Yankees, Indians and Braves Make Most of Their Advantage

Mr. October is already taken, but John Smoltz also deserves a catchy nickname because of his postseason accomplishments.

No pitcher has been better than the Atlanta Brave right-hander at playoff time. Just ask the Chicago Cubs.

Smoltz added to his historic playoff resume against Chicago, pitching 7 2/3 strong innings in a 7-1 victory in Game 1 of the National League division series Wednesday at Turner Field.

On an overcast afternoon, Smoltz broke the all-time record for postseason victories--he now has 11--before an appreciative crowd of 45,598.

He was supported by two home runs--including a grand slam by Ryan Klesko--and the Braves played typically outstanding defense in ruining the Cubs’ first playoff game since 1989. After hitting 66 home runs in the regular season, Sammy Sosa was limited to a double and single in four at-bats.

However, things weren’t perfect for Atlanta because its inexperienced bullpen had mixed results in its first test. Rookie setup man John Rocker retired the only batter he faced in the eighth, but rookie closer Kerry Ligtenberg struggled in the ninth.

Ligtenberg struck out two and walked two. With two on and two out, Danny Bautista made a diving catch on a ball hit by Gary Gaetti to end the game.

The Braves won their eighth successive game in the division series behind Smoltz, who is still working on that nickname.

“We’ll have to see what we can come up with,” said Smoltz, who is 3-0 in his last three division series starts. “This [the record] means a lot to me, but it means more to me that the team I played for has given me the chance to do this.

“I’ve obviously had a lot of opportunities to pitch in the postseason, and that is a credit to this organization. We realize that it doesn’t matter what you did last year--you have to go out and get it done every year.”

Smoltz got it done again Wednesday.

He gave up only five hits--including a leadoff homer by Tyler Houston in the eighth. Smoltz struck out six without a walk while improving to 11-3 in 21 postseason starts, and lowering his earned-run average to 2.29.

Smoltz had been tied with Whitey Ford and Dave Stewart in postseason victories. Of course, Smoltz had many more opportunities in the postseason than Ford because of extra playoff rounds, and more than Stewart as well.

But that doesn’t diminish the record for Smoltz.

“This is more of a team award than it is an individual award,” said Smoltz, who threw 116 pitches against the Cubs, 81 for strikes.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to kind of be in the shadows of two great pitchers in [Greg] Maddux and [Tom] Glavine, and that has helped me have a lot of success at this time of the year. It’s that, and it’s the product behind me that has allowed this to happen.”

The Braves staked Smoltz to a 7-0 lead on a two-run homer by Michael Tucker in the second, a sacrifice fly by Andruw Jones in the sixth and Klesko’s slam in the seventh against reliever Matt Karchner.

Cub starter Mark Clark, inconsistent in the regular season, gave up seven hits in six-plus innings, and was charged with four runs--two earned. The Cub bullpen faltered in the seventh.

Felix Heredia walked two batters after relieving Clark, and Karchner gave up the homer to Klesko on a full count. Not that it mattered with Smoltz pitching, Chicago Manager Jim Riggleman said.

“We made some mistakes, but he was extremely tough today,” Riggleman said. “He really had a good changeup to complement all of his other stuff.

“It was very tough to get anything going against him. If we put a runner on, it seemed like he just turned it up a notch.”

With the Cubs trailing, 3-0, in the seventh, Sosa was stranded at second after doubling to open the inning. Mark Grace, batting behind Sosa, flied out to center on the first pitch from Smoltz.

“That was the big out,” Smoltz said. “With a man on second and nobody out in a 3-0 game, that was big.”

The Cubs arrived in Atlanta on Tuesday evening after defeating the San Francisco Giants in the NL wild-card playoff game Monday night at Wrigley Field. They had an emotionally draining final week of the regular season, and that combined with Smoltz’s performance was too much to overcome.

“That probably had something to do with it,” Sosa said of the fatigue factor. “We played a little poorly, we made some mistakes, and he was good.

“But everyone on this team knows that this is the playoffs, and we all know what we have to do. We just have to play a little better.”

Against the Braves, that’s easier said than done.

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* WOOD APPEARS READY: Cub rookie right-hander Kerry Wood, sidelined by injury since Aug. 31, looks like a strong possibility to start Saturday. C7