TEAMS WITH BETTER REGULAR-SEASON RECORDS HOLD FIRM AS. . . : Cream Stays on Top

Even the Atlanta bench-warmers are too much for the Houston Astros, who were left one game from elimination in the National League playoffs by Wednesday’s 13-3 loss to the Braves.

By driving in two runs apiece in Game 2, the seldom-used Greg Colbrunn and Danny Bautista got more hits than Astro superstars Craig Biggio, Derek Bell and Jeff Bagwell have for this entire series.

The killer Bs are one for 25 (.040), an infield single by Biggio that he barely beat out.

“We haven’t been swinging the bat,” Bagwell said, “and let’s face it, this is a bad time to not swing the bat.”

In a game with 16 walks, the Astros got run out of town, to the enjoyment of 49,200 at Turner Field.

Their hitters didn’t hit.

Their pitchers walked 10 Braves.

And their manager did nothing, while watching starter Mike Hampton walk four men in a row.

Larry Dierker didn’t raise a white flag, exactly. But he spoke pretty plainly after the game.

“It’s going to be hard to sweep the Braves, if that’s possible,” the neophyte Astro manager said.

“It’s been done before. They know we can do it. We know we can do it.

“It’s very unlikely that we will.”

After playing 12 games against Atlanta that were decided by one or two runs, this time Houston got launched off the pad.

In a three-run fifth inning, the Braves broke things open.

Chipper Jones, Fred McGriff and Javy Lopez drew walks from a suddenly wild Hampton, on 13 pitches. Dierker--a former pitcher--did not go to his bullpen.

Instead, he let Hampton pitch to Andruw Jones, who walked on five pitches. That put the Braves ahead, 4-3.

It was a blustery day, and Atlanta’s manager, Bobby Cox, thought that must have been behind Hampton’s control trouble.

“I’ve never seen him that wild before,” Cox said. “It was a tough day to pitch.”

Dierker finally sent for Mike Magnante, the former Burbank prep and UCLA pitcher who has made a strong comeback from a variety of injuries. Cox countered with pinch-hitter Colbrunn, because he knew Colbrunn was two for three against Magnante in the past.

With the defense shaded toward second base, Colbrunn found a hole on the right side. His two-run single on Magnante’s second pitch made the score 6-3.

“You never know when you are going to get a chance to go up there and hit,” Colbrunn said. “Bobby [Cox] is excellent at it.”

With Hampton gone, the Braves scratched out five more runs in the next inning. Two scored on an error by Bagwell, unable to catch a high throw to first base. Two more scored on a single by Bautista, who had just entered the game in left field.

Hampton gave up only two hits, including a three-run homer by Jeff Blauser in the third inning.

An inning later, the Astros even made a game of it.

Taking advantage of Tom Glavine’s uncharacteristic loss of control, Houston tied the score, 3-3, on two walks, a double by Brad Ausmus and a single by Hampton.

It was the second RBI in two days for Houston’s pitchers, who are outhitting the Killer Bs.

But it was also the last run the Astros got. Glavine, Mike Cather and Mark Wohlers held the NL Central champions to three insignificant singles over the final five innings.

Biggio legged out a dribbler to third base, beating Chipper Jones’ throw by an eyelash in the ninth. That was the first hit by the 1-2-3 men in Houston’s order.

Bell and Bagwell then made routine outs, ending the game.

“The bottom line is, if we don’t get some offense out of Bagwell, Bell and Biggio, we don’t often win,” Dierker said.

Between them, the Bs gathered 80 homers and 489 hits during the season.

But for this series, they deserve a D-minus.

“You look at this ballclub and that top of the order is very dangerous. You don’t want to let those guys beat you, especially Bagwell,” said Glavine, who struck out Bagwell twice.

This weekend, the Astros have to beat the Braves three times in three games.

Dierker spoke bluntly again. He said of everybody watching the Astros in this series, “Nobody thinks we can win now.”