The Braves fought through two elimination games, their Game 5 victory – in which Maddux posted his only career save – being an all-timer. This was the “Hell’s Bells” October: Hoffman struck him out. (Perez had two hits, though.) Lopez was deployed as a pinch-hitter against Trevor Hoffman with the Braves down 2-1 and the bases loaded in the eighth. Bautista, Williams and Graffanino went 0-for-8. Greg Maddux got the Game 3 start, and that meant he got Eddie Perez as personal catcher. On this sunny Saturday, the right-handed Lopez also sat. To be fair, Cox had done this all season, and the Braves had gone a league-best 27-13 against lefty starters.
Klesko, Michael Tucker and Keith Lockhart were benched in favor of Danny Bautista, Gerald Williams and Tony Graffanino. The Padres came to Turner Field and stole two games, the first on Ken Caminiti’s 10th-inning homer off Kerry Ligtenberg, the second when Kevin Brown threw a shutout.ĭown 2-0 and facing the unassuming Sterling Hitchcock, Bobby Cox ran out his righty lineup. The Astros were undone in the NLDS by San Diego, which trumped Johnson twice.
The Braves swept the Cubs in the Division Series and expected to face Houston, which won 102 games and had imported Randy Johnson at the trade deadline in the attempt to get past the Braves.
