The
1992 World Series travels down to Atlanta, as the Atlanta Braves look to rebound from a Game 2 that at one point looked like a sure win (7 innings in) that transformed into a total collapse; The pen allowed 9 hits & 9 runs in the last 2 innings. The game's collapse also ruined an excellent performance by veteran
Charlie Leibrandt, who allowed only 3 hits through 7 innings of work.
GAME 3 (at Atlanta)
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| Smiley: 42 wins, past two seasons. |
Tonight's Game 3 match-up is between Atlanta's
John Smoltz (17-9, 2.72 ERA & 218 K) and Minnesota's
John Smiley (22-4, 2.73 ERA, 193 K & 7.1 WAR); Smoltz was 3rd in wins & strikeouts, while Smiley has now accumulated 42 wins the last two seasons, leading the N.L. in 1991 for the Pirates & leading the A.L. this season for the Twins.
Otis Nixon got things started early for the Braves with a lead-off triple during the bottom of the 1st, he would score a few batters later, as
Terry Pendleton grounded to second, thrown out at first. During the second inning, the Braves would leave the bases loaded, runs are going to be hard to come by, with Smiley & Smoltz on the mound in this one.
Still clinging onto a 1-0 lead during the bottom of the 7th, the Braves decide to pinch-hit
Lonnie Smith for John Smoltz; Smoltz had 93 pitches & was tired at this point, he possibly could have gone one more inning for me, but I chose to go with Lonnie at the plate. Smith would collect his 8th hit in 16 at-bats this postseason, while he also has 1 HR & 6 RBI as well.
I decide to go with
Charlie Leibrandt in the 8th inning, and he surrenders two quick singles to pinch-hitter
Matt Lawton & second baseman
Chuck Knoblauch. I quickly made another pitching change, and went with
Greg McMicheal to face
Kirby Puckett -- Puckett makes him pay, with a two-run double to the left-center gap. Twins now lead, 2-1, with no outs.
The bullpen's execution in both Games 2 & 3 for the Braves have been awful!
McMichael would continue to walk
Kent Hrbek, and then would allow a single to the Game 2 walk-off hero,
Brian Harper... Bases loaded, no outs. I decided to still with McMicheal, since his postseason numbers have been great, and he walks
Marty Cordova, walking in the run. I go to the pen again & call on
Mike Stanton to face
Chili Davis, Stanton rewards me with that move, by also walking in a run. The Braves would finally record an out, as
Pedro Munoz grounded to third, and was thrown out at first, but another run scores, making it 4-1, with runners on 2nd & 3rd.
Dante Bichette would hit a sac fly to right, scoring in another run. Stanton would end the bleeding, by striking out Matt Lawton, who kicked off this inning.
What a nightmare!
John Smiley is done for the day, going 7 strong innings, with 4 K, while allowing 6 hits & a walk...
Gary Wayne comes in and shuts the door on the Braves with 2 strong innings of relief.
The Braves now trail the series, when it really should be 2-1 in Braves favor, the Braves have to be kicking themselves right now.
Another quick note on Smiley, his 1992 postseason record is 3-0, with a 1.66 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, with 11 K in 21.2 innings (3 starts).
GAME 4 (at Atlanta)
The Braves send their southpaw
Tom Glavine (15-8, 2.81 ERA) against the surprising Twins rookie
Brad Radke (12-9, 3.30) -- Will he continue to surprise, or will his inexperience show against these Braves? The Braves will need every break they can get at this point, after two bad performances by their bullpen.
Things start off sloppy for the Braves, as
Tom Glavine surrenders a lead-off double to
Chuck Knoblauch. In his match-up against
Kirby Puckett, he would throw a wild pitch, that would advance Knoblauch to third -- with Puckett eventually drawing a walk. Two batters later,
Brian Harper would knock in Knoblauch, while Puckett advances to second on Harper's RBI single. Kent Hrbek and Greg Gagne would collect RBI singles, to make it, 3-0 Twins after the top of the 1st.
Terry Pendleton's RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, helps keep the Braves within reach.
Bottom of the 2nd,
Mark Lemke leads off with a double, followed by a walk to
Dave Valle. The Braves' starting pitcher
Tom Glavine helps his own cause with an RBI double into the right-center gap, as Valle holds at third; Braves trail 3-2, with runners on 2nd & 3rd with no outs.
Brad Radke gets a much-needed strike out against
Otis Nixon, while
Chipper Jones flies to center, with Valle taking no chance on
Kirby Puckett's arm. Batting .280 with runners in scoring position, Terry Pendleton knocks in Valle on a single to right, tying the game at 3-3. Radke gets
Dave Justice to fly to right to finish the inning.
Top of the 3rd -
Brian Harper leads off the inning with a double, he would eventually score on a
Pedro Munoz sac fly to right, giving back the lead to Minnesota, 4-3.
Bottom of the 3rd -
Brad Radke strikes out the side in
Sid Bream,
Deion Sanders &
Mark Lemke, as he appears to be settling in.
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| Bichette delivers lethal hit against Atlanta. |
Innings later, top of the 7th, Braves' reliever
Juan Berenguer plunks
Brian Harper with a pitch, walks
Kent Hrbek. With one out, the Twins call on lefty
Matt Lawton to pinch-hit, the Braves counter with a southpaw in
Kent Mercker; Lawton flies to right for the 2nd out. Mercker walks
Pedro Munoz to load the bases, as the Twins send up
Dante Bichette; Bichette makes Mercker pay with bases-clearing triple, to give the Twins a comfortable 7-3 lead.
Dave Justice tries to keep the Braves' hopes alive with solo HR off of Twins' reliever
Bill Krueger during the bottom of the 7th.
Bottom of the 9th, Twins call on their closer
Rick Aguilera.
Chipper Jones leads off with a single to right. Thought about hit & run, and swung away with
Terry Pendleton as he hits it to the second baseman & gets the force at second, if I did hit & run, I would probably have a runner at second in Jones, instead of a runner at first in Pendleton, with one out. Aguilera would get Justice to fly out & Bream to ground out, as the Twins now own a 3-1 lead, with the Braves on the brink of elimination.
GAME 5 (at Atlanta)
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| Steve Avery with Bobby Cox prior to start. |
Desperation is in the air for the Braves, as they decide to bench struggling Sid Bream (.205 AVG & .250 OBP) in favor to get
Lonnie Smith's bat into the lineup, with Lonnie playing first.
Deion Sanders' bat has been hot the last few games, and he will stay in left. Lonnie is batting .500 with a HR & 6 RBI in 18 at-bats this postseason, as his career postseason numbers have him batting .302, 4 HR & 17 RBI with a .801 OPS in 205 at-bats -- He has played 42 playoff games for the Phillies, Cardinals, Royals & Braves.
The pitching match-up is between playoff stud
Steve Avery of the Braves & Twins'
Scott Erickson, who has not been great in the playoffs (Career: 0-2 with 4.62 ERA). The Braves' goal is to provide offense to keep Avery out there, and to keep the pen sitting.
Brian Harper's RBI double during the top of the 3rd broke the game's short scoring drought, to give the Twinkies a 1-0 lead... while the Braves answered back with a RBI sac fly by Dave Justice, tying the game up.
Greg Gagne led off 4th inning with a triple & would score on
Dante Bichette's sac fly. Once again, Atlanta literally matches Minnesota with lead-off triple by
Deion Sanders, who scores on a sac fly by
Dave Valle.
With a 2-2 tie entering the 5th, the game has not gone exactly great for
Steve Avery so far, who has shown that he's human in this one, allowing 7 hits & a walk, the first 4 innings.
The Twins' starter
Scott Erickson did his part by allowing only 2 runs, 6 hits & 2 walks, with 3 strikeouts in 6 innings of work;
Gary Wayne comes in to take over during the bottom of the 7th.
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| Chipper: The kid delivers huge two-run single. |
Wayne would allow a lead-off single to
Mark Lemke, while the Braves decide to keep
Steve Avery (who has settled down the last 3 innings) in the game, as he successfully lays down a sacrifice bunt to move Lemke over to second.
Otis Nixon draws the one-out walk, putting runners on both 1st & 2nd for
Chipper Jones at the plate; A wild pitch by Wayne during the at-bat, advances the runners to 2nd & 3rd. Jones hits two-run single to left, Braves take 4-2 lead.
That would be it for Wayne, as reliever
Mark Guthrie comes in to face
Terry Pendleton; Pendleton delivers single to left, runners on 1st & 2nd, still one out. Guthrie strikes out
Dave Justice for out number two, with
Lonnie Smith nearly knocking one out to deep center, but
Kirby Puckett was at the warning track to end the inning.
Top of the 8th, after lead-off single to
Kirby Puckett,
Deion Sanders makes diving catch in foul territory on a ball hit by
Marty Cordova; Sanders is injured in the process, as
Lonnie Smith will move to his natural position of left field to take Sanders' spot, and
Sid Bream will come in to play first.
Brian Harper hits into a 6-4-3 double play and ends the inning.
Bottom of the 8th -
Dave Valle hits one-out single to right,
Mark Lemke bunts Valle over to second, for the 2nd out. Braves make tough decision and pinch-hit for
Steve Avery, who only had 82 pitches under his belt (but his health meter in Out of the Park had him in the red / really tired) -- So Braves will call on
Ryan Klesko, so far, 0-for-5 this postseason (5-for-9 during the season) in pinch-hitting duty. Klesko grounds out to finish the inning.
The Braves will call on southpaw
Mike Stanton, who has fared better than some of the other Atlanta relievers of late, as he will face lefty
Kent Hrbek; Hrbek draws a lead-off walk.
Greg Gagne strikes out for the 1st out. Stanton walks the tying run with
Pedro Munoz on 1st, while
Bobby Cox goes out to the mound & calls on
Greg McMicheal, the Braves only need two outs, a double play would get them out of this inning & secure a much-needed win.
Chili Davis flies to right, with the runners staying put. It all comes down to
Matt Lawton, he lines it to
Terry Pendleton who makes a diving catch on the third base line, a few inches further to his left, and that ball was going to the left field corner.
Braves win, and will live to play another day! This series goes back to Minnesota. The Game 6 starters will be
John Smoltz (Braves) &
Kevin Tapani (Twins).
