Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Where were you?

Big League Stew is counting up the top record-breaking and playoff home runs in the 2000s. Where does the Pujols/Lidge homer stand? Number three...

If you hadn't watched this one live, it'd be hard to believe that a three-run home run in Game 5 of the '05 NLCS could be ranked this high, especially when the Cardinals were eliminated in Game 6. But those who bore witness to Pujols' home run will still be talking about it 50 years from now. The hit was equal parts majesty (it hit near the train tracks atop Minute Maid Park) and devastation (Astros fans were one strike away from getting to celebrate the franchise's first World Series berth at home) and it still causes most fans to curse in amazement upon seeing the replay. The ball traveled so high and far that even the Astros made a joke to Lidge that they could see it outside their plane windows on the flight after the game. Quite simply a Hall of Fame moment for a Hall of Fame player.

Interestingly, the Astros figure in three of the top 10 moments. At #4 is the Podsednik Walk-Off in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series, and Chris Burke rounded out the list at #10 with the 18th-inning home run.

But for me, the most memorable home run in Astros history is the Pujols homer. I was in my lucky stance (in the kitchen, looking at the tv over the sink, hands clasped behind my head, and swaying left-to-right), waiting to celebrate the Astros' first trip to the World Series. Instead, as soon as the ball left Pujols' bat I crumpled to the floor, only to get up and vomit in the sink (true story. Ask La Constabless.) I didn't see the ball land until SportsCenter the next morning, after I had called in sick to work.

So, let's do this. Where were you when Pujols hit The Home Run?

Update: C70 at the Bat is referring to this heartbreaking poem.