This past week in major league baseball has been one of the most unusual that any of us have ever seen, filled with interesting events, whether one is concerned strictly with Astro affairs or is also a follower of the NLCS and the ALCS.

Last Saturday afternoon's confrontation of the Red Sox and the Yankees left me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, as a late twentieth and early twenty-first century man, I found the behavior of both teams appalling. I live in an era which finds and I have myself been raised to find that kind of boorish behavior--Pedro Martinez's baiting and Don Zimmer's pugilism--out of place in the game as we know it, and yet it struck me as I watched the whole of the fourth inning that this--the head high pitches, the cleats-up slides, the pushing and shoving and brawling--was what baseball was often about in the 'teens and twenties of the last century. I cannot defend what Pedro Martinez did; he began pitching inside and baiting New York only after the Yankees had raked him; but I can offer as a somewhat lame explantion the idea (and I do believe it) that Martinez was seeking an "edge" of any kind he could get for his team. Zimmer, for his part, had every right to scream and yell from the dugout, but he had no business charging Martinez as he did, especially with those knee replacements of his. Zimmer should have known better, and I, for one, am not going to let him off the hook, even after his tearful apology the day after. Many older Americans often claim for themselves a wisdom and maturity in their actions that they do not actually possess. Wisdom and maturity are best shown--indeed, they are defined by--behavior in the immediate moment, not as an afterthought, which anybody can engage in. Where, exactly, was Zimmer's maturity on Saturday afternoon? Whether we're talking about baseball or any other serious endeavor, it needs to be said that maturity is not a function of age; it's a function of experience and judgment, two things which may be, and are, obtained by those of any age. I believe the truth of this contrarian observation was borne out even in this situation. The foolish Zimmer was very lucky that Martinez didn't hurt him seriously, but even with all the provocation that Zimmer's charge offered, I don't think Martinez's intent in pushing him down hard was to hurt the man seriously. I think he let Zimmer off pretty easily, all things considered.

Still, I expected to see Martinez punished and to see some ejections after the melee, but major league baseball took a calculated gamble and, aside from the fines that were assessed later, they let everything ride. Perhaps that was the best thing to do; or perhaps the officials and umpires did not wish to risk provoking the crowd to an even worse incident later on. I do not refer, by the way, to the bullpen scuffle in the seventh; I'm thinking of a mob action right there in the fourth that was possibly forstalled by keeping everybody involved in the game. It was remarkable that one of the coolest heads on the premises belonged to perhaps the one man out of whom many Astro fans would have expected something contemptible: Roger Clemens. Clemens kept his poise and pitched a terrific game under the circumstances.

Yet, don't think for a moment there weren't Red Sox fans in the most unlikely places. You shoulda heard the cheering I heard in the lobby of the Canal Street Marriot early Wednesday evening before I went to dinner. The place was packed. There was a convention in town and I swear they all must have come down from New England. The cheers as the Red Sox rallied to win were deafening. About Thursday's game for the ages I can only say what to me is obvious: Grady Little went too long with Martinez and bypassed a clear opportunity to go with left-hander Alan Embree. Little may say, and part of him I'm sure really believes, that he wanted to win or lose with his best, but he's gotta be second-guessing himself like crazy in his thoughts over the last 48 hours. He wouldn't be human if he weren't.

Is there a curse on the Red Sox? It's perversely fun to think so, but that's one belief I don't hold seriously. We're probably closer to the truth when we realize that the rate of failure in this life is about double that of success, and that the most successful people and organizations in life are covered over with failure after failure. That's where and how the singular entity of success is born--out of the infinitude of failure. We ourselves are coded for failure right in our DNA--maybe not the happiest of thoughts to have in middle age, but it's true--ask Don Zimmer's knees. The Red Sox have nothing to be ashamed of in this series, and the fact of universal failure should actually give the Florida Marlins hope for an upset in the World Series against the heavily-favored Yankees.

The fan, the ball, and Moises Alou's agonized reaction were all the talk Wednesday morning as my pal called in from Chicago to weep on my shoulder. When I first saw the play, on replay (I didn't see it live, but I did see it normal speed later), I thought Alou had a chance to make the catch. Now, three nights later, I'm not so sure. But whether he did have a chance or not, it wasn't a killer play. The Marlins just ripped away at Chicago after that, and if there was any defensive play that kept the door open and swung it wide for Florida, it was Alex Gonzalez not fielding the easy grounder that was right in his glove. On Wednesday, I have to say that my love for truffles exceeds my love for Game Sevens the Astros are not in (come to think of it, the Astros have never been in a Game Seven), but the very pretty woman sitting across the table from me happened to be a baseball fan who would periodically excuse herself to go get the score from the bartender. What can I tell ya? The Marlins' wonderful blend of speed and power has just matured at the right time. Whether the lineup will stay this conistent, this deadly over the 162 games of 2004 is anybody's guess, but right now, they've got enough to give the Yankees some worries.

While all of this was going on, Houston was reportedly losing, then regaining, its General Manager. Gerry Hunsicker has been mum on whether the Mets ever actually offered him the GM chair in New York, but whether they did or not, Hunsicker evidently avoided the potential problems that taking that job would have raised. He opted instead to extend his Houston contract through 2005. There's been some speculation that Hunsicker' extension also includes a promise from Drayton McLane to increase spending on the payroll, but I've seen no evidence for that speculation and Hunsicker's statements in the press about the necessity to pare some payroll in order to ultimately keep it around its current $73 million figure would lead me to think that he finds the challenge in Houston to be challenge enough, and that his payroll restraints are going to stay roughly the same. All of our own Hot Stove talk has focused on Wagner and Hidalgo, the two Astros who would seem to have the highest trade value; and indeed, Hunsicker's own thoughts appear to be in that direction, too. But he's misled us before in the press, as any good GM would, who plays with his cards close to the vest. There are a multitude of deals--trades and free agent acquisitions--that he could make if he's willing to make to make them, and when the World Series is over, I'll devote a column or two to some of those possibilities, just for fun. It's worth remembering--and one wishes, for example, that Billy Wagner had remembered it--that the Astros were in the hunt for Sidney Ponson at the August deadline but lost out to the Giants, who might have given away too much to the Orioles to get him. Time will tell. Having been a proponent of getting Woody Williams myself last offseason, I can't be too hard on Wagner, but my point here is that Wags is barking too sharply at management. When Hunsicker wants to trade, he has few peers in baseball in that realm of gamesmanship, and market circumstances may favor him in 2003. This offseason is a bit different from ones of the last five years or so. This year, I think the Astros not only have to make a couple of significant trades, I think Hunsicker wants to. For that reason, I think all of us should be on our toes all winter long.