National LeagueIt took 43 years, but the Houston Astros are finally postseason winners.
Carlos Beltran hit two more homers and drove in five runs, while Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell chipped in during a five-run seventh inning that carried the Astros to a 12-3 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Monday night in the deciding Game 5 of their first-round National League playoff series.
The Astros snapped an 0-for-7 record of futility in the playoffs against their longtime nemesis. The Braves eliminated Houston in 1997, 1999 and 2001, but they couldn't escape their own postseason demons this time.
"This is what you can do when you've got special guys," said Roger Clemens, who came out of retirement to pitch for his hometown club. "Every championship team has guys who are special like this. I'm so happy. This is what I came here for."
The Astros matched the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers for most series losses before getting their first win. The Dodgers won the World Series on their eighth try.
"When I got here, they told me they had always had problems getting to the next step," said Beltran, who was acquired from Kansas City in June. "I knew it was going to be tough."
Atlanta has lost Game 5 of the division series three years in a row -- all at Turner Field. The second-largest crowd in franchise history, 54,068, saw another familiar ending.
Beltran homered four times in the series, breaking the Houston record for a postseason series. In a poignant note, the record was formerly held by Ken Caminiti, who hit three in an opening-round loss to the Braves in 1999.
Caminiti, who spent 10 seasons with the Astros, died on Sunday of an apparent heart attack at age 41.
The news hit Caminiti's former teammates -- Biggio and Bagwell -- especially hard.
"I'm not going to lie to you. It was tough," Biggio said. "I think I felt his spirit out there."
"I think Cammy would be proud," Bagwell added.
Next up for the wild-card Astros is a matchup against Central Division rival St. Louis in the NL championship series starting tonight at Busch Stadium.
Atlanta proudly displays 13 straight division titles but still has only one World Series to show for it. This marked the fifth straight year that the Braves' season ended at the Ted. This one was especially dismal, equaling the worst postseason loss in franchise history.
"Looking back at this team over the whole season, I'm pretty proud of the way we played," Chipper Jones said.
Game 5 wasn't a shining moment, though.
Houston jumped ahead 3-0 on Braves starter Jaret Wright, scoring two in the second and adding to their lead when Beltran homered into the Atlanta bullpen in the third.
The Braves had the big crowd roaring in the fifth. Rafael Furcal led off with a homer against Roy Oswalt, and Johnny Estrada hit another into the seats with two outs, pulling Atlanta to 3-2.
But Beltran, acquired from Kansas City in June, quickly turned the tide back in Houston's favor. He started the sixth with a towering drive off Wright that just cleared the right-field wall.
The Astros were back in control. The Braves were done.
Oswalt, pitching on three days' rest for only the second time this season, made it through five innings. He threw 111 pitches and the Braves stranded runners in every inning, seven in all against the Houston starter.
Houston poured it on in the seventh after Atlanta summoned Chris Reitsma from the bullpen. With two outs, Biggio lined an RBI single to right and wound at third when the throw home skipped away from Estrada. Beltran followed with another single, driving in his third run of the game, before Bagwell launched a mammoth drive to left-center for a two-run homer.
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