Brain Surgery For Manager -- Astros' Larry Dierker Suffers Seizure During Padres Game

HOUSTON - Manager Larry Dierker of the Houston Astros will have brain surgery to remove a blood-vessel mass that caused his seizure during a game at the Astrodome.

Dierker, 52, will be operated on tomorrow at Methodist Hospital, Gerry Hunsicker, Astro general manager, said today.

Dierker was taken there after he collapsed and shook violently during the eighth inning of yesterday's game against the San Diego Padres. Tests concluded there was no tumor, Hunsicker said.

"I talked with Larry this morning, and he was coherent and very positive and encouraged," Hunsicker said. "He was kind of joking around, but he said the last couple of days he had severe headaches and that was unusual for him."

Dierker told Hunsicker he didn't remember anything after the second inning of the game. Dierker didn't even recall Derek Bell's sixth-inning grand slam, which put the Astros ahead 4-1.

"Larry said he was sorry he missed the grand slam," Hunsicker said.

The game was suspended with the Astros ahead 4-1. It will be resumed July 23 when the Padres return to Houston.

Matt Galante, Houston's bench coach, was appointed interim manager.

Dierker's condition is called arteriovenous malformation, a collection of blood vessels about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. This is a condition in which people are born with malformed, sometimes tangled, arteries or veins in the brain. Over time they can become dilated, so that the enlarged vessels either pressure neural tissue or even burst and bleed into the brain.

Hunsicker said doctors told him that on a scale of 1 to 5 - with 1 the least serious - Dierker's condition is 1.

"But everything is unpredictable at this point," Hunsicker said. "Until they go in and do the surgery, we don't really know."

It's uncertain how long Dierker will be away from the team.

"At this point, that's the least thing on my mind," Hunsicker said. "All we can do now is take the lead from the doctors that his prognosis is excellent, but there's no way we can put a timetable on his return," Hunsicker said.

Team owner Drayton McLane said last night that Dierker had a milder seizure three years ago in San Diego when he was an Astro broadcaster. Hunsicker said today that Dierker did not have a seizure earlier.

"Larry has no history of seizures," Hunsicker said.

Jeff Bagwell was at bat when Dierker collapsed.

"I was getting ready to step in, and the umpire said, `Hold on,"' Bagwell said.

"I looked around, and everybody was running to the dugout. Larry had collapsed. He couldn't talk. He was shaking violently. . . . It was shocking."

A crowd of 39,773, anticipating a three-game sweep of the Padres, was silent as players gathered around the dugout where Dierker fell. Some prayed. Jose Lima cried.

"I laugh and play with him every day, and now I have to pray for him," Lima said. "I started crying because I've seen my grandmother do the same thing in the Dominican Republic."

The Padres watched with equal horror.

"They couldn't get him under control, and they had to fight to hold him down," said Padre pitching coach Dave Smith, a former Astro and one of Dierker's golfing buddies.

"I was concerned (Saturday) that something was not quite right. Usually, he's upbeat and laughing; but for some reason he was kind of quiet."

Paramedics in an ambulance rushed to the dugout from center field. Dierker's wife, Judy, left the stands and went to the dugout.

"It hurts to sit and see that happening. Talk about a knot in the stomach - there was an emptiness inside," Padre Manager Bruce Bochy said.

Dierker has been Houston's manager since Oct. 4, 1996, and led the Astros to consecutive National League Central titles. He was voted NL Manager of the Year last season.

Houston has been plagued by health problems this year. First-base coach Jose Cruz left the team May 10 for treatment for an irregular heart beat, and hitting coach Tom McCraw left six days later for treatment for prostate cancer. Cruz is expected back later this month.

All-Star outfielder Moises Alou suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he fell off a treadmill in mid-February and will miss most of the season. And third baseman Ken Caminiti, a former NL MVP, has been on the disabled list since May 22 because of a strained right calf muscle.

"We've had a terrible year, even with some other coaches going down," Galante said. "But I think these guys will bounce back and might even play a little harder.

"We'll play each game one by one for Larry. I hope when he comes back, we'll have an even bigger lead."