BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : NATIONAL LEAGUE NOTES

With every postseason victory by the Braves, few are getting richer or more famous than Jack Llewellyn.

Fans might not have heard his name, but they surely recognize his scholarly face (glasses, gray hair) and his red shirt or jacket.

Llewellyn sits behind home plate for every Brave postseason game. During the season, he sat behind the plate for more than 100 games.

He is not a scout. He is a sports psychologist who became known last October for helping John Smoltz overcome concentration problems.

This season, he has become a full-time Brave consultant who works with 12 players, including Pete Smith, who had a 7-0 record after being recalled from the minor leagues.

Smoltz, who has been the best pitcher in this year’s NL playoffs with a 2-0 record and 2.51 earned-run average against the Pittsburgh Pirates, claims that Llewellyn changed his life.

In 1991, before he began working with Llewellyn at the All-Star break, Smoltz was 2-11 with a 5.03 ERA.

After working with Llewellyn, who wore a red shirt when Smoltz pitched to remind him of his concentration exercises, Smoltz went 12-2 with a 2.63 ERA before winning both of his postseason starts against the Pirates.

Llewellyn is afraid to skip a game and afraid to wear a shirt that is not at least partially red. He has worn one red shirt for 59 games.

He is also afraid to leave his seat with a client on the mound.

“I was paged once, but I wouldn’t get up, and the guy setting next to me asked me why,” Llewellyn said. “I told him that usually you are paged when somebody dies, and that whoever died would still be dead when my guy came off the mound.”

Before Saturday night’s game, Jim Leyland, Pirate manager, sounds worried that impending free agency is affecting Bonds’ concentration, as it seemed to effect Bobby Bonilla’s concentration during last year’s postseason.

“I tell these guys, this should be the time of their lives,” he said. “I told Barry he ought to be the happiest guy in the world.

“He has a chance to play in a World Series, and then he’ll have a chance to make about $30 million. Why should he ever frown?”

Leyland said he tells the players that he doesn’t want to influence them to stay with the Pirates, a small market that rarely pays big salaries.

“I want these guys to be happy--hopefully in Pittsburgh, but their happiness is the main thing,” Leyland said. “I can’t tell Barry to stay in Pittsburgh just because the damn Allegheny and Monongahela come together here to form the damn Ohio (river).”

Leyland talked about the difficulties of a being a manager on the verge of losing in three consecutive championship series. “I got out of my car in the parking lot at the stadium today, and several people asked me to sign autographs, and I said sure,” Leyland recalled. “But then after I signed for one guy, the guy says, ‘You dumb s.o.b., how come you aren’t starting (Tim) Wakefield tonight?”