Wrong number

Maddux, Rocker come up short filling in for Glavine

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Posted: Sunday October 24, 1999 08:49 AM

After Saturday's Game 1 loss, Greg Maddux now has a 10-10 career postseason record. AP

ATLANTA (AP) -- Tom Glavine made the call to Greg Maddux. Then the call went out to John Rocker in the bullpen. They both turned out to be wrong numbers for the Atlanta Braves.

Maddux, filling in for flu-stricken Tom Glavine, took a shutout into the eighth but couldn't get another out. Rocker, the quotable escape artist, couldn't free himself from another bases-loaded jam.

The result: a 4-1 victory for the New York Yankees on Saturday in Game 1 of the World Series.

"My stuff was all right," Maddux said. "But it's not about pitching good. It's about winning. I pitched just good enough to lose."

The four-time Cy Young winner, originally scheduled to work Game 2, received a telephone call late Friday night from Glavine, who had been picked for the opener but came down with a bug.

Glavine asked Maddux if he'd mind moving up a day in the rotation. Sure, replied Maddux, who had five days' rest since his last appearance in the NL championship series.

"Actually, I was glad," he said. "I didn't want to sit around waiting, doing nothing. I wanted to get out there. This is the World Series. Why sit around when you get in there and mix it up, make things happen."

Clearly not bothered by the sudden change of plans, Maddux allowed only three singles through the seventh. A 1-0 lead was provided by one of only two Atlanta hits on the night, a solo homer by Chipper Jones in the fourth.

Maddux needed only six more outs, but he couldn't get one.

"It was sad to see," outfielder Brian Jordan said. "He pitched seven great innings, so you hate what happened in the eighth. The guy was throwing so well. Unfortunately, we made a couple of mistakes and things didn't work out for us."

Specifically, first baseman Brian Hunter, who had just come in the game as a defensive upgrade for Ryan Klesko, bobbled a bunt and made an errant throw.

"You don't want to come in for defense and make errors," Hunter said. "That makes you look stupid."

He became the first player at his position to make two errors in one Series inning since Frank Torre of the Milwaukee Braves in 1958 -- also against the Yankees. Hunter's miscues helped this New York team score four runs against Maddux and iron-armed Rocker, pitching in his 10th straight game of this postseason.

"We made mistakes," Jordan said. "You can't make mistakes against the Yankees and expect to win."

Maddux faced four batters in the eighth, leaving with the bases still loaded after Derek Jeter's game-tying single to left.

The Braves called for the left-handed Rocker, who had escaped a similar jam against Houston in the opening round of the playoffs. With the crowd roaring, the sound system blaring 'I Wanna Rock' by the 1980s band Twisted Sister, he made his customary sprint from the bullpen with the memory of the Astrodome miracle still fresh in his mind.

"The bases loaded and the 3-4-5 hitters coming up," Rocker said. "The odds weren't in my favor."

The odds turned the last time when Walt Weiss made a game-saving stop on a line drive up the middle. But there was nothing the Atlanta shortstop could do when Paul O'Neill -- whose average against left-handers (.190) was the worst in the AL among qualifying batters -- lined a two-run single to right to put the Yankees ahead 3-1.

"In Houston, I got a ground ball that was hit at somebody," Rocker said, shaking his head. "The ground ball tonight found the hole."

Rocker wound up striking out the side, but not before he also surrendered a bases-loaded walk to Jim Leyritz, the sight of whom must have brought back bad memories for the Braves.

Three years ago, in Atlanta's last Series appearance, Leyritz hit a critical homer against Mark Wohlers in Game 4. This time, Leyritz didn't do anything so dramatic, merely bouncing back from an 0-2 count to coax four balls from Rocker.

Another wrong call for the Braves.

"I was making out pitches," Rocker said. "Houston swung at those pitches. Tonight, they were taking them."

 

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