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Atlanta 1, Houston 0

HOUSTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Tom Glavine overwhelmed the Houston Astros yet again Wednesday and an error by shortstop Julio Lugo led to the game's only run, giving the Atlanta Braves a 1-0 victory and a two games to none lead in their National League Division Series.

Atlanta needs one more triumph to reach the NLCS for the ninth time in 11 years and the Braves will get their first opportunity to close out the Astros on Friday when the series moves to Turner Field. Houston has lost 13 of its last 15 post-season games.

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At the start of his 15-year career, Glavine lost to Houston eight straight times. But since the start of the 1992 season, he has produced a 15-2 record against the Astros and has not lost to them in six years.

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He threw eight innings Wednesday, allowing six hits with two walks and two strikeouts. The Astros moved just one runner as far as third base, when they missed a big scoring chance in the fifth, and Atlanta second baseman Marcus Giles bailed Glavine out with a big defensive play in the eighth.

John Smoltz, Atlanta's one-time superstar starter who has turned into a dominating closer, then allowed a leadoff single to Jeff Bagwell in the ninth. But Braves first baseman Julio Franco started a nifty double play on a sharp grounder off the bat of Lance Berkman to snuff out a possible comeback.

Only two teams have come back from an 0-2 deficit in the division round of the playoffs. The 1995 Seattle Mariners and 1999 Boston Red Sox accomplished the feat, but both were home for Game 3.

"Today was the pivotal game," Braves right fielder Brian Jordan said. "We can relax a little bit now and play our game. But by no means is this series over. Houston is not just going to roll over."

"I think when you get up 2-0, that's great," Giles said. "We know that they are not going to give up, but our pitchers are going to keep stepping up. Everything is magnified in a five-game series, especially the booted balls, but that's going to happen."

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The lone run scored at Enron Field Wednesday came in the second inning and it revolved around the hard-luck Lugo.

After committing an error in Tuesday's series opener, Lugo made a high throw in the first inning Wednesday to allow Franco to reach base. Houston escaped that mistake with a double play, one of four the Astros turned in the first five innings, but another Lugo miscue in the second became crucial.

B.J. Surhoff led off the inning with a double down the left-field line against starter Dave Mlicki. Andruw Jones then hit a sharp grounder just to the left of second base and Lugo made a diving stop. But his throw was in the dirt and first baseman Bagwell could not field it cleanly.

Surhoff originally stayed at second base, but when the ball trickled away from Bagwell, Surhoff raced to third. The play was scored an infield hit for Bagwell, but Lugo was charged with an error allowing Surhoff to get to third.

"There's nothing that I can do, it just happened," Lugo said. "I can't take it back. I wish I could, but I can't."

Atlanta's Rey Sanchez then grounded into a double play, allowing Surhoff to score an unearned run.

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That left it up to Glavine and Smoltz as the Astros managed two baserunners in the same inning just once during the contest.

That came in the fifth when, with one out, Vinny Castilla and Brad Ausmus singled to put runners on first and third. The base hit by Ausmus, however, was no ordinary single as he rocketed a shot off the left-field wall, missing a home run by less than a foot. Surhoff was able to field the ball cleanly off the wall in left to hold Ausmus to first base.

Glaine then struck out pinch-hitter Chris Truby and got Craig Biggio to ground into a force play to end the inning.

Houston again put a runner in scoring position in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Jose Vizcaino singled with one out and reached second when Giles sprawled to his left to flag down a hard-hit ground ball from Biggio and turned it into a big out.

That brought up the Lugo, who compounded his fielding problems by remaining hitless in seven at bats for the series. His lazy fly ball to right field ended the inning and kept the Astros off the scoreboard.

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Glavine finished the regular season strong, winning his last five decisions and going 10-2 over his final 21 starts. It was his 27th postseason appearance and he evened his playoff record at 12-12.

"They have a great team," Biggio said. "They have 10 straight division championships, but today we didn't get the breaks we needed and that's the way it goes. It's the little things that go unnoticed in the boxscore that made the difference today."

"Well, I don't feel good about going on the road 0-2. I wouldn't feel good about staying here 0-2," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "I mean, it's very difficult to get down this far to a good team in a five-game playoff and still win. But we have been a better road team. If we are able to win two games there, then I feel like we're due to win one here."

The excitement was tempered for Braves manager Bobby Cox, who learned his sister, Joy Rogers, suffered a brain hemorrhage Wednesday morning in Birmingham, Ala. Cox planned to drive to Alabama once the team returned to Atlanta.

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