Wild-card Astros,
Roger Clemens
rout Atlanta 9-3
NL East champions Atlanta Braves could not shake
off Clemens as he won his first-ever Game 1 start
BY PAUL NEWBERRY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Houston Astros opened this
postseason without a bit of concern
for the past.
No wonder.
They had Roger Clemens on the
mound and a powerful lineup that
took the burden off the Killer B’s.
Picking up where they left off in
the regular season, the wild-card As
tros routed NL East champion At
lanta 9-3 in Game 1 of the NL divi
sion playoffs Wednesday — a major
step toward winning their first post
season series.
Clemens continually pitched out of
trouble against the Braves, while
Brad Ausmus, Lance Berkman, Car
los Beltran and Jason Lane homered
for the Astros, who set a franchise
record for runs in a postseason game.
Bagwell finally came through with
his first postseason extra-base hit, an
RBI double that put the Astros ahead
for good in the third inning.
"I enjoy being a part of the of
fense," said Bagwell, who came in
with a career playoff average of. 174.
The Astros trailed 1-0 when Aus
mus led off the third with the first of
Houston’s three homers off Jaret
Wright, sparking a four-run inning.
Bagwell’s RBI double was followed
by Berkman’s two-run homer into
the Braves' bullpen.
Beltran knocked out Wright in the
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fifth with another two-run homer.
Clemens showed the effects of a
stomach virus that kept him from
making his last start of the regular
season. The Hall of Famer-to-be
walked six — all in the first four
innings.
But Clemens displayed plenty of
grit in winning a Came 1 start for the
first time in his storied career.
It worked out fine. Clemens lasted
seven innings, threw 117 pitches,
gave up six hits and two earned runs,
and struck out seven.
When Atlanta loaded the bases in
the first on Berkman’s error and two
walks, Clemens limited the damage
to Johnny Estrada’s sacrifice fly.
The Braves put runners at second
and third with one out in the second.
Rafael Furcal, playing just hours after
appearing in court on a probation vi
olation stemming from drunk-driving
arrest, struck out and Marcus Giles
grounded out.
Clemens walked the bases loaded
in the third, but escaped by making
Charles Thomas look foolish. The
rookie flailed at a pitch far out of the
strike zone, then took a called third
strike over the inside corner.
While Clemens was frustrating the
Braves, Wright was watching the ball
fly out of the park. After giving up
just 11 homers in 32 regular-season
starts, he equaled a career high in
one game.
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Golf: Ducks 10 strokes behind Cowgirls
Continued from page 17
Much like Oregon, Southern Califor
nia leap-frogged Pepperdine with a 301
finish to find themselves in third at 605
before the last day of the tournament.
Pepperdine sat in fourth place, trailing
by nine strokes.
Heading into the final day, Washing
ton State continued its upstart ways
and moved ahead of No. 2 Washing
ton (617) on the leaderboard, with a
score of 615. Stanford (620) trailed
Washington in seventh place by five
strokes followed by San Francisco
(622), UNLV (625), BYU (627), Califor
nia (628), Long Beach State (629), Ore
gon State (657) and Stirling (Scotland)
(687).
For the Ducks, the magic number
was seven — the amount of strokes
that separated them from the first
place Cowgirls.
In the first round Monday, Nealy
was one of Oregon’s top-10 finishers
after carding a 1-over 73, good enough
to tie for second place. McCready and
Andrews joined Nealy in the top 10 go
ing into Tuesday's play. McCready shot
a 2-over 74, placing her in a tie for fifth,
whereas Andrews’s finished tied for
ninth at 3-over 75. Andrews penciled
an eye-sore triple bogey on the par-4
seventh hole but rebounded with two
birdies to keep pace with Veronica Fe
libert of Southern California.
Oregon’s highest counter of the day
went to junior Michelle Timpani, who
found herself in a tie for 25th place af
ter finishing at a 6-over 78.
The first round belonged to No. 8
Oklahoma State (296). The Cowgirls
finished first as a team and featured in
dividual first-place leader Karin Sjodin,
who shot a 2-under 70. Nealy would
trail Sjodin by three strokes going into
the second round. Oklahoma State en
joyed a comfortable two-stroke lead
over Pepperdine — sitting two strokes
ahead of the Ducks in second place.
Aside from non-conference oppo
Senior Johnna
Nealy, seen
here last
season,
placed a
career-high
third in the
Edean
Ihlanfeldt
Invitational
Wednesday at
the Sahalee
Golf and
Country Club.
Tim Bobosky
Photographer
nents, the Ducks finished the first
round atop the seven total Pacific-10
Conference teams at the tournament.
The Ducks topped Southern Califor
nia, who finished fourth at 303, fol
lowed by No. 20 Stanford at fifth with
308. Washington tied Washington
State for sixth at 310 to round out the
top 10 for Pac-10 teams.
Scott J. Adams is a freelance reporter
for the Daily Emerald
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