|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
GAME DAY PREVIEW Game time: 8:05pm ET NY Mets at Atlanta | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Regular-season records
ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Making an unlikely return to Turner Field, the New York Mets will try to stay alive again when they send ace Al Leiter to the mound against the Atlanta Braves in Game Six of the National League Championship Series.
Sunday night's battle turned into a 15-inning epic, won 4-3 by New York on Robin Ventura's grand slam turned single off rookie righthander Kevin McGlinchy. With the game tied 3-3, the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 15th, Ventura's shot to right-center field cleared the fence. Mobbed by his teammates between first and second base, the Mets third baseman never finished his trot around the bases, thus the one-run margin. New York manager Bobby Valentine used all but two of his players in the longest postseason game in history, a contest that fell just 14 minutes shy of six hours and was conducted amidst heavy rainfall at times.
Although he did warm up at one point, Leiter (0-1, 1.84) never got into the game and will pitch on three days rest for the first time in his two seasons with the Mets. New York will try to become the first team in postseason history to force a Game Seven after trailing 3-0. The lefthanded Leiter, who struggled for most of the regular season, has found his groove of late and was brilliant in a 1-0 Game Three loss, yielding just an unearned run in the first and three hits overall over seven innings. Leiter was awarded a four-year, $32 million contract prior to the season and has paid dividends when it has counted most. He threw a two-hitter in a one-game wild card playoff against Cincinnati and was the starting pitcher in the decisive Game Four of the Division Series with Arizona. The lefthander stopped the Mets' two longest losing streaks of the regular season, including a 9-2 win over the Braves on September 29 to end a seven-game skid. No stranger to big games -- he started Game Seven of the 1997 World Series for Florida against Cleveland -- Leiter will try to keep Atlanta's bats silent. The Braves scored just six runs in the three contests at Shea Stadium. Kenny Rogers was bypassed as a possible pitched for Tuessday after losing his first two postseason starts. Rogers, however, tossed two shutout innings in Game Five. While Leiter had an up-and-down regular campaign, the same can not be said of Atlanta's hard-throwing righthander Kevin Millwood (2-0, 1.56), who is a candidate for the NL Cy Young award after going 18-7 with a 2.68 ERA in 33 regular season starts. Millwood was the winning pitcher in Atlanta's Game Two triumph on Wednesday, when he allowed three runs -- two earned -- and five hits over 7 1/3 innings despite saying afterward that he did not have his best stuff. The Braves are trying to advance to the World Series for the fifth time this decade, and in a way, are quite familiar with this situation. Last season, Atlanta dropped the first three games of the NLCS to San Diego before rallying with two straight victories to force a Game Six at Turner Field. Prior to the Mets this season, the Braves had been the only team in history to force a sixth game after trailing 3-0. Atlanta lost Game Six of last year's NLCS, 5-0. Game Seven, if necessary, would be Wednesday night at Turner Field.
New York regulars
Complete New York roster Atlanta regulars
Complete Atlanta roster Regulars Statistics source: STATS, Inc. Copyright 1999 STATS, Inc. Commercial distribution without the express written consent of STATS is prohibited. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard 
Batter vs. Pitcher NY Mets Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse
NY Mets @
  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
