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Wednesday, October 13, 1999 By Paul Meyer, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
ATLANTA -- Greg Maddux and the Atlanta Braves continued their mastery of the New York Mets this year, beating them, 4-2, in the first game of the National League Championship Series last night.
John Rocker, who is on record as hating the Mets, nailed down the victory by getting the last four outs and preserving Maddux's fourth win in five starts against New York this year.
The Mets finished second to the Braves in the National League East Division for the second consecutive season, largely because Atlanta dominated the teams' head-to-head meetings. In those two seasons, the Braves were 18-6 against the Mets -- 9-3 each year.
Maddux had lost his three previous NLCS starts. Against the Mets, he allowed five hits, a walk and a run in seven innings -- a fairly typical Maddux moment.
"He's Greg Maddux," Mets Manager Bobby Valentine said. "He doesn't have all those trophies because he's lucky. He did a good job -- a very good job."
"He really had a good night," Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said. "I thought he threw a great ballgame."
Maddux zipped through the Mets in the top of the first inning, and the Braves gave him a 1-0 lead in their half of the first.
Gerald Williams opened with a single through the middle, then stole second base. On 3-2, Bret Boone swung at a high pitch and bounced it into center field for a run-scoring single. That brought up Chipper Jones, who was 3 for 13 in the previous round against Houston, which opted not to pitch to him much.
"I think the Mets are going to try to pitch me just like Houston did," Jones said. "I just have to be patient."
On another 3-2 pitch that zipped high, Jones drew the first of his three walks last night.
Atlanta was poised for a big inning. Sensing that, Valentine had Orel Hershiser begin warming up in the bullpen.
However, Masato Yoshii settled down. He retired Brian Jordan and Ryan Klesko on fly balls to right, Boone taking third on the second out, then set down Andruw Jones on a ground ball to third.
The Braves wasted a leadoff double by Eddie Perez in the second inning, making them 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position through two innings.
New York had an excellent chance to tie the score in the third inning.
Roger Cedeno lined a leadoff double into left-center field, then continued to third base when Williams' bad-hop throw to third rolled in front of the New York dugout.
However, the Mets didn't hit a ball past the pitcher's mound.
Rey Ordonez tapped a ball to the left of the plate. Thinking it would roll foul, Ordonez didn't run, but Perez snatched it off the foul line and threw to first for the easy out.
"It was on the line, and Maddux was yelling, 'Get him! Get him!' " Perez said. "I didn't make that good a throw. I'm glad Klesko caught it."
When Maddux fell behind Yoshii 2-0, the Mets had the Braves set up for a suicide squeeze, which they tried. Trouble was, Yoshii didn't get his bat on a strike, and Cedeno was an easy second out. Yoshii then tapped to Maddux, and that was that.
"We were looking for the squeeze on the first pitch," Perez said. "But that third pitch was right down the middle. We wanted to make him hit the ball. I don't know how he missed it."
New York did tie the score in the fourth inning after a one-out double by Edgardo Alfonzo. John Olerud's sharp single to right sent Alfonzo to third, and he scored on Piazza's broken-bat bouncer to third.
Atlanta regained the lead in the fifth inning.
Walt Weiss led off with a double into the right field corner. Maddux sacrificed him to third, Yoshii slightly turning his left ankle fielding the ball. With the Mets infield playing in, Williams shot a single past Ordonez. Williams continued to second when Rickey Henderson bobbled the ball.
Boone followed with a slicing drive into right field that seemed a sure double. However, Cedeno made a spectacular diving catch. The Mets gave an intentional walk to Chipper Jones, who hit .400 against them this season.
That was Yoshii's last batter. He wasn't happy about being removed and threw a brief tantrum in the dugout tunnel.
Right-hander Pat Mahomes relieved and ended the threat by retiring Jordan on a fly to deep left-center field.
The Mets did nothing with Alfonzo's one-out double in their half of the sixth inning, then fell behind, 3-1, on Perez' two-out home run in the bottom of the inning.
Maddux left after the seventh inning. In the eighth, left-hander Mike Remlinger walked pinch-hitter Melvin Mora, who moved to third on two ground balls.
With that, Cox brought in Rocker, another left-hander, to face Olerud. Rocker struck out Olerud on three pitches.
The Braves added a run off Turk Wendell in their half of the eighth after a leadoff walk to Andruw Jones. Perez sacrificed him to second. Weiss, who started because of his defense, lined his third hit into left field to give Atlanta a 4-1 lead.
"Kind of a storybook performance for Walt," Cox said. "That was just terrific to see him do that."
New York got that run back in the ninth after a two-out error by Chipper Jones. A wild pitch and pinch-hitter Todd Pratt's single accounted for the final score.
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