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Yankees vs. A's |
Mariners vs. White Sox |
Braves vs. Cardinals |
Mets vs. Giants
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Monday, October 9
Series notes: Braves vs. Cardinals
Will Clark feasted on Atlanta pitching, going 13-for-29 (.448) with
five homers, eight RBIs and 10 runs scored. ... Edgar Renteria sets table
for Cards, hitting .478 with six runs scored in seven games. ...
MVP candidate Jim Edmonds (5-for-28) struggled in first go-around
against Atlanta's vaunted staff, but hit two homers in four-game
series in Atlanta in late August. ... Fernando Tatis had only one hit in 17
at-bats. ... Mark McGwire did not play against the Braves and has only
one career homer against Atlanta. ... Teams last met in postseason
in 1996 NLCS. Cardinals had a 3-1 series lead before Braves won
last three, outscoring St. Louis 32-1. ... Greg Maddux did not face
Cards this season, but is 18-15 with a 2.59 ERA in his career
against St. Louis. ... Rafael Furcal hit .440 against St. Louis and will
be threat on the bases, especially with starting catcher Mike
Matheny sidelined. ... Chipper Jones (.115, 1, 3) and Brian Jordan
(.182, 0, 0) struggled against St. Louis. ... Andruw Jones hit .320
with seven RBIs.
Braves
Despite losing John Smoltz for the season and dealing with
season-long Rocker circus, Braves won ninth straight division
title. ... After shaky start, Rocker has been tough down the
stretch despite blowing save on final day of season to cost Atlanta
home field in this series. Rocker hasn't allowed an earned run
since Aug. 22, a span of 13 1-3 innings. ... Atlanta is 15-2 in
division series games since format began in 1995. ... Maddux and
Glavine are pitching well heading into postseason. Maddux had a
string of 39 1-3 scoreless innings end in his last start against
the Mets. Glavine has thrown 14 straight scoreless innings entering
postseason. Two aces would likely start four of five games if
series goes the distance. ... The Braves overcame a season-ending
injury to 2B Quilvio Veras, who hit .309 in 84 games and had a .409
on-base percentage when Furcal, who played in Class-A last year,
had an outstanding season filling in. ... Galarraga came back from
cancer, missing all of the 1999 season, to hit over .300 with 28
homers and 100 RBIs. ... Chipper Jones knocked in more than 100
runs for the fifth consecutive year, hit over .300 and shared the
team-high in home runs with Andruw Jones at 36. ... Braves will
miss Lopez's bat when Maddux starts. Light-hitting Bako is personal
catcher for Maddux. ... Sanders, after hitting below .200 for most
of the season, came on in September by hitting .400 and ended the
regular season with a 10-game hitting streak. ... OF B.J. Surhoff
hasn't started since Sept. 7 when he pulled right quadriceps. He's
0-for-9 as a pinch hitter, which is all he can do anymore.
Cardinals
McGwire's first trip to postseason since 1992 will be
spent on the bench. But his presence on bench as most dangerous
pinch-hitter in baseball will alter late-inning strategy. ...
Rotation has been a strength all year, until lately. Garrett Stephenson and
Pat Hentgen struggled in September, and even 20-game winner Darryl Kile
is coming off a pair of mediocre outings. ... Catching is problem
area, with Matheny lost for the season after slicing two tendons in
right ring on Friday. Of the replacements, Hernandez has a disc
problem in his back that will require offseason surgery and team
doesn't like Eli Marrero's game-calling skills. ... Matheny is the
latest in a string of injuries to key performers, the biggest of
all to McGwire, and it didn't stop them from running away with the
NL Central. They also overcame the loss of Tatis (torn groin) for
two months, so-so year from Lankford and Andy Benes (knee) was out
of the rotation for a month. ... Edmonds struggled for about a
month and a half after McGwire was hurt, batting just .188 in
August, but regained his stroke the final month. ... Defense very
strong up the middle with Vina, Renteria and Edmonds.
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