Craig Biggio's Game Streak Ends

Craig Biggio probably wasn't going to catch Cal Ripken anyway.

Biggio reluctantly sat out Wednesday's game between the Houston Astros and Florida Marlins, ending his three-year streak of 494 consecutive games -- second only to Ripken among active players.

The Astros' second baseman was healthy, but manager Larry Dierker held him out of the starting lineup for the fifth time this season on a 92-degree afternoon and never found a chance use Biggio as a pinch-hitter in Houston's 5-3 loss.

"I'm not going to say I'm not a little upset about it," Biggio said. "But I really would have rather won the ballgame. I'll just have to start another one."

Biggio's streak was a team record, but he fell 13 seasons shy of matching Ripken's current total of 2,591 consecutive games.

Biggio had last missed a game on July 31, 1995. Albert Belle of the Chicago White Sox is now second to Ripken among active players with 283 consecutive games through Tuesday.

"We're here to win a division," said Biggio, 32. "We're not here to keep streaks alive. I took a lot of pride in going out there and playing every day, but the way the game went today, it didn't work out."

Dierker wanted to use Biggio as a pinch-hitter with a chance to tie the game. But with the Astros trailing 5-3, they went down in order in the eighth and ninth innings.

"I could not have imagined a scenario where we would lose a game and I would not find a way to use him to help us try to come back and win," Dierker said. "He just died on deck. That's the way it came out."

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