Move over New York Yankees, there's a new Daddy in town. No, we don't mean "Big Papi," David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. We're talking about Carlos Beltran of the Houston Astros.
Virtually overnight, the Houston center fielder has morphed into Barry Bonds. He has connected for eight home runs in ten postseason games, including in each of the first four games of the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. His outburst ties the record for homers in a single postseason with - you guessed it - BALCO Barry.
Scary thing is, Beltran still has at least two more games to claim top spot. At least five more games if his 'Stros reach the World Series.
Many predicted that the Cardinals would dispatch of the Astros and make their first World Series appearance since 1987. Instead, the Cards are staring down the barrel of an awfully confident Houston team which holds a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven series, which resumes today in St. Louis.
The NLCS has been a wild ride to this point. We've seen broken bones, great pitching in Game Five, bad pitching in most other games, and enough homers to resemble the All-Star Home Run Derby.
In the five games played thus far, the two clubs have combined to hit 19 longballs and score 48 runs. Neither team has lost at home - St. Louis won the opening two games in dramatic slugfests, while Houston took Games Three, Four and Five by teeing off in the fishbowl of Minute Maid Park. So much for great pitching winning ballgames.
Here's an overview of what we've seen so far (or, if you've been tuned into Fox's five-hour N.Y.-Boston epics, what you've missed):
Games One and Two: The Cardinal lineup - which can go yard on demand - came out hacking in St. Louis. The Redbirds lit up Houston starters Brandon Backe and Pete Munro, as well as the Astro bullpen, for 16 runs in the two contests. Scott Rolen, comatose all NLDS against Los Angeles, awoke in style with two homers in Game Two, as the Cardinals showed the depth of their lineup.
Cardinal pitching wasn't exactly white hot either; it was barely even lukewarm. Houston scored 11 runs of its own in the two games, which had final scores of 10-7 and 6-4 ... serious pitching duels.
These are the types of ballgames St. Louis expects to win. It out-slugged the opposition with solid but less than stellar pitching all season. This didn't change in Games One and Two.
Game Three: The Astros, who out-homered St. Louis 6-5 in the first two games but had nothing to show for it, got some sweet revenge back home in Houston.
The ageless Roger Clemens showed yet again why - in the twilight of his career at 42 - he remains a great pitcher. The Rocket (7 IP, 4 H, 2 R) struck out seven Cardinals in a 5-2 Astro win. Jeff "Long Ball" Suppan (6 IP, 5 H, 3 R) wasn't terrible for St. Louis, but he did allow Beltran's third homer in three games.
Game Four: Beltran continued where he left off, belting the eventual game-winner in the seventh inning off Cardinal reliever Julian Tavarez in the 6-5 Houston triumph. The blast, his fourth of the NLCS, knotted the series at 2-2.
After the inning, Tavarez did his best Kevin Brown impersonation, scuffling with the dugout telephone and breaking three bones in his non-pitching hand.
Game Five: The best game nobody watched. Thanks to another homework-killing extra-innings Red Sox-Yankees battle on Monday, everyone missed another one of the most brilliant postseason games in recent history.
Backe and Woody Williams faced off in a Game One rematch. In his 12th big league start, Backe carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, while Williams worked his own one-hitter.
The game remained scoreless into the bottom of the ninth before Jeff Kent sent Houston home happy with a one out, three-run walkoff homer off Cards closer Jason Isringhausen. It was just the fourth hit of the game: Backe and Astro closer Brad Lidge combined on a one-hitter, while the Cardinals surrendered just three knocks.
Barry Bonds Jr. failed to homer in a fifth straight NLCS game, but made the web gem of the game, a fully extended dive to rob Edgar Renteria of extra bases and preserve what was by then a one-hitter for Backe.
What now? (Houston leads, 3-2): St. Louis faces an uphill battle, even with the series returning home to Busch Stadium this afternoon. Houston is rolling, and the Cardinals offense sputtered on Monday night.
Astros manager Phil Garner has given the Game Six starting nod to Pete Munro ahead of Clemens. The Redbirds will counter with Jeff Suppan. Should Munro fail to get it done as he did in Game Two, Clemens will likely take the ball in the decisive Game Seven.
Tavarez is in a custom-made splint and could pitch again in the series, but the injury may still affect his ability to concentrate on the game.
If the series goes to seven games and Clemens pitches, the Astros will win and reach the first World Series in the franchise's 43-year history. He's proven time and again that he can deliver the goods when it counts. The Cardinals bats can come alive at any moment, but with hometown hero The Rocket on the mound, Houston has to like its chances.<$>
