Braves Are Human After All

The coronation of the Atlanta Braves was put on hold Tuesday night.

The team some have compared to the 1927 New York Yankees, that many thought was a lock to sweep the 1996 Yankees right out of this World Series--”It’s over,” an Atlanta Constitution Journal columnist declared Tuesday--looked quite ordinary in Game 3.

After playing a near-perfect game Monday in New York, the Braves returned to Fulton County Stadium with a thud, making physical and mental errors, botching a key bunt attempt, missing pitches they should have whacked, and throwing pitches that were easily drilled.

It all added up to a 5-2 loss that ended Atlanta’s remarkable playoff victory streak at five and breathed life and hope into the Yankees, who now trail, two games to one.

“Baseball is a humbling game--that’s why when things are going good, you can’t get too excited,” Atlanta second baseman Mark Lemke said. “A lot of stuff that happened [Tuesday night] can have a snow-ball effect if you let it bother you, but you just have to look back and say, ‘That’s baseball.’

“We have to put this behind us. You saw how the Yankees played. Their first two losses obviously didn’t bother them. We have to do the same thing.”

Atlanta players must have cringed Tuesday morning when they opened the paper and saw headlines such as this: “Why play it out? Braves greats have Yankees overmatched.”

Even after whipping the Yankees, 12-1, in Game 1 and dominating them in a 4-0 Game 2 victory, the Braves were extremely cautious, saying the series was far from over. How right they were.

“We know what we’re up against,” Lemke said. “That team is not going to lay down and quit. They have a lot of veteran players. Winning the first two games was great, but we still knew the series was going to be tough.”

Tuesday night, the Braves made things tough for themselves.

Shortstop Jeff Blauser’s fielding error on Williams’ grounder to open the fourth led to an unearned run, and his inability to throw out Derek Jeter on an eighth-inning grounder to the hole--the play was ruled an infield hit--cost the Braves.

Williams followed by lining a Greg McMichael changeup into the right-field seats for a two-run homer and a 4-1 lead. Cecil Fielder then drove a ball over Marquis Grissom’s head in center, and Grissom fielded it beautifully, snagging the carom as Fielder reached first.

But when he turned to fire to second, there was no one covering the bag, and Fielder pulled in with a double. He took third on a groundout and eventually scored on Luis Sojo’s single for a 5-1 lead.

“Things aren’t going to go your way every single night,” said pitcher Tom Glavine, whose seven-inning, four-hit, eight-strikeout performance was wasted. “The last five games everything has gone our way, but tonight was an evening-out process.”

The Braves trailed, 2-0, in the sixth and had an excellent chance to even things up against Yankee pitcher David Cone, but after a walk to Glavine and Grissom’s single, Lemke popped out on a sacrifice bunt attempt.

Chipper Jones walked to load the bases, but Fred McGriff, who knocked in three runs Monday night, popped to shallow center. Cone’s walk to Klesko forced in a run, but Javier Lopez, most valuable player in the National League championship series, popped to the catcher to end the inning.

“We got the pitches, they were right there,” Brave Manager Bobby Cox said, “and we popped them up.”

Game 3 also exposed the disparity the teams’ middle relief corps. Cox’s first bullpen move was to go to McMichael, who blew a 3-0 lead in Game 4 of the NL championship series against St. Louis and was booed off the mound by his own fans Tuesday night.

Yankee Manager Joe Torre went to Mariano Rivera, who threw a scoreless seventh before giving up a run in the eighth, lefty Graeme Lloyd, who recorded two outs in the eighth, and closer John Wetteland in the ninth.

“Once you get to their bullpen,” Lemke said of the Yankees, “you know they’re going to be tough to beat.”