October brings start of an arms race

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Posted: Wednesday October 07, 1998 06:04 PM

Smoltz will be gunning for his 12th career postseason victory in Game 1 AP

ATLANTA (AP) -- Even bat man himself knows Rule No. 1 of the playoffs: Pitching dominates.

"Sometimes in the regular season, it's like, 'Here it is, get your hit," Tony Gwynn said. "But now you get into the postseason, and those guys might pull out a forkball or something you've never seen before. It's not going to be the same."

Forget about baseball's summer of hitting: Mark McGwire smashing 70 home runs and Sammy Sosa slamming 66, or Juan Gonzalez chasing the RBI record or Albert Belle getting nearly 100 extra-base hits or Larry Walker and John Olerud each batting more than .350.

This is October, and those guys have all gone home. And they've taken those 10-9 games with them.

Now, it's time for the likes of nasty Kevin Brown, precise Tom Glavine and dominating Trevor Hoffman to take over in the NL championship series.

"Runs are going to be at a minimum," Atlanta slugger Ryan Klesko said.

Gwynn and his San Diego Padres hit just .209 against the Braves this season, and will face a rotation of John Smoltz, Glavine, Greg Maddux and Denny Neagle in the best-of-7 playoffs.

"Smoltz is the guy that kills us," Gwynn said. "Glavine and Maddux, we can battle them here and there and maybe get some hits. But I said it all year. All roads go through Atlanta."

The Braves hit .259 in going 5-4 against San Diego. The Padres planned to start Andy Ashby in Game 1 Wednesday night, followed by Brown and Sterling Hitchcock.

"Our pitching staff has been money all year and theirs has been money for years," said Greg Vaughn, who set a Padres record with 50 home runs.

For the Braves pitchers, the main man at the plate is Gwynn. He's hit more than .300 for 16 straight years and even though he dipped a bit, for him, down to .321 -- 18 points below his career average -- he's the focal point.

"As a pitcher, the biggest thing is the obvious factor, the thorn in the side with Tony Gwynn," Smoltz said. "He's always going to put the ball in play.

"And when you come to the postseason, you need to get some big strikeouts and big outs. He's a guy that will hurt you if you provide him with runners on base," he said.

While the Atlanta aces get more recognition, Padres pitching coach Dave Stewart is certain his staff can match up.

"Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux are great pitchers who have had great years. The statistics are there," he said.

"They have all pitched well in the postseason, but I have every confidence our staff is capable of going out there and throwing pitch for pitch with them and giving us a chance to win," he said.

Brown, scheduled to start Game 2 against Glavine on Thursday night, already has proved he can beat Atlanta. He did it twice last year at Turner Field in the NLCS, and shut out the Braves for 6 1-3 innings in his only start against them this season.

"We can't let Kevin Brown come in here and beat us," Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones said. "He might get two starts in this series, and we can't let the Padres come in here and figure that he'll beat us every time."  

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