The Astros got timely homers from Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell Friday night to spearhead the offense, but they also relied on an all-out blitz from the bullpen in holding on to a 5-4 victory at San Diego. The win keeps Houston (74-66) a half-game ahead of the Cubs in the NL Central, and it gives me an odd sense of satisfaction because, with it, the Astros are back to eight games over .500 for the first time in a while.

I realize, of course, that an "all-out blitz" is possible only in football, but that's what it felt like when Jared Fernandez (3-3) left after five innings. I'm only a little less puzzled than I was during Fernandez's last start, when he was pulled after six. The bullpen's a little deeper than it was prior to Sept. 1, and Fernandez's early innings were marked by a three-run homer from Phil Nevin in the third that pushed San Diego into a 3-2 lead. Still, Fernandez had thrown only 74 pitches, and by the time he left, Houston had retaken the lead. But on came Dan Miceli, Mike Gallo (both of these men in the sixth) Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, and Billy Wagner. Five relievers to hold a two-run lead. Not the most efficient battle plan in the world, but it worked tonight. . .barely.

Houston had taken a 1-0 lead in the second off Adam Eaton when Lance Berkman singled to CF with one out and Richard Hidalgo doubled to LCF to drive him home. The club added to that lead in the third when Biggio swatted home run number thirteenof the season out to LF. San Diego, however, came back immediately when, in the next inning, lead-off man Sean Burroughs walked and, with one out, Brian Giles singled to RF and Nevin ripped one to RCF. That's the way the Padre offense is supposed to work, and I give Nevin a goodly amount of credit for handling the knuckleball as well as he did. It may be the most difficult pitch in baseball to hit, but when a guy does it, it goes just as far as any other pitch.

Down 3-2, the Astros came smartly and quickly back into this one in the fifth. Biggio and Blum put together singles to LF and RF, and then Bagwell crushed one to LCF for his 32nd homer of the season. I mentioned a few days ago how heavily Houston would be relying on its veterans on this trip and, so far, those veterans--Kent, Bagwell, and Biggio among them--have responded well, even greatly, at times. Kent's six-RBI game in LA was the most notable game of the recent past, but Bagwell has been picking it up over an even longer stretch, smashing homers and getting other key hits, even in losing causes. He's doing everything that one could ask a star to do in the month of September.

Bagwell's three-run homer gave Houston a 5-3 lead, but it wasn't easy to hold on to that lead. I thought Fernandez could have gone one more inning, but Williams went with Dan Micelli, who got into almost immediate trouble in the sixth. Gary Matthews, Jr. singled to RF, whereupon Williams called Mike Gallo in. Gallo did the job, getting Mark Kotsay to ground into a 5-4-3 double play--not an easy task, even when it's done perfectly, but Bagwell helped with a nice scoop at 1B. The seventh was rougher going for Lidge. Gary Bennett walked with one out. For a reason or reasons that escaped everyone in the park except Williams, Bennett, a catcher, was not held on, and he stole 2B. Sean Burroughs, whose developing promise as a hitter I can best praise by calling him a pain to pitch to, then singled to RF to knock Bennett in, and the Pads had a cheap run. Dotel relieved Lidge at this point, and he struck out Mark Loretta looking after not getting a call in nearly the same spot on the previous pitch.

It would have been nice to score at least one more run as the game moved into the final innings, but that wasn't going ot happen with Trevor Hoffman on the mound in the eighth. Somewhat surprisingly, it didn't happen with Jay Witasick on the mound in the ninth, either. That left matters up to Dotel and Wagner to hold the slim margin, and they did. Wagner did for Dotel what Dotel had done for Lidge in the seventh: come in with two outs in the eighth, after Matthews had walked to put the tying run on. As happened last week, too, Raul Chavez came into catch, an odd tradeoff of Ausmus'sdefense, with a runner already on base. Wagner gave up a single to CF by Kotsay, but got the next man on a fly to RF to end the inning.

In the ninth, Wagner got two quick flies to RF and CF, then snared a hard smash up the middle by Sean Burroughs and tossed the ball to Bagwell to secure his 38th save of the season.

About the only mitigating factor I can see in using five relievers is that none of them were worked too long. My complaint, however--one made only because I can see the potential for this en masse attack not working in a crucial game in the future--is that it shouldn't have been necessary to use all these men, including their warm-up time and in-game appearances. Four, maybe, at the most, if Fernandez goes six, and if Fernandez had gone six, we wouldn't have seen Dotel and Wagner have to go an inning and a third, either. It's a small criticism, I know, but this is not quite how I envisioned Wiliams using his bullpen depth. I had pictured Miceli and Stone and Rick White taking daily turns at filling one of the set-up roles in the bullpen an inning a day, one day at a time; I did not envision games in which Miceli and Gallo or Miceli and White or some other combination would work with two of the Big Three or all three of them to close the game. The risk is (it's not a foregone conclusion) that one of those five relievers will make a mistake in a big spot. Williams is bringing on five guys and banking on each one being perfect, even if only for a batter or two. The other drawback is that, in using the bullpen in such an all-out way--bringing middle relief in early, thereby guaranteeing a late-game appearance by at least one of the Big Three--Williams is not giving any of those three much of a rest, save for scheduled off days. The offense, of course, could give the bullpen a rest by breaking out more often, but if the games remain close, then neither Lidge nor Dotel nor Wagner will get much time off this month. While it's tough to question success, and while the Big Three might not want time off, I do question the handling of the bullpen for its potential future effects, and I think Houston's stalwart trio will need some time away from the mound this month, regardless of the pressures of the pennant race.