| | The at-bat: Chuck Knoblauch in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The situation: Atlanta's Tom Glavine pitching with Joe Girardi on the first base and no outs; Braves leading 5-3.
The sequence: Ball 1 (curveball outside). Ball 2 (fastball outside). Home run (fastball outer half).
|  | | Chuck Knoblauch celebrates his game-tying home run. |
How it played out: Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said he wanted seven innings from an illness-ravaged Tom Glavine. He got that -- and in an economical 72 pitches -- as the Braves were on the verge of making the Series interesting again.
When Cox asked Glavine how he felt after seven, Glavine said fine. So instead of removing Glavine, who had lost seven pounds in two days with a stomach virus, Cox and pitching coach Leo Mazzone sent him out to pitch the eighth.
Bad idea, as it turned out.
Joe Girardi led off the inning by hitting a first-pitch fastball to right field for a single. Braves closer John Rocker had begun throwing with one out in the top of the eighth and began heating up with even more urgency.
With that in mind, Cox stuck with his veteran left-hander. Glavine pitched to Knoblauch, who had hit a game-tying three-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 1 in last year's World Series against San Diego.
Glavine started Knoblauch with a curveball that stayed outside. He followed that with a fastball that missed in the same place. Down 2-0 with Derek Jeter on deck, Glavine couldn't afford to give in to Knoblauch, who had 18 regular-season home runs hitting in the leadoff spot.
Glavine came in with a tailing fastball. Knoblauch drove the ball to right field, where the ball had carried well all night (Yankees Chad Curtis and Tino Martinez had both homered to right earlier in the game). Braves right fielder Brian Jordan went to the fence near the line and leaped. The ball hit the webbing of his glove, but bounced out for a two-run homer to tie the game.
Knoblauch lifted his right arm into the air and let out a yell as he rounded first base. The Yankees poured out of the dugout to greet him. Moments later, Glavine was gone, having thrown just 76 pitches, but with a 5-1 lead now gone.
"I knew I hit it good," Knoblauch said. "I knew it had a chance. I said, 'Please get in the seats' and I got a bounce to go my way."
The Braves cursed their luck.
"We got beat with a popup," Cox said. "That ball went 315 feet and it's a home run. That's the way it is here."
Knoblauch, meanwhile, was giddy. Under the microscope for his fielding woes, he suddenly was a hitting hero.
"It's a great feeling," Knoblauch said. "The Stadium, for me, that was the loudest I've ever heard it. When I rounded first base, my ears were ringing."
Two innings later, Curtis hit his second home run of the game -- this time to left field -- to give the Yankees an improbable 6-5 win. Among the first to greet him at home plate? Knoblauch.
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Curtis' heroics caps rally in Game 3
Frozen moment: Curtis gets his moment
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Chuck Knoblauch discusses his eighth inning HR.
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