Umpire Welke Strikes Back Against Cox

Third-base umpire Tim Welke had the final say in his ongoing feud with Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox, ejecting Cox in the fifth inning of Saturday night’s game after a controversial play on which Marquis Grissom was called out at second.

Cox had questioned several of Welke’s calls behind the plate in Game 3, and he criticized Welke heavily for not getting out of right fielder Jermaine Dye’s way on a foul ball down the right-field line in Game 4.

But it was Welke who rung up Cox in Game 6, making him the first manager to be ejected from two World Series games. Cox was the last manager ejected from a World Series. He was thrown out of Game 3 in 1992, a 3-2 Toronto victory.

Cox had good reason to argue the call that eventually earned him a one-way ticket to the clubhouse. Grissom had singled and tried to advance when a Jimmy Key pitch bounced a few feet to catcher Joe Girardi’s right.

Girardi pounced on the ball and made a fine throw to second, where replays showed that Grissom slid in before shortstop Derek Jeter’s tag. But umpire Terry Tata called Grissom out, and Grissom had to be restrained by coach Pat Corrales during an ensuing argument.

Cox came out to argue, and as he was walking back to the dugout he exchanged words with Welke, who immediately ejected Cox.

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Cox played a hunch Saturday, starting Terry Pendleton at designated hitter over Ryan Klesko, and, as with most Cox moves during this series, it didn’t work out very well--Pendleton made two highly questionable decisions that wound up costing the Braves.

Pendleton reached on an error in the third inning and tried a delayed steal after Jeff Blauser squared to bunt and took a pitch.

Pendleton was thrown out by Girardi, and Blauser then doubled to right- center, a hit that might have scored Pendleton and, at worst, would have put runners on second and third with no outs. Grissom then grounded out and Mark Lemke flied out to end the inning.

The Braves still had the bases loaded with one out after scoring in the fourth, and Pendleton worked the count to 3-1 on Jimmy Key. But he swung at a pitch that appeared to be low and bounced into an inning-ending, 6-3 double play.

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He grounded out in his only World Series at-bat, but Yankee outfielder Mike Aldrete, who began this season with the Angels before being traded to New York in June, hardly felt cheated.

“I know everyone dreams about getting the big hit or home run to win a World Series game, but like a lot of facets of my career, my expectations are a little less,” said Aldrete, a reserve for his 11 big league seasons.

“I honestly and truly just wanted to appear in a World Series. It would have been great to get a hit, but if this is all it is, I wouldn’t consider it a failure. It’s been a thrill.”

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President Clinton apparently tried to reach Yankee Manager Joe Torre after the game, but by the time Torre got to the phone, the President had hung up. “I guess he must have gone to get a sandwich or something,” Torre said. . . . The Yankees won despite batting only .216 against the Braves, the lowest average for a World Series champion since Baltimore batted .213 in a five-game win over Philadelphia in 1983. The Braves finished with a 2.33 team earned-run average, lowest for a losing team since 1973, when the New York Mets had a 2.22 ERA in a seven-game loss to Oakland.