Five games out. A 2.74% shot at stealing the Wild Card away from Milwaukee. (Source: Baseball Prospectus). Raise your hand or tap your mouse here if you thought that would be the case a month ago. We're playing with house money folks. Simple as that. Nobody- not the naysayers, the homers, the stat heads or the casual fan seriously thought the Astros would be this position. My take is simple: enjoy it. Revel in it. We've got a nice schedule to close out the season. The Brewers have three series against the Cubs (twice) and Phillies. Yeeesh. It'd be one thing to have been in the hunt all year, and then miss out on a spot in the last week. It's another to have been out of it, then to gradually become relevant through some luck, but also through outstanding play. Randy Wolf pitches tonight, and I'm still all warm and tingly from that start he made in Chicago. Mark Saccamano went all Roy Hobbs on us last night, hitting a tater to right field in his first AB at home since being called up from AAA Round Rock. Signing the Darin Erstad's of the world may not have the brightest financial move, but you could justify him being on a contending club. Another strong hand to steady the ship. Pieces are falling into place. What's more with the success of Chris Johnson, Alberto Arias making good on his first start as an Astros, and the solid early returns on our youngest members of the farm system, there seems to be a decent foundation in place for the future. Whodathunkit? Ed Wade, I doft my cap in your direction, and ready myself to watch the club you assembled hopefully take down a former Yankee tonight.
