Read Online The World Series by Stephanie Peters - Free Book Online
Authors: Stephanie Peters
Ads: Link
center field.
Braves fans jumped up, eyes glued to the ball's path. If it went over the wall, it was a ground-rule double that would prevent
Smith from rounding third and heading home. If it rebounded off the wall, it could still be a double, but maybe good enough
to get Smith across the plate.
Blam!
The ball hit and bounced back to the field. The crowd cheered and shifted their gaze to Smith, not wanting to miss the moment
he hit the dirt in front of home plate.
But to their horror, Smith wasn't running home. Even though the ball was still far in the outfield, he was stopping at third!
What had happened? The answer was simple if astonishing.
When Pendleton had hit the ball, Smith took off from first without knowing where the ball was headed. As Smith passed second,
he saw infielder Chuck Knoblauch field the ball and throw it to Greg Gagne, who was covering second. Smith stopped at third,
certain he was lucky to have made it there safely.
But of course, Gagne didn't have the ball. Smith had been tricked by a classic decoy play!
Morris finished off the Braves, sending them back into the field without a run.
Unfortunately for the Twins, the Braves did the same to them. At the top of the ninth, the score was
still
0–0.
And then, incredibly, at the end of the bottom of the ninth, it was still 0-0.
Morris took the mound for the tenth inning, making him the only other pitcher besides Christy Mathewson to pitch for more
than nine in a World Series. He had faced thirty-five batters so far. He faced three more now, retiring the side in order.
Now it was up to his teammates to bring it on home.
In the Braves dugout, Smoltz watched the action unfold. He had lasted nearly eight innings. Now Alejandro Pena was pitching.
Pena had held theTwins scoreless so far, and was determined to the same this inning.
But the first batter he faced, Dan Gladden, sent the ball soaring into left field. Gladden stretched the hit into a double.
Then Chuck Knoblauch bunted down the third baseline. Knoblauch was out, but Gladden was safe at third.
Pena walked sluggers Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek. The bases were loaded, with still only one out.
As the clock ticked onto midnight, Eugene Larkin came up to bat. Larkin knew what he had to do: hit a ball high enough so
that Gladden could tag up and beat the throw home.
The Braves knew what he needed to do, too. But knowing it and preventing it are two different things.
Pena threw and Larkin connected, not for a simple fly ball but for a long blast into left field. Outfielder Brian Hunter started
for it and then stopped, knowing full well that that hit had just scored the Series-winning run.
As the Twins swarmed out of the dugout, the Braves slowly walked off the field. Yet even in defeat, the Atlanta team took
comfort in knowing that they'd been part of the most memorable Series everplayed. Mark Lemke summed it up best when he said, “Man, that was fun. Let's do it again next year!”
Lemke and the Braves would, indeed, “do it again next year,” winning the pennant but losing the World Series to the Blue Jays.
In 1993, the Blue Jays won again, besting the Philadelphia Pliillies four games to two.
Then, in 1994, a long-simmering conflict between players and owners boiled over. The season was cut short when the players
went on strike on August 12 to protest the team owners' call for a cap on salaries. On September 9, baseball commissioner
Bud Selig was forced to cancel the remainder of the season, including the postseason championship. For the first time ever,
there would be no World Series.
Baseball fans were appalled, especially since greed seemed at the heart of the strike. Baseball's reputation took a severe
beating in the following months; in fact, it would take a few years before it rebuilt its fan base to what it had once been.
But rebuild it did, thanks in large part to classic baseball drama. The New York Yankees regained their long-lost throne in
Braves fans jumped up, eyes glued to the ball's path. If it went over the wall, it was a ground-rule double that would prevent
Smith from rounding third and heading home. If it rebounded off the wall, it could still be a double, but maybe good enough
to get Smith across the plate.
Blam!
The ball hit and bounced back to the field. The crowd cheered and shifted their gaze to Smith, not wanting to miss the moment
he hit the dirt in front of home plate.
But to their horror, Smith wasn't running home. Even though the ball was still far in the outfield, he was stopping at third!
What had happened? The answer was simple if astonishing.
When Pendleton had hit the ball, Smith took off from first without knowing where the ball was headed. As Smith passed second,
he saw infielder Chuck Knoblauch field the ball and throw it to Greg Gagne, who was covering second. Smith stopped at third,
certain he was lucky to have made it there safely.
But of course, Gagne didn't have the ball. Smith had been tricked by a classic decoy play!
Morris finished off the Braves, sending them back into the field without a run.
Unfortunately for the Twins, the Braves did the same to them. At the top of the ninth, the score was
still
0–0.
And then, incredibly, at the end of the bottom of the ninth, it was still 0-0.
Morris took the mound for the tenth inning, making him the only other pitcher besides Christy Mathewson to pitch for more
than nine in a World Series. He had faced thirty-five batters so far. He faced three more now, retiring the side in order.
Now it was up to his teammates to bring it on home.
In the Braves dugout, Smoltz watched the action unfold. He had lasted nearly eight innings. Now Alejandro Pena was pitching.
Pena had held theTwins scoreless so far, and was determined to the same this inning.
But the first batter he faced, Dan Gladden, sent the ball soaring into left field. Gladden stretched the hit into a double.
Then Chuck Knoblauch bunted down the third baseline. Knoblauch was out, but Gladden was safe at third.
Pena walked sluggers Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek. The bases were loaded, with still only one out.
As the clock ticked onto midnight, Eugene Larkin came up to bat. Larkin knew what he had to do: hit a ball high enough so
that Gladden could tag up and beat the throw home.
The Braves knew what he needed to do, too. But knowing it and preventing it are two different things.
Pena threw and Larkin connected, not for a simple fly ball but for a long blast into left field. Outfielder Brian Hunter started
for it and then stopped, knowing full well that that hit had just scored the Series-winning run.
As the Twins swarmed out of the dugout, the Braves slowly walked off the field. Yet even in defeat, the Atlanta team took
comfort in knowing that they'd been part of the most memorable Series everplayed. Mark Lemke summed it up best when he said, “Man, that was fun. Let's do it again next year!”
Lemke and the Braves would, indeed, “do it again next year,” winning the pennant but losing the World Series to the Blue Jays.
In 1993, the Blue Jays won again, besting the Philadelphia Pliillies four games to two.
Then, in 1994, a long-simmering conflict between players and owners boiled over. The season was cut short when the players
went on strike on August 12 to protest the team owners' call for a cap on salaries. On September 9, baseball commissioner
Bud Selig was forced to cancel the remainder of the season, including the postseason championship. For the first time ever,
there would be no World Series.
Baseball fans were appalled, especially since greed seemed at the heart of the strike. Baseball's reputation took a severe
beating in the following months; in fact, it would take a few years before it rebuilt its fan base to what it had once been.
But rebuild it did, thanks in large part to classic baseball drama. The New York Yankees regained their long-lost throne in
Similar Books
