GAME 146 - September 10: Slamming the Pirates

Houston 7, Pittsburgh 4

Quote of the Day: "We have to win every game the rest of the year. That's just a fact." (Berkman, before the game)

Milwaukee had already won its afternoon game when the Astros took the field for the third game of their Pittsburgh series. That put the pressure on, knowing that they couldn't move up in the Wild Card race, but they could certainly move down.

They didn't move down. With a 2-2 tie going into the sixth inning, the Astros were playing small ball trying to eke out a lead. Castillo led off with a single. Abercrombie fouled off his first two attempts to bunt him to second, before just swinging the bat - and hitting a double. After Quintero flied out and Newhan walked, Erstad hit a sac fly to score Castillo. Loretta walked to load the bases. With two outs and a 3-2 lead, Tejada hit a two-out grand slam to put the Astros ahead for good.

Astros pitching did a good job of keeping that lead intact. Moehler opened with a nice start - giving up 2 runs in 6 innings on 5 hits, no walks, and no strikeouts. Sampson threw a scoreless seventh. Wright earned two runs in the eighth, with Byrdak finishing up the inning (he let one of the inherited runners score). With the score 7-4 coming into the ninth, it was a save situation for Valverde. Only an infield single got past him - the rest went down to end the game with another save for Valverde, his league-leading 42nd. That's now 15 saves in a row for Valverde, as he keeps resetting the Astros' franchise record game by game.

Other good news, offensively: Pence hit a 2-run homer (#22) in the second inning. He's got a 12 game hitting streak going. Tejada's hitting streak is now at 11 games. Abercrombie went 3 for 4, with a double and a pair of singles, as well as a stolen base.

While the Astros couldn't make any progress against the Brewers, winning their 5th in a row (and 13th of 14) did help them against the other contenders for the Wild Card spot. Both the Phillies and the Cards lost, putting the Astros tied with Philadelphia at 3 games out, and half a game ahead of St Louis.

Meanwhile, the Astros weekend series with the Cubs is looking doubtful, as Hurricane Ike is heading for landfall Friday night - in Houston. I remember too well what a hurricane is like, from growing up in Houston. Even a fan-in-exile has to admit that baseball is not a priority with a Category 3 (or worse) on the way.