Mother Nature did what no other team could over the last month: slow down the Houston Astros, who closed to 2 1/2 games of wild-card leader Milwaukee after a win last Thursday. It was Houston’s 14th victory in 15 games.
But Hurricane Ike loomed in the Gulf of Mexico and a critical three-game series with NL Central leader Chicago was postponed to Sunday. When it became clear the Houston area was in no condition to host sporting events, the series moved to Milwaukee, one of the few major-league stadiums available. Unfortunately for the Astros that’s about 90 miles from Chicago and an estimated 38,000 showed up to see the Cubs hold Houston to one hit in two games. Just like that the streak was over. The move was unfortunate for Houston, but not unprecedented.
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“I can’t say I have all that much sympathy for the Astros,” said New York Mets catcher Brian Schneider, who played for the Montreal Expos when that team had 22 “home” games in Puerto Rico in both 2003 and 2004.