A pennant, at last...

2005 National League Champion Houston Astros

That just sounds so right.

I don't think I've ever been so thrilled to be so wrong. I just didn't think that the Astros could come back from such a devastating loss, but those guys showed such amazing character to come back and jump out and control that game last night the whole way.

It's been a long time coming. This team has been very good for a while now, and it's nice to see that they get over the hump while some of the veterans (Bagwell and Biggio) are still with the team. It's been 44 years since the Colt .45s started playing baseball in Houston, and Saturday we will revel in the first ever World Series appearance - and Tuesday, we'll actually host our first World Series game. Craig Biggio had played over 2500 games (18 years) in Houston, Bagwell over 2100 - and now they get a shot at winning it all. It couldn't happen to two more gritty, class teammates.

When I was in seventh grade - about 13 years old - I played Rotisserie baseball for the first time. And back all those many years ago, Craig Biggio was my starting catcher. (Yeah, remember, he used to catch.) Then I moved to Houston back in 1999 and got Astros season tickets, and spent many, many summer nights at the Dome. Of course, I still remember my most heartbreaking sports moment (before Monday night) there in the Dome too - 1999 playoffs against the Braves; bases loaded; no outs; and Walt Weiss makes one of the most unbelieveable defensive plays I've ever seen and the Astros get no runs that inning and lose the game. That's kind of what it had been like to be an Astros fan - the big one always seemed to slip through your fingers.

But not anymore. What a storybook season. Look at this from this ESPN article:

OK, let's try to make this compute: A mere 21 weeks ago, the only team in the National League with a worse record than the Houston Astros was the Colorado Rockies. The only teams in the entire sport with a worse record were the Rockies and Royals. That means the Devil Rays had a better record back then. And the Pirates had a better record back then. And so did the Reds, the Tigers, and the Mariners. You won't be finding any of those other teams playing in the World Series this October, though. Only the Astros get to do that. And any team that can climb out of the crypt to do that should have Bela Lugosi hitting cleanup -- not Morgan Ensberg.
Asked what he thought the odds were of a team that once was 15 games under .500 winding up in the World Series, Lance Berkman gave it some thought.
"Well, how many times has it happened -- ever?" Berkman replied. "Once in history, right? (Right.) And that was in 1914, right? (Right -- by the old 'Miracle' Braves.) So what does that tell you? That it's virtually impossible. But somehow, we did it. It's hard to believe, really."

It really is hard to believe. Really. The best part is it's not over...

On to Chicago. Go Astros!!!


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Dominant starting pitching for both sides
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Oswalt launches clinch