Reynolds had to know that a good season was in the offing when on April 28, 1999 he carried a no-hitter into the seventh, while also having a three-RBI night at the plate. Always a control pitcher, he was spotting his splitter especially well that night until his Sugar Land, Texas neighbor Luis Gonzalez singled for the Arizona Diamondbacks to break up Reynolds' gem. Undeterred, Reynolds went on to a career best 19-9 record that year, placing himself on the brink of elite status.
When Enron Field opened in 2000, Reynolds, along with the rest of the Astros' staff, struggled to learn how to pitch in a hitters' park. Reynolds, whose greatest asset has always been craftiness and deception as opposed to raw power, was among the first to learn new coping skills. "You have to change your thinking," he told the Houston Chronicle. "You have to go into games not necessarily thinking that you're going to give up four or five runs but knowing that you could. And if you do, then you have to put that aside and still try to win."
Despite a sub-par year in 2001, Reynolds' leadership was critical to a staff that included rookies Roy Oswalt and Tim Redding and second-year man Wade Miller.
(EPW)
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»October 5, 1999: The Astros defeat the Braves, 6-1, in the opener of their division series. Shane Reynolds gets the win for Houston, as 3B Ken Caminiti notches three hits, including a 3-run home run.
»April 4, 2000:
At the opener in Pittsburgh, Houston's Richard Hidalgo drives in all five runs, four on a grand salm, to lead the Astros to a 5–2 win. Shane Reynolds is the winning pitcher. John Vander Wal has a 2-run pinch home run for the Bucs in the 7th, his 14th career pinch home run.
»May 16, 2001: The Astros defeat the Cubs, 6-2, despite Sammy Sosa's 400th career home run, off Shane Reynolds, at Chicago.
»July 22, 2001:
Shane Reynolds, Octavio Dotel, and Billy Wagner become the first Astros pitchers to throw a shutout at Enron Field as they combined to blank the Cubs, 3-0. It took 132 games before the home team calcimined an opponent at Enron, which opened on April 7, 2000. That shutout drought at a new facility tops the old record of 103 games set by the Colorado Rockies after moving into Coors Field in 1995. Last season, Astros hurlers threw only two shutouts, both on the road.
»August 13, 2001: Craig Biggio hits his 26th leadoff home run on the first pitch from Jason Bere and the Astros never look back, beating the Cubs, 9–5. Shane Reynolds is the winner, now 7–0 against Chicago. The Cubs fall out of first place as the Astros take over.
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