Among other things, credit Bobby Cox, the Atlanta manager, with consistency. An hour or so before the National League playoffs began here Tuesday night, Cox told reporters, ”We`re not going to win or lose the playoffs tonight.”
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Thirty minutes after his Braves had beaten the Pirates 5-1 in Game 1, Cox repeated what he had said earlier. ”Tonight`s game,” he observed, ”is not going to determine who`s going to win this series.”
Chances are Mr. Cox is correct. Still, it seemed like a continuation of last year when the Braves had three shutouts during their best-of-seven victory over the Pirates. For all purposes, their latest victory was the equivalent of another whitewashing.
Jose Lind, the weakestbat in the Pittsburgh lineup, gave the Pirates their only run, a home run that led off the eighth. Harmless though it was, it did have a statistical effect: It broke a string of 29 consecutive scoreless Pittsburgh playoff innings. It was the Pirates` first run off the Braves in post-season competition since the fifth inning of last season`s fifth game.
John Smoltz, who has never won more than 15 games during the regular season but is 3-0 in post-season play, said he simply followed his game plan: ”To keep their first two guys off base. I didn`t want Andy Van Slyke or Barry Bonds coming up with a chance to drive in any runs.”
Smoltz, it would seem, was overly concerned. It was another poor playoff game for Van Slyke and Bonds. Together, they were 1 for 7. The lone hit was a meaningless sixth-inning single by Van Skyke that came immediately after the play of the game:
No outs and a runner on first, and the Pirates` 2-3-4 hitters coming up. Jay Bell, No. 2 in the Pittsburgh order, hit a hard smash to third, a certain base hit. But Terry Pendleton snared the ball with a back-handed stop, fired to second baseman Mark Lemke whothrew to first baseman Sid Bream to complete the double play.
So when Van Slyke got his single, just as Smoltz had planned, there was nobody on base.
Not surprisingly, Doug Drabek, the Pittsburgh starter, had an identical game plan-to prevent the speedy Otis Nixon from reaching base.
Before the game Jim Leyland, the Pittsburgh manager, was in his usual expansive mood and was answering questions about what the Pirates would do if Nixon got on base.
Nixon, who leads off for the Braves, has stolen 163 bases during the last three seasons, including 41 this year.
”He`s dynamite,” Leyland said.
Asked if the Pirates had thrown out Nixon this season, Leyland said,
”Once, on a knuckleball, when Tim Wakefield was pitching.”
Pressed further, Leyland was asked how many bases Nixon had stolen against the Pirates.
Leyland laughed. Obviously amused, he said, ”I can`t say.”
Then Leyland added: ”I try not to think about it.”
According to the statistics, Nixon stole seven bases against the Pirates in 11 attempts.
The best defense against Nixon, or any big base-stealing threat, is to keep him off bases, which is what the Pirates did, more or less.
Nixon was hitless in his first three trips-out bunting in the first inning, out on a grounder to second base in the third and on a fly to center in the fifth. But Nixon couldn`t be held in check forever. He singled to open the seventh. As expected, he stole second.
But by the time this happened the game was over. The Braves were already ahead 4-0 and just as Lind`s home run off Smoltz wasn`t a factor, neither was Nixon`s stolen base.
Charlie Leibrandt, the Braves` Chicago-born pitcher, and a big Nixon booster, pointed out that Nixon can be bothersome for a pitcher even when he isn`t trying to steal.
”He is so fast and so dangerous he can disrupt a pitcher`s rythym,”
Leibrandt observed. ”He`s very important to us.”
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Strange how things work out. Danny Jackson, the failed Cub, will start the second game for the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.
Jackson, who made 20 consecutive winless starts for the Cubs, said he thought about retiring earlier this season before he was traded to the Pirates for third baseman Steve Buechele.
”It was when I injured my groin muscle for the second time,” Jackson said. ”I couldn`t even do a situp and was trying to go out there and pitch. Consequently, it affected my arm and that`s what scared me. My wife kept telling me not to give up, not to quit. Thanks to her and my family, I`m playing here right now.”
Jackson also said he has changed his approach. ”I`ve developed an attitude out there that I hate my opponent. I don`t like to be bothered with everything else that is going around. I just want to play. Some people say that when I get upset on the mound that it takes away from pitching. I don`t think so, at least not in my case.”
Like the Braves` Smoltz, Jackson has been a big winner in post-season competition. He went 4-1 in the 1985 playoffs and World Series when he was with the Kansas City Royals. Five years later, he was 3-1 with the Cincinnati Reds.
”He`ll win for us, too,” Leyland said.
If he doesn`t, and the Braves go ahead 2-0, it seems likely that the Pirates will lose their third consecutive playoff.
We await further developments.