On this day, 11 years ago, the Astros lost a heartbreaker to the Montreal Expos at Enron Field.
Nothing much going on in this one, but there were a couple of things to point out. For one, Houston's Pacific Rim scouting director Glen Barker went 3 for 5 from the leadoff spot with a home run. That's a pretty rare occurence, since Barker only hit three home runs in his entire career. In fact, this home run was the final one he'd hit before his three-season career came to an end after 2001.
The other Astro to hit a home run in this one was Matt Mieske, who was more known as a Milwaukee Brewer, but played with Houston more than any other team in his career (besides the Brew Crew). Mieske played 54 games with Houston in 1999 and another 62 in 2000 before being released 12 days after this game. This homer was the sixth Mieske hit as an Astro and was also the second-to-last one of his career.
This was one of the games where Jose Lima just got blasted, after he had completely lost his confidence and couldn't pitch in Enron any more. He gave up seven runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. Octavio Dotel blew the save before Marc Valdes lost the game in the top of the tenth.
Valdes gave up a leadoff single to Lee Stevens before Geoff Blum bunted him over to second. Chris Widger grounded out to the pitcher before Mike Mordecai and Terry Jones hit consecutive singles to drive in Stevens and give Montreal a 10-9 lead. Reliever Steve Kline sat Houston down in order in the bottom of the 10th to end the game.
Here is the graphic replay of the game, thanks to Back to Baseball.