Friday, August 16, 2002
Rain ends Braves-Giants in tie
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — A bizarre ending left the San Francisco Giants facing the possibility of a cross-country trip to Atlanta for a chance to make the playoffs. Chipper Jones hit a two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning for the Braves, then rain halted the game in the top of the 10th for a 3-3 tie Thursday night.
The game will be replayed only if it has a bearing on the postseason race, most likely the day after the regular season ends. The Giants, one game behind Los Angeles in the NL wild-card race, close the season Sept. 29 at home against Houston.
“There's nothing you can do about it. If you have to come, you have to come,” San Francisco manager Dusty Baker said. “I hope we do have to come, because it would mean we're in the running for the playoffs.”
Either way, Thursday night's game gets recorded officially as a tie, and all the stats count.
San Francisco and Atlanta, meeting for what was supposed to be the final time this season, have no other common off days.
They were both supposed to be off Sept. 23, but the Braves will be in New York that day to make up a rainout against the Mets.
Atlanta also has a doubleheader on Sept. 11 against the Mets, necessitated by the first rainout in Turner Field's 6-year history.
On Thursday, the rains came again.
“We've been dodging rain all year long,” Baker said. “We didn't dodge it tonight.”
The Braves, who are running away with another NL East championship, would prefer not to play another extra game — especially right before the playoffs.
Still, they would rather be in their position than San Francisco's.
“That would really stink,” Jones said. “They'd have to fly all the way over here to play a game that might not even matter.”
The Giants had not played a tie since a 1-1 game against the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 2, 1968. The Braves' most recent tie was 3-3 at St. Louis on May 28, 1989.
The last NL tie was Milwaukee at Cincinnati on April 3, 2000, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That game was called after six innings tied at 3.
The Orioles and Yankees played a tie late last season.
Shortly after Jones came through with his tying hit against San Francisco closer Robb Nen, heavy rain began falling at Turner Field.
After a delay of 2 hours, 33 minutes, umpires finally gave up on trying to resume the game at 1:25 a.m. EDT.
“I'm glad it's over,” Gary Sheffield quipped. “It's past my bedtime.”
The Giants were ready to go, too. They had a charter plane waiting at the airport for a trip to Miami, but the crew couldn't take off after 3:15 a.m.
“The game couldn't have started till 2 o'clock and we might have played till 4 o'clock,” Baker said. “If we lose our flight, we have to stay here tonight.”
Atlanta trailed 3-1 heading to the ninth and were down to their last out against Nen, who had given up a double to Rafael Furcal sandwiched between a couple of strikeouts.
But Sheffield walked on four pitches, then Nen paid dearly for his failure to pay attention to the runners.
Barely looking toward second, he allowed Furcal and Sheffield to move up a base without drawing a throw. That proved to be a critical mistake when Jones lifted a two-strike single into right field, bringing home the tying runs.
“It makes my job a lot easier,” Jones said. “Runners on first and second, I've got to hit the ball in the gap or hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
Nen is 0-5 with a 4.70 ERA in his career against the Braves, including two blown saves this season. Jones has been especially troublesome to the Giants closer, going 6-for-12 lifetime.
Nen's slow, awkward delivery makes it difficult to hold runners on base.
“The big thing was walking Sheffield,” Baker said. “You get Furcal and Sheffield on base and you know they're going to run. You can't stop them.”
Barry Bonds had a sacrifice fly but failed to homer for the fifth straight game since hitting No. 600 last Friday.
Jeff Kent hit a two-run homer for the Giants, his third of the series.
Giants starter Jason Schmidt gave up a season-high seven walks but just two hits in six innings.
Atlanta starter Damian Moss gave up just four hits in eight innings, equaling the longest stint of his career.
The Braves scored their first run in the second, benefiting from some shoddy defense by Bonds.
The left fielder got his feet tangled up going back for a liner by Marcus Giles. The ball deflected off the outside of Bonds' glove and was ruled a double, allowing Andruw Jones to score all the way from first.
Bonds made up for his miscue with a sacrifice fly the following inning.
Notes: Schmidt began his career with the Braves. He went 5-6 for Atlanta in two seasons, then was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996 as part of the deal that brought Denny Neagle to the Braves. ... RHP Livan Hernandez, who had his first career triple Wednesday, pinch-hit for Schmidt with two outs in the seventh. Hernandez, who was batting .292, grounded out in the fourth pinch-hit appearance of his career, and second this season.
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Rain ends Braves-Giants in tie 
