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A chance to be a hero

Braves' Millwood gets his first chance at postseason glory

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Posted: Wednesday October 06, 1999 01:13 PM

ATLANTA -- The postseason is a time and place tailor-made for heroes. Who would've ever remembered Bobby Thomson, a .270 lifetime hitter, if it weren't for his home run in a playoff game in 1951 that won the pennant for the New York Giants?

Or Bill Mazeroski? Would we remember a lifetime .260 hitter who never had more than 19 home runs in a season if not for the dramatic game-winning homer he hit in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series?

Don Larsen lost 10 more games than he won -- and he won only 81 games in a career that spanned parts of 14 seasons -- but his perfect game in the 1956 World Series made him a postseason hero for all time.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kevin Millwood gets his first chance to pitch in the playoffs when he climbs the familiar mound at Turner Field and starts Game 2 for the Atlanta Braves in their divisional series against the Houston Astros.

Millwood is 24 years old, a kid, really, with a good bit of time in the minors and a couple decent years in the bigs. He had a real good season, in fact, this year.

But this is his first chance at the postseason limelight, his first chance to pitch when it really counts. It's not the World Series, to be sure, and a pennant is not on the line. Yet with the Braves down 0-1 in the first-to-three National League divisional series, Wednesday's game is huge.

Someone, though, needs to tell Millwood that. Heck, someone may have to wake him up when it's time to throw the first pitch.

"I don't get excited about too much," he admitted Tuesday, shortly after the Astros beat the Braves 6-1 in Game 1 and put the postseason pressure squarely on his shoulders. "I don't know how I'll be [Wednesday], but right now I feel pretty confident with what I've got in my repertoire."

A good deal of cockiness goes a long way with a pitcher, and the monotoned Millwood certainly has his share. He has proven to be practically unshakable this season as the newest face in the Braves' rotation. The Braves have seven Cy Young awards among their pitchers, but it has been Millwood who has been the most valuable on this staff.

Greg Maddux, who owns four of those Cy Youngs, had an ERA over 5.00 in early May. John Smoltz, who won the Cy in 1996, fought through elbow problems and went 11-8 this season. Tom Glavine and his two Cys went a pedestrian 14-11.

But Millwood started 33 games, never losing more than two in a row -- and only doing that once. He hasn't pitched fewer than six innings in a start since late June, and he's done that only twice. In his last seven starts, he's 4-0 with an 0.91 ERA. He has won six straight decisions.

Right now, he's just the stopper the Braves need.

Against the Astros this season, Kevin Millwood has gone 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA. AP

"I knew that if these guys were having a little bit of a problem, if I could step my game up a little bit and pitch a little better and maybe get a few wins here and there where we really needed them," Millwood said, "I knew these guys would be back."

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Millwood went 18-7 with a 2.68 ERA in 1999, but that tells only part of the story. Opponents hit a paltry .202 off him, the best mark in the majors.

"To me, he's a better pitcher this year," said Braves manager Bobby Cox. "He's a little more overpowering. He's got that good hook right now. Come up with a changeup, slider and a curveball. He looks like a guy that's been pitching maybe for seven or eight years. He's that type of guy."

As seasoned as he may look, though, he's never had a chance like he'll get Wednesday.

Several days ago, on the way to the ballpark with Smoltz, the two teammates were talking baseball when the conversation turned to pitching in the postseason. Smoltz has an 11-3 postseason record that goes back to 1991.

"He just talked about how you really don't have to change a whole lot," Millwood said, "that you can't go out there hoping things happen. I have to make things happen."

And that means, above all, pitching smart. Not giving in to the big hitters. And not getting too worked up over his first start in the playoffs.

As if there's any real danger of that.

"I like pressure situations," he said. "I'm getting that chance I've always wanted."

It is, as he well knows, the chance of his young lifetime. It is an opportunity to be a hero.

When it really counts.

John Donovan is senior writer for CNNSI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.

 

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