2004 National League Championship Series

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Houston Astros ==Game summaries==

Game 1 Wednesday, October 13, 2004 at Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri , mostly clear {{Linescore| The series opener at St. Louis' Busch Stadium was a slugfest involving five home runs, 17 runs, and 22 hits, eventually won by St. Louis, 10–7. Houston struck the first blow of the series when Carlos Beltrán hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning after a leadoff single off Woody Williams. The Cardinals answered with a home run by Albert Pujols in the bottom half after a one-out triple off Brandon Backe, tying the game at two. Houston took a 4–2 lead in the fourth inning on a two-run home run by Jeff Kent, but the Cards tied it again in the fifth on Larry Walker's RBI double off Backe and Scott Rolen's RBI single off Chad Qualls. In the sixth, Edgar Renteria and Reggie Sanders hit back-to-back leadoff singles before a sacrifice bunt moved them up one base. Pinch hitter Roger Cedeno's groundout scored Renteria to put the Cardinals up 5-4 for the first time in this game. Tony Womack followed with an RBI single, then stole second before scoring on Walker's single aided by shortstop Jose Vizcaino's error. After Qualls walked Pujols, Chad Harville in relief walked Rolen to load the bases before Jim Edmonds cleared them with a double to put the Cardinals up 10–4. The Astros cut it to 10−6 with a two-run home run from Lance Berkman in the eighth off Ray King. Next inning, a two-out solo home run from Mike Lamb off Julián Tavárez made it 10−7. Craig Biggio then hit a ground-rule double before Jason Isringhausen relieved Julián Tavárez and got Beltran to ground out to first on the first pitch to end the game. Houston led the best-of-seven series 3–2 and was one win away from their first World Series appearance. Game 6 Wednesday, October 20, 2004 at Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri , overcast {{Linescore| Returning to St. Louis, Matt Morris started Game 6 for the Cardinals, as did Pete Munro for the Astros. The scoring began with Carlos Beltrán walking with one out, stealing second, moving to third on a single, and scoring on Lance Berkman's sacrifice fly in the first. The Cardinals responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run by Albert Pujols. In the third, Beltrán singled with two outs and scored on Jeff Bagwell's double to tie the game. Again, the Cardinals responded when Édgar Rentería hit a two-run single scoring Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen in the bottom of the inning. Mike Lamb's home run in the fourth cut the Cardinals' lead to 4−3. In the top of the ninth inning Bagwell hit a two-out single off Jason Isringhausen, scoring Morgan Ensberg for the tying run. The game went into extra innings and ended when Jim Edmonds, who hit 42 home runs in the regular season, hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 12th off Dan Miceli, sending the series to a Game 7 showdown. Game 7 Thursday, October 21, 2004 at Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri , overcast {{Linescore| The final, deciding Game 7 started off with Astros' leadoff man Craig Biggio smacking a home run in the game's first at-bat off Cardinals' starter Jeff Suppan to make it 1–0. The Astros' threat continued in the second by putting two men on, but, thanks to a tremendous catch by center fielder Jim Edmonds, the Cardinals were able to get out of the inning unscathed. In the third, however, the Astros made it 2–0 with Carlos Beltrán, who walked and stole second, scoring on Jeff Bagwell's sacrifice fly aided by Edmonds's error. The Cardinals cut it to 2−1 in the bottom of the inning when Tony Womack hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Jeff Suppan's bunt groundout. Then in the sixth Albert Pujols doubled to score Roger Cedeno from third to tie the game and Scott Rolen put the Redbirds ahead with a two-run home run off Roger Clemens. Fox Sports play-by-play announcer Thom Brennaman was on the call for Rolen's homer: St. Louis added another run in the eighth off Roy Oswalt when pinch hitter Marlon Anderson hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on Larry Walker's single. Jason Isringhausen shut down Houston in the ninth to win the Cardinals their first National League pennant in 17 years. ==Composite box==

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

The Cardinals were swept by the Boston Red Sox in four games in the 2004 World Series. The Cardinals, who scored 56 runs and hit 18 homers over 11 games in the first two postseason series, scored just 12 runs and hit two home runs in the four games of the World Series, and only scored three runs combined over the final three games. Boston won its first World Series in 86 years and broke the Curse of the Bambino. The following year, the Cardinals and Astros met again in the NLCS under similar circumstances, the Cardinals having won the division and securing the best record in the league, and having finished more than 10 games in front of the wild-card winning Astros. This time, the Astros defeated the Cardinals, four games to two, to reach their first ever World Series. Roy Oswalt, who had pedestrian numbers in the 2004 NLCS, was dominant in the rematch, going 2–0 with a 1.29 ERA over 14 innings. However, the Astros, like the 2004 Cardinals, were swept in the World Series by a curse-breaking team – the Chicago White Sox, who won their first title in 88 years and broke the Curse of the Black Sox. The 2004 NLCS was the second ever postseason series to feature multiple walk-off home runs, the first being the 1988 World Series; this has since happened in the 2014 NLCS and 2019 ALCS. The 2004 NLCS is the only one of the four to have featured walk-off home runs in consecutive games. In 2011, Fangraphs, using a mathematical formula, named their 2004 NLCS match-up the 8th best postseason series of all-time. ==Notes==