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Heartbreaker
Astros, Dierker find Game 3 loss tough to swallow
Posted: Friday October 08, 1999 10:55 PM
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Houston's Ken Caminiti breaks his bat over his knee after striking out with the bases loaded in the seventh inning. AP |
HOUSTON (AP) - Astros manager Larry Dierker was testy. Reliever Jay Powell was heartbroken. Tony Eusebio couldn't believe it.
That was the range of emotions after Houston couldn't score with the bases loaded and no outs in the 10th inning Friday, and went on to lose 5-3 to the Atlanta Braves in the 12th on Brian Jordan's two-run double.
While the game was lost in the 12th inning, the Astros should have ended it in the 10th when former Houston reliever Russ Springer loaded the bases on a walk to Jeff Bagwell, a single by Ken Caminiti and a bunt hit by Stan Javier.
With Game 2 starter Jose Lima pounding a bat in the dugout, Braves closer John Rocker came on and got out of the jam.
With the infield in, Carl Everett hit a dribbler to first base and Ryan Klesko forced Bagwell at the plate for the first out.
Then came the play of the game. Eusebio hit a screamer up the middle, but shortstop Walt Weiss dived to his left, made an incredible stop and threw out Caminiti at home.
"There's no way he should have made that play," Eusebio said. "He made a heck of a play. When I saw the ball go past the pitcher, I thought it was a hit for sure."
Ricky Gutierrez then struck out to end the threat for the Astros, who squandered plenty of other chances, leaving 12 runners in all.
"It wasn't just the 10th inning," Dierker said. "We had a million opportunities. It was, you know, you can't keep going out there and scoring nothing inning after inning after inning. How many innings went by where we only had to score one run.
"It was pretty weak."
Given an extended life by Weiss and Rocker in the 10th, the Braves won the game in the 12th. With two outs and runners at second and third, Dierker had Powell pitch to Jordan, who had earlier hit a three-run homer and is hitting .500 with seven RBIs in the series.
"I never thought about that," Dierker snapped sarcastically when asked if he considered walking Jordan. "I really wish he'd have hit a home run. He sticks his bat out and rolls it down the first base line.
"If I'm a pitcher I want him to hit a really tough pitch. It was a tough pitch but I guess it didn't work out."
Powell said he and Eusebio thought they had a good plan for pitching to Jordan.
"We had an idea of trying to get ahead of him," Powell said. "We wanted to get it down to where he'd strike at the last pitch or it was a ball. The pitch just came back across the plate and he hit it.
"It's very frustrating. ... I hate to lose like this. If I'd done my job, we'd still be out there playing."
Eusebio disagreed with his manager's decision.
"I was kind of surprised," the catcher said. "I saw the sign from Dierker. I was looking at the manager. If it was me, I would have walked him. But Dierker is the kind of manager who doesn't like to give walks."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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