Astros Win a Series at Last

Somewhere amid the jubilant scrum of Houston Astros gathered around the Turner Field mound late Monday night, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, long linked with postseason despair, finally were united in triumph.

“Trust me,” Bagwell said afterward, his beard soaked with champagne, “Craig and I found each other.”

Together the longtime teammates found a moment worth savoring after Houston whipped the Atlanta Braves, 12-3, in Game 5 of the National League division series to claim the franchise’s first postseason series victory.

The Astros, who set an NL division series record by scoring 36 runs in the best-of-five series, will play NL Central rival St. Louis on Wednesday at Busch Stadium in Game 1 of the NL championship series.

Biggio and Bagwell were members of Houston teams that had lost four playoff series -- three to the Braves -- over the last seven seasons. But their stiffest test Monday came during a clubhouse celebration 43 years in the making, when they had to step gingerly around discarded champagne corks.

“We waited a long time for this,” said Biggio, who had three of the Astros’ 17 hits Monday. “We had a lot of heroes.”

Carlos Beltran hit two solo homers, including a 335-foot shot leading off the sixth that barely cleared the right-field wall, and drove in five runs. Bagwell had a two-run homer during a five-run seventh that sealed Houston’s first victory in eight playoff series appearances.

Eleven of the Astros’ hits and eight of their runs came off an Atlanta bullpen that had shut them out over six innings in Game 4 on Sunday.

This time, the only thing Brave relievers silenced was a sellout crowd of 54,068, the second-largest in Turner Field history.

“I can absolutely share their frustration,” said Atlanta closer John Smoltz, left to mull the Braves’ third consecutive defeat in Game 5 of an NLDS at home. “I only wish I could have been out there.”

After the Braves had rallied with a pair of solo homers in the fifth to trim their deficit to 3-2, Beltran smacked his second homer, in the sixth, and the Astros tacked on five more runs in the seventh.

Turns out the Astros, who also scored three runs in the eighth, were just getting started.

“I just wanted to go out there and give everything I had, and I came through,” said Beltran, whose four homers in the series were more than any Astro had collected in a postseason over the course of his career.

Jose Vizcaino got the Astro seventh started with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Atlanta reliever Chris Reitsma appeared on the verge of escaping the inning unscathed when pinch-hitter Mike Lamb popped up to third baseman Chipper Jones for the second out.

But Biggio dropped a single in front of hard-charging right-fielder J.D. Drew that scored Vizcaino to make it 5-2. Biggio went to third on Drew’s errant throw home and scored on Beltran’s single through the right side of the infield.

Bagwell then whacked his homer to left-center, ending Reitsma’s disastrous outing, before Tom Martin surrendered another run to give the Astros a 9-2 lead.

“To pile on some runs like that late in a game and make it easier, that was huge,” Bagwell said. “It was fun to watch.”

Biggio and Bagwell had shouldered much of the blame for the Astros’ inability to win a playoff series before this season, with Biggio compiling a .130 postseason batting average and Bagwell hitting .174. Their teammates worried that the left fielder and first baseman would be remembered more for their playoff failures than their considerable regular-season achievements.

Those concerns vanished after a series in which Bagwell hit two homers and batted .318, and Biggio homered and hit .400.

“I’m just so happy for those guys, that they were able to validate their careers,” Houston right fielder Lance Berkman said. “I hope people will be satisfied now that they’ve had Hall of Fame careers.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

NLCS GAME 1

HOUSTON

AT ST. LOUIS

5 p.m., Wednesday, Channel 11

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Astros vs. Braves / THE SERIES

Astros win series, 3-2

GAME 1

Houston 9, Atlanta 3

* The Astros hit four home runs and cruise behind starter Roger Clemens.

GAME 2 Atlanta 4, Houston 2 (11 innings)

* Rafael Furcal’s two-run home run in the 11th inning evens the series.

GAME 3 Houston 8, Atlanta 5

* Brandon Backe gives up two runs in six innings, wins 10th big league start.

GAME 4 Atlanta 6, Houston 5

* Astros waste 5-2 lead, and J.D. Drew drives in the go-ahead run in the ninth.

GAME 5 Houston 12, Atlanta 3

* Carlos Beltran goes four for five with two home runs and the Astros win their first playoff series ever.

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Power Brokers

Carlos Beltran hit two home runs Monday and Houston eliminated Atlanta. It was the fourth homer of the series for Beltran. A look at most home runs in a playoff series with how many games played in the series in parentheses:

NATIONAL LEAGUE

4...Steve Garvey, Dodgers vs. Philadelphia, 1978 (four)

4...Bob Robertson, Pittsburgh vs. San Francisco, 1971 (four)

4...Carlos Beltran, Houston vs. Atlanta, 2004 (five)

4...Jeffrey Leonard, San Francisco vs. St. Louis, 1987 (seven)

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

5...Juan Gonzalez, Texas vs. New York, 1996 (four)

5...Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle vs. New York, 1995 (five)

4...Jim Thome, Cleveland vs. Boston, 1999 (five)

4...Jim Thome, Cleveland vs. New York, 1998 (six)