After Wiggy, Pence, and Blum went yard, the Astros have pulled themselves within four games of the Cardinals. Giving Astros fans everywhere reason to cheer. We may not make the playoffs, but we can, perhaps, ensure that won't be in the bottom half of the NL Central two years in a row.
Tomorrow's match-up features another one of the Cardinals' pitchers who got lucky to start the season and reeled off a few wins, making the mainstream baseball media (read: the "geniuses" on Baseball Tonight) gasp with adulation. Hopefully Todd Wellenmeyer's somehow below 4.00 ERA is balloned over the mark as we tee off on him tomorrow. With "Wandilicious" home-Wandy taking the mound, the Astros could be within three wins of burying the Cardinals in the NL Central basement.
So Tony La Rusa, "How do you like them apples?"
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Interesting enough note from Baseball Prospectus' "Any Given Sunday" column this morning:
Astros closer Jose Valverde has 36 saves this season, and his 83 since the beginning of the 2007 season ranks second in the major leagues in that span behind the 93 of the Angels' Francisco Rodriguez.
I read that and thought, "Huh."