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Woody's world Cardinals beat Astros behind Williams' three-hitter
Updated: Wednesday September 26, 2001 12:04 AM
HOUSTON (AP) -- Woody Williams couldn't find words to describe his performance, but he certainly was handy with his pitches. Williams pitched a three-hitter for his fourth straight victory and Craig Paquette hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Houston Astros 3-2 Tuesday night. The Cardinals closed within 4 1/2 games of first-place Houston in the NL Central. The loss kept the Astros' magic number at seven for clinching their fourth division title in five seasons. St. Louis began the night with a two-game lead in the wild card race. "I can't describe how it felt, especially how I pitched against the Astros the last time," Williams said. "It's just something that I've never felt in my life in baseball. There is nothing I would change about it." Williams (14-9), from nearby Fresno, Texas, had a shaky first inning. In his last start against the Astros, he allowed five home runs in five innings in an 11-3 loss. This time, he held on to win for the eighth time in nine decisions. Williams passed out almost 100 tickets to family and friends, and he gave them a good show, finishing with 138 pitches. "He had to really reach down deep to get that and he got better and better as the game went on," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He was throwing four or five pitches in different zones. He was very masterful. "That was quality major league pitching. He was honest. If he'd have struggled in the eighth he was out of there. But it was three in a row." Williams struck out nine and walked three in his ninth career complete game. "He was much better tonight than he's been before," Jeff Bagwell said. "He kept us off-balance all night. He threw nine innings and got nine punchouts. That pretty much says it all. "He's come up with a better slider and he used both sides of the plate and kept his breaking ball down. He changed speeds well," he said. With the score tied at 2 in the eighth, Jim Edmonds singled with two outs off Wade Miller (16-8) and Mark McGwire walked on a full count. Paquette singled off Miller's glove into center field. "I wanted to pick up Woody so bad because I missed that one in the first inning," Paquette said. "So I was just thankful that it got through. It was an awesome performance by both pitchers. It was one of those games when you don't want to be a hitter." Craig Biggio led off the Astros' first with a double and later scored on Paquette's error at third base. Daryle Ward's RBI grounder made it 2-0. The Cardinals tied it in the third on an RBI single by J.D. Drew and a two-base error by right fielder Lance Berkman. Miller matched Williams by keeping the Cardinals out of scoring position until the eighth. He walked two batters with two outs in the sixth but Eli Marrero flied out to end the inning. Miller pitched 7 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs and struck out six. He equaled a season high with five walks. "I didn't have trouble with my control, I just missed on a few pitches," Miller said. "I thought I had decent stuff, better than it showed. I could have gotten out unscathed but a couple of things happened and they had a big inning." Notes: OF Moises Alou was scratched from the Houston lineup with a right calf strain. He was listed as day-to-day. ... Edmonds is the first Cardinal other than Mark McGwire to put together back-to-back 100-RBI season since Ted Simmons in 1974 and 1975. ... Dom Capers, coach of the NFL expansion Texans, threw out the first pass to Astros manager Larry Dierker. Capers then presented Dierker with a Texans jersey No. 49, Dierker's baseball number.
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