| | ATLANTA -- Everything was going so well for Kenny Rogers.
The man who supposedly couldn't pitch in the big games did just
that for five innings against the Atlanta Braves.
|  | | Kenny Rogers is now 0-2 with a 10.26 ERA in five postseason starts. |
Then it all went wrong in the sixth for Rogers and the New York
Mets, who lost 4-3 Wednesday and trail the NL Championship Series
2-0 heading back to New York.
"I don't look at it as a terrible day, although I'm sure
everyone else will," Rogers said. "We kind of fell apart there
and we couldn't recover quickly enough."
Rogers had allowed six singles and two walks through five
innings, using a tricky pickoff move that got baserunners and an effective sinker that led to
two double plays to help New York hold a 2-0 lead.
Rogers even got in the Braves' heads after picking off Gerald Williams in
the first inning and Andruw Jones in the second.
When Jones was on first base in the fourth, he didn't even take
a lead. Instead, he lined up like a sprinter in the blocks, which
was only appropriate in the stadium that held the track and field
events during the 1996 Olympics.
But you can't pick off a player who homers. And it was the long
ball that got to Rogers in the sixth.
|
CAN'T HIT AGAINST THE BRAVES
|
|
New York has scored three runs or less in 11 of 14 games this season against Atlanta (and lost of 11 of 14 as well): |
|
Date
|
Runs
|
AB
|
H
|
Avg.
|
|
6/25
|
10
|
37
|
13
|
.351
|
|
6/26
|
2
|
34
|
7
|
.206
|
|
6/27
|
0
|
28
|
3
|
.107
|
|
7/2
|
0
|
30
|
3
|
.100
|
|
7/3
|
0
|
28
|
3
|
.107
|
|
7/4
|
7
|
31
|
11
|
.355
|
|
9/21
|
1
|
31
|
6
|
.194
|
|
9/22
|
2
|
32
|
8
|
.250
|
|
9/23
|
3
|
35
|
7
|
.200
|
|
9/28
|
3
|
36
|
9
|
.250
|
|
9/29
|
9
|
38
|
13
|
.342
|
|
9/30
|
3
|
38
|
6
|
.158
|
|
10/12
|
2
|
33
|
6
|
.182
|
|
10/13
|
3
|
32
|
5
|
.156
|
|
Total
|
45
|
436
|
100
|
.229
|
After Chipper Jones worked a nine-pitch walk with one out, Brian
Jordan hit an opposite-field drive that bounced off the screen on
the right-field foul poll, tying the game at 2.
"What are you going to do?" Rogers asked. "It was a changeup
outside. He hit it out. I was surprised it went out, but he hit it
solid."
Andruw Jones then lined a single into left field. Manager Bobby
Valentine and pitching coach Dave Wallace conferred in the dugout
and chose not to bring in Turk Wendell, who had been warming up
most of the inning.
Rogers thought he was done. And he was, just as soon as Eddie
Perez hit the next pitch into the left-field seats to give the
Braves a lead they wouldn't give up.
"I had no reason to keep him in," Valentine said. "I left him
in and it was absolutely the wrong move."
Valentine threw down his hat in the dugout and kicked it away in
disgust. Rogers, who was forced out of New York two years ago
because of his big-game failings, dejectedly walked off the mound.
"I felt like this was a must win for us," said Rogers, who
might have known that only two teams have come back from a 2-0
deficit in the NLCS. "But this game is history. It is over and
done with. You can't change that."
Rogers fell to 0-2 with a 10.26 ERA in five postseason starts.
Unlike in 1996 with the Yankees, when Rogers was unable to go
longer than three innings in any of his three starts -- games the
Yankees eventually came back to win -- the Mets weren't able to take
him off the hook with runs of their own.
They came close in the eighth when Edgardo Alfonzo's RBI double
brought New York within 4-3. John Rocker struck out John Olerud and
Robin Ventura with the tying run on second base to end the inning.
Olerud, Mike Piazza and Ventura -- the middle of the Mets' lineup
-- went 0-for-10 and are 1-for-21 in the series.
"They pitched us well all year," Darryl Hamilton said.
"They're not really doing anything different now. It's just
magnified in the playoffs. We have to find a way to hit them."
And soon. The Mets need to win four of the next five games to
advance to the World Series -- and a possible Subway Series matchup
with the Yankees -- against a Braves team that has won 11 of 14
against New York this season.
"It's not over yet," said Alfonzo, the second baseman who made
his first fielding error on a grounder all season in the sixth
inning. "We have a lot of confidence in this team. It's just tough
for us right now."
| |
ALSO SEE
Mets vs. Braves series page
Perez plays hero as Braves edge Mets 4-3
Stomach flu sidelines Rickey in mid-inning
Millwood is The Man in Atlanta
 |
