Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 10, 1993 TAG: 9310100206
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Long
Atlanta took a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven series, winning in the same fashion the Braves took Game 2 on Thursday night at Veterans Stadium.
On a sultry Saturday afternoon at sold-out Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Braves used a five-run sixth inning and a four-run seventh to down the Phillies 9-4.
In tonight's Game 4, the Phillies send left-hander Danny Jackson (12-11) against Braves right-hander John Smoltz (15-11). If Jackson can't go deep into the game with his sinker, the Phillies will have big problems - namely, their bullpen.
After a 4-3, 10-inning loss in Game 1 when the Phils' Curt Schilling dominated the Braves, Atlanta has scored 23 runs in two games. Fifteen of those have come in three innings.
"We're playing great," said Braves right fielder Dave Justice, whose two-run double in the sixth - his first hit of the NLCS - broke a 2-2 tie and finished Phils starter Terry Mulholland. "If we can average nine runs a game, we're going to be tough to beat."
That's as obvious as the woeful state of the Phillies' bullpen. The nickname for 43-save closer Mitch Williams - "Wild Thing" - pretty much also describes the rest of the Philadelphia relief corps.
Minus Schilling's eight innings in Game 1, the Phillies' earned run average is 9.95. "We've had some difficulty in the middle innings," said Phillies manager Jim Fregosi. "Roger Mason [who is unscored upon in seven career NLCS appearances covering 10 2/3 innings] is the only guy we have doing the job.
"Of course, Atlanta keeps sending people up there who can hurt you."
So do the Phillies. The difference is that the Braves have thwarted Philadelphia's big-inning opportunities, as southpaw Tom Glavine did Saturday in the fourth inning.
Mariano Duncan and John Kruk ripped Glavine's first two pitches in that inning for triples and a 1-0 lead. Then, the Braves' lefty got Dave Hollins to ground to short, Darren Daulton to tap to the mound and Pete Incaviglia to fly to center to end the threat.
Kruk's leadoff homer in the sixth - he's 5-for-11 in the series - gave Mulholland a 2-0 lead. The Phillies' left-hander appeared strong despite making only his second start since Labor Day, when he strained a hip flexor muscle and missed four weeks.
"When you're in the sixth inning down 2-0, I think you're always going to be sweating a bit," said Glavine, who was 0-4 in the League Championship Series in 1991-92. "With our offense though, the pitchers know that if we hold the other team to three runs or less, we're going to win nine out of 10 times.
"That's what I kept telling myself out there."
Jeff Blauser began Atlanta's sixth with a line single off Mulholland's glove. After the NL's All-Star Game starting pitcher walked Ron Gant on four pitches, Fred McGriff and Terry Pendleton deposited off-speed pitches into center for run-scoring singles.
Fregosi left Mulholland in to face Justice because of the lefty-vs.-lefty situation, and maybe because Justice was 0-for-9 in the series.
He doubled to the opposite field, scoring McGriff and Pendleton. Mason got an out before Mark Lemke torched a one-hopper to Duncan at second. Duncan blocked the ball, recovered and threw home, but Justice eluded Daulton's tag.
It was 5-2. One inning later, after Fregosi couldn't find relief, the Braves had enough to withstand some shaky bullpen work of their own.
"With Terry, it was really a question of how far he could go," Fregosi said. "He threw five good innings, then ran out of gas and came right out of his zone in the sixth.
"I thought he had a shot to get Justice out. If he had, we still would have had the game in hand. He just couldn't get him out."
Justice hit a curveball, and Mulholland said his off-speed pitches and "poor location" were his demise. "There was nothing wrong with my arm or legs. I wasn't tired," he said.
Trailing 5-2, however, the Phillies were hardly out of the game - until the next half inning.
"The bullpen has done a helluva job all year," said Phils pitching coach Johnny Podres. "But some of these guys are all pitched out now.
"In Game 1, we had some guys up four times and that's a lot of pitches even though they didn't get into the game. At this stage of the year, there's not much you can do."
Atlanta, bidding to become the first NL team to appear in three straight World Series since St. Louis from 1942-44, also has prospered by keeping Phillies leadoff troublemaker Lenny Dykstra in check. He's fanned five times in 13 at-bats.
"We've got to get him going," Fregosi said.
If it doesn't happen, the Phillies could be gone.
"I think they're going to have to outscore us to beat us," Justice said.
\ see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB