Astros win

[TomInTib]

About time.

[jobycom]

1. Did you see it, or just hear me screaming with joy?

[TomInTib]

3. Saw it. Oswalt was unbelievable

[jobycom]

5. He took charge, didn't he? Like he was personally not going to let

the Astros suffer a letdown.

They're talking to Bagwell now. Great to see him finally get to the Series.

I can't believe how pumped I am! I didn't think I cared.

[TomInTib]

10. Stay pumped! ChiSox whine, Houston wins. nt

[frylock]

2. good for them..

another entertaining NLCS. I hope the WS is just as good.

[GOPisEvil]

4. Booooooooooo!!!!

Congratulations to them, though.

[jobycom]

6. Condolences. I'm pumped, though.

[GOPisEvil]

8. I feel like I'm going to hurl, but I'll get over it.

After so many recent failures, you'd think I'd be used to it.

[jobycom]

15. Sorry, dude. I can sympathize

[GOPisEvil]

16. Well...let's see...is it basketball season yet?

Go Spurs!

[jobycom]

20. There are some golfers from Austin...

[PDittie]

7. The difference was the pitching

Particularly Oswalt, but also the bullpen.

Mostly relief here, after that Game 5 Sunday night.

[jobycom]

9. Lidge panicked in Game 5

He looked scared on the mound even before the first hit. No one looked scared tonight.

[PDittie]

11. Lidge is still the best closer in baseball.

And Pujols is the MVP.

[jobycom]

13. No doubt. Any other three hitters in the majors

and he probably escapes anyway.

Pujols is just awesome. It's hard not to admire him, even when he's ripping your heart out. How far did that ball travel Monday night? The man has icewater for blood.

[PDittie]

17. 415 feet.

He's sick.

[GOPisEvil]

18. 415ft until it hit plexiglass...

...how far would it have gone had it not hit anything?

Of course...who cares now?

[jobycom]

21. They measure the trajectory, how far it would have gone

If it had continued past the glass. Though that must be a short field if that was only 415 feet.

[TomInTib]

12. Lidge always looks like that- just served a hamburger once

remember he had 30 scoreless consecutive innings against the cards before the playoffs.

[jobycom]

14. Does he?

He gave up the hit to Eckstein, and got nervous, I thought, and pitched around Edmunds. Then he had to face Pujols and gave up a bad pitch.

No pitcher is perfect, he's still great. Some great pitchers have gotten nervous with the Series on the line.

[PDittie]

19. He didn't pitch around Edmonds

Let's put that to rest.

He lost his cool after Eckstein's seeing-eye single. Four wild balls to Jimmy E, and then a "cement-mixer" slider that Pujols yakked off the glass. If the roof had been open it would've landed on Crawford St.

That was enormously deflating, but you saw how the team bounced back tonight. That's the stuff of champions.

[jobycom]

22. If he didn't, he sucks

That's classic pitching around. He was trying to hit the edges because he was afraid of losing. That's pitching around.

[PDittie]

23. Wrong-o.

He didn't pitch around Edmonds to get to Pujols. (I'm sure you can see how stupid that premise is, if you think about it)

And Lidge doesn't suck, either. He was the best closer in MLB this season. He definitely threw some bad pitches after Eckstein's single. The gopher ball to Pujols was a "cement-mixer" slider, not a fastball. It spun but didn't slide.

Now then, let's celebrate the NL champs:

[jobycom]

24. He

didn't have to plan to get to Pujols to pitch around Edmunds. Pitching around is not the same as intentionally walking. You IW when you want no part of a batter (something they could have considered with Pujols, but oh well). You PA when you want to get a guy out but you don't want to take a chance on giving up a hit. You also PA when you want to IW but hope a batter is so wreckless he'll strike out anyway, but that's not what Lidge did.

Lidge was afraid of giving up a hit to Edmonds. He pitched around him, hoping Edmunds would strike out. With each ball he got more nervous--should he throw a clear strike, as Edmonds expected, or take a chance walking him and facing Pujols. The dilemma crippled him, so he pitched around Edmunds.

The slider was just an unfortunate pitch. He was afraid to go fastball--wisely--and was just trying to do too much with the slider, so he lost one.

I know he doesn't suck. My point was he has better control than to walk Edmunds with the wide pitches he was throwing. If he wanted to go after Edmonds, he had the control to do it.