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 Braves vs. Cubs Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jeff Pearlman checks in from Turner Field
Posted: Thursday October 01, 1998 01:39 PM The Atlanta-Chicago series will probably not be a very good one. It's sorta like a Bulls-Nets NBA first-rounder. Jersey can close the gap to six points ... four points ... two points—but they're still the Nets. The Cubs kept Game 1 close for one inning ... three innings ... five innings—but Mark Clark was still their starting pitcher. (By the way, has there ever been a less-inspiring Game 1 playoff pitcher than the 9-14 Clark?) The problem with playing Atlanta—unless you've got a collection of Tony Gwynns—is that the Braves' pitchers insist on throwing away from the superstars and to the stick figures. Sammy Sosa singled off a waist-high John Smoltz fastball in his first at bat, but that was the day's only really awful pitch (when things mattered). Smoltz gave Sosa nothing else to hit, instead challenging the Tyler Houstons and Jose Hernandezes to beat him. When was the last time Tyler Houston or Jose Hernandez beat anyone? Regardless, even lame matchups have interesting sideshows. Like ... * Teeny-tiny George Will, covering the event for Newsweek, cautiously walking around the infield in a gray pinstriped business suit, looking like a candidate for "Man Most Likely to Get Flogged." * Cubs centerfielder Lance Johnson, trying to talk baseball but worrying about his home in Mobile, Ala., a few thick oaks away from hurricane food. "I just hope those trees hold up," he said quietly, nervously before Game 1. "If they don't get knocked down, my house shouldn't either. I'm just trying not to think about it so much." * Sosa taking Game 1 BP ... and thumping nary a single ball out of the park. * Braves fans not showing up. The game started with a sea of empty blue seats, but Turner Field slowly filled up a bit. Afterward, Atlanta's players didn't totally hide their disappointment. "I'll grant them all a reprieve this time," said Chipper Jones. "It was an afternoon game and people have jobs. But the expectations here are World Series and there's no guarantee we make it there." * Mark Grace owns the nastiest, freakiest BP bat in baseball history: It's covered with pine tar, along with a mix of phlegm, spit, snot, goo, paint and McDonald's secret sauce. It looks like something a proctologist might use. * Grace, by the way, doesn't buy into that destiny, schmestiny garbo. "If there is destiny, I'd love for us to be the team of destiny," he said. "But I think our destiny is to play the Braves."
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