Thursday Playoff Baseball: Astros @ Braves

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HOUSTON ASTROS @ ATLANTA BRAVES >>>> OVER 7
Houston (1-0) at Atlanta (0-1) @ 8:00 PM EST.

Probable Starting Pitchers: Houston - Roger Clemens (0-0, 0.00) Atlanta - John Smoltz (0-0, 0.00)

The Houston Astros will attempt to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves when the teams battle Thursday at Turner Field.

In the opener of the set on Wednesday, Morgan Ensberg had three hits and five RBI, leading the visiting Astros to a 10-5 win over the Braves.

Orlando Palmeiro knocked in a pair of runs during a five-run eighth inning for the Astros, while Craig Biggio finished with two hits, three runs scored and an RBI.

Andy Pettitte (1-0) pitched seven solid innings for the win, yielding three runs on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts. The lefthander was making his first postseason appearance with Houston after missing last year's playoffs with elbow problems.

Pettitte improved to 5-3 in 12 Division Series starts. He had 11 starts with the New York Yankees. Pettitte improved to 14-8 lifetime in the postseason, tying Atlanta's John Smoltz for most playoff wins.

Andruw Jones clubbed a two-run homer and Chipper Jones contributed a solo blast with two RBI for the Braves.

Tim Hudson (0-1) was saddled with the loss. The righty permitted five runs on seven hits and five walks in 6 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.

Roger Clemens (13-8, 1.87) will take the mound for the Astros on Thursday. Clemens is coming off a solid outing against the Cubs on Saturday, as he allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings to earn a much-needed win for Houston.

The righthander posted a 6-4 record on the road this year with a 1.32 ERA in 15 starts. However, he is 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA over five career starts versus Atlanta.
Clemens is 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA in 10 Division Series starts.

Smoltz (14-7, 3.06) will make his 27th career postseason start in Game 2 for Atlanta and first since opposing Clemens in Game 4 of the 1999 World Series.

The righthander, who owns a major league record-tying 14 postseason wins, has gone 6-0 with a 2.68 ERA in 14 Division Series appearances, including five starts.

In his only start against the Astros this year, Smoltz yielded just one run in five innings to pick up the win. He is 15-13 with a 3.05 ERA in 45 career appearances (35 starts) against Houston.

Smoltz, who was 7-3 at home during the regular season, has been resting a sore shoulder and last pitched on September 23 against Florida. In that contest, he was not involved in the decision after giving up three runs on eight hits in six innings.

Game 3 of this series is scheduled for Saturday at Minute Maid Park. Roy Oswalt is slated to pitch for the Astros, while Atlanta will go with Jorge Sosa.

Dating back to the 1997 playoffs, this marks the fifth time that Houston and Atlanta are facing each other in the playoffs.

Prior to winning last year's Division Series against Atlanta, Houston had suffered a pair of three-game sweeps at the hands of the Braves in the NLDS (1997 and 2001) and also lost to Atlanta in four games in the 1999 Division Series.