Philllies!!!!

I know some people wax on forever about Schwarber's bunt in the WS, but I think he's my favorite non-Astro.

Playoff Kershaw is something else.
6 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 2 HR in 2 IP. Among the 6 outs he got - Schwarber picked off on a pitch in the dirt; Harper thrown out at the plate; a rocket to center that CF Dean caught just before slamming into the wall. LA was down 3-1, now it’s 8-1

— Adam Wexler (@AdamJWexler) October 9, 2025

YANKEES ELIMINATED pic.twitter.com/OKH1EjAGWG

— Big Nick Turturro (@NickTurturro1) October 9, 2025

EastCoastAgNc said:

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YANKEES ELIMINATED pic.twitter.com/OKH1EjAGWG

— Big Nick Turturro (@NickTurturro1) October 9, 2025

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I guess the yankee's are in their "we suck' ERR-A!

(going for the TS joke and NY accent pun)

~egon

Excellent summary of Astros payroll heading into 2026 from Chandler Rome.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6701261/2025/10/09/houston-astros-payroll-breakdown-2026/

deathvalleydays said:

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Excellent summary of Astros payroll heading into 2026 from Chandler Rome.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6701261/2025/10/09/houston-astros-payroll-breakdown-2026/

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Better duck and cover. You said Excellent and Chandler Rome in the same sentence

Today in 1999, after 34 years, @Astros play their last game in the Astrodome, with the Atlanta Braves winning 7-5 to wrap up the best-of-five National League Division Series.

— Houstorian (@Houstorian) October 9, 2025

deathvalleydays said:

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Excellent summary of Astros payroll heading into 2026 from Chandler Rome.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6701261/2025/10/09/houston-astros-payroll-breakdown-2026/

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No subscription for me. Any way to outline the main points?

superaggie73 said:

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deathvalleydays said:

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Excellent summary of Astros payroll heading into 2026 from Chandler Rome.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6701261/2025/10/09/houston-astros-payroll-breakdown-2026/

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No subscription for me. Any way to outline the main points?

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I went to the last regular season game in the dome vs the Cubs.

Memories, of the way we were

October 9, 2005 - The unlikely combination of Lance Berkman, Brad Ausmus, relief pitcher Roger Clemens, and Chris Burke deliver the Astros their second straight trip to the NLCS.

Ahead 2-1 in the series over the Braves, the Astros fall behind 5-0 through 4-1/2 innings and 6-1 through 7-1/2, and it looks like a Game 5 is imminent.

Tim Hudson is cruising until the bottom of the 8th when he walks Brad Ausmus and allows an infield single to Eric Bruntlett when Furcal gets greedy and tries to get Aumust at 2B. Kyle Farnsworth comes in and gets Biggio to ground into a fielder's choice erasing Ausmus at third. it looks like Biggio is out, but the ump says 93-year-old Julio Franco came off the bag. Biggio and Bruntlett do a double steal on a wild pitch, and Luke Scott draws pinch-hit walk to load the bases for Berkman.

Can you comprehend how unlikely that scenario is? Bruntlett hit .220 that year and had 7 steals in 91 games, then stole third after getting a single off Tim Hudson. Luke Scott was a rookie who hit .188 that season.

Berkman was 7 for 11 in his career against Farnsworth. First 2 pitches were nowhere near anything. Then Lance brought the house down with a grand slam to make it 6-5. It's that classic swing to the Crawfords that Lance perfected over the years.

Here's the whole bottom of the 8th.



Chad Qualls pitched a scoreless ninth. Somehow the Braves left Farnsworth in for the ninth. He got Jason Lane to ground out and Jose Vizcaino to strike out. The Astros' winning % at that point was 5% according to Baseball Reference. Then Ausmus hit the HR of his entire life about 3 milimeters over the yellow line, and it was 6-6. Ausmus hit 3 HR in 451 plate appearances in the regular season in 2005. The measurement to the yellow line there is 404 feet. Ausmus hit it 406 feet.

Here's his at-bat:



Then the two teams played an entire other game without scoring a run.

In the bottom of the 15th the game changed entirely. Biggio walked and the Astros sent 42-year-old Roger Clemens up to pinch hit for Dan Wheeler. Clemens got down a sac bunt but Biggo got stranded.

It didn't matter though, because Clemens came in to pinch in relief for the 2nd time in his long career. He pitched 3 innings of a 1 hit ball, walked nobody, and struck out 4 batters.

20/20 hindsight tells us Roger was 99.9% using steroids and kind of a dick. On that day in 2005, I would have fought anybody alive who told me he was anything less than the greatest pitcher of all time.

With one out in the bottom of the 18th, Chris Burke parked a piss missile into the Crawford Boxes for the win. One of Milo Hamilton's best, last calls.

"Burke is the batter. (Morgan) Ensberg is on deck. And the pitch. Swinging! Lining it to left! Iiiiiiit's gone! It's gone! It's gone! ... Chris Burke! Holy Toledo, what a way to finish!"

The home run:



If you watch more of the game, this is peak Erin Andrew hotness by the way.

That NLCS and how exhausted the team was after beating the Cardinals, cost them the World Series, and you can't convince me otherwise.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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carpediem13 said:

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The Astros are parting ways with hitting coach Alex Cintrón, sources tell @TheAthletic, and more changes are expected on Houston's coaching staff - https://t.co/R8Hk1MBOza

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) October 9, 2025

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I'm not sure you're using that sign in its proper context. Bush used during the Iraq war, then things immediately got worse (more deaths, escalations, etc). Are you trying to say we're about to hire someone worse?

So the guy responsible for Pena's offensive outburst, getting Jake to be a competent offensive player, and who reunited with Correa to turn his season around loses his job because he couldn't get lineups full of AAA players and nobodies to hit like a major league lineup.