DIERKER TO HAVE SURGERY; BLOOD VESSELS IN BRAIN MALFORMED.

Byline: Associated Press

Larry Dierker will undergo brain surgery today to remove a mass of malformed blood vessels that caused his seizure in the Houston Astros dugout Sunday.

The 52-year-old manager and former Taft High player spoke with general manager Gerry Hunsicker on Monday and said he did not recall anything after the second inning of Sunday's game.

``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 went into violent convulsions in the eighth inning of the game against the San Diego Padres at the Astrodome. Players and coaches restrained him until medical personnel arrived and took him to the hospital.

Tests Monday revealed he had an arteriovenous malformation - 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 does not know how long Dierker will be away from the team. The general manager said he was told by doctors that on a scale of 1 to 5 - with 1 the least serious - Dierker's condition is 1.

Astros players were relieved by the news. They left the Astrodome on Sunday night thinking Dierker had a tumor.

``It was scary to hear that he might have a tumor,'' right fielder Derek Bell said. ``You couldn't eat or sleep last night. It was great to see that he is OK. Now we can go out and do what he trained us to do the last three years, have fun and play hard.''

Bench coach Matt Galante, who will be the interim manager, also visited Dierker in the hospital and said the manager was in good spirits.

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PHOTO (Color) DIERKER