BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Nixon Is Back on Hit List

Otis Nixon wouldn’t say it, but maybe he did anyway.

Maybe his four hits, two runs and stolen base served as a reminder that Deion Sanders, his illustrious center-field backup with the Atlanta Braves remains only that, a backup.

The Braves pushed the Pittsburgh Pirates to the brink of extinction in the National League playoffs Saturday night with a 6-4 victory for a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Sanders left after the game for Miami, where he will play cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons against the Dolphins today, then return via charter for Game 5 here tonight.

The Braves management looked on Sanders’ decision to attempt the two-sport doubleheader as a selfish act in violation of his agreement to play only baseball through the postseason.

They refused to turn it into a controversy, however, and neither did Nixon, happy to be back playing one sport, happy to have revived his career after the 60-day suspension for cocaine abuse last September took him out of last year’s playoffs and World Series and sidelined him for the first 16 games of 1992.

“No player has ever wanted a team to repeat as much as I did,” Nixon said. “I thank God for this opportunity. A year ago I was in a recovery center in Georgia watching the games on television and dealing with a lot of pain, trying to put my life in order regardless if I played again or not.”

Play again he did. First in a platoon with Sanders, then as the regular center fielder.

Now the leadoff hitter is batting .412 in a rematch of the playoff he watched last October. His four hits Saturday tied the National League playoff record. Coupled with a double in his final at-bat in Game 3, he tied an overall playoff mark with five consecutive hits, a streak that ended when he flied out in the eighth inning Saturday night.

Nixon said he was unaware of the records but very aware of his career problems against Doug Drabek, the Pirate starter who would yield three of his four hits after previously restricting Nixon to 2 for 24.

“I knew that those three hits were more than I had gotten in three years against Drabek,” he said. “I made some adjustments, but I don’t want to say what they were because I’m sure I’m sure I’ll have to face him again sometime.”

Drabek, who has lost twice in the four games, would start Game 7 if the Pirates get that far, but Saturday night might have been his final appearance with the Pirates.

Drabek is eligible for free agency, as is Barry Bonds, and both seem to be going out ingloriously. Bonds struck out twice, walked twice and is one for 11 in a continution of his postseason woes.

Nixon was a free agent last winter as he dealt with the addiction and his hope that someone would provide another chance.

The offers came from the Braves and Angels.

“I had very serious talks with the Angels,” Nixon said. “I had played for Buck Rodgers in Montreal and liked the man very much. They came at me hard, but my decision came down to what team had the best chance to repeat, to give me the chance to make up for what I missed, and I felt the Braves represented the best chance.

“They had also been very supportive while I was in recovery, from the front office to Manager Bobby Cox to the players, and I wanted to try to repay that loyalty.”

Nixon had batted .297 with 72 stolen bases in 124 games in 1991, his first season with the Braves, his first ever as a regular.

He came back this year to hit .294 with 41 steals in 120 games, the productive platoon with Sanders eventually dissolving when the latter began to cool and ultimately resumed his two sport involvement.

Nixon shook his head, pondering how far he has come since last October and the pain he inflicted “on myself, my family and the team.” His is a disease, he said, that he has to cope with on a daily basis, and he is in the process, with the Braves help, of making a film called “Strike Out” to help educate younsters about the peril of drugs and alcohol.

On a night when he fashioned a highlight film of another kind and made the departure of Deion Sanders seem less distracting, Otis Nixon talked of the bigger battle in his life and said, “this is one small victory, but a very sweet one.”