Astros Out of This World Again

A potent lineup featuring Moises Alou and a revamped colony of Killer B’s (Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman replacing Derek Bell) has helped rocket the Houston Astros back into their familiar position atop the National League Central.

The Astros, who won three consecutive division titles before injuries took a toll last year, may be the league’s best team approaching October.

And a more important factor than the offensive sting has been the performance of some of the most impressive young pitchers this side of Danny Almonte and his Bronx teammates.

The development has created a dilemma for General Manager Gerry Hunsicker, who realizes that he shouldn’t add to the praise--and resulting expectations--being directed toward the homegrown Roy Oswalt, 23, Wade Miller, 24, and Carlos Hernandez, 21. But he can’t resist.

“They’re young kids, talented kids and they’ve had some success, but this is a humbling business and we need to put the brakes on the accolades being thrown their way,” Hunsicker said by phone, expressing his conservative feelings first, “but so far they’ve certainly played a major role and been the key element in our turnaround.

“When you have superior pitching like we’ve been getting, you have a great chance to win, and when you add that pitching to a consistent offense, it’s a pretty good combination,” he added, heating up. “I mean, thinking about the homegrown rotation we’re going to have in the future, this could be the start of a very special era for the franchise.”

The future is now.

Olympian Oswalt is 13-2; Miller is 15-7 in his first full major-league season, and Hernandez has given up only two runs in the 172/3 innings of his first three major-league starts, prompting Manager Larry Dierker to flirt with blasphemy by comparing the left-hander’s poise, command and delivery to that of Sandy Koufax.

In a 21-7 August that enabled the Astros to surge into the Central lead, Houston pitchers had the best earned-run average in baseball (2.86) and Oswalt, Miller and Hernandez were a combined 7-1.

They have also shown no apprehension pitching in Enron Field. The Astros are 39-29 amid the tight confines of their second-year home after going a shell-shocked 39-42 last year.

“Our young pitchers certainly don’t seem to be intimidated,” Hunsicker said. “The common thread is that they’re all aggressive, power pitchers, and I really think that’s a benefit in Enron. If you pitch defensively and allow the ballpark to intimidate your game plan, chances are you’re going to get beat, and these young pitchers don’t have that in their vocabulary.”

The adjustment to Enron, the ability of the young pitchers to fill the rotation gaps and the return to health of closer Billy Wagner and second baseman Biggio, in particular, have been the keys to Houston’s reemergence as the division leader, Hunsicker said.

The Astros had 25 blown saves last year when Wagner went down in June with a torn elbow tendon. He has returned with all of his heat, converting 33 of 35 save opportunities. Biggio was lost for the final two months because of torn knee ligaments. His return at 35, still agile in the field and a prolific table setter for a powerful lineup, has been what Hunsicker calls “the story of the year.”

Of course, it hasn’t hurt to have Alou and Berkman, their first-round pick in the 1997 draft, challenging for a batting title and among six Astros who have slugged 19 or more home runs and driven in 58 or more runs. With Bagwell at 111 and Berkman at 107, the Astros’ offense is second in scoring to the mile high Colorado Rockies.

“They’re solid, well balanced and a chore to pitch against,” St. Louis Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said of the Astros while in Los Angeles over the weekend. “With some teams you can nullify a guy or two and give yourself a chance to win. Who do you nullify in their lineup? They have three or four guys with big offensive numbers, they play good enough defense, they have one of the best closers, and now with those young pitchers ... well, it’s a solid team that’s very tough to beat.”

The Astros have six games left with the third-place Cardinals and seven with the second-place Chicago Cubs.

Would La Russa be concerned going down the stretch with Houston’s young and inexperienced pitching?

“I’d be as unconcerned about that as we are about [rookie of the year lock] Albert Pujols or as we were about Rick Ankiel last season,” he said. “Young guys are doing it more and more. That’s what they’ve got and we’re going to have to beat them. We’re not counting on them disappearing.”

The Astros are a textbook example of good scouting, development and management. With a mid-market payroll of $60 million, 12 of their 25 players before September call-ups were homegrown, and Hunsicker said that “over the last five years I think you’d be hard pressed to find a system that has produced more quality major-league talent than we have. Not only do we have a significant number of homegrown players but they play significant roles.”

Some Houston products are playing significant roles elsewhere.

Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama, for example, have helped the Seattle Mariners achieve the best record in baseball. Another, Bobby Abreu, is the leading run producer for the surprising Philadelphia Phillies.

Every organization has its good deals and bad deals, its hits and misses, but the Astros keep finding replacements from within and keep producing enough tradable talent to fill emergency needs. Two young pitchers out of the system, Scott Elarton and Tony McKnight, were traded at the July deadline for Colorado starter Pedro Astacio and Pittsburgh Pirate closer Mike Williams, for example. Tim Redding, another young pitcher who was 3-1 in seven mid-season appearances with the Astros and is considered in the same promising context as Oswalt, Miller and Hernandez, was recalled Saturday.

“I have always erred on the side of caution when it comes to the development of young pitchers,” Hunsicker said. “We went into the season with a rotation anchored by veterans that we hoped would do the job and give the kids more time to develop, but necessity forced our hand. We put a lot of emphasis on winning this year and decided to be aggressive in finding a combination that worked, which meant looking to the young arms. I realize that I’ve done a 180 from what I always believed in, but they had too much talent to not see what they could do.”

Jose Lima is gone. So is Elarton. Kent Bottenfield is out for the season because of an injury. Only Miller remains from the season-opening rotation. Reliable Shane Reynolds, who opened the season on the disabled list, now adds a veteran presence. The Astros hope that Astacio will provide another, but he is having a tough time shaking a shoulder inflammation that has put him on the DL.

Despite the promise inherent in his young pitchers and the dynamite in the lineup, Hunsicker still believes the ’98 team was Houston’s best, featuring more speed, better left-handed hitting balance and a rotation that included Reynolds, Mike Hampton and Randy Johnson.

The Astros, however, were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by San Diego, the second of their three consecutive first-round failures.

“We haven’t been very productive in the postseason and that’s a monkey we have to get off our back,” Hunsicker said. “The postseason, however, is such an unpredictable event. Consistency is still the most valid criteria for measuring an organization.

“We’re all here to win a World Series, but the odds of doing that, of even getting to the World Series, aren’t great. Consistency is where it’s at, and there’s only a few organizations in the last seven or eight years who have a better composite record than we do, and they’ve spent a heck of a lot more money.”

He referred to the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians. Can Houston’s young pitchers help turn that monkey into an extinct species? They’ve had impressive results so far.