|
| |
|
|
 Playoff Padre Gwynn 'happy as heck' to be back in NLCS
Posted: Monday October 05, 1998 08:17 PM
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The last time Tony Gwynn was in the NL Championship Series, he was in his second full season in the majors and had just won his first batting title. Back then, in 1984, the Padres thought they'd be regular playoff participants. Batting titles and gaudy averages piled up for Gwynn, but not trips to the postseason. Here he is, at age 38, just now returning to this stage of the playoffs. "It stunk having to wait 14 years to get back here," Gwynn said with his trademark hearty laugh Monday morning. The clubhouse still smelled of champagne from Sunday night's celebration after the Padres beat Randy Johnson and the Houston Astros 6-1 to clinch their best-of-5 division series in four games. "I am happy as heck and I'm sure everybody in this room is," Gwynn said before the Padres flew to Atlanta, where they will face the Braves for the NL pennant beginning Wednesday night at Turner Field. The Braves of the '90s probably feel that reaching the NLCS is their birthright, because they've done it seven straight times. Still, the Padres aren't merely happy to be here. They want to get to the World Series, too. "We're coming in euphoric, man," said Gwynn, who's won eight batting titles. "We just won a series nobody gave us a chance to win and now we're playing Atlanta. It's baseball. We feel like we've got a good chance to win this series if we play our game. I wouldn't expect them to feel any different than they probably feel right now, and they expect to win this series and go on to the World Series." Getting past the first round was imperative to the Padres, Gwynn said. There was lingering disappointment from getting swept by St. Louis in the 1996 playoffs. There was the big off-season investment in ace Kevin Brown. There was the acquisition down the stretch of players like Jim Leyritz, who once again is a playoff hero after homering in the final three games of the division series, and reliever Randy Myers, which bumped up the payroll. Off the field, the future of baseball in San Diego depends on a proposition for a new downtown ballpark on the November 3 ballot. "In spring training our goal was to try to get to the World Series and win it," Gwynn said. "It has not changed. I know with all the events of last night, people being excited and everything, we're still focused. We're still trying to get to our goal." With John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux coming up, Gwynn knows that the Padres batters better start contributing as much as their pitchers have. Brown and Sterling Hitchcock were brilliant in the division series. Brown struck out 16 in the opener, then came back and started Saturday night on three days' rest. He allowed just one earned run in 14 2-3 innings. Hitchcock was masterful with his split-fingered fastball Sunday night, striking out 11 and allowing three hits and one run in six innings. Trevor Hoffman, the best closer in baseball, saved the first two wins and wrapped up Sunday's with a perfect ninth. Andy Ashby, who lasted just four innings in Game 2 of the division series, is scheduled to start Wednesday night, followed by Brown on Thursday night and likely Hitchcock on Saturday in San Diego. San Diego's offense finally came to life Sunday, scoring more than four runs for the first time in 17 games. Leyritz hit a solo homer off Johnson in the second, and Gwynn doubled leading off the four-run eighth. John Vander Wal hit a two-run triple and Wally Joyner a two-run homer to break open the game. Vander Wal was acquired from Colorado on August 31 to give the Padres another left-handed bat off the bench. He's hit .438 against Smoltz, who will start Wednesday night's game, and .333 off Maddux. His RBIs Sunday were his first with the Padres. Gwynn hit just .200 in the series, Ken Caminiti .143 and Steve Finley .100. Leyritz led the way with a .400 average and five RBIs, while Greg Vaughn hit .333 with one homer. "This next series is not going to be easy," Gwynn said. "We're going to have to pick it up offensively, and that's the hard part with their pitching staff." Gwynn has hit .455 lifetime against Maddux, .452 against Smoltz and .322 against the left-handed Glavine. "This is the biggest thrill of my career," said Gwynn, the lone player left from the Padres team that won the 1984 NL pennant. "Going to the World Series in 1984 was great, but the long wait in between makes this really nice right now."
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
