Glavine Receives the Call from Cox to Start Opener

Manager Bobby Cox didn’t fret over the Atlanta Braves’ World Series pitching rotation because multiple Cy Young Award winners provide peace of mind.

Two-time winner Tom Glavine will start the opener against the New York Yankees Saturday at Turner Field, Cox said Thursday. Four-time winner Greg Maddux, second-year star Kevin Millwood and one-time winner John Smoltz complete the rotation.

The left-handed Glavine has started seven times in the World Series, going 4-3 with a 1.75 earned-run average.

“Number one, it’s his turn to pitch,” Cox said of Glavine. “Number two, starting him in Game 1 ensures he gets to pitch in New York.

“Starting a left-hander there [at Yankee Stadium] is always supposed to be a slight edge. Why not do it when we can?”

Actually, Glavine won’t start in New York unless the Series goes at least five games.

Glavine was selected the 1995 World Series most valuable player after leading the Braves to the championship. He went 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and pitched eight scoreless innings in the Game 6 clincher against the Cleveland Indians.

“This is the time of the year and the situation you look forward to,” Glavine said. “This is where I want to be.”

Cox also has scheduled Glavine to pitch in Game 1 because Glavine last pitched last Friday. He worked seven scoreless innings in defeating the Mets, 1-0, in Game 3.

“It would be too many days [off],” Cox said. “They don’t forget how to pitch, but it would be too many days. Well, they better not forget how to pitch.”

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Brave center fielder Andruw Jones burst onto the national scene as an exuberant teenager during the 1996 playoffs.

At 19, the native of Curacao homered during the National League championship series to become the youngest player to homer during the postseason. He hit two homers in Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees, marking only the second time a player homered during his first two World Series at-bats.

But the Braves lost the series, 4-2, after taking the first two games at Yankee Stadium.

“They [the Yankees] didn’t know me,” said Jones, a Gold Glove award winner. “They just made mistakes and I hit home runs. That’s all.”