RMJ 164 July 29

TUESDAY, JULY 29 ● Houston, vs St. Louis

I talked with Laura Lynn last night. She is really going crazy, trying to keep up with the team.

She lives in the small town of Wrightwood, in the San Bernardino mountains, just an hour from Los Angeles. Most of the people who live there are escapees from the rat race of LA.

Laura is a teacher. She is a mom. Her kids don’t eat red meat. They always buckle up. And they don’t have cable TV. This sort of healthy, insular lifestyle suited her just fine — until I got this job.

She has always had the mothering instinct. Now she is showing the “sistering” instinct, too.

When I was an announcer, she only had a casual interest in the team. Now she seeks out scores like a habitual gambler. She listens to the Dodgers on radio — even though she doesn’t like them — just to keep up with the Cardinals, Pirates, and of course, the Astros.

When she is down in LA, she watches every game on the satellite, even though it makes her nervous. It used to be that she would check with her sources in Wrightwood to see how we were doing; now they are calling her.

She may be in the checkout line at the grocery store, and someone will come up to her and say, “The Astros are up 4-3. Cardinals lost again.” In talking to her about these things, I realize what a profound effect my career change has had on my friends and relatives.

The stacks of mail grow with every win. Folks want autographs. They want to suggest a little lineup change that will get us over the top. The writers and TV people come by earlier now.

The pressure is on – big-time.

 

Biggio got us on the board tonight with a two-run homer in the third. The way Donovan Osborne was pitching, I wasn’t sure we would ever score, but he made one mistake — and he paid for it.

I was hoping La Russa would pinch-hit for Osborne, leading off the sixth inning. He did, and Scott Livingstone grounded out. Delino DeShields came up and bunted for a hit. Royce Clayton followed with a double, and Ray Lankford drove in a run, grounding out to Bagwell.

Ron Gant was next. If he was hot, I’d have walked him, because he has given Shane Reynolds a lot of trouble over the years. Shane got him out this time, we kept the short lead.

Mark Petkovsek came in to pitch for the Redbirds. He is from Beaumont, Texas, and he grew up an Astros fan. We had him earlier in his career, before he blossomed into a fine relief pitcher.

For some reason, Mark has had trouble here. Maybe it’s the pressure of having family and friends at the game. Whatever the reason, we got to him again.

A two-out hit by Ausmus made it 3-1. Reynolds struggled through a scoreless seventh, then we added another run off Petkovsek on a two-out hit by James Mouton.

I was hoping Mike Magnante could hold them for an inning, but Sean Berry made an error and then Magnante walked Deshields. I kicked myself for being greedy and leaving Berry in there; he was scheduled to hit in the bottom of the eighth, and I was hoping to get him one more at-bat.

By the time Mike got Royce Clayton out, Wagner was ready. Lankford, their leading home-run hitter, was up — representing the tying run. I went to Wagner, and he struck out Lankford.

After a long battle, Gant singled to center and Chuckie Carr bobbled the ball, letting both runners advance. Now it was 4-2, and the tying run was on second. Wagner promptly threw a curve ball in the dirt, allowing Deshields to score. Billy struck out Dmitri Young on a 3-2 pitch.

I was tempted to pinch-hit for Bogar when we got a man on second with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but I didn’t want to take my best-fielding shortstop out of the game. Bogar came through with a hit, and we led 5-3.

But the Cardinals weren’t finished. Wagner’s control was erratic, and he didn’t really have his best fastball.

He promptly walked Willie McGee. Then he got two outs. Then he walked Gaetti. He got two strikes on DeShields, and the crowd rose in an anticipatory victory cheer and settled back down with a groan when Deshields singled McGee home to make it 5-4.

Billy had gone past 40 pitches. He wasn’t throwing nearly as hard as he usually does, and his control was terrible.

I sensed a pivot point.

If we won, the next game would be up for grabs. But if they came from behind to beat Wagner, we would be hard-pressed to turn them around the next day.

But Wagner struck out Clayton on three pitches.

I was rubber-legged. It was clearly the most-intense finish of the year. We have stretched our lead to six games. And even if we lose tomorrow, we will have a comfortable margin over the Cardinals and the Pirates, who had already lost to the surging Dodgers.

 

It took me a while to wind down from this one. I didn’t even try to eat until much later. I finally got home at 11:45, and I wasn’t able to give it up until almost three a.m.