Cut Down to Cy’s

Who knows the roots of baseball’s oldest adage--good pitching beats good hitting--or when it was first uttered, but the Atlanta Braves have been living by this credo for five years, and it’s holding true again in this year’s World Series.

Greg Maddux, a four-time Cy Young Award winner, completely baffled the New York Yankees Monday night, throwing an eight-inning, six-hit shutout to lead the Braves to a 4-0 victory in Game 2 before 56,340 in Yankee Stadium.

The Maddux masterpiece, which included 19 ground-ball outs, no walks and required only 82 pitches--62 of them strikes--came on the heels of John Smoltz’s complete dominance of the Yankees in Game 1 and gave the Braves a commanding two-games-to-none lead as the series shifts to Atlanta tonight.

All the Yankees have to worry about in Game 3 is Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine, the 1991 Cy Young Award winner who threw a one-hit shutout against Cleveland in Game 6 to clinch the 1995 World Series for Atlanta and shut out the St. Louis Cardinals over seven innings in last Thursday’s National League championship series-clinching victory.

“We’re just hoping,” Yankee third baseman Wade Boggs said, “that we don’t run into four guys who could be Cy Young Award winners.”

Atlanta’s offense has come alive in the postseason--the Braves have outscored playoff opponents, 48-2, in their last five games, and Fred McGriff keyed Monday night’s attack with two hits and three runs batted in--but that has merely provided a temporary diversion from the real strength of this team: pitching.

The Braves have given up one run and 12 hits in the last 27 innings of World Series play, dating to last season. Pitchers have combined for a 1.43 earned-run average in 12 playoff games this year and a 1.71 ERA in their last 22 playoff games dating to last year’s league championship series.

On Monday, Mark Wohlers struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth.

“Pitching is still the name of the game,” Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said. “The game doesn’t start until the pitcher releases the ball.”

When Maddux releases the ball like he did Monday night, the game is usually over--for the opponent. Maddux is 62-21 with a 1.99 ERA since the 1993 All-Star break, and Monday night was his second World Series piece de resistance. He threw a complete-game, three-hitter in Game 1 against the Indians in 1995.

“I’ve had games where I might have pitched better,” Maddux said, “but under the circumstances, this is a game I’ll take to the grave with me. This is an intimidating place to pitch.”

Maddux had a little help, though. In addition to Atlanta’s normal advance scouting reports, he took advantage of a local newspaper’s scouting report to bone up on the Yankees.

“It was great,” Maddux said. “They had us pegged, so I figured the one for the Yankees was right on.”

What paper was it in? “I don’t know,” Maddux said. “One of the black-and-white ones.”

A Boggs at-bat in the sixth inning was indicative of the kind of night it was for the Yankees. Trailing, 4-0, Derek Jeter and Tim Raines opened the sixth with singles, and fans who had been sitting on their hands all night rose in anticipation of a rally.

Boggs, who singled in the first, got a pitch he thought he could handle, but he bounced into a 4-6-3 double play. Bernie Williams then grounded out. End of inning. End of rally. Perhaps the end for the Yankees?

“You have to give credit where credit is due,” Boggs said. “Maddux knows how to pitch. He could write a book. You have to hope he makes a mistake. I thought he did against me. I thought I got a fastball right down the middle. Then the bottom fell out, and it was another ground ball in the dirt. He’s a master illusionist.”

While Smoltz relied on power during a 12-1 Game 1 victory, Maddux used precision, changing speeds on his fastball, moving it inside and outside, and mixing in a two-seam changeup that sinks, dips and darts in many directions.

“I didn’t think he could get much better than Smoltz [Sunday night],” Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones said. “But he did. They were behind on his fastball all night, topping it in the dirt, and he caught them off-guard with his changeup. He did a phenomenal job of keeping them off-balance.”

Because Maddux soft-serves so many pitches, his fastball, an 87-mph delivery, at best, is deceptively quick. And he has a knack for making batters hit his pitch.

“He has his way with you,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “You don’t see pitchers like that every day . . . unfortunately we’ve seen it every day. The thing about Maddux is he doesn’t do it with power. You think of Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, some of the great pitchers, and they all did it with power. Greg does it with a lot of finesse and intelligence.”

Torre was asked if there were any comparable pitchers in the American League.

“You have guys like Roger Clemens and Kevin Appier, but they’re not all on the same team,” Torre said. “That’s the problem.”

Unless the Yankees figure out how to solve this problem, their first trip to the World Series in 15 years could be as quick and painful as the 1976 World Series, when they were swept by the Cincinnati Reds.

“I have confidence in our team,” Torre said. “The only thing we need to do is get things rolling, get some timely hits. In a short series, one game can turn things around.”

History is not on their side. Of the 43 teams that took a 2-0 lead in the series, 33 have gone on to win. Still, no one in the Braves’ clubhouse was talking sweep.

“Our confidence level is high, but emotionally, we’re under control,” Maddux said. “This thing isn’t even close to being over.”

* ROSS NEWHAN: The Yankees first Series appearance in 15 years could be a short one. C6

* McGRUFF NIGHT: Braves’ Fred McGriff tried to shun the postgame attention. C7

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Well-Armed

A look at the Atlanta Brave pitching staff in the postseason.

STARTING ROTATION

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IP H R ER BB SO W-L ERA 85 2/3 59 21 14 18 66 9-2 1.47

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BULLPEN

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IP H R ER BB SO SV ERA 21 1/3 11 3 3 5 26 5 1.27

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TEAM

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IP H R ER BB SO W-L ERA 107 70 24 17 23 92 9-3 1.43

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