|
| |
|
|
 Little guys can be playoff heroes, too
Posted: Tuesday October 13, 1998 03:44 PM
The baseball postseason is made for heroes. Bright lights. Pressure situations. It's a perfect way for the best players in the game to show their stuff. It's also a great place for everyday players to show they can shine, too. On Monday night, Michael Tucker of the Atlanta Braves, a guy who hit only 13 home runs all season long, teed off on maybe the best pitcher in the game today, Kevin Brown of the San Diego Padres. With that one swing, Tucker changed the look of the National League Championship Series and became an instant postseason hero. The NLCS is heading back to Atlanta for Game 6, thanks to Tucker. And the Padres -- who swept the first three games in the best-of-seven series -- are feeling the heat. I know something about unlikely heroes. Back in 1985, in the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a shortstop known primarily for his defense yanked out a home run against Tom Niedenfuer to send the St. Louis Cardinals into the World Series. When I hit that home run, it wasn't my intention to hit one out. It just worked out that way. I was too busy just trying to execute the fundamentals. I remember the pitch, of course. They were trying to pitch me up and in with fastballs, and I just got hold of it. He supplied the power and I supplied the technique. It's one of the most memorable moments of my career. In a lot of cases, being a postseason hero is just a case of timing more than anything; being in the right place at the right time. A lot of times, it has to do with making the most of a mistake. And mistakes will happen in the postseason, when pressure can get to the best of players. Brown put the pitch where Tucker, a lowball hitter, could get a good cut at it. It wasn't a terrible pitch, but it was bad enough for Tucker to whack it out of the stadium. The ball was carrying Monday night in San Diego, too -- John Vander Wal, another unlikely hero, punched one out of the park to the opposite field earlier in the game. So when you get a lowball hitter getting a low pitch to hit in a ballpark where the ball is carrying, you have the makings of a hero. Tucker simply took advantage of the situation that presented itself. Seizing the opportunity is what being a postseason hero is all about. It's about that one moment in time that every athlete hopes to have the opportunity to get. It's about being prepared, mentally and physically, and concentrating enough to get the job done. The 6-4-3 with Ozzie: Tucker had his moment at the expense of Brown, who had been practically unhittable in the postseason. San Diego manager Bruce Bochy already is getting second-guessed for using his ace in relief. It was one of those situations where it's great -- if it works out. But if it doesn't -- and, boy, it didn't -- you have a team in disarray, which is where the Padres are now. They're not sure who they're going to throw next. Was it a good move? Well, I certainly understand what Bochy was trying to accomplish. I probably would have done the same thing, if I had been calling the shots. Seeing how it turned out, though, I'm glad I didn't have to make that call. Ozzie Smith, a 15-time All Star, is the baseball analyst for CNN/SI, the 24-hour sports news network from CNN and Sports Illustrated. His column will appear every week throughout the postseason.
| |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
