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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- John Rocker stood next to the mound, hands on
his hips, watching helplessly as the ball rolled into shallow center field
and two runners sprinted across the plate for the New York Mets.
This time, he couldn't back up his boast.
|  | | John Rocker can't believe it as Roger Cedeno and Melvin Mora celebrate. |
John Olerud hit a two-out, two-run single off Rocker in the
eighth inning and the Mets avoided a sweep in the NL Championship
Series with a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday
night.
"I have to admit it was good to get some runs against him,"
Mike Piazza said, "especially the way he's pitched."
Piazza said nothing about the Mouth of the South, but it was
obvious the Mets enjoyed this one. After the winning run came
across, several players in the dugout flapped their fingers to
mimic Rocker's constant chatter during the best-of-7 series.
The Braves still lead 3-1, with Game 5 set for Sunday afternoon
at Shea Stadium. No team has ever rebounded from an 0-3 deficit,
but the Mets aren't conceding yet.
"Someday, someone's going to do this," New York manager Bobby
Valentine said.
Rocker has infuriated New York fans with his inflammatory
comments and kept up the trash talking before the game, boasting
that he would be immersed in champagne at the end of Game 4. When
he sprinted in from the bullpen, one fan threw a baseball at him
and another hurled a cup of beer.
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GAME 4 AT A GLANCE
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Every game a hero
John Olerud knocked in all three runs for the Mets. He broke a 0-0 tie with a sixth-inning home run off John Smoltz and then delivered a two-out, two-run single off John Rocker in the eighth for a 3-2 lead. The ball glanced off the glove of shortstop Ozzie Guillen, who had just entered for Walt Weiss on a double-switch. Olerud had been 0-for-9 against Rocker with five strikeouts.
Key number
Zero. Number of times a team has rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a series. Number of baserunners the Braves have had against Armando Benitez this year in 8.2 innings.
Last word
"I made the pitch I wanted, low and away. He
hit a well-placed three-hopper. It was one of the cheaper hits off
me my entire year. An infield hit cost us two runs. It wasn't like
he hit a double off the wall."
-- Rocker
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Both missed the mark, but Olerud finally came through after
going hitless in nine career at-bats against Rocker, with five
strikeouts. The New York first baseman, who had struck out twice
against Rocker in the series, sent a chopper up the middle on a 2-2 fastball.
Rocker leaped for it but had no chance. Ozzie Guillen, who had
just entered the game for Walt Weiss in a double-switch, got his
glove on the ball but couldn't hold on, and it rolled into short
center field while Roger Cedeno and Melvin Mora scored.
"I made the pitch I wanted, low and away," Rocker said. "It
was a three-hopper, a well-placed three-hopper. It was one of the
cheaper hits off me my entire year. It wasn't like
he hit a double off the wall."
But it was good enough to produce another dramatic finish for
the Mets and put a dent in Atlanta's domination. The Braves had won
21 of 27 games against New York over the last two years.
"When I saw it going up the middle, I didn't know if it was
going to get through or not," Olerud said. "But I was definitely
rooting for it, I'll tell you that."
Atlanta still needs just one more victory to reach its fifth
World Series of the decade, its first since 1996.
"It's a frustrating loss," Weiss said. "I thought we had it.
You always want to end it as soon as possible when you're in a
series like this."
No matter what happens Sunday, Game 5 will have a hard time
topping this one.
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Sat, October 16
First of all, John Olerud stayed positive in his approach to hitting against John Rocker
though he was 0-for-9 against him in his career prior to getting the game-winning hit
Saturday night. Olerud said he talked to Bobby Bonilla and Bonilla told him that you
have to look fastball against Rocker and then try to fight off the breaking ball.
Olerud had two late swings on the fastball and I think the Braves defense crept a little
bit over towards third base, which I think they should have especially with the way he
was swinging the bat. But Olerud got a ball from Rocker that he could handle and hit a
high chopper up the middle and it just bounced off the glove of Ozzie Guillen.
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Olerud drove in all three New York runs, breaking a scoreless
duel between Atlanta's John Smoltz and New York's Rick Reed with a
solo homer in the sixth.
Reed took a one-hitter into the eighth, having faced the minimum
of 21 hitters, when the Braves stunned the raucous crowd of 55,872
with back-to-back homers by Brian Jordan and Ryan Klesko.
Smoltz gave up a single to Cedeno leading off the eighth,
the third hit of the game for Cedeno. After Rey
Ordonez popped up an attempted sacrifice bunt, Mike Remlinger
entered the game and struck out pinch-hitter Benny Agbayani.
Remlinger walked the next batter, Mora, and Rocker
sprinted in from the bullpen for the fourth straight time in the
series, having already saved two of Atlanta victories.
Barely paying attention to the runners, Rocker allowed them to
pull off a double steal. That proved crucial when Olerud found a
hole up the middle.
Guillen was shading Olerud toward left field, preventing him
from reaching the chopper. Cox said he didn't think Weiss would
have caught the ball, either.
"I know if I catch it he's going to be out because he's a slow
runner," Guillen said. "But that's what this game is all about --
a few inches you get a hit, a few inches you don't get a hit."
Guillen nearly added another twist in the ninth, hitting a long
drive that cleared the wall in right but hooked just foul. Armando
Benitez settled down to get the final three outs and a save.
The late-inning heroics overshadowed the brilliant pitching of
Reed and Smoltz.
Smoltz, the winningest postseason pitcher in baseball history
(12-3), made only one major mistake, serving up a 1-1 fastball that
Olerud drove far over the right-field wall with two outs in the
sixth.
Reed cruised into the eighth, the only baserunner coming when
Bret Boone singled through the pitcher's legs in the fourth. Boone
was thrown out stealing.
But Jordan hit the first pitch of the eighth off the U.S. Postal
Service sign in deep left-center field, a 408-foot drive that tied
the game and brought a deadening silence to the Shea faithful.
Jordan, who hit only one homer in his final 139 at-bats of the
regular season while troubled by a sore hand, has now hit three
homers in the postseason.
While the Braves were still celebrating in the dugout, Klesko
connected with a 1-0 pitch from Reed and sent a 400-foot drive over
the right-field wall. This time, the Atlanta players poured out
onto the field while Klesko circled the bases.
"If I could've crawled under mound, I would have," Reed said.
But the Mets had another comeback in them, perhaps inspired by
Saturday's 30th anniversary of the Amazin' Mets clinching victory
over Baltimore to win the 1969 World Series.
Notes
Turk Wendell, who got three outs in the eighth, picked up
the win. Remlinger took the loss. ... Mets outfielder Rickey
Henderson, taken out in the top of the eighth in a defensive move,
left the clubhouse less than three minutes after the game ended,
prompting an angry comment from Wendell: "We're a scrappy bunch
because we don't quit. Except for one person." ... Rocker's 25th birthday is Sunday. ... The Game 5 pitchers: Atlanta's Greg Maddux vs. New York's Masato Yoshii.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Atlanta Clubhouse
NY Mets Clubhouse
Mets vs. Braves series page
Mets finally figure out a way to beat Rocker
Mets teammates question Henderson's desire
RECAPS
Boston 13
NY Yankees 1
NY Mets 3
Atlanta 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 John Olerud talks about his game-winning hit off John Rocker.
wav: 193 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Bobby Valentine praises the efforts of John Olerud.
wav: 110 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Dave Campbell analyzes Bobby Cox's eighth inning double switch.
wav: 197 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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