Close Just Wasn’t Good Enough for Pittsburgh : Pirates: Martinez almost had big homer, but team knows it didn’t play well enough to win.

Carmelo Martinez sat in front of his locker Friday night in the Pittsburgh Pirate clubhouse, quietly stuffing clothes into his duffel bag, when he grabbed his half-empty can of beer, and flung it across the room.

“We didn’t do anything tonight,” he said, “just like we didn’t do anything the whole series. None of us did anything.”

Just minutes earlier, Martinez was inches away from becoming a folk hero in Pittsburgh, hitting a ninth-inning fastball that traveled about 340 feet and about six inches over the right-field wall.

The only trouble was that right fielder Glenn Braggs’ glove was hanging six inches over the wall, too, and when he raised it into the air, the ball was inside, robbing Martinez of a two-run homer.

“You know, I really didn’t think I hit it that well,” Martinez said. “But then I saw him going back, and back. Then I thought I had a chance. Then I thought I had it.

“Then I saw him, and I wanted to get sick.”

There was a long pause, and then someone asked if Martinez had seen the replay, like the rest of his teammates.

“No,” he said quietly, “and to tell you the truth, I never want to see it.”

Said Pirate outfielder Andy Van Slyke: “Can you believe it? We were so close. So close to sending this baby to a seventh game. And I think we would have won. I think we would have gotten to (Jose) Rijo. What, two more inches and we’re there.

“Two more lousy inches, can you believe it?”

The Reds, 2-1 winners, are National League champions, winning the series, four games to two, and hosting the opening game of the World Series Tuesday against the Oakland Athletics.

“I don’t think I’ll bother watching it,” Pirate outfielder Barry Bonds said, “because it’s going to hurt too much. We should have been there. We were the better team all season. No one can tell me differently.

“But this series, man, I don’t know what happened. I hate to say it, I really do, but they were the better club in this series.”

It will be a series remembered for its pitching, with only 35 runs scored. It will be a series remembered for its spectacular defense, with a record few seven errors being committed for a six-game series. It will be a series remembered for its closeness, with four games decided by one run, and one other decided by two runs.

But for the Pirates, and their fans, it probably will be remembered for their futility at the plate.

The Pirates hit .194 during the series, even with 14 extra-base hits in the six games. Their three All-Star outfielders--Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Van Slyke--combined for a .190 batting average, three extra-base hits and five RBIs.

“It was the most exciting, most fulfilling game that I’ve been in where we’ve been one-hit,” Van Slyke said. “Really, it was a great series. We don’t have anything to be ashamed about.

“That’s going to be hard to live with during the winter.”

Stan Williams, the Reds’ pitching coach, was the architect behind the strategy. Really, he says, it was simple. Bonds had hit .190 against them during the season, so they didn’t change a thing. Van Slyke hit .289 off them during the year, so they made only minor adjustments. Bonilla hit .390 against them, so they altered their entire pitching plan.

“We noticed that Bonilla was killing us all year with the fastball,” said Williams, “so we tried throwing breaking balls on almost every pitch to him. And when we got ahead, we ran the fastball inside on him.

“They didn’t even look like the same guys we faced during the season, they really didn’t. Everything we did worked almost perfectly.

“And, thank God we followed that one report.

“It said something about using a tall right fielder.”

Said Bonds: “I didn’t think they could do it. I really didn’t believe they could shut down our entire team, especially Bobby and me. Maybe they’ll do the same thing with Oakland.

“I think they’ll shut down Mark McGwire, because all he can do is hit homers. Jose Canseco has got a bad back, and his bat looks real slow. And I know when the Reds get on base, the A’s don’t have anyone to throw them out. I mean, Terry Steinbach couldn’t throw out my grandmother.

“But, you know something, I think we would have had a better shot at knocking off the A’s, and there’s no one that can tell me any different.

“See y’all next spring.”