|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Closer Look After a shaky start, A's reliever holds on when it counts
Posted: Wednesday July 12, 2000 01:45 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com ATLANTA -- It's an exhibition, people. It doesn't count. It's for fun. But when you're the man with the ball, standing in front of thousands of people in the stadium and millions more on TV, and you're getting smacked around like Roy Williams' cross-country conscience -- hey, it's not so happy-go-lucky anymore, now is it? Jason Isringhausen found himself in deep trouble on Tuesday night during the All-Star Game at a sauna-like Turner Field. The Oakland A's reliever, called on in the fifth inning with his American League team up 3-1, immediately walked the first batter he faced and then, one out later, gave up back-to-back singles to National League stars Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves. So an outing that was supposed to be fun -- the first All-Star selection for the 27-year-old right-hander -- had the looks of something decidedly un-fun. Two men on, one out, one run already in and the tying run standing on second base. "Like they say, it's a game of bending, not breaking," Isringhausen said smiling after the AL claimed its fourth straight All-Star win 6-3. "But I had a good time. That's all that matters." The fact is, Isringhausen was maybe a millimeter away from a total washout of an outing. The next batter up was Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa, the man who smacked 26 homers in the Home Run Derby on Monday night. Sosa just missed taking an Isringhausen offering the other way for a three-run bomb that would have put the National League ahead. "That was a great pitch to go to right field," Sosa said of the Isringhausen pitch. "I was looking for something inside, and he just threw me that pitch outside. I would have had it really great." Instead, it was a high fly ball to right that did nothing but push Chipper Jones to third with two outs. "That's all that matters," Isringhausen repeated. "If I had something for every time there was a 'just missed ...'" Isringhausen, selected to the game on the strength of his 19 first-half saves, said he was fortunate that things didn't turn out worse. His curve ball wasn't curving, though he kept throwing it. Of the 26 pitches he threw in his inning of work, 12 were balls. "I've never pitched in heat quite like this," said Isringhausen, who grew up in Illinois. "It's hard to throw a curve ball when you can't grip the ball. I give all the credit in the world to the Braves' pitchers who have to pitch in this." After Sosa's near-miss, Isringhausen still wasn't free and clear. But he got Edgardo Alfonzo to pop out to the catcher to end the inning. What could have been a disaster turned into a tidy inning with little damage done. "He did good. I never worry about Izzy," said Jason Giambi, Isringhausen's Oakland teammate and fellow All-Star. "He does a great job. He's a guy who turned around our season, no doubt about it." Isringhausen's final line: One inning pitched, six batters faced, two hits, one earned run and one walk. And one good time had -- albeit something of a scary one.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
