Live from Atlanta: “Maddux Unplugged.”
On one of the rare nights when Greg Maddux looked like just another former Cub, the defending National League champion Atlanta Braves handed Florida a 5-3 victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
With Maddux’s teammates letting down defensively and Florida taking advantage of every break it received, the Marlins sneaked away with the biggest win in franchise history as they attempt to advance to the World Series in only their fifth year of existence.
Moises Alou drove in four runs for the Marlins, including a bases-loaded double in the first inning that set the tone for the night. Kevin Brown pitched six innings of five-hit ball for the win.
Maddux, a four-time Cy Young Award winner, was betrayed by his defense on three separate occasions in the first three innings, leading to five unearned runs that determined the outcome. But Maddux had to accept part of the blame himself, giving up two-out hits in the first and third and lacking his usual great control.
In short, neither the Braves nor Maddux were themselves. In 232 2/3 regular-season innings, Maddux allowed only one unearned run, but he gave up five runs in his six-inning stint in Game 1. Maddux had given up as many as five runs in a game only twice before in 33 starts in ’97.
The performance by the Braves’ ace was eerily similar to Maddux’s first start in last year’s NLCS against St. Louis, when he allowed eight runs, including five unearned, in an 8-3 Game 2 loss to the Cardinals. Maddux’s career record in NLCS play dropped to 3-4.
Florida beat the Braves 8 out of 12 games in the regular season, but the Marlins were still prohibitive underdogs in the NLCS.
Now they have stolen the home-field advantage in the first game and can really put the Braves in a hole if Alex Fernandez pitches as well in Game 2 as he did in the division series clincher against San Francisco last Friday.
The Braves started out by doing a deft impersonation of the Cubs, making back-to-back misplays in the first inning that led to three unearned Marlins runs.
With runners on first and second and two outs, first baseman Fred McGriff muffed an easy grounder off Jeff Conine’s bat to load the bases. Alou then hit one toward third that Chipper Jones made a weak backhanded attempt on, waving as the ball flew past him for a bases-clearing double.
“The first inning was just a nightmare,” said Atlanta manager Bobby Cox. “Maddux pitched (well) under the circumstances.”
Florida led 3-1 in the third when Kenny Lofton’s three-base error on a long fly by Gary Sheffield opened the doors for another two runs. Alou’s groundout brought Sheffield home. Charles Johnson’s two-out double down the left-field line scored Alou to make it 5-1.
Jones’ home run leading off the third and Ryan Klesko’s homer on the first pitch of the sixth closed the gap to 5-3. Denny Neagle, the Braves’ 20-game winner who was given spot duty in the bullpen before his Game 4 start, came on to start the seventh inning and put runners on first and third with no outs.
But Neagle induced Bobby Bonilla to fly to short center, and Conine’s fly to medium right resulted in an inning-ending double play when Michael Tucker threw out Edgar Renteria trying to score from third.
Relievers Dennis Cook, Jay Powell and Robb Nen shut down the Braves in the final three innings, giving up no hits among them.
