Astros Exert Their Authority

The rockets that foiled the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of their National League division series weren’t 95-mph fastballs launched by Roger Clemens but 400-foot blasts pelted by Houston Astros determined to add a cheery chapter to a postseason history filled with dismay.

Brad Ausmus, Lance Berkman, Carlos Beltran and Jason Lane homered to give liftoff a new meaning for Houston during a 9-3 victory at Turner Field. The Astros scored more runs than they had in their entire NL division series losses to the Braves in 1997 and 2001.

Berkman, Beltran and Jeff Bagwell finished a combined seven for 13 on a night Clemens gutted out seven so-so innings while showing the lingering effects of a stomach virus that had kept him out of the Astros’ regular-season finale.

“Sometimes it takes more than talent or more than a 95-mile-an-hour fastball; you have to will it,” said Clemens, who won the opener of a playoff series for the first time in seven appearances despite walking a postseason-worst six batters.

The Astros, searching for their first playoff series victory in their eighth appearance, won for only the second time in 11 postseason games against the Braves.

Houston also defeated Atlanta in Game 1 of the 1999 division series at Turner Field before losing the next three games and the series.

“This isn’t ‘97, ’98 or ‘99,” said Bagwell, referring to past playoff failures. “This is 2004, and that’s how we’re going to look at it.”

Houston hit three of its four homers off Atlanta starter Jaret Wright, with Berkman and Beltran each belting a two-run homer to help the Astros to a 7-1 lead in the fifth inning. Berkman’s homer capped a four-run third inning in which Houston took control and muted the crowd of 41,464.

Wright, making his first postseason start since 1998, had allowed only 11 homers during the regular season.

“I’m getting used to not giving up home runs, and giving up three today was not good,” he said.

Clemens was hardly masterful, giving up six hits and three runs -- two earned -- and pitching out of jams in nearly every inning as the Braves stranded baserunners in practically every conceivable fashion.

Atlanta went hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position and tied a division series record by stranding 12 runners, nine over the first four innings. The Braves left the bases loaded in the third and had two on with one out in the second and fourth innings before coming up empty each time.

“One hit in any of those innings turns that game right around,” Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said.

Andruw Jones homered in the fifth and Rafael Furcal tripled and scored in the sixth, making it 7-3, before the Astros padded their cushion with runs in the seventh and ninth to set a franchise record for runs in a playoff game.

“I hope there’s an urgency that they feel right now to get it done,” Clemens said of his teammates, many of whom were not around when the Astros last played the Braves in the playoffs, in 2001. “I don’t think they’re going to look back now because we have [such a] different cast of characters on this ballclub.”

Beltran, acquired from the Kansas City Royals in June to help Houston with its playoff push, went three for three to raise his average to .533 in 15 at-bats against Wright. The center fielder had to leave in the seventh with bruised ribs after being hit by a Juan Cruz pitch that ignited a brief exchange between the players. X-rays were negative, but Beltran is questionable for Game 2 today.

“I’m worried because every time I cough or breathe hard, I feel it a little bit,” said Beltran, who initially stayed in the game and scored on Morgan Ensberg’s single off Cruz’s right leg.

The Braves also have injury issues. Chipper Jones aggravated his bruised right hand when he attempted to make a diving stop in the third and appeared overmatched at the plate, finishing hitless in four at-bats. The third baseman said he would have to lighten his pregame workout before Game 2 to minimize the pain and remain in the lineup.

Just as daunting for Jones and the Braves is the prospect of facing 20-game winner Roy Oswalt today before the series shifts to Minute Maid Park, where the Astros have won a franchise-record 18 consecutive games.

“They’ve sent us home three times,” Houston’s Craig Biggio said of the Braves. “But today we got off to a good start.”