Answers:
Carl Everett, Tony Eusebio and Ricky Gutierrez
Braves' SS: Walt Weiss
Y'all are too good. Bottom line.
After last week's "easy" trivia question, hopefully this one is a little tougher for ya's. Here it is:
In 1999, the Astros played the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Unfortunately, the Braves would win the series 3-1 and would go on to represent the NL in the World Series.
In Game 3 of the series, the teams were tied 3-3 heading into the bottom of the 10th inning. Russ Springer (yes, he really did play on every ML team) was on the mound for the Bravos, and Jeff Bagwell led off for our Astros. The inning began like this:
- Bags walked (runner on first, no outs)
- Ken Caminiti singled (runners on first and second, no outs)
- Stan Javier would single on an attempted sacrifice to first base (bases loaded, no outs)
Before the next Astro could bat, Bobby Cox would stride to the mound, take the ball from Springer and hand it to John Rocker. Although he was known as a kooky, closed-minded, racist-type, Rocker was a damn good relief pitcher for Atlanta. On this night, with some help from his defense, Rocker would live up to that billing in shutting down the Astro rally. Not a run would cross the plate, and subsequently the Braves won the game and the series.
My question for you all, is this:
Can you name the three Astros who would go down in order to finish out the inning?
Too random? I'll give you a hint, all three players were "up the middle" defenders.
Bonus question: The play of the series was made by the Braves' shortstop with one out in the tenth. This player ranged far to his left, fielded a sharp ground ball and threw home to force out Caminiti at home. Name that Braves shortstop.