Magnificent riddle

And this is why baseball is great, because nobody knows nuttin'. It's easier predicting the weather, or whatever mad spew comes next from Our Only Available President. Even those noted authorities up in the pressbox frequently are flummoxed.

So here we were on the first night of November, and the Blob, a card-carrying Noted Authority alum, kept wagging its shaggy head as the Astros changed pitchers the way a seasoned commuter changes trains.

"You watch," I told my wife, Julie, with the score standing at 5-1 Houston. "Eventually the Astros are gonna find a pitcher the Dodgers can hit. That manager's gonna outthink himself."

About that time Charlie Morton rung up another batter.

A delighted laugh from Julie.

"The best part about watching baseball with you is realizing you don't know any more than I do," she said, or words to that effect.

And I don't. Nobody does. Which is why baseball is great.

Consider: After all the hijinks in this World Series, all the baseballs flying out of ballparks and the insane Home Run Derby of Game 2 and insane-r Home Run Derby of Game 5, the Astros rode their arms to their first World Series title last night. They yanked their starter, Lance McCullers, in the third even though he was doing fine, and then they ran out Brad Peacock for awhile and then Francisco Liriano for one batter and then some guy named Devenski for one batter.

Finally they brought out Charlie Morton, who'd lost 6-2 to the Dodgers in Game 4.

Morton pitched the last four innings. He gave up one earned run on two hits. And the Astros won it for Harvey-battered Houston, won it for all those Astros fans who remember the old Colt .45s and lived through the Era of the Technicolor Yawn unis, which was quite an Era to live through.

No Home Run Derby this time. No late-inning heroics. Just four pitchers who weren't Clayton Kershaw or Justin Verlander giving up three hits across the last 6 2/3 to nail it down for the 'Stros.

And now the Blob remembers something else it said last night, much earlier, while discussing the upcoming Game 7 with a friend.

"You know what's great about baseball?" I said. "You can't predict it. Whoever wins tonight, you can almost guarantee someone you least expect will decide it."

Well, I was half-right. Series MVP George Springer, whom everyone had heard of, was one of the guys who decided it. But the other guy who decided it was Charlie Morton, who came to the big moment last night with a career ERA of 4.41 and a career record of 60-78.

Not last night, though. Last night, for four innings, he was Christy Freakin' Mathewson -- or perhaps Nolan Freakin' Ryan, who once pitched for the Astros himself.

Who knew?

And how awesome is that?