Subtract a Run and Kile Is the Equal of the Best

From his birth in Garden Grove, just shy of 29 years ago, Darryl Kile prepared for a day he would find himself in a truly big baseball game.

He pitched for Chaffey Junior College, which is where the Houston Astros scouted him for the 1987 draft.

He moved to Sugarland, Texas, had twins with his wife and established himself as one of the fastest Astro right-handers since Nolan Ryan. Yes, you can call him the Sugarland Express.

Everything came together this season for Kile and his long-suffering club.

His 2.57 earned-run average was better than anyone’s in the National League, with two excellent exceptions, Pedro Martinez and a guy named Greg Maddux.

Kile won 19 games.

So did Maddux.

Kile, from mid-June to mid-August, won 10 games in a row.

So did Maddux.

It wasn’t a case of “anything you can do, I can do better.”

But when the Houston Astros made the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, Kile found himself up against the Atlanta Braves, who would be appearing in the playoffs for the first time in, oh, 11 months.

And the opposing pitcher in Game 1 would be Maddux.

It is a face you see in October more often than a jack-o’-lantern.

Houston’s task would be difficult enough without having to beat baseball’s reigning Mr. October, even on the last day of September.

“Talk about pitching against Greg Maddux,” someone said to Kile, on the eve of the big game.

“Not a very pleasant thought,” Kile said.

Kile tried to be cool.

He said, “I can’t worry about him. I only face him once every nine batters, and that’s the only way I worry about Greg Maddux, when he’s batting against me.”

That was pretty glib, but Kile understood the seriousness of the situation.

“Hopefully, he’ll make a mistake,” Kile said. “He’s real tough if he gets a lead early in the game. Or, if he happens to make a mistake and give up a run or two, and then you give him a lead back, that’s when he’s double tough.”

Junior college was never like this.

There were 46,467 fans--at least 46,000 of them Atlanta fans--waiting when Kile took the mound here Tuesday for the first Astro playoff game since 1986.

He wouldn’t be anxious, Kile guaranteed the day before.

“I’ll just pretend it’s July. I’m facing the Braves in July, as far as I’m concerned.”

But the first batter Kile pitched to, Kenny Lofton, hit one off his fists for a double. He scored shortly thereafter.

And the first batter of the next inning, Ryan Klesko, homered off a hanging curve.

Kile was in the hole.

Giving a two-run advantage to Maddux is like giving a third fist to Evander Holyfield.

“Every time he was in a jam and had to make a pitch, he made it,” Kile said.

The game was over. The runs he gave up early in this game between the National League Central and East division champions were the only ones the Braves got. The Astros lost, 2-1.

Kile did practically everything right.

He even drove in Houston’s run. Kile’s two hits were as many as he gave Atlanta all day.

Manager Larry Dierker, a former Astro ace himself, couldn’t believe his luck. With a frown, staring at a scoresheet, Dierker said, “He pitched a tremendous ballgame, a tremendous ballgame. A two-hitter.”

Kile wished he could take a pitch or two back.

Not having tested his breaking stuff yet, for example, Kile began the second inning against Klesko and the Braves with a hook. He said, “I was trying to show them I could throw my curveball for a strike. He just sat on it. He jumped on it.”

If only he could have gotten through those first five batters without falling behind, 2-0, Kile felt he could have been in total control.

Ditto, Klesko, who bristled when asked whether the Braves were upset at being held to two hits.

“Didn’t Kile pitch a good game?” Klesko asked back. “He pitched a great game.”

But he lost, and it hurt. Because these are the Braves, and because it wasn’t July.