Although the expression sounds entirely too cute and convenient, it happens to be true: the Astros buried the Colorado Rockies Tuesday night under an avalanche of six home runs. Yet, they did even more than this. Jeriome Robertson (15-7) pitched a better-than-we-could-have-hoped seven innings, and the defense, both infield and outfield, played soundly in the most difficult park to defend in all of baseball. All of these elements together add up not only to one of the Astros' most impressive wins of the season, 14-4, but also to darn near a perfect game, considering the importance of either a win or a loss and the extent to which the Astros have found it hard to win in Coors Field in the past. Richard Hidalgo will grab the headlines in Wednesday's papers, and he should, with three homers, five RBI, and four runs scored, but virtually all of the Astros, up and down the lineup, were involved in one way or another tonight in extending Houston's remarkable run of highly-focused, well-executed September baseball. The Astros (82-68), having lost a half-game in the standings to the Cubs because of Chicago's win Monday and Houston's travel day, faced the opener of potentially a very tough series, and met the challenge extraordinarily well. They lost absolutely nothing tonight in the standings, remaining a game and a half in front of the Cubs and five games in front of the Cardinals, and may have gained some confidence about playing above sea level, too.

Hidalgo tied the game quickly for Houston in the top of the second with a rocket-shot liner to LF off Chin Tsao, but the Astros had both to defend the field and to wait until the fourth before they were able to break through and take control of the game. In the bottom of the second, Jay Payton walked with one out. Then, with two out, SS Clint Barnes smacked a ball over Lance Berkman's head in LF to the base of the wall. Berkman and company, however, stayed cool. The relay from Berkman to Everett to Chavez was flawlessly done, and Payton was out at the plate, preserving the tie. That fourth is the third inning I can point to as a key inning in the Astros' entire season. (You read recently in Astroday about the others.) For a brief time in the top of the fourth the scales held by the baseball gods stood motionless, as we waited to see which way they would tip with Everett at the plate. You may recall that on Sunday I referred to many prior trips into Denver wherein the Astros had squandered scoring opportunities. The inning as it was unfolding was setting up to be one of those kinds of frustrating innings. Kent singled and Hidalgo walked with one out, but Raul Chavez hit into a fielder's choice that forced Kent for the second out. But you might also recall that I referred on Sunday, too, to Coors Field making every part of a lineup potentially dangerous, and to the spacious OF gaps that Adam Everett just might be able to exploit. Everett didn't hit one into the gaps in this fourth-inning at bat; he pulled a ball, a flat slider, into LF, and deep. That was more than good enough. Everett's eighth home run of the season gave Houston a 4-1 lead and a little breathing room for Robertson. Everyone knows that no lead is safe in Coors, that a team must continue to add runs at every opportunity, and the Astros did so Tuesday, but this second homer of the game by Houston brought a healthy sigh of relief from all of us who have watched games in Colorado over the years, and I am grateful that, on this night, the scales tipped in Houston's favor.

Robertson's work in holding that lead while his teammates built upon it was terrific. In seven innings, twelve of Robertson's outs were on groundballs. At sea level, the number of groundball outs in a game can be over-emphasized in an account of a game, but not in Denver. The ball carries so well that keeping the ball on the ground is essential. Robertson spaced six hits and walked three (a troubling stat in Colorado, but no more than Robertson usually gives up), and the only other run he gave up came on a one-out homer by Ron Belliard in the fifth.

By then, however, the Astros had pounded their way out to an 8-1 lead. The Rockies' defense broke in the top of the fifth after Tsao hit Biggio on the hip with a pitch and Chris Stynes booted a ball Morgan Ensberg hit to 3B. Aaron Cook relieved Tsao and, for a moment, it appeared that Cook was going to pitch Colorado out of trouble. Bagwell rapped into the first of two double plays he hit into on the night, 6-4-3, but that also moved Biggio to 3B for Kent. Kent's clutch single to CF made sure Houston got at least one run out of the inning, but Hidalgo wasn't satisfied with a 5-1 lead. After Berkman walked, Hidalgo drilled one to CF for a three-run homer and a marvelous 8-1 advantage.

Belliard's homer cut that lead ever so slightly, but Houston never let up tonight. Against Adam Bernero in the sixth, the Astros scored again, aided once more by sloppy Rockie defense. Everett slapped a bounder over 3B, and then ran all night around the bases, scoring, as Gregg Zaun, the former Astro, took Jeriome Robertson's sacrifice and tossed it down the RF line. Robertson legged it to 3B on the play, and Biggio rewarded him for his athleticism shortly thereafter by cracking a single to CF. Robertson also played a major role in the Astros' seventh. Kent, coming alive with the bat, as I had hoped, homered to CF. Hidalgo homered to LF. Everett reached on a throwing error by Barnes, then Robertson lit into a pitch by Bernero. His drive to deep LF was good for a triple and Everett scored, the second time in two innings that Robertson had chased his teammate home. The Astros went on to expand that 13-2 lead by one run more in the eighth when Morgan Ensberg homered to CF against Javier Lopez.

From here, Robertson, who had thrown 90 pitches and struck out one in his outing, gave way, first to Kirk Bullinger, and, later, to Jared Fernandez. Bullinger surrendered a two-run homer in the eighth to former White Sox Greg Norton, but the home run was not all that significant, either in terms of the score (the game was well in hand) or in terms of what one can reasonably expect a defensive team to do in Coors Field. Hold the Rockies to four runs there--however you may do it--and you've done something. Fernandez's fluttering knuckleball was pretty effective in the ninth, too, a fact Jimy Williams might just keep in mind if he needs middle relief help Wednesday or Thursday.

Everything came together beautifully for the Astros Tuesday: the hitting, the pitching, the defense. Even the bullpen wasn't taxed. Let us, therefore, take a moment to savor this win in a most difficult place to play.

We're takin' a moment.

And now, we're done. Coors Field is the only stadium in big league baseball wherein neither victory nor defeat can be dwelled upon too long. It's the kind of place in which the Rockies are just as capable of whacking the Astros 14-4 Wednesday night as Houston was tonight. Nothing can be safely predicted there; no one's performance is assurred, with the exception, I think, of Todd Helton's. The Astros must put this game--not the feeling, but the game--behind them as quickly as possible and try to come out and do the same thing all over again in game two. Darren Oliver has pitched Houston tough before, and I am a little concerned that he might be able to do the same this time out. I'm concerned also that Ron Villone's wild streak has returned--a deadly habit to carry into Denver, but I am also at the same time greatly encouraged by what happened Tuesday. The Astros took apart one of the best home teams in baseball, and they may have boosted their confidence about playing in Colorado in the process, a confidence that might have some carryover into the playoffs against other teams that are hard to beat. Yet, Coors is such a hard, unpredictable place to play that the wiser truth may be that Houston will need every bit of that confidence just to survive the next two games, and prevent the Cubs from taking advantage by finishing a homestand against the erring Mets while Houston tries once more to outslug the Rockies on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.