Cardinals-Astros

In order to watch the city of Houston celebrate their first ever trip to the World Series, I fought off the urge to fall asleep. How many times does one get to watch a good sports city like Houston enjoy their maiden voyage to the Fall Classic, I asked myself? And the added bonus of seeing 43-year-old Roger Clemens pouring champagne all over himself kept me awake for an extra hour or so. Trailing the Cardinals 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Astros slugger Lance Berkman launched a three-run home run to left field and with just six outs to go before clinching the National League Championship Series for the first time in franchise history the party inside Minute Maid Park started to roll. The 'Stros retired St. Louis 1-2-3 in the eighth and then their nasty closer Brad Lidge came in for the ninth. The Houston-Chicago references started to pour out of the FOX broadcast booth. Did you know that yesterday -- the day the Houston Astros were to clinch their first ever trip to the World Series -- was the day that the Houston franchise was created 45 years ago? And that they were originally the Houston Colt .45's? Wierd, it took the Astros/Colt .45's 45-years to make it to the World Series. And I'll let you guess the city that the baseball poeple were in when they awarded the franchise to Houston. Can't get it? Well it was Chicago. (Interesting stuff, yes, but the announcers were a little too cheesy in delivering the info for my liking.) Anyways, Lidge absolutely blew away the first two batters with 97 and 98 m.p.h. heaters. Up next was the Cardinals scrappy lead-off hitter, David Eckstein. Eckstein fisted a single to left and was then followed by Jim Edmonds. In all honesty, I missed the Edmonds at-bat because I was slipping off to dream land but I came to with Edmonds on first and Eckstein on second with two outs and with Albert Pujols at the plate. To spare you some poetic words on the greatness of Pujols, he seized the moment and crushed a three-run home run to left. 5-4 Cardinals. And the party ended. St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen finished Houston 1-2-3 in the ninth and the game was over. St. Louis was alive thanks to the probable 2005 N.L. MVP, Pujols. The NLCS is now at 3-2 with Roy Oswalt going for Houston tomorrow against Mark Mulder of the Cardinals. I can't say who will win this series but the dramatic way in which Pujols saved the season for his team was very similar to David Ortiz bashing the Red Sox off of the brink of elimination last October. And guess what yesterday was (other than the Astros 45th birthday)? The one-year anniversary of Ortiz hitting the game winning home-run in Game Four of the ALCS against the Yankees -- the game that propelled the Red Sox to the World Series. I would have liked FOX to mention that last night.