Hotlanta

Just when you thought they were out of it, the Atlanta Braves came storming--and I mean storming--through, taking the last three games of the NLCS to advance to the World Series in New York. Down three games to one after a heartbreaking game four loss, the Braves outscored the St. Louis Cardinals 32-1 in taking the last three games of the series. What was the cause of this dramatic reversal?

* The Braves' hitters woke up. For the first 7 games of the playoffs the Braves hitting was nonexistent. Although the Braves swept the Dodgers in the divisional round, that victory can be attributed to the pitchers. Even the Braves' hurlers, however, could not be counted on to continue to deliver wins with only two or three runs to work with.

Faced with elimination, however, the hitters responded, scoring 14 runs in game five and 15 in game seven. Surprisingly, it was not the Braves "big boppers" who contributed most of the punch. Scrawny second baseman Mark Lemke continued to raise his level of play in the post season, coming through with a number of big hits. Catcher Javy Lopez also stepped up throughout the series, leading the Braves in RBIs. Even the pitchers got into the act. Tom Glavine, one of the game's best hitting pitchers, delivered a crushing a three-run triple in the first inning of last night's game.

* The Braves' pitchers got even better. In the last three games, the Braves big three of John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine gave up a grand total of one run. While no one is shocked by this performance (the three are amongst the best pitchers in the game), such total domination of the solid St. Louis offense is especially impressive.

* The Cardinals got distracted. St. Louis was so busy worrying about the lack of respect they were getting that they seemed to forget they needed to win one more game. Why were the Cardinals and manager Tony LaRussa so involved with the media at this point of the season? The Dennis Eckersley fist-pumping controversy (and the lack of respect it seemed to indicate) appeared to distract the team from the task at hand. They looked lost the last three nights and they paid the price.