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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) -- Leave it to Greg Maddux to bring pitching back to
this postseason. And leave it to the Atlanta Braves to remind the
New York Mets who's boss in the National League.
Maddux shut down Mike Piazza and the Mets for seven innings and
John Rocker sprinted from the bullpen to finish them off, giving
the Braves a 4-2 victory Tuesday night in Game 1 of the NL
Championship Series.
|  | | Eddie Perez smacks a solo home run in the sixth inning. |
After two days in which baseball fans across the country saw
Boston and Cleveland combine for 50 runs in two AL playoff games,
Maddux and the Braves showed what usually wins in October.
"We need three more games. We're on the right track so far,"
Maddux said.
Maddux, Mike Remlinger and Rocker combined on a six-hitter as
the Braves beat New York for the 10th time in 13 meetings this
year. Atlanta, which sent the Mets into a late tailspin that almost
cost them the wild-card spot, has defeated them in 14 of the last
15 matchups at Turner Field.
"He's Greg Maddux. He doesn't have all those trophies because
he's lucky," Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. "He did a great
job."
Valentine was left without much else to say. Instead, all the
verbal sparring between the teams leading up to the series took a
backseat to dominant pitching.
Piazza returned to the lineup after missing the final two games
of the first-round win over Arizona because of a swollen left
thumb. He drove in the Mets' first run with a groundout and finished
0-for-4.
Piazza did not get the ball out of the infield. The Braves also
stole three bases against the All-Star catcher -- he made a poor
throw on one attempt and didn't even make a throw on another.
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GAME 1 AT A GLANCE
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Every game a hero
Greg Maddux was 3-1 against the Mets this year, although in the one loss he allowed 11 hits and eight runs in three innings. This was vintage Maddux: seven innings, five hits, one walk, one more victory.
Key number
85. Maddux threw just 85 pitches, 55 for strikes. Manager Bobby Cox has said that Maddux may be needed in relief in this series -- like he was in the Division Series against Houston -- and the low pitch count ensures that Maddux may be available in relief in Game 3 or 4.
Last word
"If I didn't think I could do things to help this team, I
wouldn't be out there. I still feel it, but I've
played with the injury before. It's not disabling."
-- Mike Piazza, battling a sore thumb, failed to get the ball out of the infield in four at-bats.
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A crowd of 44,172 -- it was 6,000 short of capacity, perhaps held
down by an all-day rain that caused a four-minute delay at the
start -- saw Atlanta win the opening game of the NLCS at home. The
previous two years, the Braves lost Game 1 at home and eventually
lost the series.
Every year since 1991, the team that won Game 1 went on to win
the NLCS. Atlanta has been in every one of those best-of-7 series.
"It's better to win the first game," Braves manager Bobby Cox
said. "You like to win the first one."
Game 2 will be Wednesday afternoon with Kevin Millwood, who
pitched a one-hitter against Houston in the opening round, starting
for the Braves against Kenny Rogers.
Maddux, a four-time Cy Young winner and a nine-time Gold Glover,
gave an all-around performance in improving to 10-9 lifetime in the
postseason. He beat the team that got eight straight hits off him
Sept. 29 at Shea Stadium, put down a perfect sacrifice bunt and
made several nice fielding plays.
Walt Weiss, making his first start at shortstop since the last day of the
regular season, had three hits and stole a base for the Braves. He
doubled and scored on Gerald Williams' single for a 2-1 lead in the
fifth and, after Eddie Perez homered in the sixth, added an RBI
single in the eighth.
"He did a great job against their lineup," Weiss said of
Maddux. "Our pitchers have handled them for the most part. That's
the difference."
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Tue, October 12
I think in Game 1 we saw some great managing by
Bobby Cox. For example, in the seventh inning with two
outs and two men on he sent up Howard Battle to hit for
Ryan Klesko when you knew Brian Hunter was going to
be the first baseman to begin the top of the eighth.
What that did was allow Cox to go to Keith Lockhart and still have Brian Hunter if Bobby
Valentine went to Turk Wendell, which Valentine didn't. Then in the top of the eighth
inning he sent Maddux back out to pitch and had Battle go to first base. As soon as
Valentine put Matt Franco in to pinch hit, Cox then replaced Maddux with left-hander
Mike Remlinger. He then made the double-switch at first base forcing Valentine to pinch
hit for Franco.
I don't think the moves surprised Valentine, but it certainly was great managing by Cox.
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That was plenty for Rocker to protect for a save. As is his
custom, he ran in from the bullpen and, with a runner on second, threw
fastballs of 97 mph, 94 and 97 to strike out John Olerud.
He allowed an unearned run in the ninth on Todd Pratt's two-out
single.
A day earlier, Rocker was one of the most vocal Atlanta players,
wondering aloud how Mets manager Bobby Valentine "can say a word"
about the Braves.
Williams singled home the tiebreaking run in the fifth after
Weiss doubled and Maddux sacrificed. Later in the inning, losing
pitcher Masato Yoshii was pulled. After leaving the dugout, he
broke a bat and smashed a couple of chairs.
Perez homered off Pat Mahomes in the sixth, right after
shortstop Rey Ordonez and second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo turned a
nifty double play.
The Braves took a 1-0 lead after two batters. Williams singled
up the middle on the first pitch and quickly tested Piazza,
stealing well ahead of the catcher's one-hop throw to the wrong
side of the bag.
Bret Boone followed with an RBI single and when Chipper Jones
walked, pitching coach Dave Wallace marched to the mound and Orel
Hershiser began warming up. Yoshii settled down right away,
retiring 12 of the next 13 batters.
The Mets missed a chance to score after Roger Cedeno opened the
third with a double and continued to third on Williams' errant
throw from left.
Ordonez hit a dribbler down the third-base line and stood in the
batter's box, thinking it would trickle foul. But with Maddux
shouting "Get it! Get it!" Perez sprung out of his crouch, picked
up the ball off the chalk and threw out Ordonez.
Yoshii was next and when the count went to 2-0, Valentine
signaled for a suicide squeeze. Yoshii missed the bunt on a pitch
off the plate, and Cedeno was tagged out.
After Yoshii grounded out to end the inning, he was so upset
that Valentine had to settle down his pitcher -- talking to him in
Japanese.
As the Mets took the field, Valentine spoke with bench coach
Bruce Benedict, filling in as the third-base coach while Cookie
Rojas began his five-game suspension for shoving umpire Charlie
Williams last weekend. New York remembered Rojas by hanging his
jersey in the dugout.
Notes
Hershiser got a towel full of shaving cream in the face
from teammate Al Leiter during a pregame interview. "We're so
loose, we're chipper," Hershiser said. ... Braves first baseman
Andres Galarraga, sidelined all season by cancer, threw out the
first ball. ... Benedict last coached third base on a regular basis
in 1996 under Valentine at Triple-A Norfolk. ... Braves first
baseman Ryan Klesko tried to trap Cedeno with the hidden-ball trick
in the seventh. No luck. ... Cedeno made a superb diving catch on
Boone's liner to right in the fifth. ... The Mets' streak of 110 straight innings without an
error ended on left fielder Rickey Henderson's miscue in the fifth.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Mets Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
Mets vs. Braves series page
Stats Class: How important is Game 1?
Mets just can't beat Atlanta
RECAPS
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Greg Maddux discusses winning game 1.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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