After a 6-3 road trip that included a two–game sweep of the Cardinals, the Stros (87-71) come home for four games with the Cubs (77-81) needing any combination of wins or Phillies (85-74) losses equaling two to achieve the club’s sixth playoff berth in the past nine seasons (the Phillies finish the season with three games in Washington against the 81-78 Nationals). Inasmuch as the Stros have gone a positively unbelievable 72-41 after a miserable 15-30 start to the season, one has to feel good about the Stros’ chances of clinching the playoff berth at this point. However, given this club’s chronic lack of hitting, it is reasonable to hold off celebrating until the final out of the clinching game is officially in the scorebook.

The Stros’ successful road trip was the primarily the result of this team’s strength — strong pitching. The pitching staff’s runs saved against average (“RSAA“) is 92, second best among the 16 National League teams. Moreover, the hitting has also picked up of late as the club’s four strongest hitters — Morgan Ensberg (40 RCAA/.390 OBA/.567 SLG/.957 OPS), Lance Berkman (35/.413/.521/.934), Bidg (9/.325/.464/.790) and Jason Lane (5/.316/.501/.817) — have all stepped up when it counted on the just-finished road trip. Even Mike Lamb — who has had a generally horrible season (-13/.280/.413/.693) — has had a robust 7 RCAA since September 5th and Brad Ausmus — one of the worst hitting regular National League hitters over the past several seasons (-13/.353/.334/.688) — has had a relatively Bondsian 4 RCAA since August 15th. As a result, the club’s team runs created against average (“RCAA“) has risen to -23, which is 12th in the National League. Nevertheless, reflecting just how remarkable this season has been, the Stros combined RCAA/RSAA of 69 still trails the Phillies combined RCAA/RSAA of 81, which means that the Phillies are really the better-balanced club. Just goes to show that great pitching can cover up a lot of warts.
It would be nice if the Stros could wrap up the playoff berth on Thursday or Friday so that they could rest the Rocket and Roy O in the weekend games, but don’t bet on it. This club has had to fight and struggle for everything that it has achieved, so it would be fitting for this bunch to have to play a couple more heart-pounders before finally clinching the National League Wild Card Playoff berth.