Craig Biggio's Slam Covers for Lidge's "Relief"

If you pay much attention to baseball at all, you probably know that Craig Biggio currently has 2,945 hits (well, you may not have known the number exactly, but you probably had a good guess). Of those 2,945, exactly three have been grand slams. And so last night was a good time to bust out one of the rarest hits in his vast repertoire, as Biggio's ninth inning slam gave the Astros just enough cushion to beat the Brewers 6-5.

This game was one of those games only baseball can produce. Headed into the ninth inning, it was a 2-2 snoozefest headed for who knows how many extra innings. In the top of the ninth, the Astros loaded the bases up for Biggio to clear them. In the bottom of the ninth, Phil Garner decided that since it wasn't a close situation, it would be OK to bring Brad Lidge out. That lead to a three run homer from Prince Fielder that made things back into a one run game. Oops. Garner knows he got away with one, I think. From the Houston Chronicle:

"It wasn't easy," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "But, by George, we did a nice job.

"We came back and put runs on the board. And at the end you have to stop one short, and we did it. Thank goodness Biggio gave us a little breathing room and we took advantage of it."

I know it's early in the season and I know Garner has been wildly successful managing in Houston, but part of me thinks that if Lidge would've blown this save, the local media would've come down pretty hard on Ol' Scrap Iron.