A Series Rematch? Don’t Bet On It

Even during the wonderful 1995 World Series, we knew the 1996 World Series would be good. The Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians were so dominant in their leagues with rosters so well set that a rematch was inevitable. But now, deep into September ‘96, the inevitable has become the improbable.

Suddenly, the Braves are less a dynasty than a disaster. At one point, they lost six in a row. They lost a franchise-record 10 straight on the road (and this is a franchise with a history of incompetence so rich that it once signed a pinch-hitter only to discover the fellow was blind in one eye).

The Braves lost 13 of 15. They made six errors in three games. They struck out four times in an inning. They lost to the forlorn Mets from five runs ahead. They called a team meeting to hear inspirational oratory after giving up two touchdowns and a safety in a 16-8 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Then they sat through a four-hour flight from Denver to New York during which the movie was Mission: Impossible.

Many a time in the Braves’ travails, the baseball seemed to take on an erratic life of its own. It jumped away from Mark Lemke’s grasping hands. It bounced off Terry Pendleton’s knees. Whenever Fred McGriff threw the thing, it landed in strange places. The team’s television broadcaster, Skip Caray, who has seen everything, was moved to a moaning analysis. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” he said.

After that team meeting in Denver, pitcher John Smoltz said, “From this point on, we’re going to play Braves baseball.” An insensitive soul might point out that is exactly what they did in two losses to the Mets. Braves baseball at the moment can be defined this way: Get a lead, find a way to blow it.

All this came after John Schuerholz, the Braves’ general manager, made moves in August that were hailed as more evidence of his genius. He traded for third baseman Pendleton, promoted from the minors the teen-age phenom Andruw Jones and traded for left-handed pitcher Denny Neagle. But the deeper the Braves fell into their September melancholy, the more these Schuerholz decisions seemed mistaken.

Not only did the aging Pendleton not hit, but also his fielding was mediocre at best, destabilizing to the team at worst. (The player the Braves gave up, Mark Whiten, hit eight home runs the first month he was gone). The rookie Jones was largely helpless against right-handed pitching. Neagle, in three starts, was 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA.

What had been a 12-game lead in the N.L. East dropped to 4 1/2 games at one point, with the Braves facing eight games against second-place Montreal in the regular season’s last two weeks. Tension became palpable in New York where Bobby Cox, the Braves’ imperturbable manager, snapped at radio reporters, “Get those microphones out of my face.” Center fielder Marquis Grissom told a newspaperman, “I ain’t got one word to say.”

As the Braves staggered early in September, so did the Indians. Their $5 million free-agent pitcher, Jack McDowell, had been on the disabled list for the first time in his career--and it got worse when he could pitch. In his first four starts back, his ERA was 10.64. Though the Indians averaged 7.6 runs when he pitched, McDowell won only one more game than he lost. In addition, their crafty old ace, Dennis Martinez, went on the D.L. not once or twice but three times--and now he is facing retirement because of an elbow injury.

No wonder the Indians’ general manager, John Hart, threw such a tantrum when the Braves found a way to get Neagle from Pittsburgh. The Indians’ only dependable starters have been Charles Nagy and Orel Hershiser. When Neagle was shopped around, Hart invited the Pirates to take their pick of his minor leaguers.

But Schuerholz made the Pirates a better deal than anything the Indians could arrange. Not that Hart would say so. He said, “It’s a National League thing,” suggesting that the Pirates would rather help their Atlanta cousins than some strangers from Cleveland.

Part of Cleveland’s problem, if problem it be, is perception. The Indians were 100-44 in last season’s short schedule. Anything less could be seen, by unthinking folks, as a disappointment. Yes, the Indians let Eddie Murray go; they told Carlos Baerga to go; and their pitching may be fatally flawed. But if they’re 13 games off their work of last season, their 89-59 record through last Sunday was still the best in baseball.

Even without Murray and Baerga, the Indians have been so good that their pitching problems can be minimized for now. Kenny Lofton hits .315, steals 70 bases and catches everything in the ballpark. Jim Thome has shown he can hit third in the lineup, Baerga’s spot. Manny Ramirez has hit more than 30 home runs in what could be a .300 season. Julio Franco, hitting over .320, is more than 50 points up on Murray and has 14 homers to the old man’s 21.

Unlike the Braves, for whom September has been dark, the Indians have found light. They did it with a four-game sweep of the California Angels. They won when Lofton scored from second on a fly ball. They won when McDowell finally pitched seven decent innings. They won with four runs in the ninth. They won with five home runs, three in succession by Thome, Belle and Franco.

There is one sure sign that it’s business as usual in Cleveland. That sign comes from the remarkable Albert Belle. He returns to the clubhouse after each at-bat and writes notes on his famous index cards. The other day, he found the clubhouse too warm, so he turned down the thermostat. When Belle wasn’t looking, someone turned it up. Up/down, up/down--until Belle took his bat and pounded the thermostat into the wall.