Three more games... and another managerial change. It never stops.
Craig Biggio scored Houston's first two runs and drove in another as the Astros took an early 4-1 lead off an uncharacteristically wild Tim Hudson. The Braves cut the lead to a single run when Andruw Jones hit a two-run homer but the Astros ran away and hid after that, roughing up the Braves' pen for five runs en route to a 10-5 win. Morgan Ensberg drove in five runs for the Astros.
The lesson from the AL yesterday was that you should definitely avoid forcing your pitcher to get four outs in an inning - both the Red Sox and the Yankees were burned badly, to the tune of three runs each, in last night's games.
At US Cellular, the Red Sox jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. And then Tony Graffanino took his place in Red Sox lore, muffing a possible double play ball, and forcing David Wells to get four outs in the inning. The Fat Man could only get three before Tadahito Iguchi yanked a curveball over the wall for a three run homer that put the White Sox up 5-4 in the game, and 2-0 in the series. The response of Boston fans to Graffanino's lapse? Well, something like this:
In the late game, the Yankees took a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning. Juan Rivera homered to cut the lead in half. In the sixth, the Yankees gave the Angels four outs to play with and paid the price. Orlando Cabrera, who had reached on a Rodriguez error, scored on Bengie Molina's two out single. The Yankees did it again in the very next inning. After Rivera's leadoff single, Steve Finley attempted a sac bunt. Chien-Ming Wang made a poor throw, and everyone was safe. Again there were were two outs when the Angels got the key hit, this time a two-run single from Orlando Cabrera.
News: Ken Macha is looking for a new gig. Billy Beane offered $2.6 million over three years, with the third year being a club option. Macha asked for $4.1 million over three years, guaranteed. Nothing doing. Macha shouldn't be out of work very long. It's worth noting that he lives in Pittsburgh during the off-season. He is also quite well known to Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta. The early favourite to replace Macha in Oakland is bullpen coach Bob Geren.
Just two games today, both in the NL
San Diego (Astacio 6-10, 4.69) at St.Louis (Mulder 16-8, 3.64) 4:05
Houston (Clemens 13-8, 1.87) at Atlanta (Smoltz 14-7, 3.06)
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20051005175403433