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Posted: Wednesday October 27, 1999 02:04 AM
BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Chad Curtis and the New York Yankees overpowered the Atlanta Braves to the point of extinction.
Curtis hit his second homer of the game to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning as the Yankees moved within one win of their 25th World Series title with a 6-5 victory.
Chuck Knoblauch and Tino Martinez also homered for the Yankees, who will try to complete a sweep of the best-of-seven series and repeat as champions on Wednesday night.
Making his first career World Series start, Curtis belted a 1-1 pitch from Mike Remlinger (0-1) over the left-center field fence for the 11th "walk-off" homer in World Series Series history and the first since Joe Carter won the 1993 Fall Classic for Toronto, the last team to repeat as champs.
"I've heard people talk about tingling and I've never felt that before," Curtis said. "But between second and third I kind of felt some tingling in my legs."
Manager Joe Torre said his team does not have home run hitters but can hit home runs. Never was that more evident than tonight with two long balls coming from Curtis, a part-time left fielder who hit just five during the season.
"We're going to hit home runs but we can't go out expecting to do those things," Torre said.
"I was trying to hit a ball back through the middle, to get on base," Curtis added. "I think when you take that approach you leave yourself in better position to hit a mistake and that's what happened."
New York has won 11 straight World Series games, one short of the record set by the Yankees in 1927, 1928 and 1932. The Yankees seek the first back-to-back World Series sweeps since the Yankees did it in 1938 and 1939.
All 11 wins have come under Torre, who broke Joe McCarthy's World Series record for consecutive wins by a manager.
Meanwhile, the Braves have lost their last seven World Series game -- all to the Yankees -- and are on the verge of another disappointing October exit. Atlanta, which wasted 14 hits, has won eight straight division titles but just one World Series.
"We did what we wanted to do, but it wasn't enough," Remlinger said. "We need to ask ourselves if we want to go home or show some pride tomorrow."
No team in baseball history has rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.
"This is an awfully hostile environment to try to do that in," said third baseman Chipper Jones, who had a coin thrown at him while catching a foul pop in the ninth.
Mariano Rivera (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, capping a spectacular night for the bullpen that rescued ineffective starter Andy Pettitte.
Jason Grimsley pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings, working out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fifth by retiring Gerald Williams on a fly ball. Jeff Nelson recorded two scoreless frames before yielding to Rivera.
The dominating Rivera has not allowed a run in 11 innings this postseason and 41 2/3 innings dating back to July.
The Yankees tied the game in the eighth on a two-run homer by Knoblauch off Tom Glavine, who battled gamely in his return from the flu before running out of gas.
"We never give up and always have confidence that we're going to win," Knoblauch said.
Glavine was forced to miss his Game One start and admitted to losing seven pounds while battling the illness. He looked strong early but was unable to hold on to a 5-1 lead, allowing home runs to Curtis in the fifth and Martinez in the seventh.
Manager Bobby Cox let Glavine start the eighth and it proved costly. Joe Girardi singled to right field and Knoblauch lofted a two-run homer off the glove of right fielder Brian Jordan and over the wall.
"I felt fine. I still felt strong and I was throwing the ball well," Glavine said, "I got beat by a short porch in Yankee Stadium more than anything."
Jordan appeared to time his leap well, but the ball popped out of his glove for the game-tying homer.
"I was hoping it was going to get further in the seats," Knoblauch said. "I know Jordan's a tremendous outfielder. I was hoping it would get up far enough. Luckily it bounced the right way."
Knoblauch made things difficult for Jordan all game. In the first, Jordan failed to hold onto a line drive by Knoblauch for a two-base error that led to New York's first run.
Glavine allowed seven hits and struck out three without a walk.
Bret Boone had four hits and Jose Hernandez stroked a two-run double but it was not enough as the Braves squandered several opportunities to pad their lead. Boone became the first with three doubles in a World Series game since Jim Gilliam did it for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953.
Atlanta will try to stave off elimination Wednesday when John Smoltz opposes the Yankees' Roger Clemens, who was bombed by the Boston Red Sox in his last postseason start.
Glavine was shaky in the first, allowing a run-scoring single to Paul O'Neill, but then settled down. He surrendered just a third-inning double to Knoblauch before Curtis homered the opposite way to right field with two outs in the fifth. Martinez homered to right field with one out in the seventh.
Held to just seven hits in the first two games, the Braves had more than that in 3 2/3 innings against Pettitte, including three blasts off the wall.
"It's nice to know on this team that guts constantly pick up each other," Pettitte said. "I didn't pitch well, but the team held it at five runs."
The Braves were patient, often forcing Pettitte deep into the count and making him work for every out. The lefthander who won his two previous postseason starts allowed five runs and 10 hits. Pettitte came in with a streak of 15 2/3 scoreless innings in World Series play.
Orlando Hernandez and David Cone of New York allowed just one hit each in their starts in Games One and Two, respectively. Pettitte allowed more than that in the first inning.
Williams blooped a single and Boone doubled off the right-field wall to open the game. Williams scored on a groundout by Jones before Brian Jordan walked. The runners moved up on a groundout by Andruw Jones before Pettitte escaped by getting Hernandez to ground out on a 3-0 pitch.
Boone doubled to the base of the wall in right-center field to open the third and went to third on a groundout by Chipper Jones. Jordan singled to left to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. Andruw Jones blooped a single before Hernandez doubled to left for two runs.
Williams tripled off the wall in center to open the fourth and scored when Boone doubled for his fifth straight hit to make it 5-1. Chipper Jones singled, finishing Pettitte.
Grimsley stopped the carnage by getting the final out and the Braves had just four hits the rest of the way.
"We swung the bats good against Andy and we should have taken advantage while he was out there," Chipper Jones said.
Rivera allowed a single in the ninth to Boone before pinch-runner Otis Nixon was thrown out trying to steal.
The Yankees capitalized on Jordan's miscue to score in their first at-bat. Knoblauch reached second when Jordan failed to hold his liner, moved up a base when Derek Jeter lined out and scored when O'Neill sliced a single to left field.
Jeter singled in the eighth to extend his postseason hitting streak to 16 games, one short of the record held by former Yankee Hank Bauer.
The Yankees have won 17 of their last 18 postseason games, with a 10-1 mark this season. Since 1996, New York is 34-10 in the playoffs.
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