Astros Get on Even Terms

The Houston Astros had been here before. Most of the season, in fact. From the moment they fell 15 games below .500 in May, they had persevered through nearly four months of must-win situations to reach the playoffs.

So when they dropped the opener of the best-of-seven National League championship series, they shrugged as if their newspaper had landed on their doorstep an inch away from its accustomed spot and moved on.

They had 20-game winner Roy Oswalt starting Game 2, steely closer Brad Lidge primed to pitch multiple innings and a collection of plucky hitters ready to challenge St. Louis Cardinal left-hander Mark Mulder.

It proved to be a perfect combination Thursday night at Busch Stadium during the Astros’ 4-1 victory, the Cardinals’ first loss of the postseason. Houston evened the series at one game apiece after becoming the first team to win on the road in the nine NLCS games the teams have played dating to last season.

“To win the series, we’re going to have to win at least one here,” said the Astros’ Lance Berkman, who doubled and scored an insurance run in the eighth inning. “This is big for our confidence.”

The series shifts to Minute Maid Park in Houston on Saturday for Game 3, with the Astros’ Roger Clemens scheduled to face the Cardinals’ Matt Morris.

Oswalt hardly resembled the pitcher who had compiled a 5.21 earned-run average against the Cardinals during the regular season. The right-hander tossed seven superb innings, giving up five hits and one run before turning things over to Lidge, who struck out three in two practically flawless innings.

Oswalt’s finest work came in the seventh after the Cardinals had runners on first and second with one out, trailing 2-1. Oswalt retired David Eckstein on a fly ball to center and got Jim Edmonds to ground to first baseman Berkman for the final out.

“With Edmonds up, [Albert] Pujols on deck, two men out, you’ve got to get that out,” said Oswalt, whose only blemish was the sixth-inning homer he yielded to Pujols. “I was able to throw a backdoor slider and [Edmonds] went out to get it and rolled over it.”

Still down a run in the eighth, the Cardinals needed reliever Julian Tavarez, who had broken bones in two fingers during last year’s NLCS when he punched a dugout phone in frustration, to get the Astros in order.

But Berkman doubled down the right-field line leading off and went to third on a wild pitch with two out. Chris Burke, who had tripled and scored the Astros’ first run, lined a run-scoring single to left, and Adam Everett sent a drive to deep left field that outfielder Reggie Sanders couldn’t corral and it went for a triple. Burke scored to make it 4-1.

Sanders, who tumbled to the warning track as the ball rattled around behind him, had to leave the game because of a lower back sprain, though he said afterward he was optimistic he could return for Game 3. He was replaced by So Taguchi, who struck out feebly against Lidge to end the eighth.

“There’s something about that team that brings out the best in you,” Lidge said. “When you’re facing those dangerous hitters you need your ‘A’ game.”

The Cardinals finally found out what it felt like to trail in a postseason game during a bizarre second inning. Burke, who had homered in each of his previous two playoff at-bats, tripled to right-center with one out, though replays seemed to show that second baseman Mark Grudzielanek’s relay throw beat Burke to third base.

“I felt like they were going to have to do everything right to get me,” Burke said. “I really felt like I got to the base before he got [the tag] to my foot.”

St. Louis appeared on the brink of escaping the inning unscathed when Everett hit a comebacker to Mulder for the second out. Mulder then intentionally walked Brad Ausmus to bring up Oswalt, a career .160 hitter whose most notable hit was the wicked batting-practice line drive that smacked teammate Andy Pettitte on the right knee before Game 1.

But a knee-high pitch to the Astro pitcher nicked off catcher Yadier Molina’s glove for a passed ball, allowing Burke to score.

Oswalt also contributed to Houston’s second run, in the fifth, with a sacrifice bunt that moved Ausmus to third after Ausmus’ leadoff double to left-center. Ausmus came home on Craig Biggio’s groundout.

“We knew we were going to be in for a fight when they came to town,” Edmonds said. “They’re where they’re at for a reason, and I think we’re going to have a good series.”