Too Little Late

Before the start of the NLCS most observers gave Houston little chance of stemming the St. Louis tide. Astros manager Phil Garner, justifiably given so much credit for taking over the helm at mid-season and bringing his team back from the dead, was roundly criticized in every corner for setting up his pitching rotation so poorly in the preceding series against Atlanta there was no way the Astros could beat the Cardinals. And sure enough, St. Louis has had too much offense for the Astros in the first two games, but not because of starting pitching.

The big disappointment thus far has been the failure of Houston’s bullpen, not its starters. In each of the first two games Houston jumped out to a lead only to see its bullpen surrender it to the Cards’ heavy hitters. Brandon Backe and Pete Munro, the Astros’ third and fourth starters, pitched decently but nearly everyone who followed did not. And because they trailed late, the Astros never could get to their best reliever, Brad Lidge. So after an off-day the series moves to Houston where the Astros will depend on their number one and two starters, Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt, to even things up. If the series goes to a sixth and seventh game the Astros and Garner will again be in deep trouble. One can only wonder what might have been if Andy Pettite were healthy.

Reasonable or not, most of the nation’s baseball attention has focused on the Yankees-Red Sox series, which moves to Boston with the Yanks holding a 2 – 0 lead. In the first two games the Red Sox hardly resembled the team that had the best overall record in baseball from August 1 on. Manny Ramirez doesn’t have an RBI. Johnny Damon doesn’t have a hit. And the most troubling development is that Curt Schilling doesn’t have his health. Schilling injured his ankle in the first round of the playoffs and was limited to his shortest outing in years in game one of the ALCS. The injury, which will require surgery, is severe enough that Schilling will not make his next scheduled start and may be done for the year. Without him the Sox don’t appear to have much of a chance against New York’s veteran offense not to mention the Cardinals lineup, which clearly has the inside track to represent the National League.