They’ve suffered other defeats. They’ve suffered other hurt. They have them catalogued in their hearts and minds. There has never been one like this. There never has been one so bizarre, gut-wrenching and crushing. The Astros were one out from winning their first pennant Monday at Minute Maid Park. They were going to the World Series.
They knew it and the St. Louis Cardinals and you knew it too. Closer Brad Lidge was given a two-run lead in the ninth inning. The Astros had failed just once this season to win a game they led after eight innings.
Lidge struck out John Rodriguez to open the ninth. He struck out John Mabry. And then Lidge came undone. He allowed David Eckstein’s single and walked Jim Edmonds. What followed was one of those moments that baseball fans in this city may remember forever.
Albert Pujols hammered a three-run homer to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 5-4 victory in front of 43,470 who stood in stunned silence or bowed their heads on the seat in front of them.
That quickly, the National League Championship Series was headed for St. Louis with the Cardinals suddenly alive again. The Astros still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Wednesday at Busch Stadium. They’ve still got two chances to win one game. They’ve got Roy Oswalt on the mound in Game 6. They’ve got Roger Clemens for Game 7.
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But this series looks different this morning than it did Monday night when the Astros were on the threshold of victory. Until Pujols homered, they were going to win. Lance Berkman’s three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh had turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.
They prepared for a champagne celebration and trophy presentation in the home clubhouse. And then, nothing. Maybe this is how the baseball gods have decided to torment this tormented franchise. Maybe they want to dangle it and then take it away.
Maybe they want it to be twice as sweet when it finally arrives. All the Astros have to do now is pack their bags and fly to St. Louis Tuesday for a round of media interviews. They’ll be reminded again and again how close they came. They’ll be reminded that they can still blow it.
The Cardinals entered the game with a simple mission. They wanted to get the series back to St. Louis. The Astros led 3-2 last season. The Cardinals then won Games 6 and 7 at Busch Stadium. The Astros are in better shape only because they have their ace, Oswalt, on full rest in Game 6. Last year, they sent journeyman Pete Munro to the mound in Game 6.
Oswalt gives them hope of avoiding a repeat of last season. That’s about the only hope they have at the moment.