In another October moment worthy of the late Jack Buck's call of Kirk Gibson's improbable game-winning home run in the first game of the 1988 World Series, Albert Pujols reversed the fortunes of two teams in a heartbeat last night. With his St. Louis Cardinals down by two runs in the ninth inning against the Houston Astros, the Houston crowd generating afterburner-level noise inside Minute Maid Park, Pujols launched a home run against Houston's closer Brad Lidge, one of the best closers the game has to offer. Pujols' home run, scoring the three runs that would give St. Louis the win, was epic not only for the fact that Houston was one out away from eliminating the Cardinals to go to its first World Series in its 45-year existence, but for the sheer no-doubt-about-it-ness of the hit. Unlike the homer that Astro Lance Berkman had poked into the short seats in left field two innings before to put Houston in the lead, Pujols' shot was worthy of the All-Star Game Home Run Derby. There was no question, from the nanosecond his bat made contact with the ball, that he had hit the ball out ... way out. The assured violence of the stroke instantly sucked the air from the throats of the Houston fans, turning what had been a boiling cauldron of hope and excitement into a vaccum of shock and, for those who really cared, despair. There was no need for an Astro fan to wait for the ball to come down to know the awful truth.
Every kid with a wiffle ball bat in his hand in his backyard dreams of doing something like what Pujols accomplished. Even in those contests of fancy, however, boys seldom dare to dream of bring misery on the opponent so powerfully, so convincingly.
I like football. This past weekend had some truly exciting games (Go Bruins! Oh yeah, nice win, USC). I like the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals in hockey. I like the last frantic seconds of a low seed's last desperate attempts to pull an upset in the NCAA basketball tournament. For my money, though, nothing compares to the drama of October baseball.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
"Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!" (To take another line from the legenday Jack Buck). I don't think it's time for that just yet (they have two games left against the game's toughest pitchers), but for one magical night in Houston, St. Louis fans everywhere went crazy. Even if that was only enough to prolonge their misery for two more nights, it did the job. It gave St. Louis fans hope and it dealt one of the most crushing defeats in Astros history. One strike away from the World Series and BOOM! Game over. Victory for the other team.
If this Home run is enough to turn the series around, it will be remembered for a long, LONG time. It will be on par with Bobby Thompson's "Shot heard 'round the world", Kirk Gibson's homer in the '88 series, Joe Carter's blast in the '93 series, and Maserowski's shot to end the '61(?) series.
I like Houston's chances with Oswalt. Mulder is also capable of coughing up a really bad game. If Houston prevails, Pujols' HR is a footnote in history. If the Cardinals take the series (and the drama-loving gods of baseball are prone to doing this sort of thing), Pujols' shot indeed will go down as one of the biggest in recent history, diminished from the top one or two only because it was not in the World Series or clinch a series.
Also, thanks for stopping by, Todd! [for my other friends who drop in from time to time: this is not *that* Todd, so no Kids in the Hall lines, please.]
Post a Comment