Closer Look

Knoblauch's bunt does the job for Yanks in Game 1

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Sunday October 24, 1999 08:34 AM

Chuck Knoblauch's bunt fooled Greg Maddux and keyed the Yanks' four-run eighth inning. AP

By John Donovan, CNN/SI

ATLANTA -- Chuck Knoblauch came up at the perfect time Saturday night and laid down a near-perfect bunt in just about the perfect place.

It wasn't exactly perfectly played by the Atlanta Braves. But the bunt by the New York Yankees' second baseman was so good, how the Braves played it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

And so Knoblauch's Yankees, struggling to get a run across for most of Game 1 of the 1999 World Series, scratched out four of them in the eighth inning to lead New York to a 4-1 win.

"It's just one of those things," Braves second baseman Bret Boone said after the game. "Hunt [Brian Hunter, the Braves' first baseman, put in earlier that inning for defensive purposes] plays a heck of a first base. That would have been a heck of a play. It was a tough error."

Hunter was charged with an error on the play -- his first of two that inning -- but it was the positioning of Knoblauch's bunt that forced him to field the ball in the first place.

With men on first and second and no outs, Knoblauch fouled off the first pitch from Greg Maddux trying to bunt. On the second, instead of bunting it toward third base -- where the third baseman would have had to field it, often leaving third wide open -- Knoblauch cracked the bunt in the hole between the mound and first base.

"He kind of went against the grain on that one," Braves shortstop Walt Weiss said.

Maddux, one of the best fielding pitchers in the business, saw the bunt zip past him before he had a chance at it. And Hunter, making a right turn to try to field it, lost the handle on the ball behind the mound as he tried to wheel and fire to Boone, who was covering first.

Bases loaded, no one out. And, in effect, the ballgame.

"Chuck knew what he was going to do when he saw Greg break off the mound to third [on the first bunt attempt]," said the Yankees' Jim Leyritz. "That's why Chuck decided to lay it down the first base side."

Hunter said he tried to hurry the throw to first, and that's why he lost the handle on it. Even if he had made that play, though, the Yankees still would have had men on second and third with one out.

As it is, Derek Jeter came up next and singled in Scott Brosius to tie the score at one run apiece. Then Paul O'Neill, in against reliever John Rocker, grounded a two-run single past the diving Boone for the winning runs. Leyritz later drew a bases-loaded walk off Rocker for the final run.

Knoblauch's bunt was especially critical considering the Yankees didn't manage an extra-base hit all night.

"First and second gave us an opportunity to do what we like to do, just think about smallball and trying to move the runners," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "Knoblauch placed a bunt in the perfect spot, put a little pressure on the defense and we came out and did a good job."

It wasn't perfect on either side. But it was good enough for the Yankees.

 

Related information
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.