Larry Walker would have preferred to go out another way. But after taking a called third strike in the ninth inning of the Houston Astros' NL Championship Series-clinching 5-1 win over St. Louis on Wednesday night, Walker sounded like he was through. "I couldn't even breathe," Walker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "All these emotions were going every direction. I knew it was it. I'm not coming back." Walker had frequently suggested this season would be his last. He struggled through a season in which he received cortisone shots on four different occasions to relieve the pain of a herniated disc in his neck, but still hit .289 with 15 homers in 100 games. Walker said he'll miss the competition. "Putting on a uniform and going out there and challenging nine other guys to a baseball game was always a blast," he said. "It's a great life."