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 NLCS Notebook Caminiti: No apologies for broken-bat hit
Posted: Wednesday October 14, 1998 11:45 PM
ATLANTA (AP) -- San Diego's Ken Caminiti had several key hits in the National League championship series, but none was bigger than his broken-bat single that keyed the Padres' five-run sixth inning Wednesday. The Padres went on to a 5-0 victory and won the series 4-2, advancing to the World Series against the New York Yankees. "Yeah. A broken-bat single did the job," Caminiti said in the Padres clubhouse in between trying to get his wife on the telephone and hugging pitcher Andy Ashby. "It looks ugly, but I'll take it." Greg Vaughn began the sixth-inning rally with a one-out single, Caminiti then was jammed on a 3-2 pitch and bounced a weak grounder to second, but Braves' second baseman Tony Graffanino wasn't there. He was covering second base with Vaughn running on the pitch. Vaughn made it to third and then scored on Jim Leyritz's soft grounder. Wally Joyner followed with an RBI single. After another hit and a walk loaded the bases, Sterling Hitchcock's fly to left was dropped by Danny Bautista, an error that allowed two more runs to score. Quilvio Veras followed with an RBI single for a five-run lead. "I'd rather take a base hit like that than a line drive right at somebody," said Caminiti, whose 10th-inning homer won Game 1 and who had the go-ahead, two-run single in Game 3. No talkingKevin Brown, who will start Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday, didn't want to discuss the New York Yankees, just yet. "We're going to enjoy ourselves right now. We're not looking that far down the road," he said. "We're just going to enjoy ourselves tonight." Shortstop switchAtlanta Braves shortstop Ozzie Guillen, who went 3-for-5 in Monday's 7-6 victory in Game 5, found himself on the bench Wednesday when manager Bobby Cox decided to go with his right-handed hitting platoon against left-hander Sterling Hitchcock. Walt Weiss, a switch-hitter, started instead. "I'm not surprised," said Guillen, who was hitting .417 (5-for-12) in the series. Guillen had started Atlanta's previous two games, the Braves' only victories. Weiss went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks and wound up hitting .200 (3-for-15). All three of his hits came in Saturday's 4-1 loss. Weiss, who started the first three games of the NLCS, was hampered much of the regular season with a quadriceps injury. "Weiss hit .280 [in 96 games] during the regular season and led the league in on-base percentage for about three months," Cox said. "That suddenly didn't disappear." No actionKevin Millwood, the Braves' fifth starter and 17-game winner, never threw a pitch in the postseason, but didn't complain. "I'd like to pitch in this situation, but we're pitching well, so I've just got to accept that," he said. The only San Diego player didn't make an appearance in the NLCS was rookie third baseman George Arias, the Padres' minor league player of the year. He hit .308 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs in 116 games at Class AAA Las Vegas. "Being in the minor leagues and then being put on the 25-man roster (August 22) shows they have confidence in me even if I haven't gotten into a game," said Arias, who played in 20 games with the Padres during the regular season. He hit .194 (7-for-36) for San Diego with one homer and four RBIs. "I can't get upset," he said.
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