Saturday was one of those hot, humid miserable days of summer that afflicts people in Cincinnati far more often than you'd think it would, and we should be grateful the Astros survived it. Houston missed a ton of pitches early against Seth Etherton, but between Jeff Kent's second inning homer, Jeff Bagwell's third inning sacrifice fly, and Lance Berkman's big two-out, line-shot, three-run homer to RF in the fifth, the Astros put on enough offense to support six good innings from Wade Miller (10-10), and three from the bullpen. The 5-2 win nudged the Astros (65-58) back up into first place over the Cubs, who lost this afternoon to the Dodgers at Wrigley. It remains to be seen whether the VFW troop stationed in Busch Stadium will have enough healthy bodies left to join Houston in first after tonight's action.

Whether it was because we're in the middle of August and the 'stros, like most clubs, are just tired, or because Etherton's hardest stuff was not quite hard enough to be timed properly, Houston spent much of the first three innings of this game popping out and flying out softly. Only Kent, who blasted a homer to left when Etherton grooved a fastball to him, got a real good swing early. Miller himself got a decent swing in the third for a base hit to CF, but the Astros managed only a Bagwell sacrifice fly out of what had been bases-loaded traffic. Not until the fifth did the Astros really break through, but if it hadn't been for Berkman's alertness, they might not have done it even then. Morgan Ensberg singled and Bagwell walked with one out. The Ensberg hit won't look like much on videotape, but I viewed that little bloop to RF as an important one. Ensberg has the kind of bat control that could be--indeed, almost surely will be-- vital to the Astros in the playoffs, if the team gets there. The Astros popped up fastballs, fouled back hanging curves and swung through changeups galore today, and that's not surprising. Every team does that. But pitching patterns will change when the calendar turns to September 1. Those pitchers with clubs still in the race are going to make an even greater effort than they usually do to keep the ball down, hit the corners, and go with breaking stuff to get outs. That means power guys like Bagwell, Berkman, Hidalgo, and Kent, will get shut down unless they can work a favorable count and crush a mistake. Ensberg, however, is a power hitter with a difference. Although his swing was ugly in the fifth, has the happy ability to go with the pitch--even a tough pitch--and do something with it. The hit he got today is the kind of "little" hit that the best teams--the Yanks, the Braves, the Mariners--thrive on in October because such hits represent a defeat for the opposing pitcher's best stuff. To be sure, I'd like to see about five more homers from Ensberg before the season ends, but I'd trade any of those wished-for homers right now for a blooper or two like today's with runners in scoring position in a playoff game. Kent followed Bagwell's walk with a flyout, and Berkman got down in the count, but Etherton made the second of two really bad mistakes Saturday and Berkman roped it--absolutely roped it--into the seats in RF. It was homer number 22 and RBI number 75 and it gave the Astros a 5-1 lead.

Until Berkman's blast, Miller had been pitching mostly good ball, but a major spell of control trouble disguised the fact that for much of the game, despite the close score, he had surrendered only one hit. The control trouble occurred in the third when Miller walked the bases loaded and Reggie Taylor brought home the run with a groundout to Bagwell. That hit was a double to LF by Dernell Stenson in the fourth, a well-struck ball that appeared to drop into the seats for a homer but was ruled a double because of fan interference. If we took away the hit by Stenson, and if Bagwell had been able to complete the 1B to HP double play he was attempting on Taylor's ball, Miller would have pitched one of the most unusually-effective games an Astro has pitched this season.

With a pitch count of 100 after six innings, however, and the humidity affecting everyone, Jimy Williams went to his bullpen. He got an "ok" seventh from Rick White, who, although he allowed the Reds' other run to score, showed some of the stuff that was effective for the Cardinals last season and intrigued the Astros enough to make the club keep chasing him into free agency this past week. White gave up a double to Stenson, and a "who-cares" little bloop pinch-hit to CF by Wily Mo Pena. Octavio Dotel did indeed rebound today, as most of us thought he would, with a solid eighth, and Billy Wagner was good in the ninth in earning his 35th save, although he could probably use a refresher course in how to make the 1-3 toss. He darn near threw the last out of the game into RF.

The Astros made the most of six hits, as they were shut out by Brian Reith and Scott Sullivan over the last four innings, but Miller and the bullpen held the Reds to only five. Being blanked over the last half of the game is perhaps not the most positive sign for Sunday's road trip finale, and Jimy Williams may complicate things even more for his offensively-struggling club if he makes the lineup changes I anticipate: possibly sitting both Craig Biggio, whose average has dropped to .256, and Ensberg, and going with Colin Porter and Geoff Blum instead. But there were positive developments Saturday, just as there were in Friday's loss. Jeff Kent's and Lance Berkman's bats are two huge ones Houston needs to heat up again over an extended period, and Ensberg's hit, modest as it was, we might be happy to take as a hopeful sign for the Fall. Tim Redding, I think, will need some major run support on Sunday. He's been steady over his last few outings, but Great American is the kind of park that doesn't forgive a whole lot of mistakes. If the Astros are to score runs for Redding, the veterans in the lineup--whomever they may be--will have to do it. Paul Wilson's arm injuries have forced him to learn to pitch, and although Houston should be able to score on him, it will take veteran hits--off the curve ball, off the hanging slider--to beat him.