The NL West race was non-existent to start. The Braves sputtered from the gate, thanks to some difficulty that no all-world pitching staff could remedy: Weak hitting. Meanwhile, the Giants blasted miles ahead into first place. Bonds was tearing up the league as expected, but there were openings within the supporting cast. Infielders Matt Williams and Robby Thompson were appreciating unusual .300 campaigns; starting pitchers John Burkett and Bill Swift were steamrolling on a pace to win 20 games apiece; and burly, scruffy-haired closer Rod Beck had developed in an intimidating presence on the mound. By the All-Star break, the Braves had crawled back into second position, but still trailed the rampaging Giants by more than ten matches.
Then a fire has been sparked –almost literallyupon the Braves’ bats.
On July 20, the Braves scored a coup in obtaining first baseman Fred McGriff in the San Diego Padres, a franchise in the midst of a budget-saving flame saleSan Diego, on its way to 101 losses, also dealt away Gary Sheffield–prompting a class action litigation by Padres fans who felt they were fooled by a management promise to not trade away the team’s stars. Connie Mack could have impressed. However, hours before McGriff’s first game as a Brave, the press box at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium inadvertently caught fire, and until it had been put out, some 1,000 chairs and many radio stalls had been rendered useless. The flame, however, given a symbolic gesture for the Braves’ offense, which abruptly lit up. McGriff’s house run that evening sparked a 8-5 comeback triumph over St. Louis, and Atlanta started to rocket up.
Since the Braves fired up, the Giants cooled–then iced over in the worst possible moment. Atlanta came to Candlestick Park at the end of August and swept four games in the Giants, abruptly securing first place. The Giants continued to slump, but then pulled back themselves into a first-place tie with the Braves heading into the regular season’s final weekend.
The Braves took the first two matches of the final show –a three-game home stand against the expansion Colorado Rockies–while San Francisco kept pace with three road wins at Los Angeles against its hated rivals, the Dodgers. That left both teams with identical records of 103-58 entering the season’s final day.
The Giants rested their year’s hopes on Salomon Torres, a highly touted, 21-year-old call-up whose earlier few looks upheld his promise. However, Torres bombedTorres would go on to get a long major league career–primarily as a reliever–but after his pressure-packed loss to the Dodgers, his exalted possibility was never fulfilled. Since the Dodgers dismantled the Giants, who were made to fold their cards with a 12-1 loss. Meanwhile, the Braves accumulated, finishing off a Colorado team for whom Atlanta wouldn’t lose 1 game annually –a NL first for the century–and clinched the NL West.
The Braves’ second-half surge was eye opening. They were 53-41 they were 51-17. His inclusion was sufficient to take the strain off other Braves hitters, who were badly slumping. David Justice, Ron Gant and Terry Pendleton came alive with McGriff’s arrival. On the mound, Greg Maddux, following a middling 7-7 beginning (despite a 2.88 ERA), ended at 20-10 with a 2.36 ERA–and collected his second straight Cy Young Award.
For the Giants, 103-59 wouldn’t cut it to the postseason; somebody else was just better. Fair is fair. The intensive, mythical battle for first place at the West packed such a wallop that it was, in itself, a valid kind of playoff–and kept baseball lovers everywhere glued to its regular standing. But while this titanic combat played itself out, the owners collectively started re-writing the principles.
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