Cincinnati Built For A Shot At The Braves ‘Every Move We Made Was To Succeed In The Postseason,’ Said Reds Gm

One team has been the best in the National League, maybe in all of baseball, in the ‘90s. The other has won the National League’s only World Series title of the decade.

One team in the N.L. championship series sets the standard. The other has tried very hard to match up and tonight will begin to find out whether it has.

One team, the Atlanta Braves, knows it must win the World Series or go down in history as one of the almost-great teams of all time. The other, the Cincinnati Reds, has built a roster that may have one shot before economics breaks up its nucleus.

“Every move we made this year was made in order to succeed in the postseason,” Jim Bowden, the Reds’ general manager, said Monday. “The deals we made in July were not made to win our division, because we thought we would anyway. We wanted to win once we got here, and we’ve always thought Atlanta would be the team we had to beat to get to the World Series.”

Apprised of that remark, Braves manager Bobby Cox recoiled.

“That’s baloney,” he said. “They did what they had to do to win their division. They made good pickups. To say that they did it with us in mind - what does that say about the Rockies or the Dodgers or the other teams they might have had to face?”

But Bowden was steadfast. When Reds ace Jose Rijo went down with elbow trouble, Bowden made a deal with San Francisco for pitchers Mark Portugal and David Burba and outfielder Darren Lewis. Ten days later, on July 31, he picked up left-handed starter David Wells from Detroit.

The addition of Wells gave the Reds three left-handed starters - tonight’s pitcher, Pete Schourek, and John Smiley are the others - to throw at the Braves in this series.

Many observers, including Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, think the three could be the keys to the series. That’s because three of the Braves’ key power hitters - Fred McGriff, David Justice and Ryan Klesko - bat left handed. The fourth, switch-hitting rookie Chipper Jones, hit only three of his 23 home runs from the right side.

“Everyone in the world was talking about how they would throw three left-handers at us,” said John Schuerholz, the Braves’ general manager. “I don’t think that’s going to surprise anyone in our clubhouse.”

The statistics indicate the left-handers may not make as much difference as all expect.

The Braves hit for the same relatively low team average - .250 - against left-handers and right-handers.

But it is in the Reds’ favor that they will have three “good” lefties going.

“I would throw these three left-handers against a predominantly right-handed-hitting team,” manager Davey Johnson said. “I just feel they’re my three best pitchers.”

Cox said he plans to go with a three-man rotation of Tom Glavine, who will pitch tonight; John Smoltz, who will pitch Wednesday in Game 2; and Greg Maddux, who will go Friday in Game 3.

Johnson confirmed he would pitch Schourek, Smiley and Wells, in that order, but declined to name his Game 4 starter.