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 An unlikely powerhouse Astros' sluggers coming back -- but who needs 'em?
Posted: Tuesday August 10, 1999 10:31 PM
By John Donovan, CNN/SI ATLANTA -- The Houston Astros have been gimping along since Day 1 of this beat-up season, scraping out hits, not blowing any games, somehow managing to maintain a lead in the National League's never-real-strong Central Division. Somewhere along the way in this strange, black-and-blue summer, they've also become the best team in the National League -- in terms of sheer wins, entering Tuesday. Now, with dinged-up sluggers Ken Caminiti and Moises Alou on their way back, the surprising Astros are ready to really get going. One way or the other. "I think the boost we get may not be as big as some people think," warned Astros manager Larry Dierker, who knows a little something about comebacks. "It's going to be like spring training games out there to those guys." Without Caminiti and Alou, who accounted for 67 homers and 238 RBIs last season, many figured the Astros would struggle to stay around .500. But they've confounded all by putting up 69 wins, tied with the New York Yankees for the most in baseball, and they're on their way to a third straight division crown. The Astros may be the most unlikely baseball powerhouse to come along in years, on track for a seventh straight winning season. Only two other teams in baseball -- the Yankees and Atlanta Braves -- are on track to do the same. Yet Dierker will find himself, out of necessity, having to tinker with his lineup once Caminiti, on the disabled list since May 22 with a strained calf muscle, and Alou, who hasn't played this season after blowing out a knee ligament, want back in. That could be soon as next week for Caminiti, who is doing some minor league rehabilitation right now. Alou may not be back until Sept. 1. "I have to play them," Dierker said before Monday's game with the Braves. "We have to work them back in. And I think their presence is going to get everyone else fired up." The Astros have continued to win by re-inventing themselves from a power-hitting team into a pitching-rich team that relies on a solid defense. The starting trio of Mike Hampton, Shane Reynolds and Jose Lima has won 45 games -- more than any threesome in baseball. At this pace, they'll each win 20 games, something that hasn't been done since Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter and Ken Holtzman did it for the Oakland A's in 1973. There hasn't been a team with three 20-game winners in the National League in 76 years. Billy Wagner, who has 27 saves, anchors the bullpen (opponents are hitting just .140 off him). Houston's pitching staff leads the majors with a 3.79 ERA, and the Astros have yet to blow a lead after the eighth inning. They are 60-0 when they take a lead into the ninth. Even tough-luck right-hander Chris Holt, with a 2-11 record, has kept the Astros in games. "Things happen, and you try to overcome them," said Holt, who has had less support (barely three runs a game) than any starter in baseball. "Lots of bad things have happened with this team. To be where we are right now is pretty good." Meanwhile, the Astros lead the majors in stolen bases. And they have a .985 fielding percentage -- second best in the National League. "To me, [fielding] is always the most undervalued thing," Dierker said. "It's something you can't see unless you watch this team day in and day out. I'm most proud of that. "Guys get paid for offense. You don't get paid for fielding intensity. You have to want to play it. And if you do, it lowers the ERA of the pitchers, there are fewer walks because pitchers aren't afraid to let the other guys hit the ball. It makes everyone look good." Dierker, the NL Manager of the Year last season, may best personify this team. In the eighth inning of a game in the Astrodome on June 13, Dierker suffered a grand mal seizure, something that led to emergency brain surgery for the 52-year-old skipper two days later. He missed 27 games, during which the Astros went 13-14. The Astros are 18-8 since his return. "We love the guy," Holt said. Not everyone is concerned about the shakeup that is coming once Caminiti and Alou push their way back into the lineup. Outfielder Carl Everett, who leads the regulars with a .333 average, doesn't expect the Astros to do anything other than what they've been doing since Day 1. "We're not that type of team," he said. "We just have a team here that wants to win. And we'll do anything to win."
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