|
One-hit wonders
Cone follows El Duque's gem; Yanks take 2-0 Series lead
Posted: Monday October 25, 1999 09:42 AM
| |
David Cone did it all against the Braves, covering first and allowing only one hit in seven innings on Sunday. AP |
ATLANTA (AP) -- The team of the century got the cheers. The franchise of the century got the win. The New York Yankees stormed halfway to their record 25th World Series title, humbling the clumsy Atlanta Braves 7-2 Sunday night behind David Cone for a 2-0 lead. A night after they waited for an eighth-inning rally to win 4-1, the defending champions wasted no time pounding Kevin Millwood in their 10th straight World Series victory. "This year in the postseason, I guess we're picking up where we left off last year," outfielder Bernie Williams said. Cone exactly duplicated the one-hit, seven-inning pitching of Orlando Hernandez in the opener, and Atlanta finished with five hits, three in the ninth inning.
"I just think we have a `don't-give-in' type of attitude," Cone said. "This series is far from over." The sellout crowd of 51,226 was still buzzing at the sight of Pete Rose, Ted Williams and Hank Aaron on the field together -- along with Yogi Berra in a Yankees hat and Roger Clemens in a blue pinstriped suit -- as baseball's All-Century team was announced in a 30-minute tribute. Then, the Yankees went to work. Chuck Knoblauch, Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill started the game with singles, and Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius delivered RBI singles with two outs. Ricky Ledee's double chased Millwood in the third, and it was 7-0 by the fifth. "We played a real bad game," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. Now, the Braves' best hope is a repeat of the 1996 Series, when New York lost the first two games at Yankee Stadium to Atlanta before taking the next four. Still, here's a key statistic: Of the 45 teams to take a 2-0 edge in the Series, 34 have gone on to win. And another: The Yankees have won an incredible 16 of their last 17 postseason games. "We are aware of what happened in '96 and when we came back against them," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I don't have to say anything to my team in regard to '96." Game 3 will be Tuesday night in New York with Tom Glavine, scratched from his Game 1 start because of the flu, expected to pitch for the Braves against Andy Pettitte. If Glavine can't go, John Smoltz will start. Cox got no benefit from a major lineup switch in which he benched NL Championship Series MVP Eddie Perez, Bret Boone and Walt Weiss. Backups Greg Myers, Keith Lockhart and Ozzie Guillen did not help Atlanta win. Myers singled in the fifth for the Braves' first hit and drove in the first run with a single off reliever Ramiro Mendoza in the ninth. Boone followed with a pinch-hit double off Jeff Nelson. "It's frustrating," Cox said. "We kept waiting to get something going." Meanwhile, Guillen and Lockhart had a lot of trouble up the middle, dropping balls and throwing them away in an all-around sloppy defensive effort by the Braves. Booed for missing Cone's soft liner, Guillen gave the Turner Field crowd a disdainful look after it gave him a mock cheer for catching a later popup. Williams had three of the Yankees' 14 hits as they won their seventh straight Series road game and improved to 7-0 overall at Atlanta. By the end, chants of "Let's go, Yankees" began to get louder as New York moved toward its third title in four years. The Braves have lost six straight in the Series, all to New York. Cox managed his 100th postseason game, falling to 55-45 with Atlanta and Toronto. Atlanta's best chance came in the bottom of the first. Already down 3-0, the Braves put a runner on third with two outs and Brian Jordan lifted a long fly to left field. "C'mon ball, get out of here," Braves third-base coach Ned Yost exclaimed. Then, seeing the shot settled into Ledee's glove against the wall, he sighed, "Dang it." Cone, who last started 10 days ago, made a throwing error on Guillen's drag bunt in the first but breezed after that escape. He walked five and struck out four in raising his career postseason record to 8-3. For Atlanta fans, the top highlights probably came before the first pitch when the sport's All-Century team was announced. Rose made his first appearance on a major league field since being banished from baseball in 1989 and got the biggest ovation of the evening. Aaron, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. helped the 81-year-old Williams onto the podium in the middle of the diamond for the half-hour presentation. After that, nothing went right for the Braves. Millwood, 2-0 with a save in this postseason, failed to get an out in the third in his shortest start of the year. "I kept throwing it down the middle," Millwood said. Williams and Martinez singled and Ledee doubled in the third to make it 4-0. Guillen then was handcuffed by Cone's sliced liner and dropped it with two outs, allowing another run to score. Jeter doubled and scored on Lockhart's wild double-play relay from second in the fourth. Brosius doubled and scored on Knoblauch's single in the fifth. "It feels good to win the first two games," Brosius said. "We'd rather win the first two games than lose the first two, but it doesn't mean that much." Notes: The Murderer's Row Yankees won a record 12 straight Series games in 1927, 1928 and 1932. ... Torre tied the record with his 10th straight Series win. Manager Joe McCarthy did it with the Yankees from 1937-41. ... Cox said Perez broke a blood vessel in his right hand in Game 1, but was available. ... Brosius is 13-for-26 lifetime in World Series play. ... Jeter has a 15-game postseason hitting streak.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
