Braves Have a Familiar Rallying Cry

Atlanta Brave pitcher John Smoltz had a strange feeling Thursday night that he’d been in this situation before.

And after the New York Yankees had clipped the Braves, 1-0, in Game 5 to take a three-games-to-two lead in the World Series, his Atlanta teammates had a similar, sinking feeling.

Like Yogi Berra once said, it was deja vu all over again.

Smoltz locked up the role of hard-luck pitcher in a 1-0 World Series loss, throwing eight strong innings, striking out 10 and giving up one unearned run before 51,881 in Fulton County Stadium, only to be outdueled by Yankee left-hander Andy Pettitte.

The Braves’ right-hander also came up short against Minnesota Twin ace Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, when his 7 1/3 innings of six-hit, scoreless ball were not enough to beat Morris’ 10-inning shutout in the Twins’ 1-0 victory.

“I have a numb feeling, the same kind of feeling I had in that 1991 game,” said Smoltz, who finished the 1996 postseason with a 4-1 record and 0.95 earned-run average. “I went about it with that same bend-but-don’t-break mentality. I didn’t care if I gave up a hit or a walk, I just didn’t want to give up a run.”

He didn’t, really. Outfielders Marquis Grissom and Jermaine Dye--whose failure to communicate on Charlie Hayes’ fourth-inning drive to the right-center gap resulted in a two-base error--did.

Because of that--and Cecil Fielder’s ensuing RBI double--the Braves are faced with the same dilemma they overcame in the National League championship series--trailing, three games to two, with Greg Maddux slated to pitch Game 6 and Tom Glavine Game 7, if necessary.

“I’m fired up about our chances,” Smoltz said. “I know I’m not going to have a hand in it, but I couldn’t pass the baton to two better guys. This team has a lot of pride, a lot of guts, and when our backs are against the wall, it brings out the best in us. There’s not a guy in here who doesn’t believe we can win this thing.”

The Braves, who came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the St. Louis Cardinals last week, seem to thrive on this bunker mentality, but after dropping three in a row at home to the surging Yankees, after playing shoddy baseball for three nights in a row, there are some doubts as to whether they can muster another dramatic comeback.

“This is not something you want to do all the time,” said second baseman Mark Lemke, whose failure to execute a sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning proved costly. “It’s never easy, and it’s not going to be any easier this time. But we don’t panic. We know what we have to do to win.”

Snapping out of their three-day rut would be a start. In addition to Grissom’s error and Lemke’s lemon of a bunt, Yankee catcher Jim Leyritz stole second in the seventh inning and catcher Javier Lopez barely even noticed.

Lopez and Chipper Jones each grounded into inning-ending double plays, and reliever Mark Wohlers’ pitch on an intentional walk to Leyritz in the top of the ninth sailed about six feet over Lopez’s head and to the backstop.

Lopez grounded out on reliever John Wetteland’s first pitch with a runner on third and one out in the bottom of the ninth, and Luis Polonia’s game-ending flyout dropped Atlanta pinch-hitters to 0 for 20 in the postseason.

“The little things, that’s what it boils down to,” Lemke said. “You have to execute, do all the little things, or they’ll cost you.”

Smoltz took care of the big things, throwing 136 pitches to shut down the Yankees.

“I battled as much as I could battle, but I just have to tip my hat to Andy Pettitte,” said Smoltz, whose 10 strikeouts were the most in a Series game since Steve Carlton’s 10 for Philadelphia in 1980. “He was fantastic. Personally, this was one of the toughest games I’ve ever pitched. I’m beat. One run was huge in a game like this. Two runs would have seemed like five.”

Now the Braves will pin their hopes on Maddux, the four-time Cy Young Award winner who threw eight sparkling innings in Atlanta’s 4-0 Game 2 victory.

“I’m looking forward to it--not many guys are still pitching, but I am,” Maddux said. “But why make it harder than it has to be? I just think about pitching. . . . I was in the same position last week and we came through.”