| | The at-bat: Darryl Strawberry in the eighth inning.
The situation: Strawberry facing Greg Maddux with Scott Brosius on first and nobody out, Braves leading 1-0.
The sequence: Ball 1 (fastball inside). Ball 2 (fastball high). Ball 3 (fastball outside). Strike 1 (fastball called). Ball 4 (fastball inside).
How it played out: It figured Strawberry may not get a chance to hurt Atlanta in this Series -- and not just because he missed the first five months of the season (he had only 49 regular-season at-bats) and would only see pinch-hitting duty. With three left-handers in the bullpen, Braves manager Bobby Cox had the antidote for the left-handed hitting Strawberry, no matter the situation. He'd been able to freeze out Mets left-handed pinch-hitter Matt Franco in the NLCS.
Maddux entered the eighth inning tossing a three-hit shutout and leading 1-0. He'd thrown fewer than 90 pitches.
But Scott Brosius led off the inning by singling to left on the first pitch. Yankees manager Joe Torre lifted pitcher Orlando Hernandez, who was pitching a one-hitter, and called upon Strawberry to hit. You knew Straw wouldn't be looking to bunt Brosius over to second.
Cox, with southpaws Mike Remlinger, Terry Mulholland and John Rocker in his pen, didn't have any of them warmed up to bring into the game. Rocker, his closer, began throwing with a one-ball count on Strawberry; Remlinger was also getting ready at the time.
So Cox stuck with Maddux, who ended up walking his second batter of the game.
"(The walk) doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was a huge play," said Paul O'Neill, whose two-run single gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead. "Maddux doesn't walk anybody."
Strawberry was immediately replaced by pinch-runner Chad Curtis. Chuck Knoblauch bunted and reached base when Braves first baseman Brian Hunter bobbled the ball. By the time the Braves got out of the inning, the Yankees had scored four times.
"Strawberry makes in impact whether he's sitting on the bench keeping their manager from making a move or coming up in that situation," Joe Torre said. "He turns the game around. He can hit a ball and turn the game around in a heartbeat."
Brosius agreed. "Straw got the big walk that really got the inning going," he said. | |
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 Darryl Strawberry says he was patient against Maddux.
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