Exhale

You saw it. I saw it. If you didn’t see it or hear about it, I’m about to fill your mind with thoughts that may cause you a great deal of grief, anger and surprise. With a 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Phil Garner had the foresight to bring in Brad Lidge to shut the door on the Beer Makers. We’ll fill in the who’s and what’s of the first 8.5 innings of baseball later, but for now, all that matters is Lidge is pitching the ninth. In order to ensure the safety of those around anyone reading this post, I’ll be brief in the inning’s rundown. Tony Gwynn, Jr. got on via a walk and then stole second base. Lead-off man Rickie Weeks followed in kind, setting the stage for J.J. Hardy. Seemingly in spite of his best efforts, Hardy went down swinging. Brad got ahead of Prince Fielder, 1-2, and I thought mayyyybbbeee, just maybe, the Astros may get out the inning with no harm done. That being said, the next pitch thrown was not caught by Brad Ausmus, but rather by a fan sitting in an outfield deck seat. 6-5. After allowing a double to Johnny Estrada with two outs, Phil said, “Thanks, but no thanks” and yanked Lidge. Mercifully, Chad Qualls eventually came in and recorded the final out, saving what was a great all around performance from this team…..except for number 54.

The Astros scored a run in the top of the first, on a Lance Berkman grounder. That scored Craig Biggio who reached on a walk. The Brewers responded with a run of their own when Bill Hall singled in Hardy. Matt Albers came in before a sell out crowd, and took care of his end of the bargain. Six innings, two runs, and a K for good measure. Down a run in the seventh, Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus led off the inning with a pair of doubles tying the game at 2. Rick White was credited with the victory, going 2 innings and giving up zero runs. Before the debacle in the bottom half of the inning, the Astros had the bases loaded in ninth, with one out, and Craig Biggio stepped up to the plate. With one swing of his bat, Craig not only ended his grand slam drought, a streak that began in 1994, but his blast put the Astros up by four runs. They ended up needing them all. Albers solid first start of the year and Craig’s grand slam. That’s two impressive feats that Brad Lidge almost negated. There’s nothing else to say about this man. No other role for him to be placed in. I guess the saga continues…

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