Almost on cue, after I had written off those hitting-challenged Stros yet again, the amazing 39 year old Craig Biggio jacks a three-run, two out, top-of-the-ninth tater in his first at bat against old Stros buddy Billy Wagner to lead the Stros to an 8-6 victory and a series sweep of the Phillies.
My previous post projected that the Stros (75-64) needed to win 16 of their final 26 games to achieve the 88 wins that will probably be necessary to win the Wild Card playoff berth. Given their lack of hitting and downward trend in terms of wins and losses, I doubted that the Stros could do it. However, with the series sweep of the Phils, the club needs to go just 13-10 over their last 23 to hit that 88 win number. Stranger things have definitely happened.
The Stros have a weekender in Milwaukee (69-71) before returning home for a key seven game homestand, including a big four game series at the Juice Box on Monday through Thursday of next week with the Marlins (74-65), who are the Stros’ main competition for the Wild Card. At this point in the season, the Marlins have a 59 combined RCAA/RSAA statistic (explained here), which is only marginally higher than the Stros’ combined RCAA/RSAA of 54. So, the two main Wild Card contenders are fairly evenly-matched, although the Marlins are much better hitters than the Stros and the Stros pitching — particularly their relief pitching — is better than the Marlins’ pitching.