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Sunday, Oct. 3 1:10pm ET
Atlanta ends year with major-league best 103 wins | |||||
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ATLANTA (AP) -- The Atlanta Braves are hoping that their regular-season finale carries over to the postseason. In their largest shutout win in 114 years, the Braves pounded out 21 hits and Tom Glavine threw five scoreless innings in his postseason tuneup Sunday to close out the regular season with a 18-0 rout of the Florida Marlins. Atlanta, winning 11 of its last 13 games en route to a record eighth consecutive playoff berth, finished the regular season with the best record in the majors (103-59). The Marlins wound up with the worst mark in the NL at 64-98. "I think it's good to end on a good note. I'd rather end it like today -- getting a lot of runs and throwing a shutout -- rather than getting blown out and going through the motions," said Atlanta manager Bobby Cox. The 18-0 win matched the franchise record set by the Boston Braves against Buffalo on Oct. 3, 1885. The previous mark was 16-0 which was done three times, the latest July 22, 1999 against the New York Mets. "I really wanted to stay away from anything like that, which could have a tendency to rub off a little bit," Cox said. "It's good to score that many runs. It gives you a little confidence even though the game didn't mean much." It meant plenty to Glavine. Glavine (14-11), scheduled to pitch Game 3 of the best-of-5 playoff opener against Cincinnati or Houston, allowed five hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out six in winning his third straight decision. He also went 2-for-2 at the plate and drove in two runs. "I feel like for the first time all year in three consecutive starts I've gone out there and been in control of what I'm trying to do," said Glavine. "I couldn't ask for anything better going into the playoffs." Otis Nixon had three hits while Gerald Williams, Howard Battle and Randall Simon also had two hits apiece for the Braves, who substituted freely using 17 position players and five pitchers. The only two position players not to play were MVP candidate Chipper Jones and cleanup hitter Brian Jordan. The Braves open the postseason at Turner Field on Tuesday. Greg Maddux will start in the opener followed by Kevin Millwood. Glavine will start Game 3 on the road. Atlanta, after scoring twice in the second inning off Dennis Springer (6-16) on RBI hits by Ozzie Guillen and Glavine, broke it open in with a seven-run third. Eddie Perez doubled in two runs, Keith Lockhart had a two-run single and Williams, Ryan Klesko and Glavine added RBI hits in the third. Battle, who is expected to make Atlanta's postseason roster as a right-handed hitter off the bench, hit his first major league home run in the sixth, a three-run shot off Michael Tejera for a 12-0 lead. "The season wasn't tough for us. The losses were tough. But we know where we are. We're rebuilding. One of our goals was to be better in the second half than in the beginning and we were," said Florida manager John Boles. "Today was just one of those things that happen," he said. Game notesGlavine was 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA this season (5-10, 4.10 ERA career) against the Marlins and hadn't beaten the Marlins since July 16, 1996 before Sunday. ... The 18 runs the Braves scored gave them 840 for the season, breaking the franchise record of 826 set last season. The Braves season-high in runs (20) and hits (24) was on April 18 in a 20-5 win over Colorado. ... The Marlins struck out 38 times in the three-game series. ... The 21 hits were the most allowed by Marlins pitchers this season. ... The crowd of 40,570 gave Atlanta a season total attendance of 3,284,897. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Florida Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse RECAPS Toronto 9 Cleveland 2
Atlanta 18
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