Carlos Beltran and Lance Berkman continued their incredible post-season hitting, and Brad Lidge and Dan Weaver provided clutch relief pitching as the Stros came back to edge the Cardinals 6-5 in a heart-pounding National League Championship Series thriller at a raucous Juice Box on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Stros pulled even with the Cards in the NLCS with each team having won two games. Game 5 is tomorrow evening at the Juice Box and Game 6 is Wednesday in St. Louis. Game 7, if necessary will be Thursday evening in St. Louis.
This was one of the most thrilling games in Stros’ history, right up there with Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS against the Mets and the Game 5 of the NLCS against the Phillies in 1980. However, unlike those two games, the Stros won this nailbiter, which may just vault it to the top of Stros’ memorable games.
The game started badly for the Stros, as Roy O was not sharp and had trouble spotting his fastball all game. Pujols, who — like Beltran and Berkman — is having a tremendous NLCS, popped a two run Crawford Box tater in the first, which was quickly followed by another run to put the Stros in a 3-0 hole before they had even batted.
Bags got one back in the bottom of the first by knocking in Beltran with a double, but the Cards extended the lead to 4-1 in the third. Then, in the bottom of the third, Berkman nailed a double to the base of the wall in deep right center to drive in Beltran and Bags to close to within 4-3. However, the Cards added another run in the fourth off of Oswalt to increase the lead to 5-3. Could the Stros ever catch them in this one?
The answer was a resounding yes. In the sixth, after Bidg was called out to end the fifth on a questionable call at second on a steal, Berkman led off by hammering a massive yak to left to cut the lead to 5-4. Then, with two outs, Viz nailed an opposite field double down the line, and the unlikely Raul Chavez blooped a single over second base to drive in Viz and tie the game at 5. The Juice Box crowd — which was deafening the entire game — exploded.
Weaver took over in the seventh for Oswalt, who battled like the gamer he is through six innings without his best stuff. After giving up the customary hit to Pujols to lead off the inning, Weaver mowed down Rolen, Edmonds and Rentaria in succession to the roaring approval of the Juice Box crowd.
Then Beltran went to work. With one out, Beltran literally golfed a two strike pitch into the Stros’ bullpen to send the Juice Box into utter hysteria. The Stros now led for the first time in the game, 6-5.
There was going to be no Game 2 managerial mistakes in this one as Garner went to Lidge in the eighth. The Stros’ stopper used just six pitches to retire the bottom of the Cards order in that inning.
However, the ninth inning was wild. Womack led off by hitting a screaming liner to Bags’ right, and he made a nifty grab just off the infield dirt for the first out. After Walker walked on four pitches, Lidge worked the count to two strikes on Pujols, who then half-swinged one of Lidge’s nasty sliders and hit a high drive to left that looked like it might be the two run yak that would give the Cards the lead. However, Lane caught the ball on the warning track against the Crawford Box left field wall for the second out as the Juice Box crowd heaved a collective sigh of relief in unison. That’s all Lidge needed as he proceeded to whiff Rolen for the third out and the save. The Juice Box crowd almost blew the roof off the stadium.
Brandon Backe goes for the Stros in Game 5 against the Cards’ Woody Williams. It’s the best two out of three now, folks. We got us a series!