Atlanta earns return to Series
By Ben Walker
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — It was amazin’
all right — and in the end, it was
Atlanta who came up with the
miracle.
Andruw Jones drew a bases
loaded walk from Kenny Rogers
with one out in the 11th inning
and Atlanta somehow survived a
final string of Mets’ comebacks,
beating New York 10-9 Tuesday
night to win the NL Champi
onship Series 4-2.
“We had chances to die and
we didn’t,” Atlanta manager Bob
by Cox said. “There’s more than
one way to win a ballgame.”
On a night that had even more
drama than the Mets’ 4-3,15-in
ning victory Sunday at Shea Sta
dium, the teams gave a roaring,
raucous crowd of 52,335 all it
could handle in one of the most
thrilling playoff games ever.
Atlanta wrecked the Mets’
hopes of a Subway Series and ad
vanced to the World Series to
face the New York Yankees.
Game 1 in the rematch of the
1996 Series will be Saturday
night at Turner Field.
The Mets, who trailed 5-0 in
the first inning, nearly became
the first team in postseason histo
ry to win three games in a row af
ter losing the first three.
“I told them they played like
champions,” Mets manager Bob
by Valentine said. “We don’t
have a trophy, but they did
everything they had to.”
But after the Mets took a 9-8
lead on Todd Pratt’s sacrifice fly
in the 10th at exactly the stroke
of midnight, Atlanta tied it in the
bottom of the inning on pinch
hitter Ozzie Guillen’s single.
Then in the 11th, Gerald
Williams led off with a double
and moved up on Walt Weiss’
sacrifice. Two intentional walks
loaded the bases for Jones, and he
worked the count full before tak
ing a ball high and outside.
Valentine slammed the railing
on the top step of the dugout and
shouted, “Oh, no!” when Rogers
missed.
“I was just going out there, tak
ing pitches until he threw me a
strike,” Jones said. “He didn’t,
and I took a walk.”
The tension showed on both
sides, as every player, coach and
person in each dugout was up
against the railing for the final
batter. The crowd, including a
healthy dose of Mets fans, shout
ed along in the fifth straight game
of the NLCS decided by one run.
Russ Springer wound up the
winning pitcher. Atlanta catcher
Eddie Perez, a starter because
Javy Lopez was out for the sea
son, was MVP* of the series. Perez
was 10-for-20 with five RBIs.
“We never could give up. They
never gave up,” Perez said.
Now Atlanta gets a chance to
avenge their its to the Yankees in
the October 1996. This marks the
first time Series rivals have met
in the regular season — Atlanta
went 2-1 at Yankee Stadium in
interleague play right after the
All-Star break.
“We’ve got another shot at
It We had chances to die
and we didn't. There’s more
than one way to win a ball
game.
Bobby Cox
Atlanta manager J J
them,” Atlanta third baseman
Chipper Jones said.
The Mets, four outs from elimi
nation in game 4 and two outs
away in game 5, almost found an
other way to win.
With ‘‘Why not?” written on a
clubhouse board, they scored
three times in the sixth to chase
starter Kevin Millwood and make
it 5-3. Mike Piazza, banged up
and silent for most of the week,
homered off reliever John Smoltz
to tie it at 7 in the seventh.
Both teams scored in the
eighth — the Mets on Melvin
Mora’s single, Atlanta on Brian
Hunter’s single — and each club
had its chance to win in the 10th.
For Atlanta, its eighth straight
trip to the NLCS wound up with
a win and a chance for the team
to win that elusive second World
Series title in the 1990s.
For the Mets, the loss marked
the end of an incredible run.
They needed a sweep on the final
weekend of the regular season
and a win over Cincinnati in the
wild-card tiebreaker just to reach
the playoffs.
Sports brief
Oregon’s Wygonowska bounced from
All-America Tournament
After opening with a win Tuesday at the All
America Tournament in Los Angeles, Alina
Wygonowska of the Oregon women’s tennis team
lost her afternoon match to fail to advance to today’s
second day of action.
Wygonowska defeated Ohio State’s Kristy Dascoli
in three sets, before she lost to Duke’s Kathy Sell in
straight sets.
“It was a good showing for her because she got a
win,” Ducks head coach Jack Griffin said. “There are
some of the nation’s best players here. She hit the
ball well but unfortunately couldn’t keep it going for
another round.”
Wygonowska and Oregon next play Nov. 12-15 in
the Rolex Regionals at Stanford.
Date set for 200 Pre Classic
In a change from the usual late May date, the 2000
Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix has been set for June
24 at Hayward Field.
The late September to early October schedule of
the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney apparently dic
tated the change, which was finalized at the just con
cluded IAAF World Calendar Conference in Fun
chal, Portugal.
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No-quit Harding
back in the ice rink
Tonya Harding, the most
infamous Oregonian of
the 1990s, quietly re
turned to the spotlight
Monday night at the Pro Figure
Skating Championships in Hunt
ington, W.Va.
Barely half of the 5,780-seat
Huntington Civic Arena was
filled to see her comeback perfor
mance. She fell on her first and
final jumps, finishing fourth out
of five competitors.
But she’s back.
Tonya Harding, once a small
town Milwaukie girl who beat
the odds and became a world
class skater, is back.
Tonya Harding, who revolu
tionized women’s skating with
her incredible strength and ath
leticism, is back.
Tonya Harding, who was im
plicated in the 1994 attack on ri
val Nancy Kerrigan, one of the
darkest moments in modem
sports history, is back.
Nobody thought it would hap
pen. When Harding was ban
ished from the amateur circuit af
terbeing implicated in the attack
on Kerrigan, she was the bad guy.
The media painted Harding as an
antagonist and a victimizer.
Nothing she did could redeem
her public standing. Time
passed by as she tried and tried
to find an open doorway back
into competitive skating. Each
time she failed.
Until now.
The girl who beat the odds by
becoming an Olympic skater has
beat the odds again by returning
to the rink. Tonya Harding is
back, and nothing can stop her.
Am I saying she’s going to re
turn to her form in the 1994 Lille
hammer Games? Not necessari
ly. Her agent insists that Harding
is in great shape, weighing al
most 10 pounds less than at the
1994 Olympics. But losing a few
pounds can’t make up for five
years of silence.
What I firmly believe is this:
As long as she is allowed to com
pete, Harding won’t quit. It's not
her style, and it never has been.
And as she has shown through
the past five years, she won’t let
others keep her from what she
wants to do. Even in the heat of
the breaking Kerrigan conspira
cy, Harding walked calmly in
public, sporting her memorable
“no comment” sweatshirt.
Gimmicks like that are no
longer needed for Harding. When
asked about her return to the ice,
Harding enjoys telling the media
—and the public—how glad she
is to be back on the scene.
“I was very nervous, and my
legs were shaking,” Harding told
the Associated Press. “But at the
same time, the audience was
wonderful. I went out and did
the best that I could after being
off the ice for so long. I just had a
great time.”
Harding did receive the best
reception of the night, earning
the loudest applause from the
crowd at Huntington.
Yet there will always be some
thing about her, a feeling that I
can’t figure out how to put into
words. It’s a feeling that was
borne from images of the past. Im
ages of Kerrigan on the ground,
sobbing and holding her knee. Im
ages of Harding during her final
amateur competition, in tears on
the ice because she claimed her
shoelace was broken.
I too lived in Milwaukie. It’s a
town where nobody has ever
grown up to be the best on the
planet. It’s a small Portland sub
urb that people usually mistake
for Milwaukee, Wise., in the
course of conversation.
Harding defied the odds. She
had a dream to be the best figure
skater on the planet, and she came
so close to making it happen.
But in the same way Port
landers associate former Trail
blazers guard Isaiah Rider with
smoking pot and stolen cell
phones—even if they liked him
—the world of figure skating
will always remember the tearful
1994 night in Lillehammer every
time Harding takes the ice.
But Tonya Harding is back.
Scott Pesznecker is a sports reporter for the
Emerald. He can be reached via e-mail at
jM1@aol.com.
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