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| Wednesday, October 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ATLANTA -- Hey, what's wrong with Kevin Millwood?
After pitching a one-hitter for the Atlanta Braves in the
opening round of the playoffs, Millwood was roughed up for five
hits by the New York Mets in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series
Wednesday.
Millwood has been dominating since Aug. 13:
Millwood didn't pitch at all last postseason. Even after winning 17 games a year ago, he watched from the bullpen while the Braves lost to San Diego in the NLCS. This year, Millwood is a major reason the Braves are just two victories from their first World Series since 1996. "I just tried to keep us in the game and give us a chance to put some numbers up on the board and win the game," he said nonchalantly, as if he had just pitched a game in April rather than October. "That's what we did." Millwood allowed the Mets more hits in the first two innings than he gave up in Game 2 of the Division Series against Houston. But, after falling behind 1-0, he retired 18 of the next 19 hitters. "If I had to grade my stuff, I would give myself an 'A' for Houston and probable a 'C-minus' today," Millwood said. "I thought my stuff today was some of the worst I've had in a while. But the longer I went through the ballgame, the better my stuff seemed to get." Finally, after an error by Jones led to an unearned run in the eighth, Braves manager Bobby Cox trudged to the mound to take the ball from Millwood's hand for the first time in the postseason. On his way to the dugout, Millwood was given a standing ovation by an Atlanta crowd that has been treated to magnificent pitching throughout the decade. Now, it's going to be their treat to watch Millwood for the next decade or so. In the opening round, Millwood took the mound in a must-win situation against the Astros, who won Game 1 and threatened to return to Houston with a commanding advantage in the best-of-5 series. Millwood turned away the Astros with the first complete-game one-hitter in the postseason in 32 years. He allowed a second-inning homer by Ken Caminiti and faced only two hitters above the minimum. Millwood wasn't finished. When the series shifted to the Astrodome, he told Cox he was ready to pitch an inning or two if needed. In the 12th inning of a magnificent game, he was needed, setting down the Astros in order to save a 5-3 victory. On Wednesday, Roger Cedeno's run-scoring single in the second gave New York a 1-0 lead. Millwood then retired the next 10 hitters. Melvin Mora homered on a 2-0 fastball with two outs in the fifth -- "You can't make that pitch to a major-league hitter," Millwood said -- and the Mets had a 2-0 lead. The Atlanta pitcher rebounded to retire eight more in a row. In the midst of that streak, the Braves broke through. Brian Jordan and Eddie Perez hit two-run homers in the sixth to stick a dagger through the Mets. Millwood breezed through the seventh and got pinch-hitter Matt Franco on a liner leading off the eighth before Jones let Mora's grounder slip under his glove. Millwood worked the count to 1-2 before Edgardo Alfonzo lined a fastball to the wall in left-center, bringing home Mora from first. That was it for Millwood, but John Rocker preserved the lead by striking out John Olerud and Robin Ventura before Smoltz worked the ninth for the first save of his major-league career. | ALSO SEE Mets vs. Braves series page
Perez plays hero as Braves edge Mets 4-3
Roges sails smoothly until the sixth
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