Houston, We Have A World Series
"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. "
I wasn't even convinced back then the Astros would make it. Lewis knew. He never lost hope. And even though we don't see many of the regular season games up here in Boston, it never stopped him from surfing through the channels, looking. Hoping ESPN might carry just one. They never did. So he'd sit in front of the computer and ESPN.com and watch game cast. A slow, not real time account of whats going on. Its just a picture of a baseball diamond with dots on it for players, and a side bar that says what the pitcher is doing and where he is in the count.
"If you dodged the flying clichés in that Astros clubhouse -- all those "we never gave ups" and "no one believed we could do it but us" grenades -- it was possible to come upon some real and valid explanations:
"Berkman got healthy. Morgan Ensberg turned into Mike Schmidt. Pettitte's elbow stopped throbbing. Chad Qualls and Dan Wheeler morphed into the modern-day edition of Charlie Kerfeld and Larry Andersen. And there were the constants -- Lidge, Clemens, Oswalt, Biggio and the vastly underappreciated Ausmus to catch all those arms. "
The reason the Houston Astros miraculously turned into a great team and are now going to win the World Series? (They are favored in all the polls I see) I believe it has something to do with heart and faith. Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell have never given up on this team. And Biggio, who is just the best baseball player ever with the most soul, has stayed with this team because he loves it. And when you love something that much, and have that much faith in something, good things happen.
And I just want to point to Ausmus and the bottom half of the line-up. Brad Ausmus got on base every time but once yesterday. He is the leader of the team (behind Biggio) and he holds it all together and I just think he's the best. He hits, he catches ... he reminds me of Dottie Henson from A League of Their Own, Gena Davis's character. He's just a great all around player. And the bottom half of our line-up put up many of those runs. They were great.
Congratulations Houston. Congratulations Astros. (Links to the comlete ESPN story by Jayson Stark). I'll be cheering for you Saturday. And oh yeah, one last thing:
Hey Carlo$, how's the view from the couch?!
GO 'STROS!
"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. "
I wasn't even convinced back then the Astros would make it. Lewis knew. He never lost hope. And even though we don't see many of the regular season games up here in Boston, it never stopped him from surfing through the channels, looking. Hoping ESPN might carry just one. They never did. So he'd sit in front of the computer and ESPN.com and watch game cast. A slow, not real time account of whats going on. Its just a picture of a baseball diamond with dots on it for players, and a side bar that says what the pitcher is doing and where he is in the count.
"If you dodged the flying clichés in that Astros clubhouse -- all those "we never gave ups" and "no one believed we could do it but us" grenades -- it was possible to come upon some real and valid explanations:
"Berkman got healthy. Morgan Ensberg turned into Mike Schmidt. Pettitte's elbow stopped throbbing. Chad Qualls and Dan Wheeler morphed into the modern-day edition of Charlie Kerfeld and Larry Andersen. And there were the constants -- Lidge, Clemens, Oswalt, Biggio and the vastly underappreciated Ausmus to catch all those arms. "
The reason the Houston Astros miraculously turned into a great team and are now going to win the World Series? (They are favored in all the polls I see) I believe it has something to do with heart and faith. Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell have never given up on this team. And Biggio, who is just the best baseball player ever with the most soul, has stayed with this team because he loves it. And when you love something that much, and have that much faith in something, good things happen.
And I just want to point to Ausmus and the bottom half of the line-up. Brad Ausmus got on base every time but once yesterday. He is the leader of the team (behind Biggio) and he holds it all together and I just think he's the best. He hits, he catches ... he reminds me of Dottie Henson from A League of Their Own, Gena Davis's character. He's just a great all around player. And the bottom half of our line-up put up many of those runs. They were great.
Congratulations Houston. Congratulations Astros. (Links to the comlete ESPN story by Jayson Stark). I'll be cheering for you Saturday. And oh yeah, one last thing:
Hey Carlo$, how's the view from the couch?!
GO 'STROS!
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