If Astros pitchers can get four runs a game, they may never lose. And if Chris Burke can get some more starts, they may get four runs every game.-- Lee Jenkins, in the normally reserved New York Times
Eric Neel thought so much of Oswalt that he writes in the daily Second-Guess that the Astros are "about to go Classic. Fall Classic, that is."
And John Lopez over at the Chronicle says that, "the first World Series berth in the organization's history is probable, not improbable."
Buster Olney is a little more conservative: in the middle of an excellent story that is mostly a dissection of the fifth-inning matchup between Oswalt and Edmonds, he writes, "it's possible -- but not likely -- that the Cardinals have played their final game in Busch Stadium."
Olney's words are a better expression of my feelings than either Neel's or Lopez', but at the same time I don't want to minimize what Roy accomplished. Hell, it's almost impossible to do.
Cardinal fans are a little worried, and they're well aware that with Sanders hurting and with Walker looking kinda weak, a St. Louis pennant has become that much more difficult.
In the midst of all the positive press, one indisputable point stands out, and I might state that point as follows:
Just because you split two games while going one for fifteen with runners in scoring position once, doesn't mean that you're likely to split two games the next time you hit so poorly over a two-game span.4-5-6 need to string hits together, starting 4:01 tomorrow. But even admitting the undeniable, I'm still good with it all. The Astros should hit better in their cozy little covered ballpark, and I really like the Clemens-Morris matchup.
And I wanna see that bullpen again.
As likely or as unlikely as a return to Busch might be, it remains purely hypothetical until the Astros lose a game at Minute Maid. And I'm guessing that loss will not come Saturday.