HOUSTON - With the Astros nursing a one-run lead in the eighth inning Tuesday afternoon, manager Larry Dierker had one of baseball's best bullpens at his disposal. Octavio Dotel was an option, as were Mike Jackson, Mike Williams and Billy Wagner, each of whom has succeeded as a closer in the past.

Dierker made the wrong choices, and his team paid dearly in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, losing 7-4 to the Atlanta Braves before 35,553 at Enron Field.

Astros starter Wade Miller, who battled Braves ace Greg Maddux marvelously, dropped his forehead on the dugout railing and winced as Marcus Giles' eighth-inning single off Jackson went up the middle to drive in the tying run. The mood got decidedly worse when Chipper Jones welcomed Wagner with a game-winning three-run homer later in the inning.

Just like that, Jackson and Wagner let Miller's gutsy performance go to waste. And just like that, the second-guessing of Dierker began.

"I made one bad pitch to Chipper, and that changed the game," said Wagner, who had not entered a game in the eighth inning all year. "Even if it would have stayed tied, we would have still had momentum. To come in there and really, on one pitch, lose that game is tough."

The Astros, who were eliminated in the first round by the Braves in 1997 and '99, now place their hopes of salvaging a split on Dave Mlicki, who opposes Tom Glavine this afternoon in Game 2 before the series heads to Atlanta for Game 3 on Friday.

"It would be very tough to go to Atlanta down 2-0," said Astros catch Brad Ausmus, whose two-run homer tied the score at 2 in the fifth.

After coming up short three consecutive times in the division series from 1997-99, the Astros' Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio were forced to answer for their poor hitting in the postseason. If the Astros fail to advance past the first round for the fourth time in five years, the focus of criticism will land on Dierker for bypassing Dotel, who this year became one of baseball's top setup men.

"If I put in Dotel, you'd say, `Why not Mike Jackson?' " Dierker said during a short postgame news conference. "Check the record."

While Dotel has labored a bit in the last two weeks, Jackson is a veteran who has performed in tough postseason situations. Still, Dotel, who said he was healthy to pitch, easily has been the Astros' best reliever this season. Overall, he was 7-5 with a 2.66 ERA in the regular season and 6-3 with a 1.93 ERA and two saves in 84 innings over 57 relief outings.

Jackson was 5-3 with a 4.70 ERA, but both relievers had high ERAs in September (Dotel 5.56, Jackson 8.22) and October (Dotel 5.02, Jackson 7.59). Against the Braves, Dotel (5.63 ERA) and Jackson (13.50) weren't all that impressive in the regular season.

"I think we're all a little bit surprised (Jackson was chosen over Dotel), just because of how dominant O.D. has been all year," said Bagwell, who was 1-for-3 with a walk. "But that being said, Mike Jackson is also pretty good himself. Obviously, he's been in the playoffs and stuff like that. That was the decision they made, and obviously it didn't work out."

Miller, pitching on three days' rest, wasn't in a groove early as Giles led off the game with a single to left. One out later, Jones put runners at the corners with a single to center. Brian Jordan's sacrifice fly put the Braves ahead 1-0.

Jordan's two-out solo homer in the fourth gave the Braves a 2-0 lead, but it could have been worse had Ausmus not thrown out Julio Franco attempting to steal second.

The Astros, who put at least one man on base in each of the first three innings against Maddux, were retired in order in the fourth before finally breaking through in the fifth. After Richard Hidalgo drew a one-out walk, Ausmus drilled a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right-center field to tie it.

The Astros caught a break to a take the lead in the sixth. Julio Lugo led off with a grounder to shortstop Rey Sanchez, who bobbled the ball for an error. Bagwell lined Maddux's next pitch to right, Lance Berkman followed with a fielder's-choice grounder to second, and Moises Alou drove in Lugo with a grounder to short.

Box Score

ATLANTA (7) VS HOUSTON (4) - FINAL

ATLANTA                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
M Giles 2b              4  2  2  1   0  1   0  .500
 Smoltz p               1  0  0  0   0  0   2  .000
Ju Franco 1b            5  1  2  0   0  1   4  .400
C Jones 3b              4  1  2  3   0  1   2  .500
B Jordan rf             3  1  1  2   0  2   1  .333
Surhoff lf              4  0  1  0   0  0   0  .250
A Jones cf              4  1  2  1   0  2   0  .500
R Sanchez ss            2  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 a-Da Martinez ph       1  0  0  0   0  0   2  .000
 Derosa ss              1  0  1  0   0  0   0 1.000
Bako c                  2  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 b-Lockhart ph-2b       2  1  1  0   0  0   1  .500
G Maddux p              2  0  0  0   0  1   0  .000
 Seanez p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 c-Caminiti ph          1  0  0  0   0  1   1  .000
 Torrealba c            1  0  1  0   0  0   0 1.000
Totals                 37  7 13  7   0  9  13

a-grounded to second for R Sanchez in the 7th; b-doubled for
Bako in the 8th; c-struck out for Seanez in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - Lockhart (1, M Jackson); Torrealba (1, Mi Williams).
HR - B Jordan (1, 4th inning off W Miller 0 on, 2 out); C Jones (1,
8th inning off B Wagner 2 on, 1 out); A Jones (1, 9th inning off
Mi Williams 0 on, 0 out). SF - B Jordan. RBI - B Jordan 2 (2),
M Giles (1), C Jones 3 (3), A Jones (1). 2-out RBI - B Jordan.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Ju Franco 2.
GIDP - Da Martinez.  Team LOB - 4.

BASERUNNING: CS - C Jones (1, 2nd base by W Miller/Ausmus);
Ju Franco (1, 2nd base by W Miller/Ausmus).

FIELDING: E - R Sanchez (1, ground ball).
DP: 2 (R Sanchez-M Giles-Ju Franco 2).

HOUSTON                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Biggio 2b               4  0  1  0   0  0   1  .250
Lugo ss                 3  1  0  0   0  1   1  .000
 b-Vizcaino ph-ss       1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .000
Bagwell 1b              3  0  1  0   1  0   0  .333
L Berkman lf            4  0  1  0   0  2   3  .250
Alou rf                 4  0  0  1   0  1   1  .000
Castilla 3b             4  1  2  1   0  1   1  .500
Hidalgo cf              1  1  0  0   3  0   0  .000
Ausmus c                4  1  1  2   0  0   3  .250
W Miller p              2  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 a-O Merced ph          1  0  0  0   0  0   1  .000
 M Jackson p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 B Wagner p             0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 Mi Williams p          0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 c-D Ward ph            1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Totals                 32  4  6  4   4  6  11

a-fouled to catcher for W Miller in the 7th; b-struck out for
Lugo in the 8th; c-flied to left for Mi Williams in the 9th.

BATTING: HR - Ausmus (1, 5th inning off G Maddux 1 on, 1 out);
Castilla (1, 9th inning off Smoltz 0 on, 0 out). RBI - Ausmus 2 (2),
Alou (1), Castilla (1). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out -
Castilla 1. GIDP - Ausmus, Lugo.  Team LOB - 5.

FIELDING: E - Lugo (1, ground ball). DP: 2 (Ausmus-Lugo, Lugo-Biggio-Bagwell).

    Atlanta        - 100 100 041  --  7
    Houston        - 000 021 001  --  4

ATLANTA                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
G Maddux                      6       4   3   2   3   5   1   3.00
Seanez (W, 1-0)               1       0   0   0   1   0   0   0.00
Smoltz (S, 1)                 2       2   1   1   0   1   1   4.50

HOUSTON                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
W Miller                      7       7   2   2   0   6   1   2.57
M Jackson (L, 0-1; BS, 1)       1/3   2   3   2   0   1   0  54.00
B Wagner                        2/3   1   1   1   0   1   1  13.50
Mi Williams                   1       3   1   1   0   1   1   9.00

Pitches-strikes: W Miller 92-64; M Jackson 16-10; B Wagner 10-7;
Mi Williams 15-10; G Maddux 86-59; Seanez 16-10; Smoltz 19-15.
Ground balls-fly balls: W Miller 4-9; M Jackson 0-0; B Wagner 1-0;
Mi Williams 1-1; G Maddux 8-5; Seanez 1-2; Smoltz 1-4.  Batters
faced: W Miller 25; M Jackson 4; B Wagner 3; Mi Williams 6;
G Maddux 24; Seanez 4; Smoltz 8.

UMPIRES: HP--Bruce Froemming. 1B--Chuck Meriwether. 2B--Mike
Winters. 3B--Brian Gorman. LF--Jim Joyce. RF--Mike Everitt.
T--2:51.  Att--35,553.   Weather: 80 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 10 mph, right to left.

HOUSTON - Not long after a second stinging loss to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series, Moises Alou put on his best poker face and tried to explain the challenge the Astros face.

"We're against the wall, but it can be done," Alou said after Wednesday's 1-0 loss to the Braves in the lowest-scoring game in Enron Field history. "I wish I had a solution to get it done. It's frustrating, but you can't really lose your faith."

Little except for blind faith appears to be in the Astros' favor after a day in which they missed a home run by mere inches and shortstop Julio Lugo committed two errors -- the second accounting for the only run of the game.

Combined with falling into an all-too-familiar trap set by Braves lefthander Tom Glavine, the Astros trail the Braves 0-2 in the best-of-five series with the next two games in Atlanta.

History falls heavily in favor of the Braves, who need one more victory to advance to the NL Championship Series for the ninth time since 1990. Only twice has a team rallied from a 2-0 deficit since the advent of the Division Series format in 1995.

The Astros never have won a playoff series in six previous tries and were knocked out in the first round by Atlanta in 1997 and 1999.

"If they outscore you, fine, but 1-0 is harder to swallow," catcher Brad Ausmus said. "This is the playoffs and we need to find a way to score. We didn't and it cost us the game."

Except for a fifth-inning, first-and-third, one-out situation, the Astros had few chances as they wasted another strong starting pitching performance, this time from Dave Mlicki.

They hit into three double plays, managed just seven singles and got only two baserunners into scoring position.

When the Astros weren't wasting scoring chances, Lugo continued a trend of giving away runs.

The 25-year-old shortstop made an error on what would have been an inning-ending double play grounder in the eighth inning of Tuesday's game with the game tied at 3.

Chipper Jones followed with a three-run homer.

Lugo had two more errors Wednesday, a throwing error two hitters into the game and another off-line throw in the second that led to the only run.

After B.J. Surhoff doubled to open the second inning, Andruw Jones hit a grounder up the middle. Lugo made a diving stop but his throw to first got past Jeff Bagwell, allowing Surhoff to go to third. Surhoff scored an unearned run when Rey Sanchez grounded into a double play started by Lugo.

"I can't take it back," Lugo said. "I wish I could, but I can't."

Manager Larry Dierker defended his decision to start Lugo in Game 2 despite the availability of sure-handed Jose Vizcaino, the hero of the Yankees' Game 1 victory over the Mets in last year's World Series.

"Maybe there are other shortstops in the league who would be better, but I don't think there's anybody on our team who's better," Dierker said.

The one run was just enough for Glavine, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, to continue his decade-long winning streak in Houston. Glavine, who scattered six hits over eight innings, is 10-0 against the Astros in Houston dating to June 1991.

"It's not like we got shut out by just anybody," Alou said "We got shut out by one of the best pitchers in the game."

The Astros' best chance to score came in the fifth inning when they came within inches of taking the lead.

Vinny Castilla hit a one-out single and Ausmus followed with a line drive that hit just below the yellow stripe that runs across the top of the wall in left field. The ball caromed quickly back to Surhoff, forcing Ausmus to hold at first base.

"I didn't know if it was going to have enough height to get over the wall," Ausmus said.

"We needed to fly Jeffrey Maier in from New York and sit him in the Crawford Boxes," he said, referring to the incident in which Maier, 12, reached over the wall to catch a fly ball that would have hit the fence in Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series. Instead, the Yankees' Derek Jeter was credited with a key home run.

In what Dierker called a "desperate move," he inserted Chris Truby to bat for Mlicki, who allowed only four hits in five innings.

Glavine fell behind 3-0 before getting Truby to chase two low pitches for a strikeout. Craig Biggio ended the inning with a grounder to second.

"It's tough to deal with it because it's my one chance to do something for the team," Truby said. "It's a situation I expect to deliver."

Glavine got Lance Berkman and Castilla to ground into inning-ending double plays in the sixth and seventh.

Vizcaino delivered a pinch single to shallow right field to lead off the eighth before Glavine retired the next three batters, the last a fly ball to right by Lugo that left him 0-for-7 in the series.

"It's ridiculous. He (Glavine) just doesn't give in," Bagwell said. "Even in spring training he doesn't given in. He's going to stay outside and change speeds. Our lineup is very aggressive, we're not that patient. He preys on the lack of patience by most hitters."

The Astros gave it one last shot in the ninth with a leadoff single by Bagwell. But closer John Smoltz coaxed a double-play grounder to first base by Berkman -- his second of the afternoon -- and ended the game by getting Alou on a pop fly to shallow right.

For the Astros, there is some comfort for Game 3: They don't have to face Glavine or Greg Maddux. But if they beat John Burkett on Friday, they still must beat the Braves' big guns to advance.

"When facing guys like Maddux and Glavine, no success is pretty much the norm," Berkman said.

Not to mention the story of the Astros' postseason history.

Box Score

ATLANTA (1) VS HOUSTON (0) PLAYOFFS - FINAL

ATLANTA                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Giles 2b                4  0  1  0   0  1   1  .375
Franco 1b               4  0  0  0   0  0   0  .222
C Jones 3b              2  0  0  0   2  0   0  .333
Jordan rf               4  0  0  0   0  2   4  .143
Surhoff lf              3  1  2  0   0  0   0  .429
A Jones cf              4  0  3  0   0  1   1  .625
Sanchez ss              4  0  0  0   0  1   4  .000
Bako c                  3  0  0  0   1  0   3  .000
Glavine p               3  0  1  0   0  0   1  .333
 Smoltz p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Totals                 31  1  7  0   3  5  14

BATTING: 2B - Surhoff (1, Mlicki); Giles (1, Jackson). Runners
left in scoring position, 2 out - Bako 2, Jordan 1.
GIDP - Sanchez.  Team LOB - 7.

BASERUNNING: SB - Surhoff (1, 3rd base off Wagner/Ausmus).

FIELDING: DP: 3 (Sanchez-Giles-Franco, Glavine-Sanchez-Franco,
Franco-Sanchez-Franco).

HOUSTON                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Biggio 2b               4  0  0  0   0  0   2  .125
Lugo ss                 4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .000
Bagwell 1b              2  0  2  0   2  0   0  .600
Berkman lf              4  0  0  0   0  1   3  .125
Alou rf                 4  0  1  0   0  0   1  .125
Hidalgo cf              3  0  1  0   0  0   1  .250
Castilla 3b             3  0  1  0   0  0   2  .429
Ausmus c                3  0  1  0   0  0   0  .286
Mlicki p                1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 a-Truby ph             1  0  0  0   0  1   2  .000
 Dotel p                0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 Jackson p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 Cruz p                 0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 b-Vizcaino ph          1  0  1  0   0  0   0  .500
 Wagner p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Totals                 30  0  7  0   2  3  12

a-struck out for Mlicki in the 5th; b-singled for Cruz in the
8th.

BATTING: Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Biggio 1,
Lugo 1. GIDP - Berkman 2, Castilla.  Team LOB - 5.

BASERUNNING: CS - Bagwell (1, 2nd base by Glavine).

FIELDING: E - Lugo 2 (3, throw 2). DP: 4 (Castilla-Biggio,
Lugo-Biggio-Bagwell, Castilla-Bagwell 2).

    Atlanta        - 010 000 000  --  1
    Houston        - 000 000 000  --  0

ATLANTA                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Glavine (W, 1-0)              8       6   0   0   2   3   0   0.00
Smoltz (S, 2)                 1       1   0   0   0   0   0   3.00

HOUSTON                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Mlicki (L, 0-1)               5       4   1   0   2   0   0   0.00
Dotel                         2       2   0   0   0   2   0   0.00
Jackson                         1/3   1   0   0   0   0   0  27.00
Cruz                            2/3   0   0   0   1   1   0   0.00
Wagner                        1       0   0   0   0   2   0   5.40

WP - Wagner. IBB - C Jones (by Cruz). HBP - Surhoff (by Wagner).
Pitches-strikes: Mlicki 72-41; Dotel 23-18; Jackson 8-4; Cruz 12-6;
Wagner 17-12; Glavine 97-62; Smoltz 11-8.  Ground balls-fly balls:
Mlicki 6-6; Dotel 1-3; Jackson 1-0; Cruz 0-1; Wagner 0-1; Glavine 13-7;
Smoltz 2-1.  Batters faced: Mlicki 18; Dotel 8; Jackson 2; Cruz 3;
Wagner 4; Glavine 29; Smoltz 3.

UMPIRES: HP--Chuck Meriwether. 1B--Mike Winters. 2B--Brian
Gorman. 3B--Jim Joyce. LF--Mike Everitt. RF--Bruce Froemming.
T--2:41.  Att--35,704.   Weather: 80 degrees, cloudy.   Wind: 5 mph,
left to right.

ATLANTA -- Jeff Bagwell looked stunned, and so did several of his teammates Friday evening inside the solemn visitors' clubhouse at Turner Field. Although he has been on this train more times than he cares to remember, the Astros' leader could not find an explanation for yet another early exit from the playoffs.

"It's a recurring theme, no question about it," Bagwell said after righthander John Burkett led the Braves to a 6-2 victory over the Astros that completed a three-game sweep in the best-of-five National League Division Series. "That's tough. We got down in a little hole, and we were never able to dig ourselves out."

For the fourth time in the last five years and the seventh in the franchise's 40 seasons, the Astros failed to win a playoff series. Even with the NL's best regular-season record -- tied with the Cardinals at 93-69 -- Houston could not muster much of an assault against the Braves.

The Braves, who also eliminated the Astros from the postseason in 1997 and 1999, will start the best-of-seven NL Championship Series on Tuesday against the winner of the other NL Division Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals.

"Now we have the luxury of setting up our rotation," Braves closer John Smoltz said after former Astros catcher Paul Bako hit a two-run homer and drove in another run with a suicide squeeze bunt to spark Atlanta. "It is a bonus. The rest does help. Anyone that tells you it doesn't is lying."

The Astros, who lost 12 of their last 15 regular-season and playoff games, will rest sooner than they would have liked.

"I think that I felt when we got here, it was uphill to try to beat them three times in a row," said Astros manager Larry Dierker, whose job is in danger even though he is the only manager to win four division titles in his first five years. "At the end, I thought it was clearly possible. But when we didn't ...

"I mean, if we had won today, we still would have to win tomorrow against (Greg) Maddux and the next day against (Tom) Glavine. So getting close and not doing it in the first game was the point at which I was really most upset. (Not) being able to at least win a game here, it's still sort of embarrassing, but it doesn't really enrage me in any way."

Dierker has been criticized for going with Mike Jackson instead of Octavio Dotel to protect a one-run lead in the eighth inning of Game 1, a move that eventually helped the Braves score four runs and win 7-4. Still, the Astros' hitters deserved much of the blame for the sweep.

The Astros failed to score a run in Game 2, and they weren't any better in Game 3 until Daryle Ward came off the bench to hit a two-run homer and cut the deficit to 4-2 in the seventh. Ward's homer, only the second by the Astros in the series, gave Houston its first runs since Vinny Castilla went deep in the ninth inning of Game 1.

"I just hope that people understand that it's very difficult to beat a team with three pitchers of this caliber," said Lance Berkman, who was 1-for-4 to finish the series 2-for-12 (.167). "But for a break here or there, I think we're splitting the series."

Astros starter Shane Reynolds, who beat the Cardinals in the season finale last Sunday to give Houston the NL Central title, was hoping a couple veterans would collect their first career postseason home runs. It happened, but unfortunately, Bagwell and Craig Biggio weren't the ones.

Instead, Atlanta's Bako and Julio Franco hit their first postseason home runs, victimizing Reynolds.

Bako, who has hit only seven regular-season home runs in his career, followed Rey Sanchez's two-out double in the second with a shot over the wall in right-center to open the scoring. Franco, stuck in the Mexican League until Aug. 31, added a solo home run in the third, and the Braves went ahead 4-0 in the fourth when Bako laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to plate Andruw Jones.

Ward got the Astros back in the contest with his pinch-hit, two-run homer in the seventh, marking the end for Burkett, who allowed six hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings.

"I didn't think it was going to go over the wall," Ward said, "but it did, and I thought we got a little something started. You want to win at least one game. It's not three in a row. You just want to win one with your backs against the wall. I was just hoping that would be a push, but they're a good enough team where they know how to stop rallies."

And as the crowd of 39,923 chanted, "Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!" in the bottom of the eighth, Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer off Dotel to put the Braves up 6-2.

"To go out and let them get ahead early, it's very disappointing," said Reynolds, who gave up six hits and four runs over four innings before leaving for a pinch hitter. "It's tough against anybody, especially against the Braves.

"Burkett had his good stuff today. He was keeping the ball down. He was mixing pitches real well and kept us off-balance. That's why I'm disappointed. I wasn't able to make my pitches in certain situations. When you don't do that against a team like this, it can hurt you.

"There's no way I'm going to say anything negative about our hitting, our pitching, our defense or nothing against the Astros," Reynolds said. "The reason we're here and the reason we won our division is because of our offense and defense. You run into good pitching in the playoffs, and we just got beat."

Aside from Ward's homer, the Astros had their best chances to score in the first and third innings. In the first, Bagwell drew a two-out walk, and Berkman singled to right. The threat died when Moises Alou grounded back to Burkett. In the third, Biggio led off with a single, and Bagwell drew a one-out walk. But Berkman flied out to right, and Alou grounded out.

"I blame ourselves, the (offensive) players, because we didn't perform well," said Alou, a former World Series hero with the Marlins who went 2-for-12 in this series. "I think our pitchers did a good job. I wouldn't blame anybody but us, maybe me. I got two hits in the series. They really pitched me tough, but I wouldn't blame Dierk. The players make the manager look good, and we didn't make him look good."

Box Score

HOUSTON (2) VS ATLANTA (6) PLAYOFFS - FINAL

HOUSTON                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Biggio 2b               4  0  1  0   0  1   0  .167
Vizcaino ss             4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .167
Bagwell 1b              2  0  0  0   2  1   0  .429
Berkman lf              4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .167
Alou rf                 4  0  1  0   0  0   4  .167
Castilla 3b             4  0  0  0   0  2   1  .273
Hidalgo cf              4  0  0  0   0  2   0  .125
Eusebio c               3  1  2  0   0  0   0  .667
 c-Ausmus ph            1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .250
Reynolds p              1  0  0  0   0  0   1  .000
 a-Lugo ph              1  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 Cruz p                 0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 b-Ward ph              1  1  1  2   0  0   0  .500
 Dotel p                0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 Villone p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Totals                 33  2  6  2   2  7   9

a-flied to right for Reynolds in the 5th; b-homered for Cruz in
the 7th; c-flied to center for Eusebio in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - Eusebio (1, Burkett); Alou (1, Burkett). HR - Ward
(1, 7th inning off Burkett 1 on, 1 out). RBI - Ward 2 (2).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Alou 2, Reynolds 1,
Castilla 1.  Team LOB - 6.

FIELDING: DP: 1 (Bagwell-Vizcaino-Cruz).

ATLANTA                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Giles 2b                4  0  0  0   0  1   1  .250
Franco 1b               4  2  2  1   0  0   0  .308
C Jones 3b              3  1  2  2   1  0   0  .444
Jordan rf               4  0  1  0   0  1   2  .182
Surhoff lf              4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .273
A Jones cf              4  1  1  0   0  0   0  .500
Sanchez ss              3  1  2  0   0  1   0  .222
Bako c                  2  1  2  3   0  0   0  .286
Burkett p               2  0  0  0   0  1   1  .000
 Reed p                 0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 Remlinger p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 a-Caminiti ph          1  0  0  0   0  0   1  .000
 Karsay p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
 Smoltz p               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Totals                 31  6 10  6   1  4   6

a-flied to center for Remlinger in the 7th.

BATTING: 2B - Sanchez (1, Reynolds); Bako (1, Dotel). HR - Bako
(1, 2nd inning off Reynolds 1 on, 2 out); Franco (1, 3rd inning
off Reynolds 0 on, 1 out); C Jones (2, 8th inning off Dotel 1 on,
0 out). S - Bako. RBI - Bako 3 (3), Franco (1), C Jones 2 (5).
2-out RBI - Bako 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out -
Burkett 1, Giles 1. GIDP - Surhoff.  Team LOB - 3.

BASERUNNING: CS - Jordan (1, 2nd base by Reynolds/Eusebio).

    Houston        - 000 000 200  --  2
    Atlanta        - 021 100 02X  --  6

HOUSTON                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Reynolds (L, 0-1)             4       6   4   4   1   1   2   9.00
Cruz                          2       1   0   0   0   0   0   0.00
Dotel                         1 1/3   3   2   2   0   3   1   5.40
Villone                         2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00

ATLANTA                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Burkett (W, 1-0)              6 1/3   6   2   2   2   4   1   2.84
Reed (H, 1)                     1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00
Remlinger (H, 1)                1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00
Karsay (H, 1)                 1       0   0   0   0   1   0   0.00
Smoltz                        1       0   0   0   0   2   0   2.25

Pitches-strikes: Burkett 91-52; Reed 1-1; Remlinger 4-2;
Karsay 13-10; Smoltz 8-7; Reynolds 60-42; Cruz 10-7; Dotel 23-18;
Villone 9-6.  Ground balls-fly balls: Burkett 7-8; Reed 1-0;
Remlinger 0-1; Karsay 0-2; Smoltz 0-1; Reynolds 6-4; Cruz 4-2;
Dotel 0-1; Villone 1-1.  Batters faced: Burkett 27; Reed 1;
Remlinger 1; Karsay 3; Smoltz 3; Reynolds 18; Cruz 6; Dotel 7;
Villone 2.

UMPIRES: HP--Larry Young. 1B--Tim Tschida. 2B--Dale Scott.
3B--Alfonso Marquez. LF--Randy Marsh. RF--John Hirschbeck.
T--2:33.  Att--39,923.   Weather: 77 degrees, overcast.   Wind: 7 mph,
right to left.