PazTripReports: A 20-year baseball playoff odyssey

NOTE from Betsy: After Dave and I attended an Astros World Series game last Sunday, he suggested I document it for our loyal readers. I have to admit I wrote more than I intended (but maybe not as much as the recent "Blogzilla" post) because I wanted to journal the several playoff trips I have made with Dave and Tex over the years.

Dave and I both share a love for baseball, based on many childhood memories and parental influence. As the years have progressed it seems I am the more rabid sports fan, but thankfully Dave tolerates me and is mostly supportive of my football and baseball addictions.

So this year was a special one, as the team I grew up with in Houston won the World Series for the first time in its 55-year history. As a kid whose parents separated when I was six, I don't remember a lot. But some of the happiest memories I do have are of my dad picking the four of us up every other weekend (as the court assigned) and taking us to one of three activities: bowling, movies, or a baseball game. Thus, I love movies to this day, bowled until my right knee no longer allowed, and will probably be a baseball fan the rest of my life. It wasn't just the sacred time with him that I revere, but also the lessons he taught us about life through this amazing game.

So here are some fun memories that led up to the World Series championship last week.

1997

My dad's only sibling happened to work for the Astros as a contractor after he retired from the oil business, so we had the unique chance to score some great second-row seats behind the Astros on-deck circle - first at the Astrodome and then at Minute Maid Park. Often we would pack up Tex and a friend to experience this amazing close-up view of a game. When Tex was 8, the Astros made the playoffs for the first time in his short life. So I arranged for playoff tickets with my uncle, but on Sunday night fibbed to my only child that I had only one ticket to the playoff game that Monday. What Tex didn't know was that I had two, and had already contacted his second-grade teachers to arrange a school-day "kidnapping." It seemed like a good idea until that Sunday night, when this tiny baseball fan showed his frustration at missing the game. Boy did that hurt.

My pain (and his) was relieved the next morning when I surprised him in class at Monroe May Elementary to tell him he would be joining me. Boy was he excited! We headed down I-10 to get our tickets and head to the game. We thought we had left in plenty of time, but encountered a Houston-sized traffic jam as we neared the stadium. Even though we missed the start of the game, and the Astros lost the game and the series to the Braves, it was a memorable trip.

2005

This was the year the Astros finally beat Alfred Puljos and the evil Cardinals to make it to the World Series for the first time. Once again my uncle helped us obtain two tickets. Dave graciously suggested Tex and I use them, and he drove us to Houston the night of Game 3, after the White Sox had taken games 1 and 2 in Chicago. We got there early, and it was an incredible experience. Sixteen-year-old Tex was wearing a jersey I bought him earlier (and that he still owns), and it attracted an ESPN crew for an interview. While we never saw the final clip on TV, I know it was a special moment for this kid who grew up on SportsCenter instead of Saturday morning cartoons.

The game was incredible and exhausting. Roy Oswalt, the Astros ace, started and looked good for awhile, until the Sox pegged him for five runs one inning. The game extended into 14 suspenseful innings and lasted 5 hours and 40 minutes. The Sox won on a Geoff Blum hit, and won the next night to sweep the series. But Tex and I did document the fact we had observed - and scored - the longest World Series game in history.

ESPN interviewing 16-year-old Tex before the game.

We didn't miss a play.

The scoreboard said it all: longest WS game ever!

Dave had been napping in the garage. We woke him up at 1:30 and he drove us home, where we napped a few hours and headed off to our respective work and school commitments.

Here is one of the four scorecard pages Tex and I needed to track the 14 innings.

2015

Dave and I had the opportunity to watch the Astros blow a chance to win the American League pennant (after switching leagues and three years of painful rebuilding.) They were playing the also-resurgent Royals, Dave's hometown team. We watched the Royals come back from a four-run deficit in the 8th inning to win a game that could have taken the Astros to the pennant series. The Royals ultimately won the division series and the World Series. So it was maudlin the Astros blew that chance, but we were happy our other "home" team took home the trophy.

We didn't get a win on Oct. 12 against the Royals in the 2015 division series, but we did get a towel!

2017

Now, fast-forward to this year. The Astros continued to improve, and picked up ace Justin Verlander in August. Now we had a chance. We won the first two series in two historic stadiums (Fenway and Yankee Stadium) before heading to L.A.'s Chavez Ravine for the World Series. I had lost my family connection, and was going to be OK with watching the games at home, where we had a great view and replays. But it was lonely, especially after the 7th or 8th inning when Dave would have to call it a night. I recall standing in my living room during Game 2's incredible 11-inning comeback, wanting to share my joy.

On Saturday, the day of Game 4, a college friend offered to buy us tickets for that night or the next as an early 40th anniversary present. He is a huge Cubs fan and joked that it would be the money he would have spent had the defending champion Cubs not lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS.

I was recovering from a bad cold, but my spirits lifted. Why not try for the Sunday game, I thought. I responded to his text, and a few minutes later I got a picture on my phone of our tickets for Sunday. So we made our plans and booked a downtown hotel.

We checked in Sunday afternoon, and headed to the stadium an hour early. The tickets were down the right-field line, but on the Club level, which means you don't need to stand in line for a bathroom or beer. Cool!

Dave's getting into the spirit.

Little did we know it would be one of the best games in World Series history, and one of the best I've ever seen. Clayton Kershaw started for the Dodgers and his team gave him a 4-0 lead against Dallas Keuchel in the first inning. I'm sure most of the fans were like us and couldn't believe the Astros could come back from that large deficit against the best pitcher in baseball - although nobody would admit it out loud.

For three innings we were proven right. But in the fourth, we got one run, and then Cuban rooki Yuli Gurriel blasted a three-run home that tied the game. We were beside ourselves - and then deflated after the Dodgers put three more runs on the board in the next inning. Sure enough, the Astros scratched back again to tie it at the bottom of that inning as well with George Springer's homer, one of 7 total in the game (5 for the Astros.)

These three generations shared many special moments at the long game.

The nail-biting continued into the top of the ninth, where we were all confident we could protect our three-run lead and go home. But the Dodgers evened it up again. After failing to score in the bottom of the inning, we went to what was now my second-straight extra-inning World Series game. Finally, the drama concluded when Alex Bregman laced the first pitch he saw over the shortstop, plating pinch runner Derek Fisher from second and winning the game in a walk-off.

The stadium literally shook with excitement. I've been to dozens of games in my life, and this was the best game I have ever witnessed.

So thanks to Dave, my college buddy, and the Astros for a memorable ride!