They led the Wild Card by 1. 5 games over San Francisco and Houston on September 25, and both of those teams lost that day, giving the Cubs a chance at increasing the lead to a commanding 2. 5 games with only eight games remaining in the season, but reliever LaTroy Hawkins blew a save to the Mets, and the Cubs lost the game in extra innings, a defeat that seemingly deflated the team, as they proceeded to drop 6 of their last 8 games as the Astros won the Wild Card.

Surgery was done to save his life, but the Astros had lost their ace pitcher after a 10 – 4 start with a stingy 1. 89 ERA.

An Astros lead was lost when Bob Boone hit a two out single in the second, but the Astros tied the game in the sixth with an Alan Ashby single scoring Denny Walling.

The Astros lost the first game in St. Louis, but would win the next three games, with Roy Oswalt getting the win.

A dramatic season end included wins in 10 of their last 12 games, but the Astros missed a playoff appearance when they lost the final game of the season to the Atlanta Braves.

The Astros lost five Clemens starts by scores of 1 – 0.

However, the Astros lost all three of those starts by a 1 – 0 score in extra innings.

While he has two championship rings with the 1999 – 2000 Yankees, Clemens has also been on the losing end of four World Series ( 1986 Red Sox, 2001 and 2003 Yankees, and 2005 Astros ), which is tied with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz ( who were both on the Braves when they lost the ' 91, ' 92, ' 96 and ' 99 World Series ) for the most among active players.

Ryan got a no-decision as his Astros lost in 12 innings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers then lost a one-game playoff-and thus the division championship-to the Astros.

He lost a narrow vote for the Cy Young Award to the Astros ' Mike Scott.

He then pitched 10 shutout innings in Game 3 of the NLCS and the Astros won 1 – 0, though they lost the series to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3 – 2.

During the playoffs, however, the Astros lost the NLDS to the San Diego Padres, 3 – 1.

The Astros then lost the National League Championship Series to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Marichal won in his first game back, 2 – 1 vs. the Astros on September 9, ( the same day Koufax pitched his perfect game vs. the Cubs ,) but lost his last three decisions as the Giants slumped in the season's final week.

In 2005, the Braves lost to the Houston Astros, with the finale taking eighteen innings to decide in the 2005 NLDS.

The day before, Koosman had lost to the Houston Astros to fall to 9-8 ; he would win eight of his final nine decisions.

In the off-season, the Astros traded starting pitcher Claude Osteen to the Cardinals, and lost pitching ace Don Wilson, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 29 on January 5, 1975.

Instead, they were forced to play the Astros in a one game playoff – which they lost.

Under his leadership in the last 12 games of the 2006 season, the Astros won 10 and lost 2 putting them a game and half behind the Division winners.

The remaining five teams were separated by as few as one-and-one-half games in the standings on August 18, despite the Houston Astros team having lost 20 of its first 24 games.

Previously, because of a players ' strike in 1981, a split-season format forced a divisional playoff series, in which the Montreal Expos won the Eastern Division series over the Philadelphia Phillies three games to two while the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros three games to two in the Western Division.

The Astros won the first two games of that series and the two teams were tied for the division lead.

Needing a win to get to Mike Scott ( who had been dominant in the series ) in Game 7, the Astros jumped off to a 3 – 0 lead in the first inning but neither team would score again until the 9th inning.

Though the Astros were poised to close out the series in Game Five in Houston, Brad Lidge gave up a monstrous two-out three-run home run to Albert Pujols, forcing the series to a sixth game in St. Louis, where the Astros clinched a World Series appearance.

In the fifth and final game of the series, Ryan and the Astros held a 5 – 2 lead entering the 8th inning.

The Sounds won the series two games to one before advancing to the Southern League championship series against the Columbus Astros.

Although the Astros still had a home series with Pittsburgh in August, this game was made up in Pittsburgh in July.

The Astros, however, came back in game two with an extra innings victory to send the series to Houston tied at a game apiece.

He batted. 304 with two home runs and six RBIs in the series as the Cardinals were eliminated in six games by the Astros.

Hurricane Ike's landfall in Houston forced the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros to play a two-game series at Miller Park on Sunday, September 14 and Monday, September 15, 2008.

The teams then battled for 9 more innings in what became the longest game in Major League Baseball playoff history, with the Astros eventually winning the game ( and the series ) in the bottom of the 18th inning on a Chris Burke home run.

His six RBIs during that series were the most of any of the Astros ' hitters.

Cox's 2001 team won the division title and upset the favored Houston Astros in three straight games in the division series.

However, the Astros would take the series, 3 – 1.

Ramírez got off to a quick start in 2009 with 5 RBI during the Cubs ' opening series against the Houston Astros.

Those were Konerko's only RBI of the World Series, but they were critical in giving the White Sox the momentum to complete a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros and they were the most for a White Sox hitter in the series.

The National League Championship Series ( NLCS ) was a Major League Baseball playoff series played from October 13 to 21 to determine the champion of the National League, between the Central Division champion St. Louis Cardinals and the wild-card qualifying Houston Astros.

The Cardinals beat the Astros 6 – 4 and took a 2 – 0 lead in the series.

In the first game of the series played in Houston's Minute Maid Park, the Astros defeated the Cardinals 5 – 2 behind home runs by Jeff Kent, Carlos Beltrán, and Lance Berkman.

In Game 3, the Astros were ahead at Shea Stadium, 5 – 4, in the bottom of the 9th when closer Dave Smith gave up a two-run home run to Lenny Dykstra, giving the Mets a dramatic 6 – 5 win.

The contributions of the other starters-Brandon Backe ( 10 – 8, 4. 76 ) and rookie starters Ezequiel Astacio ( 3 – 6, 5. 67 ) and Wandy Rodríguez ( 10 – 10, 5. 53 )-were less remarkable, but enough to push the Astros into position for a playoff run.

For the Astros, Clemens was the losing pitcher in game 7 of the 2004 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals, allowing 4 runs in 6 innings of work although he pitched well, he tired in the sixth inning surrendering all four runs.

The Padres went on to defeat the Houston Astros in the 1998 NLDS, 3 games to 1, behind solid pitching by Brown, Sterling Hitchcock and Hoffman, and home runs by Greg Vaughn, Wally Joyner and Jim Leyritz ( who homered in 3 of the 4 games ).

One important highlight of the first half of 1984 took place on May 4, when Jim Deshaies pitched the club ’ s first no-hitter against the Columbus Astros in the second game of a seven-inning doubleheader.

With the Pirates down 3 – 2 in the ninth inning to the Houston Astros, Mendoza scored the tying run in the Pirates ' 4 – 3 victory.

On October 11, 1980, Keith Jackson called an Oklahoma-Texas college football game for ABC in the afternoon, then flew to Houston to call Game 4 of the NLCS between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies.

In 11 regular-season starts with the Astros, he had a 10 – 1 record, a 1. 28 ERA, and 116 strikeouts in 84⅓ innings, and pitched 4 shutouts.

The Astros went on to win the game 7 – 4.

The humorous commercials continued to run during the Chicago White Sox-Houston Astros World Series, won in 4 straight games by Chicago.

* October 26 – 2005 MLB World Series – The Chicago White Sox sweep the Houston Astros 4 games to 0 to win the World Series for the first time since 1917.

In Game 2 of the NLCS against the Astros, he had three hits, including a game-winning home run against Miceli, as the Cardinals won 6 – 4.

In Game 5 of the NLCS against the Astros, with the Cardinals trailing by two runs and only one out from elimination in the ninth inning, Pujols hit a game-winning three-run home run against Brad Lidge that landed on the train tracks in the back of Minute Maid Park as the Cardinals won 5 – 4.

It was believed that the Sunday, September 28, 1969 game against the Houston Astros, which was that year's last home game for the Reds ( who won 4 – 1 ), would be the final game ever at Crosley Field.

However, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig had moved the starting time of Game 5 to primetime, due to the rematch, and Fox had a triple-header, first the Seattle Seahawks – New England Patriots game at Gillette Stadium at 1: 00 pm ET, then Game 4 of the NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park at 4: 30 pm ET.

The game set the record for longest duration of a postseason game at 5 hours, 49 minutes, a record which was later broken by Game 4 of the 2005 National League Division Series between the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves, which was one minute longer.

* Game 5 was the longest Major League postseason game in history at 5 hours and 49 minutes until Game 4 of the 2005 National League Division Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves which lasted 5 hours and 50 minutes.

2004 NLCS ( 4 – 3 ): St. Louis Cardinals over Houston Astros

Hampton became a starter for Houston in, and kept his ERA under 4. 00 for every season he was with the Astros.

On September 23, Ankiel had his first walk-off hit, a two-run triple to win the last Sunday Night Baseball game of the season against the Astros 4 – 3.

He started Game 4 of the National League Championship series against the Houston Astros, allowing one run over five innings but came away with a no-decision after the Astros took the lead later in the game.