ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610070153
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA GETS another strong pitching performance in dispatching the Dodgers.
The Atlanta Braves' Big Three sent the Los Angeles Dodgers home in three straight.
Tom Glavine completed a virtuoso performance by Atlanta's pitching and the Braves knocked out Hideo Nomo in the fourth inning Saturday, advancing to their fifth straight National League Championship Series with a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
``I'll admit that I'm surprised,'' Glavine said of the Braves' amazing run through the '90s. ``I don't care how good you are, it's hard to do. When you get to this time of year, a few bad breaks and you're out.''
The Dodgers, swept in the best-of-five divisional series for the second consecutive year, finished off a late-season meltdown with a feeble effort against Atlanta's formidable staff.
Glavine followed in the footsteps of fellow Cy Young winner Greg Maddux and likely-to-be winner John Smoltz, shutting down a Dodgers team that mustered only 14 hits in the series. If pitching is a major factor in the postseason, then Atlanta is a solid favorite to defend its World Series championship.
The fans chanted ``Sweep! Sweep! Sweep'' and waved tomahawks with brooms attached. However, the Braves celebrated the final out like it was just a regular-season game, their eyes focused on a bigger prize.
``Maybe we didn't go into a pile and roll around on the field after the game, but the guys were happy after the game,'' manager Bobby Cox said. ``There's so many things you've got to win now to win the World Series. We've gotten by two of them, but we have two more to go.''
Los Angeles scored just five runs in the series, and only three were earned. In the first two games at Dodger Stadium, Smoltz gave up four hits in nine innings and the Braves won 2-1 in the 10th, then Maddux allowed no earned runs in seven innings of a 3-2 victory.
Glavine had a bigger margin to work with, going on cruise control when the Braves broke open the game by scoring four runs after two outs in the fourth. Not even Nomo, who had a 1.53 ERA against Atlanta in his career, could halt the Braves from joining Oakland (1971-75) as the only teams to play in five straight league championship series.
The Braves, just the third franchise with five straight postseason appearances, will meet either St. Louis or San Diego in the NLCS, which begins Wednesday night at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, will have the whole winter to ponder a disastrous final 10 days to their season. They lost four straight games to close out the regular season, squandering the NL West title, then were dominated by the Braves.
Nomo, who pitched a no-hitter Sept. 17 at Colorado, was doomed by wildness. In the first three innings, he walked four and went to three balls in the count on nine of the 15 batters he faced; still, he trailed only 1-0 on Fred McGriff's RBI double in the first.
In the fourth, however, Nomo totally unraveled after getting the first two batters easily. Glavine doubled, Marquis Grissom walked and Mark Lemke hit a two-run double to deep center. Chipper Jones followed with a two-run homer to right-center to end Nomo's season. On all three hits, the Japanese sensation tried to get ahead in the count by grooving first-pitch fastballs, and the Braves made him pay each time.
Nomo surrendered five hits and five walks in 3 2/3 innings, his shortest stint of the season.
``I don't know,'' he said, when asked to explain his control problems. ``I just couldn't throw a strike.''
Glavine allowed only five hits and a run before he was relieved with two outs in the seventh. Like Nomo, he was behind in the count most of the game, and wound up throwing 126 pitches. Mark Wohlers pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for his third straight save in the series.
Los Angeles had a chance to score in the first, but a base-running blunder ended the rally. Mike Piazza blooped a single to right and Todd Hollandsworth, who lingered briefly between second and third to make sure the hit would fall, was held at third. But Piazza rounded first too wide and was caught in a rundown, then Hollandsworth was thrown out at home when he tried to score.
In the fourth, another Los Angeles scoring chance was ruined on a botched call by first-base umpire Frank Pulli. Eric Karros was ruled out to complete a double play even though television replays clearly showed him to be safe. Appropriately for the Dodgers, Raul Mondesi followed with a double but was left stranded at second.
Los Angeles finally touched home in the seventh, knocking out Glavine with a two-out rally. Greg Gagne singled and Juan Castro, who hit only .197 during the regular season, followed with a double to left-center.
The Dodgers struck for another run in the eighth on Piazza's sacrifice fly, but Mike Bielecki struck out Mondesi with runners on first and third and Wohlers ended the inning by getting Tim Wallach on a short pop to left. see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines KEYWORDS: BASEBALLby CNB