AROUND THE MAJORS

Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox continued to defend the decision to allow Tom Glavine, coming off a bout of flu, to pitch the eighth inning of Game 3 after providing Cox with the seven innings that had been his goal. Chuck Knoblauch hit a two-run, 315-foot homer off Glavine in the eighth to tie the score, setting the stage for the Yankees’ 6-5 win in the 10th. Cox said he has so much faith in his renowned starters that he doesn’t second-guess them when they tell him they are still strong.

“There’s no second-guessing in my mind,” he said. “He had plenty left. If these guys are still strong, they’re in, period. They’re too good to take out. Tom was on. He could have pitched 10 innings, probably.”

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Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs and Manny Ramirez of the Cleveland Indians received the first Hank Aaron awards for their respective leagues Wednesday. The award goes to the players who have the most hits, homers and runs batted in combined in their respective leagues.

In presenting the awards to Sosa and Ramirez, Aaron said he was proud to have an award strictly for hitters given in his name. He was asked about the power barrage of recent years and the possibility that his career record for home runs will soon be broken.

“It’s all right with me,” Aaron said. “I’ve held the record long enough. Records are meant to be broken. The leading candidate, I think, is Ken Griffey Jr. because of his age, but it doesn’t matter who breaks it because it would indicate progress in baseball. And the guy who breaks it will have a much easier time than I did. He won’t have to sneak out the back door. He’ll be able to enjoy it with his family.”

Asked if he still receives hate mail, as he did when he was eclipsing Babe Ruth’s record, Aaron said, “I don’t know. I have someone who opens my mail for me.”