Saturday Scribbles Vol 3.3

It's been a while since I wrote. Today, I'm going to talk baseball.

You see the Astros have just won the World Series bringing a championship to Houston for the first time in franchise history.

I've grown up watching the Astros. When I was in school, the district gave us 2 free tickets to 2 games for straight A's. I'd earn them. And my brother would too. So that was 4 games a year that we'd get to go to. By the time I was in 2nd grade,  I was told I couldn't bring the book with me to read at the game. I actually had to watch the baseball game. So I did. And I learned.

This was the era of the Astros' Rainbow jerseys. The era of the stars of Nolan Ryan, Jose Cruz, Mike Scott, Bill Doran. I learned what it meant for players to be at double-play depth. I learned what the scoreboard abbreviations meant. I learned that a play that was marked as a GIDP 6-4-3 was that the batter grounded into a double play shortstop (6) to second (4) to first (3). I learned about the infield fly rule, ground rule doubles, and so much more.

Then in the 1990's the stars changed. The 90's saw the team bring on Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Billy Wagner. The Killer B's came to bat. A few times, the team would make it into the playoffs only lose in the first round. Sometimes it seemed like they couldn't win. But I still adored the Astros.

Then came 2005. I remember watching the game against the Braves that determined if we would move on in the playoffs. We weren't doing well, so I turn back to the computer and my homework. Three hours later, my roommate came home and was shocked to see that my homework was abandoned and that the game was still on. I think it lasted something like 18 innings. We'd just clinched the playoff spot as the National League Wild Card. We went on to win the division series and the league championship series. Here we were, for the first time, in the World Series facing the White Sox. That series was a bitter disappointment as we were swept in 4 games. One interesting fact was that the longest world series game in history was played in that series.

Over the next several years, I'd go to games when I could. More often than not though, I would just watch at home. The team was sold and moved from the National League into the American League.  In 2014, Sports Illustrated predicted that the Astros would be the winners this year.

This year though I've followed them all season, though I wasn't able to get to the games. We ran away with the American League West by June. After the All-Star break, several of the stars went down with injuries. But we were still hot. Just not the hottest team in the league anymore. But the Astros were being mentioned in company of the Indians, the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Nationals - the hottest teams in baseball this summer. I watched as Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. Then something happened with our guys. At the end of August, Justin Verlander joined us from the Tigers. Due to a hurricane, the Astros had to play a home series at the spring training facility in Florida. But they came home to Minute Maid Park in September and were on fire. They clinched the American League West title mid September. Our first opponent in the post season in October were the Boston Red Sox. That series was a best of 5.

We won that series 3-1, winning the last game in Boston. Next we faced the Yankees in the American League Championship series. This was a best of 7. Oh my goodness. This series took all 7 games. We had the home field advantage, meaning games 1,2,6, and 7 were going to be played in Houston. We took games 1 and 2. We went to New York with a 2-0 lead on the series. Can we just forget about our performance in New York? We lost all 3 games in New York. But we rallied in game 6 at home. We went on to win the ALCS 4-3.

Now, we're in the World Series for the first time in 12 years. And we were facing the Los Angeles Dodgers. Game one - Dodgers beat us 3-1. We rallied in Game 2 with a 7-6 win in extra innings. So we were coming home tied at 1. Game 3, we won 5-3 at home. Game 4, was a hard loss at home loosing 6-2.

Then came Sunday's game 5. This game ended up being the second longest in World Series history. Dodgers took the lead early. So it was 3-0 Dodgers at the end of the 1st inning. They scored again in the 4th. We got on the board with a run off a double by Correa. We tied it with a 3-run homer in the 4th. After that it was like a home run derby. Dodgers came back with a 3 run shot in the 5th. Score now 7-4. We countered with another 3-run homer in the 5th. Score now 7-7. Dodgers came up with a run in the 7th. Score 8-7 Dodgers. Bottom of the 7th inning, Springer homers. Score 8-8. Next batters gets on base. Second baseman Jose Altuve hits a double that scores the runner. First lead of the game. Score 8-9 Astros on top. Then Correa homers extending the lead. Astros 11, Dodgers 8. Deep breath. We've got a little bit of a lead. But our bullpen isn't very dependable. 8th inning, Dodgers score again. Dodgers 9, Astros 11. We follow in the 8th with another run. Score - Dodgers 9, Astros 12. By this time, it's like 10-10:30 pm. 9th inning, Dodgers score on a 2 run shot. Score Dodgers 11, Astros 12. They score again to tie the game at 12. We stay scoreless in the bottom of the 9th. By this point, it's almost midnight. Game's going into extra innings. 10th inning. Dodgers manage to not score in the top of the inning. I'm spellbound by this game. It's late. I have to be at work the next morning. I told myself, I'll go to bed after this inning. We're batting. 2 out. Our catcher gets on. Springer walks. 2 on, 2 out. The manager makes a change by pulling the catcher standing on 2nd for a player with more speed. Bregman, comes up. He singles and the runner scores from 2nd base. Astros win 13-12 in 10 innings. This game was a total length of 5 hours 17 minutes. 2nd longest world series game in history.  So we're taking a 3-2 lead back to LA.

All we need is one more win.

Tuesday's game went in the Dodgers favor. Series tied 3-3.

Wednesday's game. The entire city was on pins and needles. We got on the board early. By the end of the second inning it was Astros 5, Dodgers 0. The Dodgers starter didn't last 2 innings. Our starter didn't last through 3 innings. 6th inning, the Dodgers managed to score what would be their only run. Astros win 5-1.

Social media was INSANE on Wednesday night. It was like a dream. We were watching history be made. For a lifelong Astros fan, it was pretty surreal. I was watching history happen. I felt like I was dreaming. The Astros just won the World Series!