Roy O became the National League’s first 20-game winner, and JK and Bidg each cranked two yaks to lead the Stros to a 9-3 victory over the Rockies and move the club to within one win from completing a late-season playoff drive for the ages.
The Stros are now a game ahead of the Giants, who lost 7-3 to the Dodgers on Sunday. The Braves eliminated the Cubs from the playoff race on Saturday afternoon by handing the Cubbies their fifth straight loss.
With a win in the regular-season finale Sunday or a Giants loss to the Dodgers, the Stros will clinch the National League’s final playoff spot. This was unimaginable a little over a month ago when the Stros were struggling four games below .500 and seven games behind the Cubs. Since August 15th, the Stros are an incredible 35-10.
Roger Clemens was set to take the mound against the Rockies on Sunday afternoon after only three days’ rest, but he came down with the stomach flu on Saturday night, so Brandon Backe gets the nod in the potential clinch game. Inasmuch as the Dodgers clinched the National League West Division title with their dramatic win on Saturday over the Giants, they have little to play for in the last game and thus, the Giants are likely to win the Sunday game between those two clubs. So, the Stros really need to pull out all the stops to win on Sunday, because it is not clear whether Clemens will be well enough to pitch in the Monday afternoon playoff game in San Francisco if the Stros lose and the Giants win their Sunday games.
Morgan Ensberg and Eric Bruntlett also hit solo taters as the Stros set a season high with six homers and extended their record home winning streak to 17 games.
Oswalt (20-10) won 20 games for the first time in his career, while allowing only one run and five hits in seven innings. His 20 win season is the eighth 20-win season in club history. Larry Dierker, Mike Hampton, Jose Lima, J.R. Richard, Mike Scott and Joe Niekro (who did it twice) are the other Stros 20 game winners.
Over 110,000 people will be attending the Stros game and the Texans game tomorrow afternoon in Houston. It might just be quite a party!

Jeff Bagwell hit a massive two-run Crawford Street yak and the Stros overcame some jittery fielding with solid relief pitching as they remained on top of the NL Wild Card standings with a 4-2 victory over the Rockies on Friday night at a rocking Juice Box. The Stros have now won a team record 16 straight games in the increasingly friendly confines of the Juice Box, have won seven of their last eight games, 11 out of their last 14, and are an incredible 34-10 since August 15.
The Stros entered the game tied for the Wild Card lead with the Giants, and they remained tied as the Giants won their game against the Dodgers late Friday night. However, with their wins, the Stros and Giants moved two games ahead of the fading Cubs, who have lost four straight, six of their last seven, and have been reduced to bitching at their television color man. I maintain that they should be blaming Michael Barrett.
During this final weekend of the season, the Stros are trying to avoid a repeat of last season when they needed to win three of their final four games against last-place Brew Crew to force a division tiebreaker with the Cubs. The Stros went 2-2 against the Brewers, which allowed the Cubs to win the NL Central title.
Mike Gallo (2-0) earned the win on Friday night against the Rockies by getting the last out of the third inning, and Brad Lidge nailed down the last three outs for his 28th save. They were two of seven Stros pitchers to scatter 12 Rockies’ hits. The Rockies’ starter Joe Kennedy (9-7) actually pitched very well, allowing four runs on eight hits in eight innings.
In addition to Bags’ heroics, Jason Lane again contributed mightily to the Stros’ win. Pinch hitting in the seventh, Lane first knocked in pinch running Adam Everett with an insurance run. Then, the following inning, Lane played the rebound of a line drive adroitly off of the Crawford Box wall and then made a perfect throw to nail Brad Hawpe trying to stretch a single into a double.
Finally, with the capacity Juice Box crowd tonight, the Stros have now drawn 3,001,511 fans through 80 games this season, which is the second time that the club has drawn over 3 million in attendance. The other time was in 2000, the Stros first season at Enron Field, er, I mean, Minute Maid Park a/ka/ the Juice Box.
The hottest ticket in Major League Baseball will be tomorrow night at the Juice Box as Roy O goes for his 20th win while attempting to put the Stros in even a better position in the Wild Card race. Still no decision on the Sunday starter, but rest assured that the Rocket is getting ready to return on three days rest.

The Cubs lost Thursday afternoon again (that’s five out of the last six, folks) and the Giants won their late game, so the Stros enter the final weekend of the regular season tied with the Giants for the Wild Card playoff lead and the Cubs are a game behind the Stros and the Giants.
The Stros’ Pete Munro starts the biggest game of his career in the Friday night game against the Rockies, while Roy O starts the Saturday night game and goes for his 20th win. Developments over those two games will dictate who starts the Sunday afternoon finale as the Rocket looms in the shadows to start on three days rest, if necessary.
The Rockies come in finishing up another woeful season (68-91) and are 4-6 in their last ten games. But they will be “loose as a goose in a bucket of juice,” so the Stros likely will not have it easy. The best approach for the Stros is to take early leads in each game so that the Rockie players become distracted with dinner plans rather than baseball. The Rockies have one great hitter (Todd Helton, who is comparable to Berkman), one decent hitter (Jeremy Burnitz, who has similar stats to Bags), and then a bunch of average and below average hitters, including ex-Stro, Vinnie Castilla, who Milo will describe as having a great season despite an Ensberg-like -10 RCAA (RCAA explained here).
The Giants play three with the Dodgers in L.A. and the Cubs play the Braves at Wrigley over the weekend, so neither of those clubs will have it easy, either. It’s going to be a wild weekend, so hold on tight.

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospetus ($) observed the following regarding the Stros’ sweep of the Cardinals:

The Astros took advantage of the losses by the Cubs and Giants, completing a sweep of the Cardinals to tie those two at 70 defeats. If they run the table this weekend against the Rockies–and they’ve won 15 straight home games–they can do no worse than a tie for the wild-card slot.

What a waste of two-and-a-half years. Someone owes Larry Dierker an apology.

Ouch!

Bags singled in the go ahead run and Berkman doubled in Bags with the insurance run in the seventh inning as the Stros beat the Cards 6-4 on Wednesday night at a rollicking Juice Box. The win completed an unlikely Stros sweep of the Cards, who sport the best record in Major League Baseball. The Stros have now won a record 15 straight at the Juice Box and are 33-10 over the past month and a half. What a ride it’s been!
With the Cubs blowing another one on Wednesday afternoon to the Reds and the Giants losing to the Padres late Wednesday, the Stros have now moved into sole possession of the lead for the Wild Card playoff berth, a half game ahead of both the Cubs and the Giants. The Cubs play the Reds and the Giants play the Pads again on Thursday, which is an off day for the Stros, so the worst shape that the Stros will begin play on Friday is that they will be tied for the Wild Card lead.
The Rocket gave yet another remarkable performance, going six innings and giving up 4 runs on 4 hits while striking out 8 and walking only one. The big blow was Scott Rolen‘s two out, two run yak in the sixth after Clemens thought that he had struck out the hitter before Rolen (that hitter eventually walked). Clemens had some choice words for the home plate umpire as he walked off the field at the end of the sixth.
Qualls, Miceli, and Lidge were again money for the Stros in relief, although the entire Juice Box crowd audibly gasped when Mabry toyed with a game tying yak while flying out deep to right with one on to end the game. When Berkman caught Mabry’s fly, I couldn’t tell whether the resulting Juice Box roar was one of joy or relief. The Stros hitters also battled gamely against tought Cards starter Suppan and managed 9 hits, including a two run Ensberg yak and Kent‘s solo shot.
The Stros have a well deserved day off on Thursday before the Rockies come in for the final weekend series of the season. Pete Munro and the rest of the bullpen pitches in the Friday game, Roy O comes back for the Saturday game, and then I would not be surprised if Clemens comes back on three days rest to pitch on Sunday if the Stros still have a chance. The upcoming weekend is shaping up to be a wild one, something that I had discounted as recently as a few days ago. I am thoroughly enjoying being wrong on that one!

Jeff Bagwell drove in both of the Stros’ runs, Brandon Backe and Chad Qualls set the table for Brad Lidge, and Lidge shut down the Cards in the ninth to lead the Stros to a 2-1 heart-pounding win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night at the Juice Box. The Stros have won five of its last six and tied a franchise record with their 14th straight home win, equaling a mark set in 1980.
The Stros moved within a half-game of the Cubs, who lost to the Reds 8-3 at Wrigley Field and the Giants, who beat the Padres 7-5 in San Diego, for the lead in the Wild Card playoff race.
Carlos Beltran and home plate umpire O’Nora prevented the Cardinals from taking the lead in the fifth when Beltran caught a no out line drive, then threw out Reggie Sanders at the plate for a double play. Home plate umpire O’Nora clearly blew the call, but the Stros are accepting charity from any quarter at this point.
In the most important game of this season, the Rocket takes the hill Wednesday night against the Cards to attempt to pull the Stros even in the Wild Card playoff race. The Juice Box will be one juiced place on Wednesday night.

The Stros beat the Cards 10-3 at the Juice Box on Monday night behind Roy O‘s solid pitching and a 14 hit attack that included five doubles, a Beltran triple and a Jason Lane pinch hit yak.
Unfortunately, the Cubs won, too. Stros hold serve. Backe starts the Tuesday night game.

Raul Chavez improbably drove in a career-high five runs, Jason Lane went 3-for-4 with and scored twice, and Morgan Ensberg went 4-for-5 with two runs scored as the Stros hung on to their slim playoff hopes with an 11-7 win over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park in Milwaukee. I also think that the fact that my nephew Richard — a huge Stros fan — attended the game gave the Stros some good karma that contributed to the victory.
Jeff Kent and Lance Berkman also homered for the Stros to keep the heat on the Cubs and the Giants, who both lost on Sunday. The Stros are 1 1/2 games behind the Cubs and one game behind the Giants with six games to go at the Juice Box against the Cards and the Rockies this week.
Tim Redding (5-7), the third of eight Stros pitchers, was credited with the win after throwing a scoreless fourth inning in relief of Carlos Hernandez, who lasted only 2 1/3rd innings and appears to be fading as the season closes. Brad Lidge once again slammed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the win.
It’s been three weeks since my last periodic review of the Stros hitters’ runs created against average (“RCAA”) and the Stros pitchers’ runs saved against average (“RSAA” and RCAA explained here), and the updated statistics reflect why the Stros have not been able to overtake the Cubs and the Giants in the NL Wild Card playoff race. Here were the Stros hitters’ RCAA numbers, courtesy of Lee Sinins, through Saturday, September 25:
Lance Berkman 65
Carlos Beltran 26
Jeff Bagwell 13
Mike Lamb 11
Craig Biggio 4
Jeff Kent 1
Eric Bruntlett 0
Willy Taveras 0
Chris Tremie 0
Jason Alfaro -2
Jason Lane -2
Chris Burke -3
Orlando Palmeiro -3
Richard Hidalgo -9
Adam Everett -12
Morgan Ensberg -13
Jose Vizcaino -14
Raul Chavez -19
Brad Ausmus -26
Berkman and Beltran continue to be among the league leaders (Beltran’s RCAA would be 41 if his Royals number is included), and Lamb has really had a remarkable season overall, but the rest of the Stros hitters are now lagging. After a brief surge that pumped his RCAA to 16 at one one point, Bags has cooled off to a 13, ensuring that this will be his sixth straight season of declining production and that he will officially become the most overpaid player in terms of current production in the National League.
Similarly, after being the club’s third best hitter for much of the season, Bidg has faded badly down the stretch (he is in the midst of an 0-22 trough) as his RCAA has declined to 4. None of the other Stros regular hitters are even average National League hitters, and Ensberg, Viz, Chavez and Ausmus are among the worst hitters among regular National League hitters. The lack of run production during the just concluded road trip reflects this lack of punch in the Stros lineup.
After topping out at 6th during their late August-early September surge, the Stros have fallen back to 9th in RCAA among the 16 National League teams. The Stros (17) are comparable to the Cubs (18) in RCAA, but are way behind the Giants (85), who are riding the crest of another incredible season by Bonds (a remarkable 152 RCAA!).
However, the Stros fading hitting has been picked up by the Stros’ pitching staff, which has improved its RSAA signficantly over the past three weeks. The following are the pitchers individual RSAA:
Roger Clemens 35
Brad Lidge 23
Roy Oswalt 20
Wade Miller 10
Dan Miceli 6
Octavio Dotel 5
Andy Pettitte 5
Dan Wheeler 4
Chad Qualls 2
Darren Oliver 1
Russ Springer 1
Brandon Backe -1
David Weathers -1
Mike Gallo -3
Jeremy Griffiths -3
Chad Harville -3
Ricky Stone -3
Kirk Bullinger -6
Jared Fernandez -6
Carlos Hernandez -7
Pete Munro -9
Brandon Duckworth -10
Tim Redding -15
Clemens, Lidge and Oswalt all continue to be among the top pitchers in the National League, and Miceli has had a nice bump up since returning from the his bout with pink eye. Wheeler and Qualls have been unexpectedly solid contributors, and even Backe‘s -1 is remarkable given that he had never started a MLB game until a few weeks ago. Hernandez and Munro have faded, but that’s to be expected of two pitchers that the Stros were really not counting on this season.
The Stros (45) remain in fourth among the 16 National League teams in RSAA,
but the Cubs (117) remain far ahead of the Stros in runs saved against average. Given the difference between the Stros and the Giants in RCAA, and between the Stros and the Cubs in RSAA, it really is remarkable and a testament to the Stros’ resilience that they have remained in the Wild Card race all the way to the final week of the season. Based on the numbers, both the Cubs and the Giants should be well ahead of the Stros in the race.
Oh, and by the way, before you think about criticizing Gerry Hunsicker or Drayton McLane for the trades of Hidalgo and Dotel earlier this season. Please note that Hidalgo is currently sporting a negative 20 RCAA. That’s worse than Chavez for goodness sakes and puts him among the ten worst hitters among regular players in the National League. I liked Hidalgo as much as the next fellow, but he’s on the brink of playing himself out the league at this level of production.
And Dotel? His RSAA for the season is 7, which is about as good as Miceli, nowhere near Lidge’s RSAA, and a significant drop in Dotel’s production from the past three seasons. Inasmuch as it is always better to trade a pitcher before they bottom out so that you can get some real value for him (in this case, Beltran), Hunsicker and Drayton should be applauded for this move, too.
Roy O opens the Cardinal series on Monday night and Brandon Backe is scheduled to pitch the Tuesday game before the Rocket steps up on Wednesday. If the Stros can win the first two against the Cards, then this week could get interesting.

The Brewers’ Wes Obermueller pitched a six-hitter for his first career shutout and the Brewers for all practical purposes finished the Stros’ fragile playoff chances with an 8-0 victory over the Stros on Saturday at Miller Park in Milwaukee. The Stros are now 2.5 games behind the Cubs and 1.5 games behind the Giants in the Wild Card playoff race with seven games to go. Folks, it’s over.
It is fitting that this type of game was the one that sealed the Stros’ fate. Except for the first month of the season and then the late August-mid September streak that got the Stros back in the playoff race, the Stros — with the exception of Berkman and Beltran — have struggled hitting generally and with power in particular. Five singles and a double off of Wes Obermueller is simply not going to win many games during a race for a playoff spot.
Pete Munro (4-7) gave up three runs — two earned — and five hits in four innings, and then Tim Redding came in and showed why he was demoted to AAA ball for much of this season.
Carlos Hernandez gets the start in the Stros’ last road game of the season on Sunday afternoon against the Brewers. Then the Stros return to the Juice Box for three games series against the Cards and then the Rockies to finish the season that could have been.

Roger Clemens pitched 7 plus innings of five hit, shutout ball and the Stros finally scratched out a run in the top of the 10th to beat the Brew Crew 1-0 on Friday night at Miller Park in Milwaukee.
The win allowed the Stros to keep pace with the Wild Card playoff race leading Cubs, who beat the Mets. Things are looking increasingly bleak for the Stros as they remain 2 1/2 games behind the Cubs with 8 games to go. The Stros would have to win at least 7 of those final 8 games to win a playoff berth if either the Giants or the Cubs just split their final 8 games. Although the Stros have won 7 of their last 10 games, the 8-2 Cubs have gained ground on them and the 7-3 Giants have also kept pace with them.
Nevertheless, Clemens was magnificent again as he dominated the Brewers for the second time in a week. The Rocket struck out 12 while walking three before giving way to Lidge and Miceli, who closed the game without giving up a hit. The Stros finally broke through with the winning run in the 10th as pinch-runner Willie Taveras went from first to third on Carlos Beltran‘s bloop single and then scored on Bidg‘s sac fly.
After a lull of over a week now, the Stros need to start hitting the ball and scoring runs quickly as Pete Munro takes the mound in the Saturday afternoon game against the Brewers’ Wes Obermueller(5-8/6.35). The Stros have penciled in Carlos Hernandez to start the Sunday afternoon game.