Astros lead National League wild-card

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros have done little wrong in the past month after doing little right for most of the season.\nAfter firing their manager and playing catch-up for the past three months, the Astros began Thursday with an improbable lead in the NL playoff race. They were atop the wild-card standing for the first time this season, a half-game ahead of San Francisco and the Chicago Cubs.\n"We're playing now like we're not going to get beat," new Astros manager Phil Garner said. "When the pressure has been greatest, we've gotten it done."\nSuch a scenario looked farfetched when Houston dropped from first to fifth in the NL Central and fired manager Jimy Williams during the All-Star break when the team was 44-44. Garner replaced him but made little difference at first, and after a month the Astros had dropped to 56-60.\nThen came a four-game winning streak to get the Astros back to .500. By early September, the Astros had won 12 straight to pull even with the Cubs. Now after winning six of their last seven, they're in position to make the postseason.\n"We're trying to get our ticket to the dance," said Roger Clemens, who pitched six innings in the Astros' 6-4 win over St. Louis on Wednesday night. "At one point it looked like we weren't invited and we were just going to drop in on everybody."\nIf this sounds familiar, think back to the Florida Marlins' late playoff push last year.\nThe Marlins fired manager Jeff Torborg and hired Jack McKeon after a 19-29 start, continued to struggle for a couple of months and then recovered to seize the NL wild card en route to winning the World Series.\nAstros general manager Gerry Hunsicker repeatedly made references to the Marlins' run when he introduced Garner as the team's new manager the day after the All-Star game.\nBack then, Hunsicker sounded like a man desperately searching for hope. Now, Hunsicker sounds like a prophet.\n"There's some magic in the air," Hunsicker said with a satisfied grin.\nWith only a three-game series at home against Colorado left in the regular season, the Astros are finally becoming the playoff contender everyone thought they'd be at the start of the year.\nJust much later than expected.\n"They were supposed to be good earlier in the season," St. Louis shortstop Edgar Renteria said. "I don't know what happened to them. But they're playing like they were supposed to now."\nNot so long ago, Houston appeared on its way to a disappointing finish after beginning the season with expectations of the team's first World Series appearance in its 42-year history.\nThe midseason acquisition of All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran did nothing for the Astros' punchless offense. Garner tinkered with the lineup with little success. Star pitchers Andy Pettitte and Wade Miller were lost for the season after struggling with injuries. Emerging young shortstop Adam Everett was also sidelined with a broken left wrist.\nThings really bottomed out when Houston lost two of three at last-place Montreal in mid-August.\nHunsicker acknowledged briefly considering a few trades with contending teams before the Aug. 31 deadline. He eventually decided against making any moves at the urging of owner Drayton McLane.\n"People said we should go ahead and give up on the season," McLane said. "I didn't want to give up."\nGarner has been perhaps the most significant addition, infusing enthusiasm in a veteran club that was close-knit but rarely animated. The Astros began playing -- and winning -- with the enthusiasm of a college team.\nIt's been quite an energizing run for Garner, who never came close to the postseason in his first two stints as manager in Milwaukee and Detroit. He had been out of baseball for two years when Hunsicker approached him about the job in early July.\n"I was cocky enough that I believed I could make a difference," Garner said. "But I'm not stupid enough to believe it's me."\nSince Aug. 15, the Astros have the best record in the major leagues at 33-10. Now all that stands between the Astros and at least a share of the wild card is their series with Colorado, starting Friday.\n"We know what's at stake," said left fielder Craig Biggio, an 18-year veteran in Houston. "The last eight or nine years, we've usually been first or second. We've almost always had something to play for in September.\n"We believe in ourselves."\nEven when no one else did.