Charged with a single mission -- to win their remaining seven games and hope that Mets drop four and the Brewers two in the process -- the Astros failed last night.  But, is this the end? Is the 2008 season, for the Astros, over? Not quite, because if you're an enternal optimist hope still exists -- barely.

4.5 games out, with six left on our plates, the Astros currently own an elimination of 2.  That means that the Mets can only win twice between now and Sunday, or the Astros, in spite of their best efforts, could be going home.  Of course, they can also only afford three more Brewers wins as well.  So what do the odds tell us the chances of these stars aligning are:

I really could have saved myself the effort and just wrote: Stupidly Bad.  But I figured the visual would be more effective.  The odds at this point, aren't worth looking at.  We all know this is a long shot if it even still is one, but for tonight, at the minimum, we get to tune in and see whether or not the Astros can float themselves one more day.  Tonight's game is a play off game and we get to experience the pressure, anxiety, and euphoria/devastation that comes from these moments.  In spite of two awful months of Baseball in June and July, in spite of Cecil Cooper's best efforts sometimes, in spite (well perhaps because of) Ike and Bud, the Astros are still allowing us to cling to hope for one more day, and it's the final week of the season.  Whether the Astros complete the improbable again, I can't find it in me to say that they'll have failed.  It's gonna be a big night.

Alright, enough with the platitudes.  Here are your match-ups to infuse with voodoo and send desperate pleas to the baseball gods for them to fail:

I swear to...something important that I'll leave nameless because my parents read this blog now...if Zambrano sucks it up like he did last time out and hands the Wild Card to the Mets, in terms of karma, it ensures the the Cubs will Choke for the one hundred and first straight year.  It's hard for me to even type this, but "....go....cubs..."

This one is simple: Maholm is on my fantasy team, we need Maholm to beat who ever the Brewers put on the mound against.  There's no reason (unless your HLP or the other guy who's battling for third in our league) to not want this to happen.  If the Brewers win, blame HLP.

Randy Wolf, you better show up tonight.

Also, let's all cling to this excellent Michael Scott (Steve Carrel) from The Office:

"Tell Alan that the Mets suck! Okay? From me, big time. Go Pirates!"