WORLD SERIES / TORONTO BLUE JAYS vs. ATLANTA BRAVES : NOTES

Atlanta reliever Jeff Reardon, who gave up the game-winning home run to Ed Sprague in Game 2 and the run-scoring single by Candy Maldonado that won Game 3 for the Blue Jays, received some encouragement Wednesday from an unexpected source.

Among the messages he received at his Toronto hotel was from former major league pitcher Joe Black, who gave Reardon some pitching advice.

More than that, though, Reardon appreciated Black simply making the effort to contact him during a difficult time that only another pitcher might completely understand.

“That was nice, especially because I’ve never even met the guy,” said Reardon, whom baseball researchers believe to be the first pitcher to allow the game-winning hit in a club’s last at-bat in two consecutive World Series games. “I know he was a reliever with the Brooklyn Dodgers, but that’s it. He gave me constructive criticism, which I appreciated.”

Reardon, who became baseball’s all-time save leader this season, said he did not get much rest after Tuesday’s game.

“It was a tough situation,” he said, referring to the bases-loaded, one-out predicament he faced with Maldonado coming to bat. “I’ve been in every situation possible. I’ve been in that situation many times. I’ve done the job and I haven’t done the job. No matter how tough a situation is, you’re expected to get out of it, and I didn’t.

“(Failing to save the game) makes me more anxious to get back in there. I hope it’s just as tough a situation.”

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Including the Blue Jays’ victories in Games 2 and 3, teams had won games in their last at-bat in seven of the last nine World Series contests. The Minnesota Twins won in their final at-bat last year in Games 2, 6 and 7, while the Braves won Games 3 and 4 in that situation. Maldonado’s game-winning hit made Game 3 the fifth in eight Series games decided on the final pitch.

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In winning Games 2 and 3, Blue Jay reliever Duane Ward became the 10th pitcher in World Series history to win two consecutive games in the same Series. The last pitcher to do so was Cincinnati’s Rawley Eastwick, who won Games 2 and 3 in relief in 1975.

The Toronto bullpen took into Wednesday’s game a streak of 7 2/3 scoreless innings in the World Series. Including the AL playoffs, the relievers have a streak of 8 2/3 hitless postseason innings. . . . Cox, ejected in Game 3, was the first manager to be tossed since St. Louis’ Whitey Herzog in Game 7 of the 1985 Series. . . . Jeff Blauser’s first-inning stolen base was the 26th steal against the Blue Jays in postseason play, extending Toronto’s record in that category. The Oakland A’s stole 16 in the playoffs. The record for most steals given up by one team in he postseason was 18, set by Detroit in the 1907 World Series and equaled by the Tigers in the 1909 Series.