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The World Series Is Over

The Astros fell to the White Sox in the World Series, four games to none. Fortunately, though, I was able to fly back to Houston to go to games three and four with my dad. My flight departed Los Angeles at 7:00am Pacific time on Tuesday, and my dad picked me up from the airport a little after noon Central. After an excellent fajita lunch at Lupe Tortilla, we headed down to Minute Maid Park for the game.

We made it in time to watch batting practice from the Crawford Boxes out in left field, and I was fortunate enough to wind up with two balls. The first ball I swiped out of mid-air after it bounced off someone else’s glove nearby. That particular ball had been hit by Roy Oswalt, the Astros starting pitcher that night in game three. The second ball also bounced off someone’s glove but landed in the row of seats directly behind me. A quick scramble found the ball trapped in my glove, with two or three sets of hands clamoring on top.

Game three was a monster of a game, fourteen innings in length. It tied the longest game in World Series history in terms of innings, and it was the longest game in World Series history in terms of time. The keys to that loss for the Astros, in chronological order, were (1) one bad inning by Roy Oswalt, (2) a lack of clutch hitting, and (3) one bad inning by Ezequiel Astacio. The Stros ended up losing 7-5.

My dad and I did the same routine on Wednesday afternoon/evening for game four. Neither of us caught any batting practice balls that time. The keys to the game four loss, in chronological order, were (1) a lack of clutch hitting by the Astros and (2) one bad inning by Brad Lidge. In fact, Brad Lidge wound up with two losses for the Series, giving up the game winning home run to Scott Podsednik in game two and allowing the game winning RBI to Jermaine Dye in game four. Lidge was able to work a brilliant inning and a third in game three, but those two losses will be remembered for a while.

The Astros lost all four games by a total of six runs. The Series was competitive, but the Astros simply could not score the runs when they needed to. It was neat to watch games three and four in person, but at the same time it was a bit more depressing to personally see all the chances where a hero could have been made evaporate into thin air.

The World Series finally came to Texas, though, and you can bet we’ll be ready for it again when it happens next time. Go Stros!