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Braves Start a New Streak With Late Flops - AP Online

PAUL NEWBERRY, AP Sports Writer
AP Online
10-06-2003
Dateline: ATLANTA
Here's a streak the Atlanta Braves don't like to talk about: For the fourth year in a row, they stood glumly in the home dugout at Turner Field, watching another team celebrate a postseason triumph.

In an all-too-familiar fall ritual, the Braves fell flat at that time of year when the pitching gets a little tougher, the hitters have to be a little more patient and every mistake can take on season-ending importance.

This time, it was the Chicago Cubs _ a team that was 13 games worse during the regular season _ ending Atlanta's year with a five-game victory in the NL division series.

'With a team like we have, there's no way we should have lost like that,' Javy Lopez said after the Cubs prevailed 5-1 Sunday night in the deciding game. 'We all know they've got pretty good pitching, but our offense, we should have done better than we did.'

Who knows if they'll get another chance in 2004. Closer John Smoltz admitted to a sense of desperation to win this year, knowing that Lopez, Gary Sheffield, Greg Maddux and Vinny Castilla are at the end of their contracts.

The Braves haven't made a major push to re-sign any of their potential free agents.

'I'm not going to talk about that now,' general manager John Schuerholz said. 'We're dealing with a tough loss. We'll deal with next year later on.'

The Braves continue to defy the laws of probability. A record 12 straight division titles have produced only one World Series championship _ and that was eight long years ago.

'The ball's got to bounce your way. It didn't,' said manager Bobby Cox, who has perfected the postseason mea culpa. 'We played great baseball all year long. We played good in this series. The ball's got to find some holes once in a while.'

The loss closely resembled the 2001 NL championship series, when the Braves fell to an Arizona team featuring two dominant pitchers. Randy Johnson beat Atlanta twice, including a three-hit shutout. Curt Schilling won his only start with a four-hitter.

This time, Chicago's hard-throwing young guns, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, sent the Braves home for the winter with three dominating performances.

Wood won his two starts, including Game 5. He allowed just seven hits and three earned runs in 15 1-3 innings, striking out 18. Prior dominated the Braves in Game 3, going the distance in a two-hitter.

'Their pitching was awful strong,' Cox said. 'We failed to beat the two big guys one game out of three. That's what it would have taken.'

Maybe the Braves need a change in philosophy. They have tended to favor pitchers such as Greg Maddux and Mike Hampton, guys who get by more on guile than overpowering stuff.

Over the long haul of a 162-game season, that works just fine. In the postseason, it sure helps to have guys such as Wood and Prior, who can totally take over a game.

'Pretty much those two pitchers were their whole team,' Lopez said.

This points to a frequent criticism of the teams assembled by Schuerholz. They are the best club for the long haul, but they don't have the type of players who can dominate in the postseason.

Then again, Atlanta did pursue a different tact this season, winning 101 games with offense rather than pitching.

For the first time, the Braves had four players with 100 RBIs. They were only the second team in NL history to have six players with at least 20 homers. They set a franchise record with 235 homers, and they averaged nearly 5.6 runs per game.

It didn't matter against the Cubs. The Braves finished with a team batting average of .215 and scored just 15 runs in the five-game series.

Sheffield, who set an Atlanta record with 132 RBIs during the regular season, went 2-for-14 with one measly RBI _ his second straight postseason flop. Chipper Jones had two homers in Game 4 but batted .167 overall. Even Lopez, who hit .333, wasn't very productive; he failed to drive in a run.

'I got a bunch of hits, but I couldn't get the big hit when we had people in scoring position,' conceded Lopez, who had a career-high 43 homers and 109 RBIs during the season. 'That's pretty frustrating for me personally.'

He sighed.

'We have to deal with it now,' Lopez said.

No one is quite sure where this team is headed. Corporate owner Time Warner had been trying to sell the Braves, but put that effort on the back-burner while dumping two other Atlanta sports teams, the NBA Hawks and NHL Thrashers.

If nothing else, the Braves' payroll will certainly take a hit after beginning this season at around $104 million _ the fourth-highest in baseball.

Sheffield, who made $11.4 million in the last year of his contract, would seem to be the prime target for re-signing. The postseason notwithstanding, his loss would leave a massive hole in the lineup. He makes everyone around him better.

Assuming the Braves let go of Maddux (16-11, 3.96) or bring him back at substantially less than the $14.75 million he made this year, there might be enough in the reduced budget to keep Sheffield.

Lopez, who made $7 million, is unlikely to return, despite the best season of his career. The Braves acquired Johnny Estrada a year ago with the idea of moving him into the lineup in 2004.

Lopez has played for the Braves his whole career and would prefer to keep it that way. But he didn't sound hopeful.

'After the World Series is over, the Braves will have to talk to my agent about any kind of deal,' he said. 'If it's free agency, then we'll see who's going to call.'

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