The departure of Roy and Berkman made me think back to the playoff runs we had. I candidly admit that I love basketball, football and baseball, in that order. The Rockets have always been my favorite team in sports. I was in law school during the Rockets championship runs, so I didn't attend those playoff games. But I was able to attend all the series against the Jazz and then Portland in recent years. I attended almost all of the Astros/Cardinals games, was present during the marathon game against ATL ended by Burke's home run, and attend WS games. The Stros/Cardinals series were epic, and the roar of the crowd and the MMP train going off with clutch homers from kent, berkman, beltran and others was just off the charts. I've never thought about directly comparing that series with Rockets playoff games, but I have to say that those Astros/Cardinals games were -- dare I say it -- more exciting than the Rockets v. Portland/Utah/LA series. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the Portland/Utah series were first rounders. There was huge, huge joy in advancing past Portland. But that Astros/Cardinals series were to advance to the WS. Titanic battles between excellent and well matched teams, that had a healthy mutual respect but some dislike for each other. it featured stars of the game, and so many games were agonizing, pitch by pitch, edge of your seat affairs. High fiving random people sitting next to me after Kent's home run is one of the top sports moments of my lifetime. -------------- In a Rockets forum, I wanted to ask Clutchfans to talk about the Astros playoff runs and compare them to the Rockets' recent runs. It's not intended to be an indictement of the Rockets recent performances, and it's cetainly not apples to apples, b/c these recent runs were early round affairs. But I think people too quickly forget or fail to appreciate how special those Astros runs were.
I worked the 05' NLCS and the 05' WS. Just from walking around the concourse the NLCS was AWESOME, the WS was also awesome, but slightly less so. I think the difference was the people at the NLCS were rabid Astro fans, whereas the World Series crowd has a lot of random rich people who were too "dignified" to go ape for the home team.
I'm only 19 but I truly became a die hard Astros fan during the 2004 playoff run, I just started watching the games and became so entranced by how crazy the crowds were and the atmosphere that surrounded the games. Every part of the games were important back then, there's nothing better than having an entire crowd of 44,000 people in an uproar after one swing of the bat or a crazy game ending double play. From Backe's beast performances to Burkes Walk-off Berkmans Grand Slam, Kents 3 Run Blast, Ensbergs play to gun Pujols at the plate.....it was all just awesome. The last time I got a feeling similiar to those in 04/05/06 was probably back in 08 pre-hurricane Ike, before that it was probably Roger Clemens start in 06 that gave us a 4 game sweep against the Division leading Cardinals where we came oh so near to pulling off one of the most epic come backs in baseball history.
The 97-05 seasons were the best. Even 06 and 08 were fun in the stretch run. I've said it numerous times on here...meaningful September baseball is awesome...and October baseball is even better.
Playoff baseball is more exciting, dramatic, and galvanizes a city far more than playoff basketball. Main reason is that so few teams make it to the playoffs in baseball... and baseball is just a more dramatic sport overall (with every pitch being anticipated in the playoffs). The atmosphere at MMP during those runs may only be matched by the Luv ya blue oilers. The city was completely on edge with every pitch, and that stadium was rocking like no other.
I have ever mssed an Astros playoff game since 1998 and The Jeff Kent Homerun is one of the best moments in my life...
Jeff Kent's walk off Homerun off of Izzy in the 2004 NLCS was the single greatest moment in Houston Astros history. zero question asked.
I agree. As far as "moments" go, that may be not only the greatest moment in Astros history, but it may be the greatest single moment in Houston SPORTS history ever. And playoff baseball is what lends itself to those types of dramatic moments... hard to replicate in most other sports.
a few things I remember the most out of those playoff runs 1. Beating the Braves in the 1st round in 04, it was a MAJOR deal considering we have had great teams in the 90s but have failed to advance. 2. Beltran beasting in the playoffs that year. 3. 18 inning game 4. Kent HR 5. Pujols HR
As sad as it sounds, the playoff runs were one of the most exciting times in my life. I remember skipping class to go watch the games. In the early 2000's, we used to sneak out of class (in high school), and sneak into the teacher's lounge to watch the games. Once, the teacher put a movie on in class for us to watch, and as soon as she left, me and my buddies ran up front to the class and changed the channel. The chicks were pissed, but hey, Astros = life.
Haha, I did the same thing. I was suddenly sick during that series. I live in Georgia, so I was able to go to the Stros/Braves series that next year. Went to the Clemens/Smoltz match up which I thought would be the best game I would ever see. Then McCann happened, ugh. My heart sank in a second. I must say though, Kents home run will go down as one of the more memorable moments for me. I don't think I've ever jumped as high when he hit it. I think the one thing that made the moment, (besides the obvious to send us to St. Louis up 3-2), was the fact that it was a no doubter. The moment he made contact, you knew it was gone. Not to mention the announcers call "In the air, We go to St. Louis!" I was yelling for a good 5 minutes straight.
I was there for the 18 inning game I was there for the absolutely ridiculous game-ending Bruntlett-Everett-Berkman double play sooo much fun. My son and I were at the game last night...he's 10. He was with me for both of those. He can still tell you where we were sitting when both of those plays took place.
I was in Houston for the 2004 series against the Cards, and it was a magical time in the city of my youth. Seeing #5 and #7 finally get out of the first round and then Beltran going into beast mode against the Cards was simply amazing. So much drama and tension in every at-bat and pitch, it was great. JK's homerun putting us up 3-2 going back to St. Louis was unbelievable. If only we had Pettitte to pitch Game 6 instead of Pete Munro.... Game 7 was surreal, we almost blew it wide open early on after Biggio lead-off homerun; darn that Jim Edmonds for catching that would-be bases clearing double off of Ausmus' bat. 2005, I had moved back to Dallas, but still followed the team through the season and playoffs. The playoffs were especially tough to follow since I was in grad school and working full-time, but I found a way to sacrifice some study time to watch the game! The Braves series was epic, especially the 18-inning game. Seeing Roy come back after the F'n Pujols bomb to seal it in six and send the team to the WS was too cool. Met up with the DFW CF crew to watch the clincher at Wizards. I still think if we could've saved Roy's performance for Game 1 of the WS, we would've had better luck against the Chi Sox. That Game 6 in St. Louis is where Pettitte got hit by a ball while running the bases or something during BP, IIRC. That caused his knee to swell up and, IMO, impacted his WS Game 2 start. Sigh, memories.
Baseball playoffs are intense, because every freaking pitch matters. I remember watching those Astros games and literally passing out after each game because of exhaustion. Good times.
yah they double play was insane. Joe Buck did some good announcing for the most part. I like the Kent one.... "AND WE GO TO ST LOUIS WITH HOUSTON UP 3 GAMES TO 2"
