terrace areas (where i sat for the 2nd game) is also the designated smoking area (on the outer rim) which is just awful if your waiting to lineup for food or merchandise. Obviously if you smoke your probably going to want to sit there i guess. Also the fans are so pumped full of Bud (Any type – oh and by the way don’t ask for a miller – even as a joke) that they can’t even follow the game – one guy even spewed right next to my feet (i was wearing sandals) bad times.
One final note – that was of considerable amusement to me as an Astros fan. All the people i talked to agreed with me that Last years NLCS was a fantastic 7 game series. But everyone also mentioned how that it wouldn’t have mattered who won the NLCS – both teams would have lost to the Red Sox. WHAT A LOAD OF ****. The Cardinals choked in the World Series. I am not saying the stros would have won – but they definitely wouldn’t have been swept. But if this is what they need to tell themselves in order to cope then so be it.
Overall rating 7.5 out of 10
Next Stop – Minute Maid for the Astros
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Thats me an the voice of ESPN sunday night Baseball and Giants play by play announcer – Jon Miller.
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