Marlins Handle Braves Atlanta Drops The Ball, A Couple Of Times, As Maddux Gets Loss

Zany was chic, the improbable became reality, and gloves were optional in the first National League Championship Series attended by a wild-card team.

Billed as a sure bet for a pitchers’ duel between two of the league’s top five in earnedrun average, Game 1 of the National League Championship Series instead was marked by oddities and decided by errors.

Misplays by Atlanta’s Fred McGriff in the first inning and Kenny Lofton in the third inning led to five unearned runs against Greg Maddux, and Kevin Brown and the wild-card Florida Marlins made the gifts stand for a 5-3 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.

“We picked a bad night to kick the ball around,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox.

Atlanta’s only responses to an early 5-1 deficit were solo homers by Chipper Jones and Ryan Klesko to lead off the third and sixth innings, respectively.

Attendance at Turner Field was 49,244. The best-of-7 series remains in Atlanta for Game 2 today at 1:07 p.m., then shifts to Florida.

“Yeah, it’s good to win the first one, but the whole thing here is to win four,” said Florida manager Jim Leyland.

Maddux, 19-9 with a 2.20 ERA this season, may win his fifth Cy Young Award but is only 3-4 in eight career NLCS starts. He extended to 35 his NLCS-record of runs allowed, but 12 of those are unearned.

Maddux, the master of control with 20 walks in 232-2/3 innings in the regular season, walked three batters - including one intentionally - in the first three innings Tuesday night. In his six innings, Maddux allowed five hits and no earned runs with seven strikeouts.

Brown allowed five hits and three runs - all earned - in six innings. He walked four batters.

Relievers Dennis Cook, Jay Powell and Robb Nen combined for three shutout innings behind Brown.

The series of oddities and errors began early:

Maddux struck out the side in the first inning and gave up three runs - all unearned - thanks to an E-3 and an ole.

An error by McGriff on a Jeff Conine grounder loaded the bases for the Marlins with two outs. Moises Alou followed with a sharp grounder past third baseman Chipper Jones.

Instead of trying to throw his body in front of the ball, Jones took a swipe at the high bounce - matador style - but found only air as the ball headed toward the left-field corner and three runs scored. Alou was credited with a three-run double.

Then came more strangeness:

Trailing 3-0, Cox took the unusual step of pinch-hitting for starting catcher Eddie Perez - in the first inning.

The strategy followed a double by Keith Lockhart, a two-out, run-scoring single by McGriff, and walks to Ryan Klesko and Michael Tucker. With the bases loaded, Cox tried to take advantage of the opportunity against Brown by sending in Lopez for Perez, a .215 hitter in the regular season.

Lopez swung on the first pitch and grounded out to Bonilla at third to end the inning, leaving Florida’s lead at 3-1.

Florida added two runs in the third after Lofton couldn’t catch a drive hit by Gary Sheffield to open the inning. After the three-base error, Maddux walked Bobby Bonilla. Sheffield scored on a groundout by Alou and Charles Johnson followed with a sharply hit double to drive in Bonilla for a 5-1 lead.

Marlins 5, Braves 3 Florida AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

DWhite cf 5 0 0 0 0 2 .000

Renteria ss 4 1 1 0 0 1 .250

Sheffield rf 3 2 1 0 1 0 .333

Bonilla 3b 3 1 0 0 1 2 .000

Conine 1b 4 1 0 0 0 0 .000

Alou lf 4 0 1 4 0 0 .250

CJohnson c 4 0 1 1 0 2 .250

Counsell 2b 3 0 2 0 1 0 .667

KJBrown p 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Cook p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Powell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

d-Daulton ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Nen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Totals 33 5 6 5 3 9

Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Lofton cf 5 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Lockhart 2b 3 1 1 0 0 0 .333

ChJones 3b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .250

McGriff 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .250

Klesko lf 3 1 1 1 1 1 .333

Tucker rf 0 0 0 0 3 0 —

c-AJones ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000

EddPerez c 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

a-JLopez ph-c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Blauser ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .333

GMaddux p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000

b-Gregg ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Neagle p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

e-Colbrunn ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 30 3 5 3 4 4

Florida 302 000 000 - 5 Atlanta 101 001 000 - 3

a-grounded out for Perez in the 1st. b-grounded out for Maddux in the 6th. c-struck out for Tucker in the 8th. d-struck out for Powell in the 9th. e-lined out for Neagle in the 9th.

E-Lofton (1), McGriff (1). LOB-Florida 6, Atlanta 7. 2B-Alou (1), CJohnson (1), Lockhart (1). HR-Klesko (1) off KJBrown; ChJones (1) off KJBrown. RBIs-Alou 4 (4), CJohnson (1), ChJones (1), McGriff (1), Klesko (1). SB- Renteria (1). S-KJBrown, GMaddux.

Runners left in scoring position-Florida 3 (Renteria, CJohnson, KJBrown); Atlanta 3 (Lockhart, JLopez 2).

Runners moved up-Alou, Lofton, ChJones.

DP-Florida 1 (Conine and Counsell); Atlanta 1 (Tucker and JLopez).

Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

KJBrown W,1-0 6 5 3 3 4 3 101 4.50

Cook 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 0 19 0.00

Powell 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 8 0.00

Nen S,1 1 0 0 0 0 0 15 0.00 Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

GMaddux L,0-1 6 5 5 0 3 7 105 0.00

Neagle 3 1 0 0 0 2 40 0.00

IBB-off GMaddux (Counsell) 1. HBP-by Cook (Lockhart), by Neagle (Renteria), by KJBrown (Blauser).

T-3:04. A-49,244 (50,528).