RMJ 185 August 19

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19 ● Houston, vs Atlanta

I awoke feeling pretty much myself for the first time since Friday. Having to catch up on all this writing seemed an impossible chore over the weekend; it was no trouble at all today. 

The only obstacle between me and sheer joy is the Braves.

The Braves have not been hitting well lately, and Mike Hampton has been superb. Even though they were sending John Smoltz to the mound, I felt optimistic.

Reality set in when I made out my lineup card. I looked for players who had hit Smoltz well; there were few. I looked for possible combinations beyond Biggio, Bell, and Bagwell, and found few. I ended up with González hitting cleanup, followed by Gutierrez, Carr, Ausmus, Bogar, and Hampton.

Smoltz throws a riding fastball, and he is sometimes susceptible to the home run. Our top three hitters had 59 homers; our next five had 19.

I don’t know why I haven’t been disturbed by this fact until this homestand. Maybe it is because we haven’t been playing the Braves and the Marlins.

On paper, this is a mismatch. But we don’t play the game on paper — and it turned out to be a beauty.

 

Hampton’s nemesis, Jeff Blauser, hit a two-run homer in the first. Smoltz made our hitters look like Little Leaguers.

Three singles and an infield grounder put them up 4-0 in the sixth. Bell homered in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1. We scored another run in the seventh on Carr’s hit, a stolen base, and an infield grounder by Spiers.

In the eighth, Biggio and Bell singled, and Bagwell followed with a double down the third-base line. Bell was churning all-out, but the Braves played the carom well and Cubby had to hold Derek at third. We were only down 4-3, and we had the winning run on second with no outs.

Bobby Cox played it the way I would have: he tried to get the last ounce of effort out of Smoltz so he wouldn’t have to use his  relievers. Smoltz came through by striking out Gonzo, then he got lucky when Ricky Gutierrez hit a wicked liner to Lemke that resulted in a double play.

Things looked bleak in the ninth when Mark Wohlers came on throwing cheese. I instructed our hitters to steal if they got on.

“We aren’t likely to get a lot of hits,” I said. “And I don’t want to waste an out on a bunt.”

Wohlers’ first pitch was clocked at 101 MPH. Carr hung in there and got a good swing, but flied out to deep left-center. Ausmus got down in the count, but hung in there and delivered a chopping single up the middle. He immediately stole second.

Spiers grounded to second, and Ausmus moved to third. Eusebio walked, and Mouton pinch-ran and stole second. Again, we had the tying and winning runs in scoring position.

That’s how it ended. Wohlers struck out Biggio with a darting slider.

Once again, I was amazed by my players. They may not be powerful, but they are tough.

If we don’t win this thing, it won’t be because we didn’t give a good effort.

           

One thing that bothered me about this game was two ground balls that got through the hole on the left side of the infield. I’ve mentioned before that I like to play the infield straight-up on the pull side (the left-field side of the diamond for a right-handed hitter) in a double-play situation, but our infielders keep edging back toward the bag, anticipating the double play.

In a way, I hate to move them. I seldom moved players when I was pitching, because I was never sure where the guy would hit the ball. Just as sure as I move him, I thought, the guy will hit it right where they were.

I talked to Cubby about this after the game, and he agreed. He is going to talk with our middle infielders about not cheating so much on the pull side. He also mentioned another thing.

“I thought we still had a chance for a double play on the ball that Lopez hit to Ricky,” he said. “Biggio never cheats across the bag. Sometimes he catches the ball on his left foot. If he catches it on his right and cheats across the bag, we have a chance.

“With first-and-third and one out, I think you have to cheat.”

I suggested that we look at the video tomorrow, and that if it clearly showed what he was talking about, we would meet with Bidge and Cubby could show him what he was telling me.

 

Chronicle columnist Fran Blinebury covered the game tonight. Baseball is not his favorite sport, and we don’t see a lot of him during the year. He was captivated by the “playoff” atmosphere in the Dome, and that was the subject of his column. With a goodly number of Braves fans among the 32,000 in attendance, the place was really rocking.

I had a feeling that Fran enjoyed the game, which pleased me. A lot of people — even good sports fans — don’t give baseball a chance, because they feel it is too slow.

Well, it is too slow, too often. But when it is played well, it is a beautiful sport.