Run Out of Town

The Atlanta Braves never say a whole lot. They exhibit little emotion on the field. It’s virtually impossible to get them excited, let alone angry.

The St. Louis Cardinals should have left well enough alone, but they did something very, very foolish while making plans for their first World Series appearance in nine years.

They not only provoked the Braves, but infuriated them, and Monday night felt the full wrath of their rage.

The Braves listened to a fiery speech by Manager Bobby Cox then stormed onto the field at Busch Stadium and pummeled the Cardinals, 14-0, sending the National League championship series back to Atlanta.

It was the worst postseason rout suffered by the Cardinals in franchise history, spanning 124 games. It also was the largest shutout in postseason history, and the largest margin of victory in league championship series history.

“We saw the way those guys acted, we saw what they were doing [Sunday], we saw them going crazy,” Atlanta outfielder Luis Polonia said. “Maybe they forgot you have to win four games in this series. You can win 3 1/2 games, and it doesn’t matter. You got to win four.

“Maybe someone should tell them.”

And, oh yes, perhaps someone should remind the Cardinals that the Braves still are the defending World Series champions.

“This team has a lot of pride, and you saw that tonight,” said John Schuerholz, the Braves’ executive vice president. “They [the Cardinals] got pretty excited when they won three games, and maybe winning three games is exciting, but they still make you win four.

“All we heard all day long is about how they were going to celebrate.

“Well, they made a big mistake if they thought we were just going to curl up and go away.”

The Cardinals still have a 3-2 lead in this best-of-seven series, but suddenly are left with the distressing feeling that they must defeat four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux on Wednesday in Game 6. If they fail, they must deal with former Cy Young winner Tom Glavine on Thursday in Game 7.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we can do it,” Cox said. “There’s no doubt we will do it.”

Cox told his team before the game how simple it is to win three games in a row. When you have John Smoltz pitching Game 5, followed by Maddux and Glavine, what’s a three-game winning streak?

He also told them all about 1985 when he managed the Toronto Blue Jays. They had a 3-1 lead on the Kansas City Royals in the best-of-seven series. The Blue Jays stayed home and the Royals won the American League pennant, and ultimately, the World Series.

“It wasn’t like our meeting was a good-bye meeting or let’s have a good winter meeting,” Cox said, “it was more like I expect-to-play-seven-to-10-more-games-meeting.”

He also reminded them about pride. No team in baseball has won as many games as the Braves the last five years, but not once have they showed anyone up on the field.

This is why the Braves took it quite personally Sunday night when the Cardinals wildly celebrated their 4-3 comeback victory. The actions of closer Dennis Eckersley were judged to be the most objectionable. He pumped his fist, turned, faced the Braves’ dugout, and pumped his fist again.

That vision stuck with the Braves the entire night.

“It’s one thing to be excited,” Schuerholz said, “it’s another thing to be demonstrative, to turn around, and pump your fist at the other team’s dugout.

“You don’t see this team doing that. You’ll never see this team doing that.”

The Braves ensured they would not be seeing it again this night, either.

They scored three runs off Todd Stottlemyre before making their first out. They produced a 5-0 lead in the first inning. They had a 7-0 lead and had knocked Stottlemyre out of the game by the second inning. They had a 10-0 lead by the fourth. And they had a National League championship series record 16 hits before stepping onto the field in the fifth.

The Braves wound up with a season-high 22 hits, three shy of the franchise record. The Braves had nine fewer hits than they produced the first four games of the series, and their seven extra-base hits equaled their previous total.

It was such a humbling experience that Marquis Grissom and Mark Lemke--the Braves’ two hitters at the top of the order--had seven hits and four runs by the fourth inning. The Cardinals had only seven hits the entire game.

Brave catcher Javier Lopez had three extra-base hits. The Cardinals had none.

Smoltz, who pitched seven shutout innings, had two hits and drove in a run. The top of the Cardinal order--Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee and Ron Gant--had only two hits.

“It was important that we won this game,” Atlanta shortstop Jeff Blauser said, “but the fashion in which we won it was even bigger for us.”

The Cardinals have a decision to make. They strongly are considering starting rookie Alan Benes in Game 6 instead of left-hander Donovan Osborne. This would allow Osborne to pitch Game 7, if necessary, on his usual rest.

The Cardinals’ decision of going with a three-man rotation may be backfiring. Andy Benes, pitching on three days’ rest, lasted only five innings Sunday. Stottlemyre pitched one inning Monday. Together, they have yielded 16 hits and 10 earned runs in six innings.

Their psyche also seems a bit frayed. Manager Tony La Russa was particularly annoyed with Cox, who criticized the Braves’ performance Sunday instead of praising the Cardinals.

“The one thing you’re not going to hear me say is that we had bad luck,” La Russa said, “or they had good luck. We’re not going to talk about bloopers that fell. We’re not going to talk about line drives that got caught, and all of these excuses that people make sometimes that you’ve heard in this series.”

La Russa also was annoyed by the Braves’ efforts to maintain their shutout. Smoltz, who didn’t permit a baserunner to reach third after the first inning, threw an array of off-speed pitches with the huge lead rather than fastballs.

Cox took Smoltz out after the seventh, brought in Mike Bielecki in the eighth, let Terrell Wade open the ninth, and then summoned Brad Clontz to pitch to the final two batters. The crowd of 56,782 loudly booed.

“They had us buried at the time,” La Russa said. “It looks like he was very conscious of keeping that zero on the board.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE PLAYOFFS NATIONAL LEAGUE

* Game 5: Atlanta 14, St. Louis 0 (St. Louis leads series, 3-2)

* Game 6: Wednesday, 1:15 p.m. St. Louis (Osborne 13-9 vs. Atlanta (Maddox 15-11)

* Game Report: C5