FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
WHAT A TURNAROUND! ASTROS ONLY
HALF GAME OUT FROM DIVISION TITLE

From the Houston Chronicle:

Astros continue surge with ninth-straight win

Only the rain slowed Roy Oswalt and the Astros as they continued their late surge Thursday afternoon, keeping their slim postseason hopes alive with their ninth consecutive victory.

Oswalt threw seven scoreless innings and combined with three relievers to complete the three-game sweep over the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 3-0 shutout at PNC Park.

By extending their season-high winning streak to nine games, Phil Garner's club kept pressure on the National League Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals heading into the Astros' season-ending three-game series against the Atlanta Braves.

Now the Cardinals' NL Central lead is down to a half-game.

Click here for the rest.

You know, a little over a month ago, I had, as usual, completely written the Astros off for the season--indeed, as of August 28th they were below .500 in the win/loss stats. Then, as usual, they caught fire and started winning again, and now they're right smack dab in the midst of a streak, part of which was sweeping the NL Central Division leading St. Louis Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Cardinals, who lost again tonight, are right smack dab in the middle of a losing streak. Well, not exactly, but they have lost eight of their last nine, three of those, like I said, to the Astros, and suddenly, the division title is wide open.

Christ, the Astros do this every fucking year it seems. Who says baseball isn't exciting?

So now, and a big "sorry" goes out to my friends in and from Atlanta, I'm totally hating the Braves, who I hope lose in a big way to my formerly orange home team. Kill the Braves! Go Astros! Woo-hoo!



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