GAMES 153-155 - September 19-21: Mathematically Alive

September 19: Houston 5, Pittsburgh 1
September 20: Pittsburgh 6, Houston 4
September 21: Houston 6, Pittsburgh 2

Quote of the Day: "It's a long shot. But we'll play it one day at a time, as the adage goes, and hopefully, we'll get some help." (Ausmus)

After the post-Ike fiasco, the Astros needed a sweep against a team as weak as the Pirates. At this point in the season, a series win is just not enough. They literally need to win every game left, and even with that, they need some serious slumping from the teams ahead of them in the Wild Card race.

This should have been an easy sweep. For two of the three games, that appeared to be the case, but the loss in the middle was just a case of botched opportunities.

Randy Wolf managed to get a big monkey off the Astros' backs with a great start on Friday night, breaking up the five game plunge towards elimination. Other than a solo homer in the fourth, Wolf pitched a terrific game, making Ed Wade look smarter and smarter for his late season acquisition. It was a very good turnaround from an Astros pitching staff that had been pretty terrible since the hurricane. Wolf pitched 7 innings, giving up only 3 hits and a walk, and striking out 6. Hawkins, Brydak, and Valverde finished up with 3 scoreless innings.

After days of forgetting how to traverse the path that leads to home plate, the Astros actually managed to put some runs on the scoreboard Friday night. They took their time about it, not getting much off the Pirates' starter Ian Snell until the fourth inning. A pair of walks to Berkman and Blum set up Pence for an RBI single. Wiggington's ground out pushed Blum across for the second run. In the eighth, Houston played add on, buffering their 2-1 lead with three more runs. Matsui led off with an infield hit, then appeared to be stranded by two quick outs. But Berkman walked, then Blum hit another infield single to score Matsui. Pence doubled to clear the bases, giving him 3 RBI for the night, and providing the Astros with a bit more breathing room.

All in all, a nice break from the post-Ike losing streak. And with losses for both Milwaukee and Philadelphia, Houston regained a bit of traction in the Wild Card race Friday.

Saturday night was another dumb loss. Moehler got off to a terrible start, giving up 5 runs in the first inning, but five relievers combined for only one run over the next eight innings. There was really no reason for not winning this one: With 11 hits, 3 walks, and a hit batsman, Houston had plenty of baserunners to work with. The Pirates pitchers were just begging the Astros to score some runs, but Houston blew almost all their chances, stranding runners right and left. Berkman - with 5 LOBs of his own - called himself an "albatross." But it was more like a flock of them. Come on, guys, this wasn't Zambrano - it was ex-Astro Jimmy Barthmeier starting this game! The Astros should have been able to run the table. Enough said about this dreary excuse for a game. The only positive part was that Milwaukee and the Mets (who are no longer leading the NL East and have joined the Wild Card race) also lost. But it's too late in the race for any losses; every game counts.

Sunday's game might be too little, too late, a baby step on a hopeless journey, yada yada yada... but it sure was lovely to watch Roy O pitch his way to his 16th win. He only stayed in through six innings, leaving the game with a 4-1 lead in order to preserve his strength to pitch against the Reds on short rest. A very nice short start - one run on 7 hits, no walks, 4 strikeouts. Except for the fifth, when the Pirates scored once, the hits were nicely sprinked one to an inning; all but one were singles, and two were wiped out by double plays. Geary and Hawkins pitched perfect innings in relief. Wright got into a bit of trouble in the ninth, giving up a run on a double, a balk, and an RBI single, but closed the game without any further damage.

Astros hitters gave Oswalt enough padding to let him pitch an aggressive game. They got on the board in the third with back-to-back one out singles by Loretta and Tejada, and a nice big double from Berkman to score Loretta. Tejada scored on Blum's sac fly. The Astros scored two more on Oswalt's watch, when Ausmus hit a bases-loaded two-out single in the fifth inning. The extra two runs scored after Oswalt left, all on small ball plays. In the eighth, Bourn singled, stole second, and scored on Tejada's single. Bourn's two successful steals in this gae puts him at 40 for the season - who knows how many he'd have if he could only get on base more often!? In the ninth, Pence walked, advanced to second on Wiggington's single, got to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on another wild pitch.

Meanwhile, the Wild Card-leading Mets blew their lead, allowing the Braves to score 4 in the eighth. But Milwaukee won its game, so no net gain there.

It's long shot, but the Astros are still alive, going into the final home games of the season.