The Pecan Park Eagle

CRAIG BIGGIO
SECOND BASE
1993 HOUSTON ASTROS

There is nothing particularly historical about this brief report on an Astros game from a recent Astros yesteryear summary. It’s just another reminder to all of us, even to us buried-to-the-nose Houston Astros fans,  how fragile our time here is and how quickly, as the old C&W song reflects, that “it’s funny – how time slips away. Like all memories that eventually fade into this category, once we are old enough to have the experience, it bears the oscillating qualities of seeming both like ancient history as well as only yesterday in a matter of mere nanosecond change, moving forward through time.

Yesterday, Last Night, our local baseball  hopes rode on the back of this community-shared recognition: Craig, Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Ken Caminiti, ages 27, 25, and 30 in 1993, are all very good ballplayers. Just watch our progress as they each mature and the Astros add a few more talents like them. For that matter, the club already had variable degrees of hope too for roster mates Mark Portugal, Luis Gonzalez, Scott Servais, and Eric Anthony

Re-live the dream that was still in motion when the following very ordinary game unfolded in the Houston Astrodome on July 2, 1993.

We Astros fans didn’t mope. – We had hope. – Miles and miles and miles of hope.

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JEFF BAGWELL
FIRST BASE
1993 HOUSTON ASTROS

July 2, 1993 ~ The Astrodome ~ Houston Astros 7, St. Louis Cardinals 1.

Astros cool off Cardinals

Associate Press

HOUSTON ~  Things finally fell apart for (St. Louis Cardinals pitcher) Joe Magrane.

Magrane (7-7) held Houston hitless until the fourth, when the Astros scored five runs on four hits. Magrane, who had a five-game winning streak snapped, gave up five runs on four hits in four innings.

Magrane was making it look easy on us early,” manager Art Howe said. “But then we put the big inning together.”

The big hit was Scot Servais‘ three-run homer.

Mark Portugal (6-3) was the winner, giving up one run and eight hits while striking out eight in seven innings.

Craig Biggio opened the fourth with a walk and moved to second on a single by Luis Gonzalez. Jeff Bagwell drove in Biggio with a single and Gonzalez scored from third when Ken Caminiti’s grounder forced Bagwell at second.

Servais hit his eighth home run of the season after a walk to Eric Anthony.

“I had a decent breaking ball and it was sinking well,” Magrane said. “I had a walk to start the inning, but I was thinking that a double play ball would get us out of it. The way I’ve been throwing and the way I’ve been holding runners, I was confident. I was in a situation where I thought I made the big pitch. I made a bad pitch to Servais – I got the change-up up. I didn’t execute.”

It was only the Cardinals’ second loss in their last nine games.

~ Associated Press, Altoona (PA) Mirror, Saturday, July 3, 1993, Page 24.

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KEN CAMINITI
THIRD BASE
1993 HOUSTON ASTROS

The Box Score, Courtesy of Baseball Almanac.com:

Baseball Almanac Box ScoresSt. Louis Cardinals 1, Houston Astros 7
Game played on Friday, July 2, 1993 at Astrodome
St. Louis Cardinals ab   r   h rbi Gilkey lf 4 0 1 0 Alicea 2b 4 0 0 0 Jefferies 1b 4 1 2 0 Zeile 3b 4 0 1 0 Jordan cf 4 0 3 1 Brewer rf 4 0 0 0 Pagnozzi c 4 0 0 0 Oquendo ss 3 0 0 0 Magrane p 1 0 0 0   Woodson ph 1 0 1 0   Lancaster p 0 0 0 0   Pena ph 1 0 0 0   Guetterman p 0 0 0 0   Olivares p 0 0 0 0   Perry ph 1 0 1 0 Totals 35 1 9 1	Houston Astros ab   r   h rbi Biggio 2b 3 2 0 0 Gonzalez lf 3 1 1 0 Bagwell 1b 2 1 1 2 Caminiti 3b 4 1 1 1 Anthony rf 2 1 0 0 Cedeno ss 4 0 0 0 Servais c 4 1 1 3 Finley cf 4 0 1 0 Portugal p 3 0 0 0   Jones p 0 0 0 0   Edens p 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 7 5 6
St. Louis 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 – 1 9 2 Houston 0 0 0 5 1 0 1 0 x – 7 5 0   St. Louis Cardinals IP H R ER BB SO Magrane  L (7-7) 4.0 4 5 5 2 1   Lancaster 2.0 1 1 0 2 2   Guetterman 1.0 0 1 0 1 0   Olivares 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 8.0 5 7 5 5 3   Houston Astros IP H R ER BB SO Portugal  W (6-3) 7.0 8 1 1 2 8   Jones 1.0 0 0 0 0 1   Edens 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 9.0 9 1 1 2 9 E–Jordan (2), Guetterman (1).  DP–Houston 1.  PB–Pagnozzi (6).  2B–St. Louis Jordan (2,off Portugal).  HR–Houston Servais (8,4th inning off Magrane 2 on, 2 out).  SF–Bagwell (7,off Guetterman).  SB–Jefferies (22,2nd base off Portugal/Servais); Caminiti (6,2nd base off Magrane/Pagnozzi); Biggio 2 (11,2nd base off Guetterman/Pagnozzi,3rd base off Guetterman/Pagnozzi); Gonzalez (13,2nd base off Guetterman/Pagnozzi).  WP–Portugal (5).  U-HP–Ed Montague, 1B–Mark Hirschbeck, 2B–Mike Winters, 3B–Bruce Froemming.  T–2:36.  A–35,582.
Game played on Friday, July 2, 1993 at Astrodome
Baseball Almanac Box Score |