Playoff Talk: Astros vs Cardinals (NLCS)

[J.R.]

This game one wasn't as exciting as many had expected.

St. Louis jumped out to a 5-0 lead, knocking Andy Pettitte out of the game after six innings. The familiar Cardinals' bats were on tonight, with Reggie Sanders getting things started again.

I'm a little surprised that the Astros' pitching wasn't better tonight. That's their only key to winning this series, so Houston is going to have to get a big game performance out of Roy Oswalt in game two tommorow night.

After a 5-3 win tonight, the St. Louis Cardinals lead the series 1-0.

[J.R.]

Game two was easily much better than game one, where the Houston Astros got exactly what they needed: a huge pitching performance from Roy Oswalt.

The Astros struggled again to knock in runners in scoring positions and had more chances to make this a much bigger spread than the 4-1 win. St. Louis also had chances, but when it counted, Oswalt got out of trouble.

Hopefully Reggie Sanders is okay. That was a terrible fall. Jim Edmonds continued to show off the gold glove, with a solid catch in right centre.

Now it's off to Houston for three games, where the Astros won all three in the 2004 NLCS.

[PDO]

When will the Rocket be ready to go?

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

Very disappointed with the Cardinal loss today. We had a chance in the 9th against Lidge, but Pujols' running error, followed by a nice DP turn by Houston's infield on a Mabry grounder ended things.

I'm still keeping the faith, but we'll have to win three straight against the big three. It won't be easy with the way our offense has performed.

[J.R.]

Houston has never been there, but if they win Monday night, they will be going.

Brandon Backe deserves to be a part of the Astros' big four pitching staff. He came up with a huge performance in game four.

It felt to me like the Cardinals self destructed, with base running errors and with LaRussa and Edmonds getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes. It appears that Edmonds case was justified, however.

Anyways Monday night, Chris Carpenter goes up against Andy Pettite in a must win game for the STL Red Birds.

[PDO]

I liked seeing one pitch be a strike for Edmonds, and the exact same pitch be a ball for a Houston player... :conspire:

[leaferfan87]

OUCH! That's all I gotta say about that. ONE OUT AWAY AND BOOM 5-4 St. Louis!!

[J.R.]

Wow. Just wow. The best hitter against the N.L.'s best closer this season.

I'm kind of glad we get to see another game at Busch Stadium. It would have been disappointing.

Oswalt against Mulder on Wednesday night. Like last season, this series just keeps getting better each day. However, this time it's not be overshadowed by the A.L.C.S. and the National League gets to show off its great style of baseball.

[THE HACK]

OUCH! That's all I gotta say about that. ONE OUT AWAY AND BOOM 5-4 St. Louis!!

Makes you wonder why they didn't just walk Pujols and pitch to Reggie Sanders?Game 6 should be a good one and I'm hoping to see a Game 7!:)

Cheers

[Newfie John]

Makes you wonder why they didn't just walk Pujols and pitch to Reggie Sanders?Game 6 should be a good one and I'm hoping to see a Game 7!:)

Cheers

Hindsight vision is 20/20.

Last nights game was unbelievable. Awesome game. Could be a turn for the worst for the Astros, but I'm sticking with my pre playoff prediction that the Astros will win the World Series.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

We live another day!!!

Good to see the Cards finally get through to Lidge. He's been anything but solid this series, and it's nice to see them finally step on his throat when he was struggling with his control.

I'm looking forward to game 6, and the Cards will definitely need another solid performance from Mulder. The bats also need to wake up because Roy Oswalt has just been dominant this season, and in game 2. I'm still hoping Jim Edmonds is moved down in the lineup from the two hole, but chances are he won't..lol