"Faith" - George Michael, 1987

It's that time of year again. World Series time. Baseball is a game full of statistics. And last night's World Series game had loads of them.

Game 3 of the 2005 World Series, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, broke the record for the longest game in World Series history. It ran for a total of 14 innings -- and 5 hours, 41 minutes -- before the Chicago White Sox beat the home team Houston Astros by 7 to 5. The series is now 3-0 in favor of Chicago.

Having lived in Houston so much of my adult life, I am a supporter of the Astros. My favorite Astros player is Lance Berkman. Thanks to friends and business colleagues, I got to watch him play live and in person quite a few times before I moved here to the UK in 2002. He has a terrific combination of brains and brawn, and he's a real team player. (He also knows how to clobber a baseball!)

But now, the 'stros need one heck of a lot more than just my long-distance support if they are going to stay in the series much longer. They are set to be swept, if tonight's Game 4 follows the pattern already established by the first 3 games. I'm sure that Houston fans are trying desperately to keep the faith. But it's got to be really tough right now. And considering that last night's Game 3 extended well into Wednesday morning, I'm sure there will be loads of sad and bleary-eyed commuters in the Houston area when daylight arrives there today. At least in Chicago they have the excitement of their 14th-inning win to help keep them awake and functional.

Here are links to Houston and Chicago newspaper coverage of the series:

Houston Chronicle
Chicago Tribune

And for those of you who don't like having to give out personal details to register for news sites [Bronx Boy, you especially come to mind here], remember you can always fake those details!

And here's a link to Astros FanBlog, authored by life-long fan Chip Bailey, on the Houston Chronicle's website.

Finally, here's a big thank you to Britain's Channel 5 TV for providing live coverage on this side of the Atlantic!

GO 'STROS!

Janet

PS Sorry about reusing a song title in yesterday's blog entry. Since I started Lord Celery early this year, that's never happened before. I thought about re-titling the other "Fight the Power" posting, published back in May, but John has reminded me that it's not wise to try to alter the past!