Astros v Cards, Game V

[TexasTerror]

Astros 1
Cards 0

BOT 2nd

[blackfordpu]

Not looking good now. Looks to be a stale-mate.

Astros 1
Cards 2

Top of the 7th.

[blackfordpu]

3 RUN HOMERUN BERKMAN! ASTROS GO UP 4-2 IN THE BOTTOM OF THE 7TH!!

CURTAIN CALL BERKMAN!

GO ASTROS!! :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :hyped: :hyped: :hyped: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :bow: :bow: :bow: :rotateh: :rotateh: :rotateh:

[TexasTerror]

How about that?

The future (Berkman) hits the past (Biggio) in...

[ISUMatt]

Pujols 3 run JACK

STL 5
HOU 4
-top 9th

[ISUMatt]

As a die-hard White Sox fan, all I can say is I hope this series goes 7!!! :) J/K Good Luck to both teams, I look forward to seeing either at US Cellular Saturday Night

[ISUMatt]

GAME OVER

Cards 5
Stros 4

Izzy over Lidge
HOU leads 3-2

[blackfordpu]

oh crap. :( :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:

[TexasTerror]

This is going to go down as the worst day in Houston sports since a nobody Frank Reich ruined 1993 for a lot of us...

[TxSt02]

Choke City!!!

I hate Dallas sports (where Im from) but cant stand Houston teams...

[TexasTerror]

Choke City? Are you kidding me...

We shed that. It's Clutch City!

[ISUMatt]

Choke City? Are you kidding me...

We shed that. It's Clutch City!

Not Lidge last night... 2 out no one on and he manages to give up 3 runs...I feel bad for ya HOU fans, but you still got 2 more games, like last yr, for your sake I hope it turns out better than last yr

[Ivytalk]

As a long-suffering Phillie fan who lived through the '64 choke, the '77 Dodger playoff game (Greg Luzinski's non-catch), and the '93 World Series (two blown games against the Jays), I sympathize with Astro fans this morning. That "Poo Holes" is a great hitter!

[AppGuy04]

that was a great game, but i hate winnie "the pooh" holes

[blackfordpu]

I wish the Houston media would quit playing that video clip over and over and over. I mean, talk about rubbing it into your OWN TEAM!

Lets get ready to take the series tomorrow and quit looking at last night.

Lidge is still the best closer in baseball. We all throw one bad pitch from time to time.

[GeauxLions94]

I wish the Houston media would quit playing that video clip over and over and over. I mean, talk about rubbing it into your OWN TEAM!

Lets get ready to take the series tomorrow and quit looking at last night.

Lidge is still the best closer in baseball. We all throw one bad pitch from time to time.

I was ready to start celebrating (Astros are be second-best team after the Dodgers :mad:) last night when Lidge got two strikes on Eckstein. Next thing, base hit. Then, I was hoping he would have been aggressive with Edmonds. Walk. I don't know why Lidge wasn't keeping the ball away from Pujols, but when he connected on the slider, I was wondering if my brother's house in Katy would be alright. :p

[ISUMatt]

Reminded me of Dave Henderson/Donnie Moore 1986 ALCS but I hope Lidge is smart enough one day not to kill himself... I mean that was just game 5 with a 3-1 lead, not the whole shooting match like DOnnie Moore

[bulldog10jw]

Reminded me of Dave Henderson/Donnie Moore 1986 ALCS but I hope Lidge is smart enough one day not to kill himself... I mean that was just game 5 with a 3-1 lead, not the whole shooting match like DOnnie Moore

Actually, I think it was the exact same situation in 1986. After that game they went back to Boston for games 6 and 7 and the Red Sox won both.

Of course, the Red Sox had their own demons in '86 thanks to my Mets who also beat the Astros in the NLCS that year, the final game going 16 innings.

[blackfordpu]

This article makes me feel better about the team. It seems that mentally they are ok and ready for tomorrow.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051018&content_id=1254183&vkey=ps2005news&fext=.jsp

[ngineer]

Watching that game last night reminded me of Mitchie-pooh Williams getting nailed by Joe Carter in Toronto in game 6 of the World Series in 1993. You could see it coming before contact occured. The announcers were talking about doing nothing but sliders away; and then, comes this waist high fast ball on the inside half--it was "like deja vu, man"--then with the crack of the bat it was like a howitzer. Pujols is incomparable. 'stros have come so close before (the 1980 NCLS is still the classic series of alltime playoffs). And don't forget about the previous batters getting on base with two out. Never say die. The greatest thing about baseball--NO CLOCK!

[GeauxLions94]

Watching that game last night reminded me of Mitchie-pooh Williams getting nailed by Joe Carter in Toronto in game 6 of the World Series in 1993. You could see it coming before contact occured. The announcers were talking about doing nothing but sliders away; and then, comes this waist high fast ball on the inside half--it was "like deja vu, man"--then with the crack of the bat it was like a howitzer. Pujols is incomparable. 'stros have come so close before (the 1980 NCLS is still the classic series of alltime playoffs). And don't forget about the previous batters getting on base with two out. Never say die. The greatest thing about baseball--NO CLOCK!

Tell that to some American League fans when games are going nearly 4 hours :p

[ISUMatt]

Tell that to some American League fans when games are going nearly 4 hours :p

Watch some of the White Sox games with their starters, all fast especially Buehrle. He pitched a 1:39 game vs Seattle earlierthis season

[Black and Gold Express]

Lidge is still the best closer in baseball. We all throw one bad pitch from time to time.

It was more than one pitch. It was the bad slider to Eckstein. It was the walk to Edmonds with many bad pitches.

In my estimation, it's also at least in part the 93 pitches Lidge has thrown in 4 games from 10/13 - 10/17, including 60+ in a three day stretch, not including bullpen and pre-inning warmups. Which is easily more than he's been asked to do in that amount of time all season. And all in pressure cooker situations. You can look up the numbers on MLB.com easily enough.

In addition, the slider can be one of the most devastating pitches to throw if done right. But you need to have the arm angle to keep the hand over the ball and have it break downward. When a pitcher gets tired, and tries to overthrow to compensate, one of the first things that goes is mechanics. It would be very easy for his arm angle to fall a little, and that will lead to that slider being an 88 mph spinner instead of a 92 mph disappearing act.

Also take into fact that the Cards have pretty much all seen him recently, and any pitcher that gets seen too often in a short amount of time gets more hittable in that hitters can adjust to pitchers a lot easier than pithers can to hitters, especially if they only use two pitches mainly.

Houston fans should watch Lidge very closely if he comes in tonight. If he's got that dominant slider going, and control, then that alone says more about him as a pitcher than anything else. But if he comes out and hangs a few more, or is wild, then it is clear to me that he's been overused and Qualls and Wheeler need to take some of he load off him.

[blackfordpu]

It was more than one pitch. It was the bad slider to Eckstein. It was the walk to Edmonds with many bad pitches.

In my estimation, it's also at least in part the 93 pitches Lidge has thrown in 4 games from 10/13 - 10/17, including 60+ in a three day stretch, not including bullpen and pre-inning warmups. Which is easily more than he's been asked to do in that amount of time all season. And all in pressure cooker situations. You can look up the numbers on MLB.com easily enough.

In addition, the slider can be one of the most devastating pitches to throw if done right. But you need to have the arm angle to keep the hand over the ball and have it break downward. When a pitcher gets tired, and tries to overthrow to compensate, one of the first things that goes is mechanics. It would be very easy for his arm angle to fall a little, and that will lead to that slider being an 88 mph spinner instead of a 92 mph disappearing act.

Also take into fact that the Cards have pretty much all seen him recently, and any pitcher that gets seen too often in a short amount of time gets more hittable in that hitters can adjust to pitchers a lot easier than pithers can to hitters, especially if they only use two pitches mainly.

Houston fans should watch Lidge very closely if he comes in tonight. If he's got that dominant slider going, and control, then that alone says more about him as a pitcher than anything else. But if he comes out and hangs a few more, or is wild, then it is clear to me that he's been overused and Qualls and Wheeler need to take some of he load off him.

Lidge is still one of, if not the best closers in MLB. I put him up there again against "Poo holes" and let him finish it off tonight.

[Black and Gold Express]

Lidge is still one of, if not the best closers in MLB. I put him up there again against "Poo holes" and let him finish it off tonight.

He is one of the best closers in the game, though I would take Mariano Rivera over him 100 times out of 100. Lidge runs too high in the pitch counts on average, whereas Rivera is as likely to get you a 6-pitch save as not.

But more importantly, this isn't Playstation baseball here. Fatigue is a factor come this time of year, and as seen so far, Lidge has gotten progressively more hittable each game in this series. That fastball that was 97-98 was down to 92-94. That slider, breaking hard down at 92, was spinning and being left on the inside part of the plate at 88.

That may not sound like much, but in the majors that is huge.

Pujols just happened to show this in an overly dramatic fashion, and this is not meant to discredit Lidge whatsoever. But there is a growing set of evidence that Lidge is pitching tired right now. And tired pitchers make mistakes, especially if they are incapable of getting quick innings (12 pitches or less).

In addition to the favorable starting pitching for games 6 and 7 (if needed), what Houston has most in its favor is Qualls and Wheeler. Those two have been brilliant, and been flying under the radar this postseason.