GAME 145 - September 9: Four Games Out - and Rising

Houston 9, Pittsburgh 3

Quote of the Day: ""The main issue is trying to win each game and if for some reason, there is a spot for us, that'd be great. But it's just fun winning, just keep going out there and playing good baseball." (Winning pitcher, Randy Wolf)

Happy Birthday Marissa!

For a few minutes at the beginning of Tuesday's game, Randy Wolf looked to be in trouble. A leadoff walk, a single, a double and an error had given the Pirates a two-run lead in the first inning. But the Astros' deficit was short-lived, as singles for Erstad and Tejada set the stage for Berkman's 3-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.

After that, Wolf seemed to coast through most of the next six innings, allowing only one other run - a solo homer. Geary, back from the DL, threw a 1-2-3 eighth, and Byrdak tossed a perfect ninth to wrap it up.

Meanwhile, the Astros just kept adding on to their early lead, for a rare relatively relaxing path to the win. They scored two in the third on Berkman's RBI double - his 4th RBI of the game and 100th of the season - and Newhan's bases-loaded ground out. They added another run in the fourth on Erstad's two-out RBI double. Then another pair in the fifth, when Berkman singled and scored on Blum's triple; Blum then scored on Newhan's single. And one more for good measure in the sixth, on Pence's RBI double. The ball hit the top of the wall, sending the umps off to check the instant replay, which confirmed that it wasn't a home run.

Great offensive game. The 2-3-4 spots in the lineup were terrific - Erstad, Tejada, and Berkman each got three hits, and scored 7 of the Astros' 9 runs between them. Berkman scored 3 runs, moving him up past Cesar Cedeno into third place on the Astros' record for career runs. (Only Bagwell and Biggio are ahead of him - way ahead of him!) Fifteen hits, 5 for extra bases, made for a nice relaxing game.

Scoreboard Watching: The Brewers lose! The Phillies lose! The Astros inch their way up, winning 4 in a row, 12 for their last 13, to pull up to 4 games out in the Wild Card race. The Cards won, still half a game ahead of the Astros.