A Game For The Ages

I rarely write about baseball games I don't see in person, but today's Houston-Atlanta playoff game was one for the ages.

Coming into the game, the Astros were up 2 games to 1 over the Braves in their best-of-5 series. Debbi and I were driving about running some errands, and listened to the game on and off. At one point the Braves were up over the home-team Astros 5-0, thanks to a grand slam. By the time we came home, the Astros had pulled to 6-5 thanks to a grand slam of their own. But in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out Brad Ausmus came up, and I figured it was just about over. Ausmus is not a good-hitting catcher, and he's been especially woeful over the last 3 years. Instead, he hit a game-tying home run just inches over the home run line in center field, sending the game to extra innings!

And on it went, with both teams threatening but never scoring. Houston manager Phil Garner (the manager of the Brewers when I lived in Wisconsin, so I have some fondness for him) arguably managed himself into a corner, ending up with no relief pitchers left, and no hitter left on his bench. Ausmus moved to first base when the backup catcher came in (!), and then 43-year-old Roger Clemens pinch hit in the 15th (bunting a runner over) and then took over the pitching duties - his first relief appearance since 1984! (Yes, you read that right, in twenty-one years!)

At this point, it was theorized that the Astros actually had only two pitchers on their roster who had not pitched in the game, and one of them - I think their presumed starter for the potential Game Five of the series - was not even in the park. So after Clemens, it was the other starter, and then I guess position players would pitch if none of the actual pitchers could go any further.

The 15th inning tied the Division Series record for longest game (the Division Series has only existed since 1995), and the 16th inning tied the all-time playoff record for longest game. The 17th inning broke that record.

In the 18th inning, the Braves pitcher was Joey Devine, who started the season pitching for his college, and made the Majors by the end of the year. And at that point Astros hitter Chris Burke launched one over the left field fence. Astros win 7-6, and win the series, staging a rematch of last year's National League Championship Series with the St. Louis Cardinals (everyone's favorite pick for World Series champion).

My Red Sox were knocked out of the playoffs by the White Sox this past week - no big surprise, I didn't have high hopes for them. But I'm happy to root for the Astros, as my friend Syd is a long-suffering Astros fan.

Truthfully, though, I could get behind any of the remaining teams except the Yankees.

(Although to be honest I find this year's White Sox team vaguely repugnant. I think I just dislike their manager, Ozzie Guillen.)

With luck, the Angels will knock the Yankees out this week, and then I can enjoy the rest of the playoffs.

Today though - wow. I turned on the game a few outs away from what looked like the end, and then watched a full nine innings of dazzling pitching afterwards! That's something to remember!

Another amazingly busy week at work, so we had a weekend of just fun. Tried the new California Roadhouse in Mountain View on Friday. The verdict: Steaks good, fries good, baked beans about average, onion bloom good (but not as good as Outback), service not so good. For instance, our onion bloom went to the bar rather than to us. To their credit, they brought us another one, and deducted it from our bill. But getting seated, getting our order in, and getting served were all slow. We're hoping it's just because they're new and haven't gotten things smoothed out yet. We'll go back in another month or two and see if things have improved. It's worth a second chance.

Saturday we went to San Francisco, which was having Fleet Week this weekend. We did get to see some of the Blue Angels' performances, but otherwise we mostly fought through the crowds to go to Ghirardelli Square. We also went by the San Francisco New Balance store to take advantage of their sale. And we went by Borderlands Books. They were having author Fiona Avery as a guest, whose work I've read a little of in comic books (she's filled in for J. Michael Straczynski on Spider-Man, for instance). Her first novel didn't look like my cup of tea, though.

Today we went to Borrone for brunch, and then to the (yaaaayyy!) newly re-opened Kepler's Books next door. Kepler's somehow navigated the perilous waters of shutting down for over a month, and found investors and reportedly renegotiated their lease and re-opened yesterday with a new business plan. Although I also patronize Books Inc., I can cycle Kepler's back into my regular shopping routine. Yay!

All-in-all, quite a weekend!