VS.
A chance to win his first postseason game in 1992. A chance to redeem himself from game 1, and a chance to put the final nail in the coffin.
But whatever good feeling I had vanished soon enough. With Deion Sanders and Sid Bream back in the lineup, this would be no easy task. John Smoltz was back on the hill after a pretty good, but a little wild, game 2.
And I forgot to remind you that the Jays have won three games in a row after losing game 1, but all of them, by a single run.
Otis Nixon doubled on the left field line past Kelly Gruber to open the game, despite the fact that Gruber was almost on the line. Sanders is a K victim, but Terry Pendleton, who knows how 3-1 Series leads evaporate quickly (He was on the ill-fated 1985 St Louis Cardinals) comes to bat. Nixon steals second as Morris falls behind in the count. Morris then gets it back to 2-2 and watches as Pendleton fouls off three pitches, plus a ball three. Then he doubles pastb John Olerud down the first base line for a double, his first extra base hit of this Series.
Morris gets it back together and fans David Justice and Lonnie Smith flies out. But the Braves have the lead.
Devon White has a fun AB to lead off the game against Smoltz, falling behind 1-2 and battling it back to a full count, fouling off a pitch in the progress, before going down on strikes like he did to lead off game 2. Alomar makes a quick out on a grounder, Carter takes strike three. It had taken Johnny just 13 pitches.
Morris quickly got Bream to fly out. Then Blauser and him have a 9 pitch AB (Pendleton did in the first) before Morris fans him. Damon Berryhill pops to Gruber in foul territory at third.
Smoltz sort of gets his old wildness from game 2 back in the bottom of the frame, however. Dave Winfield flies out, but not before getting the count from 0-2 to 3-2. Then Smoltz throws 3 straight balls to Olerud (.200, 2-10 still) gets it back to 3-2, before giving up a single. To Candy Maldonado, Smoltz throws 2 ball, 2 strikes and then 2 balls.
Smoltz must be a little nervous, eh?
Well, who wouldn't be? It's a World Series, you're facing elimination, it's a different country, who knows?
Smoltz actually tries to pick Olerud off second with the count 1-1 on Gruber. I think I kinda smiled, Olerud with just 1 career stolen base at that point. No threat to steal. But it's a World Series.
Smoltz fired two more strikes to get rid of Gruber. Smoltz must love these situations. Just as Tom Glavine did the day before.
But Pat Borders doubled off the fence in left to score Olerud and send Maldonado to third. The game was tied. Smoltz then got Manuel Lee to line out to end the inning, which took him 27 pitches.
Mark Lemke snapped a 2-15 World Series, thus far, with a single to center to start the Braves third. Nixon hit a ball that Lee got to but was hit so weakly his only option was to first. Lemke advanced still another base as Sanders grounded out to Alomar.
Let's see if Morris likes these situations!
Apparently he did, as he fanned Pendleton for his fourth K and get out of a little jam. But it only took him 13 pitches.
Smoltz again got White to fly out. This was the third straight inning he had retired to leadoff man. But it was the fifth batter John had gone 3-2 on. And again, from 0-2 to 3-2. Alomar drew Smoltz's second walk on, you guessed it, a 3-2 pitch. Smoltz, again, settling into his favourite chair on the hill, got Carter to fly out and Winfield to force Alomar. I guess he just loves playing with the Jays! Or relieving some nervous tension. Soon though, I'd become the nervous one.
Morris, after throwing Justice a ball to lead off the top of the fourth, threw one too high and Justice hit it off the facing of the second deck in left for his first extra base hit of the Series. The Braves are back on top 2-1.
While Morris quickly gets Smith and Bream to fly out, Blauser keeps the inning alive with a single to snap a 2-16 Series with a single.
There's a thing about guys like Blauser. They're small, but they got some power. You can never take them lightly, even with two outs and the bases empty. They make you pay when you least suspect it. So you first thought is, hold them to a single, and make sure there are two outs. Then see if they try to steal.
Which Blauser does, and Borders, for just the second time this series, throws him out! Well, at least they only got one run.
The bottom of the frame is like the bottom of the second all over again. Olerud, suddenly red hot in games 4 and 5, singles. Maldonado again goes 3-2, and again walks. Since one of CBS's Sean McDonough's favourite saying is, "The payoff pitch..." (when the count is 3-2, because the next pitch will, "pay-off" one way or another), he must really be getting tired of saying that.
Smoltz has made him say that 7 times so far tonight, while Morris has done that twice.
And we're in the bottom of the 4th.
Anways, Gruber is out on a flyball that takes Sanders to the fence in left. But up comes Borders, who is now hitting .462 (6-13) in the Series.
Conference time among infielders (no manager) plus the battery on the mound. Who can blame them?
Ball 1.
Ball 2.
Ball 3.
What was the point of the conference on the mound? Avoid 3-2 counts?
Smoltz would kill for one now. But he comes back with pitch that Borders can only foul off. His thinking about Olerud on second again, and tries to pick him off. No dice.
Smoltz goes back to work on the incandecent Borders. He throws him a great pitch, a slider that breaks really down and really left. Borders reaches for it and gets the last 1/3 of the bat on it and hits it past Smoltz and just past a diving Lemke. Olerud, despite being slow, easily beats the throw from Nixon, 2-2.
When you're hot, you're hot!
After throwing Lee still another ball, Smoltz bears down and gets him to force Maldonado at second.
White ends the inning by striking out. Smoltz needed 25 more pitches to get through that. But he now has 4 strikeouts. Oh, and 3 walks in the last 3 innings.
Morris starts the fifth with his 5th strikeout (Berryhill). Then Lemke grounds out to Alomar.
But Otis Nixon singles to center, steals second on the first pitch to Deion, then scores as Sanders singles to shallow center. Pendleton doubles to right, just like he did in the first. 3-2 Atlanta.
The ball is touched by a fan and Sanders has to go back to third. At this point, it looks live the roof is caving in on Morris again.
Dave Justice, who homered in his last at bat, is walked intentionally. That brings up Lonnie Smith, who has 3 career grand slams to his name.
Smith is hitting 1-10 in this Series, and Morris gets him to foul off the first pitch. After a ball, Smith fouls off another, and another. Then Morris fires a high fastball on the outer edge of the plate. Oh no.
Smith sends the ball deep to right, Carter goes back, back...
But the ball ends up in the Braves bullpen.
Suddenly, this close game has been blown open, 7-2, on a grand slam.
That's it for Morris. The booing is off the charts as Cito comes out. I honesty believe some of the booing is for Cito, but most is for Morris, who now sports a 1992 World Series ERA of 8.44.
David Wells hops in from the bullpen, where he pitched most of the year. Despite a high ERA (5.40), and a 7-9 W-L record, he has pitched well against the Braves this postseason.
But now he's in for mop up duty. He gets Bream to fly out. Finally the inning is over: 5 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 0 men left on base
Smoltz gets Alomar and Carter on flies in the bottom of the 5th. But then Dave Winfield gets the 5th hit off Smotlz. Olerud falls behind 0-2, works it back to 3-2, fouls off a pitch, then flies out to left. 17 pitches for Smoltz. I think he's learning.
Olerud then takes Blauser's popup in foul territory to start the top of the 6th. Then Damon Berryhill snaps a 0-13 streak dating back to his game 1 3-run homerun, with a single. But Lemke flies out and Nixon lines out to first, with Olerud making a great grab! That saved a run.
Smoltz, seemingly settling down now, gets Madonado and Gruber to fly out. Borders, now a .500 hitter (7-14), grounds out. That's Smoltz's first 1-2-3 inning since the first. In that inning he needed 13 pitches. Here, he needed only 11, but his pitch count is up to 109 if you can believe it.
And we're only through 6.
The top of the 7th sees the Jays bring in Mike Timlin, who hadn't pitched at all in the World Series so far. Actually, his performance against Oakland (6.75 ERA in 1 2/3 innings) tells you why.
Anyways, Sanders greets him with a liner to center that White catches. Pendleton hits a 5 foot grounder that Borders himself tags him with for the second out. Justice hits it deep in the hole at second, where Alomar, as always, makes the play. A play that many others at second wouldn't make!
Smoltz starts his half of the second by getting behind Lee 2-0, and after getting a called strike, he misses the next 2 pitches. Walk number 4.
Even with a 7-2, you've gotta be careful in any game of a World Series, where everyone's lives are at stake, seemingly. No retreat, no surrender.
And if you're Bobby Cox, you've got to look at the facts, while Smoltz has pitched well, and this game is all but wrapped up, you don't want to give the Jays any life.
And you also will need Smoltz in the event of the Series goes to 7 games.
Tonight Smoltz has thrown over 100 pitches (114) and 48 of them have been balls. John has had just 2 1-2-3 innings, and this 7th isn't going to be one. You've walked 4 and have come close to walking 5 more. Plus there are still 3 innings to go.
With that. Bobby Cox trots out to the hill and takes the ball from Smoltz.
As mentioned, it's been a good outing 6IP, 2(Earned)R, 5H, 4BB, 4K, 1LOB. But Smoltz is going to need some rest, and at the rate he's going, 150 pitches isn't out of the question tonight.
In comes Mike Stanton, the hard throwing left. Another reason he's here: White and Alomar are switch hitters. Guess who is the first two batters he's facing?
And I'm surprised Stanton hasn't come in to start this inning, since Lee is also a switch hitter.
Stanton was a middle reliever, who at this point had finished 57 of the 166 games he has entered. Of those games he's finished, 24 of them have been saves.
In the postseason this year, he's pitched 5 times against Pittsburgh in the NLCS (4.1 IP, 1 (Unearned)R, 2H, 2BB, 5K)
In the Word Series, he has pitched twice, but just 1/3 of an inning in game 2 and the 4 intentional balls vs Sprague in the 9th inning of game 3.
Lee might not be well remembered, but I sure do remember him. He generally batted low in the lineup, yet usually came up with 35-45 RBIs, while playing some slick D. Still Jays fans are quite ready to embrace him, after the moody, yet excellent, Tony Fernandez left.
Stanton proves to be just the tonic the Braves need at this point. White forces Lee after Mike gets ahead of him 1-2. Then Alomar ends the suspence by hitting into a 6-4-3 double play on the very first pitch.
As the game moves into the seventh, the Jays bring in Mark Eichhorn.
Eichhorn was one of my favourite Jays, largely becasue he had this wicked sidearm delivery. Like suddenly coming around the corner, it was murder on right handers. But lefties hit it well.
Eichhorn has pitched for both these teams before.
After pitching briefly for the Jays in 1982, he spent the next 3 seasons in the minors. Then he stunned the baseball world in 1986.
In those three seasons, he worked on his deliverly, which by 1986 he had mastered. All of this because of a shoulder injury that forced him to throw that way. The Mark Eichhorn of 1986 was different than the Mark Eichhorn of 1982.
But the Jays weren't quite ready to take a chance on him, inviting him to spring training as a non-roster player.
But the Jays were so impressed by him the bought his contract on opening day, April 8.
He pitched, pitched and pitched for the Jays that year, finishing with a 1.72 ERA, 14 wins and 10 saves and taking home The Sporting New Amercian League Player Of The Year award.
He continued his effectiveness, but by 1989 he was a Brave. And the a year later, an Angel.
In the middle of 1992, he was a Jay again. He went 2-0 with the Jays, but had a high ERA, 4.35 and had pitched just once (1 inning) in the postseason (Game 5 of the ALCS).
Eichhorn was on to face Lonnie Smith, who was getting all the clutch hits now for the Braves, and who now had 5 RBIs in the last 3 games.
In the game's best at bat, hands down, Smith fell behind 0-2, fouled off a pitch, took two balls, fouled of four straight pitches, then swung and missed.
Sid Bream was next. The Jays had gone with 10 pitchers on their postseason roster: Morris, David Cone, Juan Guzman, Jimmy Key, Todd Stottlemyre, Wells, Timlin, Eichhorn, Duan Ward and Tom Henke. So Bob MacDonald, another lefty was not available at this point. Although not that great, sure could use another pitcher like him and Al Leiter, who spent the majority of the year in the minors, in a situation like this.
Anyways, Eichhorn got him on a long fly to White. Blauser grounded out like Justice did an inning earlier.
Stanton faces Carter, who is in a big slump (2-17, but also a homerun in game 3) since his game 1 homerun, to start the bottom of the eighth.
Blauser is out of the game as it heads into the bottom of the eighth. Rafael Belliard, an all field and no hit, (.223 BA with 1 homerun in 777 games, at this point). It's his 3rd game of the World Series of 1992 and his 6th game in the postseason overall. Just 1 AB, however.
Carter singles to center for the Jays 6th hit of the night. Then he steals second. But Winfield strikes out for Stanton's first K of the night.
As in game 3, Ed Sprague pinch hits for Olerud.
Mike isn't going to walk him intentionally or unitentionally, however, and jumps ahead 0-2, misses a pitch, then enduces Sprague to fly out to Justice for the second out. Carter tags and makes it to third on the play.
It's been a long time since the Jays have had a runner standing on third. Actually, the last time they had that was in the second inning.
But Maldonado falls behind 0-2 and can only hit it to the hole in short. Pendleton is there, tosses Candy out, and the inning is over.
Todd Stottlemyre takes over on the hill in the top of ninth, and Sprague stays at first for Olerud.
Todd has been wild this year for the Jays. But like Key, just when the roof was about to close on the Stottledome, he found his mark late in the year, going 5-2 in his last 7 games (6 starts), posting a 2.83 ERA and holding batters to .211 batting average. Also, on August 26th, in the game that got him on the right track, he tossed a smooth 1-hitting and beat the White Sox, 9-0.
ALCS-wise, he only pitched once (game 4), but it was a fairly important outing 3.2 IP, 1(Earned)R, 3H, 0BB, 1K as the Jays came back from 6-1 down to win 7-6 in extra innings.
World Series wise, he's pitched a perfect inning in game 1 and 2, and fanned 2 batters.
Make that three as Blauser fans to open the inning, but Lemke, starting to find his stroke, gets his second hit on the night. Nixon sends Lemke to second when he follows suit, and a single by Sanders loads the bases again.
It hasn't been that long since the Braves had the sacks drunk. 4 innings ago, remember?
5th inning all over again?
At least Lonnie Smith isn't up. But it's Pendleton, with Justice and Smith to follow.
Oh, boy, the Braves can put a lock on the game they've already put away.
Stottlemyre is now worried and misses with a pitch. Then Pendleton goes the other way to shallow left. Maldonado is there and makes the putout.
For whatever reason, Lemke decides to try and score on the play and Candy nails him at the plate.
The Jays have escaped this jam by the skin of their teeth. If only they could have done that in the 5th.
The defiant Jays come up for one last try in the bottom of the ninth.
Gruber looks like he's gotten the first walk of Stanton (and first walk since Smotlz game departing one in the top of the 7th) when he gets ahead 3-0. Then he takes two strikes, fouls off two pitches, and sends a long fly to Nixon in center for out one.
After getting a called first strike on Borders (his average is down to .467) it's
Ball 1.
Ball 2.
Ball 3.
After getting another called strike, Borders fouls the next pitch off. Then he grounds out to Pendleton.
Manny Lee is the last Blue Jay batter.
But he makes Mike work as Stanton again misses the first two pitches. What was he doing in the top of the ninth, taking lessons from Smoltz?
Then Mike finds the plate with a pitch. Alas, the next pitch is also a ball, 3-1.
But coming into this inning, Stanton has made 20 pitches in 2 innings. He can afford this.
Lee takes a called strike 2, and then Stanton revives the hopes of everyone who is a Braves fan, by getting Lee to pop out foul to Bream. Game over, brand new Series.
Which now heading back to the Dixieland Fun Park.
References
Gamester, George, and Gerald Hall. On Top Of The World: The Toronto Stars Tribute To The '92 Blue Jays. Doubleday Canada, 1992. Print.
Garai, Jozsef. "MLB WS 1992 Game 5 Blue Jays vs Braves." Youtube, 26 Jan. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT2tnqqsSS0 (2018 update)
Kostel, Mike and Rich Domich, directors. 1992 World Series. Performance by Lou Carlou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1992. World Series Film. DVD.
Retrosheet. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <www.retrosheet.org>
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Oct 2012.
