Amazingly, the Houston Astros have turned pitiful late game plays into incredible ninth inning heroics.
Those same Astros were at it again on Thursday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, battling the bewildered Washington Nationals and walking off the field with a come-from-behind 6-4 victory.
First, Astros closer Matt Lindstrom blew the save for Houston after taking a 3-2 lead into the top of the ninth—only to find himself and his team down 4-3 heading into the bottom of the frame.
That’s when the real magic began.
The game really should have concluded on a game-ending catch in the outfield, but instead resulted in a tie game at 4-4 as Lance Berkman trotted to second base and Michael Bourn easily scored to deadlock the match-up with two outs.
Shortly thereafter, Carlos Lee made up for his momentary lapse of reason in left field to begin the inning—belting a walk-off two-run home run to the Crawford Boxes to give the Astros three wins out of four against the reeling Nationals.
However, regardless of the team’s good fortunes as of late—the Astros are still near the MLB cellar at 20-34.
Is there still time to make a run? Mathematically, yes.
But realistically, Houston needs to begin building towards the future.
Unfortunately, that means saying goodbye to legends and heroes such as ace Roy Oswalt and longtime Astro Lance Berkman.
Will Houston fans see both All-Star athletes dealt away before season’s end?
Only time will tell, but one thing is certain right now. The Astros aren’t going to be doing much of anything this season beyond moral victories and scouting out future talent in their farm systems.
Thankfully, the MLB Draft is right around the corner. And Houston has five of the first 90 picks.
Let’s raise a pint of Shiner Bock to the future of Astros baseball…
Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com