HOUSTON REALLY WANTED THAT

At 500 hours and 70-something innings, today's thrilling contest between Houston and Atlanta demonstrated how hungry Houston is to turn their wildcard into a platinum card. Check the stats yourself for this record-breaking game (most playoff innings ever, more pitchers than, well, ever, etc.). Coolest stat is that 9 out of 18 innings—the duration of a regular game—were played without a single run. Sound boring? Let me tell you, it was anything but.

What I loved about this (and would have killed to be in Houston to witness) was Roger Clemens as a 16th inning reliever. In three innings he shamed Atlanta and went on to get the win. Say whaaa? I think it's hilarious that they ran out of pitchers and went to a future hall-of-famer to eliminate the Braves.

The clincher? Houston rookie Chris Burke, in his first playoff, got a home run in the bottom of the 18th to win the game, 7-6. Remember, thanks to a solo homer and an 8th-inning grand slam, Houston returned from a 6-1 trail, which just made their victory even sweeter. The photo of Clemens hugging Burke, who's young enough to be the Rocket's son, made me cry.

Now that was a baseball game.