| | ATLANTA -- Greg Maddux took another playoff loss, but the
puny Atlanta offense and the smallest Braves' postseason crowd
since the 1914 World Series had to share the blame.
The Houston Astros got home runs from rookie Daryle Ward and Ken
Caminiti as the NL Central champions opened the best-of-5 Division
Series with a 6-1 win Tuesday over the Braves.
|  | | Greg Maddux allowed two runs but dropped to 9-9 career in the postseason. |
"We didn't do much offensively," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox
said. "It didn't look pretty. We had some chances."
One of them came in the fifth inning after Gerald Williams had
tied the game at 1 with a two-out single off Shane Reynolds. Bret
Boone followed with an infield hit and Reynolds pitched around
Chipper Jones, walking him on four pitches to load the bases.
Cleanup hitter Ryan Klesko, however, struck out on a 2-2
fastball to end the threat.
"Ryan gets a hit there with the bases loaded, it changes the
complexion of the game," said Jones. "There were a lot of
what-ifs? The bottom line is we didn't get anything done today with
runners on and two outs."
The other opportunity for the Braves came in the fourth with two
outs and runners on first and third, but Andruw Jones popped to
second for the third out.
The NL East champion Braves, who had won 10 straight division
Series games, including a three-game sweep of the Astros in 1997,
lost for only the second time in 14 first-round games since the
series was started in 1995.
Maddux, who had been 4-0 previously in division play, dropped to 9-9 in postseason play, but could have been a winner had
the offense produced.
"I was happy with the way I pitched. That's a game I certainly
very easily could have given up 6 or 7 runs, but didn't," he said.
"On a personal side, I'm glad I hung in there. It just didn't
work out. The other pitcher threw a better game," said Maddux.
The Astros, who had dropped six of seven to the Braves during
the regular season, including two to Maddux, got only two runs off
the Atlanta right-hander in seven innings.
He gave up 10 hits, walked four -- two intentionally -- and struck
out five and escaped from two bases-loaded, one-out jams to keep it
close.
Atlanta, which had captured its eighth division
title of the decade, only had seven hits off Reynolds and three relievers before
a crowd of only 39,119 at Turner Field (50,062 capacity) on a
near-perfect baseball day with a blue sky and temperature in the
low 70s.
"It was certainly disappointing," said Chipper Jones. "It
takes away from our home-field advantage, something we worked six
months for."
The Braves, with 103 regular-season wins, had the most in the
majors and earned the home-field advantage throughout the NL
playoffs.
But, he said the team didn't do enough to get the crowd excited.
"If we do one little thing on offense to ignite the crowd, to
get them behind us and get them standing up and clapping, maybe the
outcome is different," said Jones.
The previous smallest crowd was 34,365 at Boston's Fenway Park
between the Braves and Philadelphia Athletics in Game 4 of the 1914
World Series.
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ALSO SEE
Astros snag opener from Braves behind Reynolds
Astros vs. Braves series page
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