Two in a row!

Our playoff win over the Astros was, by far, the best we've played all season. I'm sure it was the most exciting, too.

I loved the way all our guys played. AG pitched strong in closing out the game, but SB and KN also pitched their best ball of the season in getting through the 3rd and 4th and giving us a chance to win the extra inning game.

My highlight was the delayed steal of home in the 5th. SB was on 3rd and GS was on first. The idea here is to bait the defense into throwing to second to try to get the runner attempting to steal. If the runner takes off when the pitch is caught, they let him go, everybody is conditioned for that. But on the delayed steal the runner doesn't go until the ball is on its way back to the pitcher. The element of surprise is in the timing of the play. GS took off at exactly the right time, and everybody on the Astros' side started yelling "He's going! He's going!" The pitcher wasn't ready for this to happen and threw to second. When he did SB, our runner on third, broke for home, easily beating the late throw from second. GS was also safe at second, because the Astros' 2B abandoned him for a throw to the plate. It worked perfectly.

I was as exhilarated by Wednesday's win as I had been deflated by our worst defeats.

We play the Red Sox Saturday morning at 8:30 for the playoff championship. A nice little 3-game win streak to end the season sure would be sweet.