BRAVES 5, CUBS 3: Atlanta evens the series with a wild win filled with ups and downs.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published October 2, 2003
[AP photo]
Marcus Giles, right, hugs Braves teammate Darren Bragg after Giles' 6th-inning single drove in a run. Giles didn't start because of a sore thigh.
ATLANTA - The "hows" of Atlanta's 5-3 Wednesday victory were gripping, a stirring sequence of dramatic performances almost alternately heroic and tragic, but ultimately it was the "why" that mattered most.
"We definitely needed it," said second baseman Mark DeRosa, who had the winning hit. "We couldn't go into Chicago down two games with (Cubs ace Mark) Prior on the mound. We had to have this one."
So they worried through Mike Hampton's rough start and then his rousing turnaround. Pulsed when an injured Marcus Giles came out of the trainer's room, a la Kirk Gibson 1988, to deliver a clutch pinch-hit that put them ahead 3-2 in the sixth. Agonized when veteran closer John Smoltz, wanting so much to help he volunteered to pitch two innings, blew the lead in the eighth. Celebrated when DeRosa, who was only in the lineup because Giles was hurt, launched the biggest hit of his life, a two-run double with two outs in the eighth.
And exhaled when Smoltz, who spent most of September on the disabled list with elbow tendinitis, rebounded with a 1-2-3 ninth to end the game and even the best-of-five series.
"You play this game with a desperation mentality," Smoltz said. "You've got to win this game to create some momentum, and you don't worry about anything else. You just win this game."
Smoltz is a fierce competitor, still not completely comfortable with the pace of closer's duty, and told manager Bobby Cox he was ready, willing and able to work two innings. He has done it three times in a season in which he saved 45 games in 49 chances.
But neither he, nor many in the Braves postseason record crowd of 52,743, expected it to go as it did. He got a quick out to start the eighth, then gave up a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly to pinch-hitter Tom Goodwin that scored the tying run. He could have had more trouble had Randall Simon not foolishly tried to move up to second and been thrown out.
"Everything was going too fast in the eighth for me," Smoltz said. "I just tried to slow the game down. When I came off the field, a lot of things were running through my mind. Disappointment. But I'm a battler, and I wasn't going to let that happen again in the ninth. I just couldn't afford to."
DeRosa made sure it was easier for him.
With 19 last at-bat wins this season, the Braves had confidence they could battle back. A one-out walk by ex-Ray Vinny Castilla off Dave Veres started it, and Smoltz's bunt put the tying run on second. The Cubs intentionally walked Rafael Furcal to face DeRosa, a 28-year-old utility infielder who hit .263.
"I knew they were going to come after me," he said. "I didn't think they wanted to put me on and face (Gary Sheffield)."
DeRosa delivered, driving the ball toward left-center, watching with joy as it went over Moises Alou's head. "He turned and was sprinting and I was like, "Do not catch that ball,"' DeRosa said.
The game was wild from the start when Hampton, a Brooksville native, allowed the first five Chicago batters to reach base, then with the bases loaded struck out the side. He did it again the next inning to tie a postseason record with six straight.
The Cubs got their first two runs in odd fashion. After Hampton walked the first two batters (on nine pitches) Sammy Sosa drove a 2-and-1 pitch that struck the padding at the top of the centerfield wall and bounced onto the field for a double. "I was pretty happy it didn't go out," Hampton said.
Sosa got his first post-season RBI, and the Cubs got another run when Mark Grudzielanek slid under catcher Javy Lopez's tag, but the Braves weren't about to give in.
