| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Another of the Atlanta Braves' golden arms left
Busch Stadium badly tarnished, putting the St. Louis Cardinals
within one win of the NL championship series.
Tom Glavine was pounded for seven runs and six hits in 2 1/3
innings -- his shortest outing in seven years -- and the Cardinals
beat the Braves 10-4 Thursday to take a 2-0 lead in their
best-of-five NL playoff series.
|
GAME 2 AT A GLANCE
|
|
Every game a hero
After the Braves scored two runs in the top of the first, Will Clark got the Busch Stadium faithful going by clubbing a three-run homer off of Tom Glavine in the bottom half of the inning. The Cardinals never surrendered the lead from there and went on to knock Glavine out of the game in the third inning. By that time he had already given up seven runs.
Key play
In his at-bat in the first inning with runners on first and second, Clark worked the count full on Glavine and then fouled off a pitch. Then on the next pitch -- the seventh of the at-bat -- Glavine got too much of the plate and Clark made him pay for it, depositing it over the fence in right-center. It was lights out at that point for Glavine and the Braves.
ESPN analysis
The Cardinals are a very, very hot and dangerous team. Before the game, I thought this would be a day when people realized how good Darryl Kile is. He certainly stepped up. He's a big-time, money pitcher.
-- Peter Gammons
|
"It came at a bad time," Glavine said. "I needed to go out
there and give us an opportunity to win, and I didn't do that."
Will Clark overcame a 2-0, first-inning deficit with a three-run
homer, and Mark McGwire, limited to one at-bat per game because of
knee pain, limped out of the Cardinals dugout in the eighth to hit
a pinch homer off Mike Remlinger.
"What we were trying to do was go out there and get a good
pitch to hit, basically the same thing that we did with Maddux,"
Clark said. "These guys are awesome pitchers. They're 20-game
winners for a reason."
Darryl Kile limited Atlanta to two runs and four hits in seven
innings, striking out six and walking two.
The reeling Braves are in danger of failing to make the NL
championship series for the first time since 1990. They head home
hoping either Maddux on three days' rest or Kevin Millwood (10-13)
can win Game 3 on Saturday at Turner Field. Garrett Stephenson
(16-9) is likely to start for the Cardinals.
St. Louis essentially is in the same position it was in 1996,
when it took a 3-1 lead over Atlanta in the best-of-seven NLCS,
then lost three straight.
"It's exactly the same thing," Braves manager Bobby Cox said.
"We could very well pull that off. Heck, we won 15 in a row this
year."
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa remains wary of the Braves, who
find themselves struggling in the '00s after calling themselves the
team of the '90s.
"We recognize this is a three-win series, not a two-win
series," La Russa said. "So nobody's celebrating."
After Clark's three-run homer started the comeback, Carlos Hernandez had a solo shot in the second and St. Louis made it 7-2
in the third on Ray Lankford's two-run double and Eric Davis'
sacrifice fly.
Atlanta's top two pitchers, Greg Maddux and Glavine, who have
combined for six NL Cy Young Awards, have given up 12 earned runs
in 6 1/3 innings, a 17.05 ERA.
Jim Edmonds was 3-for-4 with three doubles and two RBIs for St.
Louis, making him 6-for-9 with four RBIs in the series. He also
made an over-the-shoulder catch of Rafael Furcal's drive to the center-field warning track in the eighth.
"You'll see him do at least one of these every series," La
Russa said. "To the left, to the right, in, back, he's just a
complete center fielder."
Kile and Glavine were the only 20-game winners in the NL this
season. While Kile evened his career postseason record at 1-1,
Glavine dropped to 10-12.
Kile struggled with his control in the first, giving up an RBI
single to Chipper Jones and a run-scoring groundout to Brian Jordan. But after Andres Galarraga's two-out double in the first,
Kile retired 13 in a row, striking out the side in the second.
"Every game is different," Kile said. "Some days you come out
of the chute with your command. I gave up the lead early and
fortunately we came back with some big hits."
St. Louis went 6-for-12 against Glavine, who hadn't been chased
this quickly since lasting two innings in a 7-5 loss to Los Angeles
on Aug. 19, 1993. The Cardinals' three left-handed hitters were for
4-for-6 with a homer, two doubles and five RBIs against them.
His only worse postseason outing was a two-inning stint in Game
6 of the 1992 NLCS against Pittsburgh in which he allowed eight
runs.
"Tommy's usually living on the edge," Braves pitching coach
Leo Mazzone said. "Today, he caught a lot of the middle of the
plate. He was hitting the heart of the plate with left-handed
pitchers."
After Glavine departed, Edmonds hit RBI doubles off Andy Ashby
in the fourth and John Burkett in the sixth for a 9-2 lead.
Atlanta got a pair of runs in the eighth off Mike Timlin on
Andruw Jones' homer and Jordan's RBI single.
McGwire, baseball's biggest star, has hardly played since
midseason because of patella tendinitis in his right knee. Two of
his 32 homers during the season came after he returned from the
disabled list Sept. 8.
He drove a 1-2 pitch from Remlinger 412 feet over the
center-field wall. The crowd applauded long enough to get a curtain
call.
Game notes
Braves pinch hitter B.J. Surhoff, who has a pulled
quadriceps, singled off the center-field wall with two outs in the
fifth. ... Edmonds was 4-for-28 in the regular season against the
Braves. ... The Cardinals outscored the Braves 9-2 the first inning
the first two games. They outscored opponents 147-90 in the first
inning during the regular season. ... Kile's only other postseason
start was a 2-1 division series loss to Maddux and the Braves in
1997, when he was with the Astros. ... Clark was 10-for-19 against
the Braves this season with five homers and eight RBIs. .... The
last time 20-game winners were matched in NL postseason play was
Oct. 4, 1969 when Phil Niekro (23-13) of the Braves opposed Tom
Seaver (25-7) of the Mets in the NLCS. The Braves' John Smoltz (24-8) faced the Yankees' Andy Pettitte (21-8) in Games 1 and 5 of the 1996 World Series.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Atlanta Clubhouse
St. Louis Clubhouse
Stark: Braves' Big Two going down for the count
Stark: Though hobbled, Big Mac still delivers his magic
RECAPS
St. Louis 10
Atlanta 4
NY Mets 5
San Francisco 4
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Braves/Cardinals postgame news conference.
RealVideo: | 28.8
Will Clark talks with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap about his three-run homer in the first inning.
avi: 2309 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Will Clark comments on Mark McGwire's home run in the eighth inning.
wav: 193 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Braves manager Bobby Cox says the Cardinals are a powerful team.
wav: 105 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Darryl Kile comments on the Cardinals' performance in Game 2.
wav: 137 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
