Montreal (AP)- The New Orleans Vampires righted themselves today with a couple of hard-fought wins on the road in Montreal against the Royals. The Vampires took Game 1, 5-2, and Game 2, 3-1. The Vampires got all 5 of their runs in the 8th inning and were propelled to victory by 3B Bill Mueller's grand slam off of Montreal closer Jose Mesa. Mesa had inherited 2 of the runners when he allowed Jason Kendall to get on before Mueller crushed a 3-2 pitch deep into the left field bleachers. Kevin Millwood (1-0) picked up his first win of the season after a few no decisions, going 7 strong and allowing only 2 earned runs while striking out 6. Tom Gordon (Hld., 1) rebounded from his recent struggles as the fifth starter with a stellar performance out of the pen. Gordon pitched a near-perfect 8th inning. Bret Saberhagen (Sv, 1) pitched a perfect 9th inning for his first save of the year. Meanwhile, it was clear that Manager Pete Roses' adjustments to the batting order had paid off. With Mueller up to the #2 spot behind Kendall and ahead of Vaughn he responded with 4 RBI. And CF Tony Gumbert replaced Kurt Abbott who moved into a DH role. Gumbert is in the 9th spot, serving as a second leadoff man, and went 2 for 3 with a run scored in Game 1. It was more of the same Game 2 only this time, the Vampires rode on the wings of Denny Neagle's comeback bid. Neagle pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing only 1 earned run while striking out 8 (!). Unfortunately, Neagle failed to pick up the "w" which went to Clint Faatz in 2/3 of an inning of relief. Veteran free agent acquisition Doug Drabek picked up the save, pitching a perfect 9th inning a-la Saberhagen. Nigel Fernandez, New Orleans' official closer, has yet to be given the opportunity. Bill Mueller continued to shine int he #2 spot in Game 2, going 2 for 4. But it was Mo Vaughn's sudden resurgence that brought New Orleans to life, going 4 for 5 (6 for 10 on the day). New Orleans did suffer one major loss today, however. Veteran utility man Bip Roberts went down for 3-4 months after making a brief appearance late in Game 2 against Montreal. "It hurts our depth a bit but I'm hoping the added pressure on the starters forces them to respond. They have no cushion anymore," said Rose when told of the news. Roberts has been placed on the DL and young 2B Tilson Brito has been recalled >from AAA Lakeland (FL).
TRADEWINDS
ew Orleans GM Peter Gammons has been testing the market but nothing significant to report. One source close to the team reports that Roger Clemens has been involved in possible trade talks and is unhappy with the current direction the Vampires are going. Neither Clemens nor Gammons could be reached for comment. New Orleans Owner Jeremy Chrabascz is reportedly quite disgruntled with his team's offensive performance this season and has been, according to some team sources, "putting pressure" on Gammons to find a solution. All Manager Pete Rose could say was, "I'll try to win with whatever I've got. I can't concern myself with that ***t."
