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Lights out Schilling overpowers Braves; D'backs take NLCS lead
Updated: Saturday October 20, 2001 4:19 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Curt Schilling gave his most complete performance yet. Schilling beat the Atlanta Braves with his arm, bat and bruising baserunning, giving the Arizona Diamondbacks a 5-1 victory Friday night and a 2-1 lead in the NL Championship Series. "I just seized the moment," he said. Schilling pitched his third straight complete-game victory of this postseason, throwing a four-hitter and striking out 12. Schilling also singled to start a key burst and kept it going by bowling over catcher Javy Lopez. "When the light seems to be shining the brightest, when he expects the most out of himself, when we expect the most out of him, he exceeds even what we expected," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said. "I don't know if there are any superlatives left for Curt Schilling," he said. Coming off two big games against St. Louis in the first round, Schilling mixed a 98 mph fastball and a sharp splitter to shut down the Braves. He's 3-0 with an 0.67 in this year's playoffs. "I've never thrown better in more important games," he said. "I think it's pretty obvious."
Schilling also added a bit of rough 'n tumble during a play at the plate in a three-run fifth inning. "I'd like to say I thought of that before it happened, but it was a spur of the moment thing," Schilling said. Atlanta fell apart in the field during that game-breaking burst, forgetting to cover bases and failing to catch the ball. At least the Braves did not hear a lot of boos from their fans, and there was a good reason. The crowd of 41,624 at Turner Field was about 9,000 short of a sellout, leaving the ballpark atmosphere not nearly as juiced as it has been for the ALCS between Seattle and the Yankees. Steve Finley drove in three runs and Craig Counsell, reprising his role as a playoff star, had three hits and a key sacrifice bunt against losing pitcher John Burkett. Greg Maddux, winless in his past nine starts, will try to get Atlanta even when he pitches on three days rest Saturday night in Game 4 against Albie Lopez. Another loss would put the Braves in an extremely precarious position. Randy Johnson, who seems to have found his postseason rhythm, is scheduled to start Game 5 for Arizona. With Schilling in command, Johnson and the other Diamondbacks pitchers had little to do on this night. The Big Unit applauded in the dugout when Schilling fanned pinch-hitter Dave Martinez to strand a pair of runners and preserve a 5-1 lead in the seventh. Schilling, the MVP of the 1993 NLCS with Philadelphia, is 4-1 lifetime in the postseason. Schilling tied for the major league lead with 22 wins this season. Against Atlanta, he set a postseason best for strikeouts -- overall, he's fanned 30 and given up 13 hits in 27 innings during the playoffs. "I thought it was on the awesome side," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. Schilling did not allow a hit until Marcus Giles led off the fourth with a double. One out later, Chipper Jones grounded an RBI single under the glove of diving shortstop Tony Womack. Schilling turned around to watch the ball skip into center field and, without a grimace, went right back to work and got Brian Jordan to ground into a double play.
The Diamondbacks took a 2-0 lead in the third on an infield single by Counsell, a two-out walk to Matt Williams on a close full-count pitch and Finley's double. Arizona took command in the fifth, getting a lot of help from the Braves. Schilling, a .133 hitter this year, led off with a single that Jordan charged in right field. Jordan had thoughts about throwing out Schilling, but first baseman Julio Franco never made a move to cover the bag. "We might've had him, maybe not," Cox said. Womack followed with a bunt right back to Burkett, but neither Franco nor second baseman Giles covered first. Womack was credited with a single, and Counsell bunted the runners into scoring position. After an intentional walk to Luis Gonzalez, Steve Reed relieved and did his job, getting Williams to hit a grounder to Jones at third base on the first pitch. Jones fielded the chopper and threw home, and the ball easily beat Schilling -- but Lopez let it skim off his glove. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Schilling pushed Lopez in the chest and knocked him down for emphasis, and when no one immediately retrieved the ball, Womack scooted home from second base. "He scared the daylights out of me," Brenly said of Schilling. Finley capped the inning with a single off reliever Mike Remlinger.
Notes: Franco faced Schilling for the first time in more than 10 years. ... Kevin Millwood, left out of Atlanta's rotation so far in the postseason, relieved in the eighth. ... There were about 12,000 tickets left for Game 4 and about 14,000 for Game 5 in Atlanta. ... Only three of the 11 NL playoffs games this year have been sellouts.
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