Bronx Bummers Back Home

So here we are, back in the Bronx, home-not-so-sweet-home for the New York Yankees in World Series Games 1 and 2, a safe haven of sorts for those road-warriors-turned-road-kill, the Atlanta Braves, and now site of Game 6 and a possible championship-clinching celebration for the Yankees tonight.

Five days ago, you could have fit all the people who expected this series to return to New York in a room about the size of the Yankee clubhouse.

The Braves whipped the Yankees the first two games in New York and returned to Atlanta for Games 3, 4 and 5 with a rotation of Tom Glavine, Denny Neagle and John Smoltz, against tenuous-armed David Cone, unarmed Kenny Rogers and scatter-armed Andy Pettitte, who was battered in Game 1.

You could have decorated a Rose Parade float with all the bouquets tossed at the Braves. “As good as the 1927 Yankees,” one Atlanta columnist declared. “It’s over,” wrote another. The Braves were being fitted for capes, while mounds of dirt were being shoveled on the Yankees.

Atlanta General Manager John Schuerholz began fielding questions about the Braves being the team of the ‘90s; Yankee General Manager Bob Watson was asked if he thought he’d be fired.

The Braves warned the Series was far from over, that fortunes can turn in the postseason the way Cecil Fielder turns on a hanging slider, but most writers covering the Series still purchased one-way tickets from New York to Atlanta on Tuesday, figuring they’d be home by this weekend.

But here they all are, back in Yankee Stadium, where tonight’s pitching matchup between Greg Maddux and Jimmy Key was made possible by the Yankees’ improbable three-game sweep of the Braves in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Pettitte’s 1-0 Game 5 victory Thursday night improved the Yankees’ road record in the playoffs to 8-0, the best in postseason history, but with Game 6 scheduled for 5 p.m. PDT tonight, one has to wonder if the Yankees are a little leery about their surroundings.

“We’re going back home now,” Manager Joe Torre said after Game 5. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

Shortstop Derek Jeter thinks it’s good.

“Hopefully we’ll turn into home warriors now,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any more pressure at home; we just happened to play well on the road. We’re playing well now, and if we play well at home we can win this.”

Yankee catcher Jim Leyritz, whose dramatic, eighth-inning, three-run homer highlighted an 8-6 victory in Game 4, said Yankee Stadium will “be a lot crazier” tonight than it was for Games 1 and 2, which featured seven fans running onto the field during the game, only to be mauled by security guards.

“We have a little momentum going now,” Leyritz said. “Fans who might have been walking out the door during the last two games there are back on the bandwagon.”

The problem for the Yankees tonight is that Maddux has a knack for sending opposing fans home early and cranky. The crafty right-hander, one of the best pitchers of this generation, gave up only six hits in eight innings to lead Atlanta to a 4-0 victory in Game 2.

“It’s a challenge, and I love challenges,” said Key, who gave up four runs and 10 hits in six innings in Game 2. “I was so-so in that game. I might win some nights with that kind of stuff, but not against Greg. Hopefully I’ll be sharper, and not pitch with guys on base every inning.”

The Yankees hardly threatened against Maddux, grounding into 19 of 24 outs, but they might be buoyed by this piece of history: After being overwhelmed by Maddux in Game 1 of the 1995 World Series, the Cleveland Indians roughed him up for four runs and seven hits in a 5-4 victory in Game 5.

Sure, Maddux walked two in the first inning and gave up a cheap, opposite-field homer to Albert Belle over the short right-field fence in Jacobs Field, but the Indians did have him measured better the second time around.

“Cleveland didn’t hit him hard that night,” Brave Manager Bobby Cox said. “If Greg is on his game, we should be fine.”

Cox hasn’t exactly been on his game, and many believe that’s why the Yankees and not the Braves are one game away from hoisting a championship banner.

Two critical moves by Cox in Game 4--replacing reliever Mike Bielecki with closer Greg Wohlers to start the eighth inning and intentionally walking the bases loaded in the 10th--backfired. Just about every move Torre has made has worked.

Torre benched struggling first baseman Tino Martinez in Atlanta and started Fielder, who went six for 11 in Games 3, 4 and 5 and knocked in the game’s only run Thursday night.

Torre played his bullpen in Game 4 as well as noted jazz guitarist and Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams plays his Stratocaster, and his relievers rewarded him by giving up only one run in eight innings.

When Torre walked the potential winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 5, pinch-hitter Luis Polonia followed with a game-ending fly out, thanks to right fielder Paul O’Neill’s fully extended, running catch.

Critics claim Cox has been outmanaged, but it should also be noted that Cox doesn’t have nearly the arsenal that Torre does. The two Yankee strengths--bullpen and overall depth--were more responsible than managing for the sweep in Atlanta.

Closer John Wetteland saved all three games, and setup men Mariano Rivera and Graeme Lloyd have provided a devastating right-left combination. And in Game 4, Torre was able to summon O’Neill, Martinez, Leyritz and Wade Boggs off the bench.

Atlanta pinch-hitters, meanwhile, are 0 for 20 in the postseason, and Cox has gotten mixed results from his bullpen.

“Everyone on our 25-man roster has contributed to winning games this season, and I don’t think many teams can claim that,” Torre said. “Having guys who have come off the bench and done well in pressure situations before has helped.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

World-Class Comebacks

Teams that have rebounded from a 0-2 deficit to win the World Series:

* 1921--New York (NL) 5, New York (AL) 3

* 1955--Brooklyn (NL) 4, New York (AL) 3

* 1956--New York (AL) 4, Brooklyn (NL) 3

* 1958--New York (AL) 4, Milwaukee (NL) 3

* 1965--Dodgers (NL) 4, Minnesota (AL) 3

* 1971--Pittsburgh (NL) 4, Baltimore (AL) 3

* 1978--New York (AL) 4, Dodgers (NL) 2

* 1981--Dodgers (NL) 4, New York (AL) 2

* 1985--*Kansas City (AL) 4, St. Louis (NL) 3

* 1986--*New York (NL) 4, Boston (AL) 3

* lost first two games at home

WORLD SERIES / NEW YORK YANKEES vs. ATLANTA BRAVES

GAME 1--Atlanta 12, New York 1

GAME 2--Atlanta 4, New York 0

GAME 3--New York 5, Atlanta 2

GAME 4--New York 8, Atlanta 6 (10)

GAME 5--New York 1, Atlanta 0

TODAY--Atlanta (Maddux, 15-11) at New York (Key, 12-11), 5 p.m.

*SUNDAY--at New York, 4:30 p.m.

All games on Channel 11; *--If necessary

* THE NEW DEAL?

Negotiators look to get the support of acting Commissioner Bud Selig to put the finishing touches on a labor agreement. C10