the more things change, the more they stay the same

the title of this post says it all for me tonight.  in what has now become custom in my fair city of houston, texas, the houston astros suffered a tough and very costly loss to the kansas city royals.  to say that watching the last two innings of the game felt like being punched in the stomach is putting it mildly.  the devastating loss took the air out of what up until the bottom of  the 7th inning, had been an electrifying and boisterous sell-out crowd in our little juice box, aka minute maid park. literally, mouths open with looks of shock were  visible everywhere.  including in my cubicle at work.  i couldn't watch it but i was listening to it on the radio and following tweets and facebook updates.  i went from edge of the seat excited to hole in the pit of my stomach disappointed. i was so angry and so let down afterwards that i almost wanted to cry.  now, before you start calling me "dramatic debbie" or "drama queen" or tell me it's just a game, let me just stop you right there.  for those long time followers of my blog, it's no secret what a huge astros fan i am and have been since i was about 5 years old.  i've told numerous stories of my dad taking my brothers, sister and i to the astrodome.  i was there when mike scott pitched his no hitter.  i was there when the astros played their last game in the dome.  i am and have been with this team when it was in last place and when it was in first place.  so yeah, maybe i'm a little exuberant when it comes to this team.  come on, let's be real here, this is a houston team we're talking about after all.  this is not our first rodeo when it comes to suffering great losses. not just in baseball, but football and basketball as well.  but for the sake of this post, i will stick to baseball.  the last time i can recall feeling this horrible was back in the 1980 playoffs when the philadelphia phillies beat us in game 5 in extra innings and in the 1986 playoff game against the new york mets, that one we lost in 16 innings.  ouch.  each of those games i can remember where i watched it and how it felt when we lost.  felt like the 1980s all over again today.  so  we can blame it on the players, the bad calls, the poor managing, karma, bad juju, whatever you want.  but the fact remains, we lost.  as a result, we are now forced to go back to kansas city and play game 5 on wednesday. (something no one in houston wanted -except kc fans of  course) it's a winner take all. and by "all", i mean advance to the next level. loser goes home.  can the astros do it?  most definitely.  i mean, no one expected them to come this far and yet, here they are.  will they do it?  i hope so.  win or lose, i'm a fan through and through.  albeit a pissed off fan right now, but a fan nonetheless.

game 5. it's on.  bring it kc.