I Still Bee-lieve!

Tonight they came so close. Two outs in the top of the ninth inning. The Houston Astros were leading St. Louis by two runs and it seemed for a fleeting moment that all was right with the world. Then with a single swing of the bat, the screaming and chanting of 43,000 fans ceased and the dream of a National League pennant for the home team was once again put on hold. It was an emotional ride that I can't remember ever experiencing before. From the highest high to the lowest low in the time that it took for a baseball to travel just over 400 feet. I've heard the phrase, "the silence was deafening", but never really understood it's meaning until tonight. When that ball crashed against the railroad track high atop the left field wall above the Crawford boxes, the sudden silence was truely deafening in Minute Maid Park. It was so quiet, coming off of inning after inning of non-stop thunderous noise, that one might have imagined that they had lost the ability to hear. Everyone was dumbstruck including the scattered nests of Cardinal fans decked out in their red bird jerseys and caps. No one could believe what had just happened. The Astros and their hive of "Killer Bees" (a nickname for the roster featuring players such as Bagwell, Biggio, Berkmen, Burke, Backe and the other Bs) had lost an opportunity to make history, and had lost that opportunity at home in front of a sell-out crowd of real "Bee-lievers". This team is tough. This team is not known for doing things the easy way. This team will try again on Wednesday in St. Louis, and will hopefully come home as the National League Champs. If not . . . they played the good game and are still one of the top four teams in Major League Baseball. That's an incredible accomplishment worth celebrating in itself. Oh, ye of little faith. I still bee-lieve. Now let's hope the Houston Astros still do.