NLCS: '91 Bravos drop '69 Doyers in 6 for NL Pennant

National League Championship

91 Atlanta Braves vs 69 Los Angeles Dodgers

KOD 27 National League Championship gets underway with 91 Atlanta facing off against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Los Angeles made it to title game as the Western Division Champions and then beating 86 San Francisco in 5 games while Atlanta made it as a Wild Card team and then beating 93 Philadelphia in the Wild Card game and knocking off the Eastern Division winners 84 Chicago Cubs in 4 games.

Game 1    Atlanta (Smoltz) at Los Angeles (Osteen)

The Western Division Champions get the early lead as they send 7 men to the plate in the second and score 2 runs on RBI singles by Claude Osteen and Maury Wills.  Atlanta got 1 run back in the top of the third on a Jeff Blauser RBI single. The Dodgers again took a 2 run lead as Willie Davis plated Osteen and the the score after 5 innings was 3-1 Los Angeles.  The Dodgers broke it open in the bottom of the 7th when Davis drove in 2 more runs and Bill Sudakis a third giving the Dodgers a 6-1 lead.  Atlanta’s Mark Lemke doubled in a meaningless run in the 9th and the Dodgers take the opening game 6-2.

Los Angeles 6  Atlanta 2 (LA leads series 1-0)

Game 2   Atlanta (Avery) at Los Angeles (Sutton)

Los Angeles again got off to a quick start as they again sent 7 men to the plate against Steve Avery scoring 2 runs on a Manny Mota Home Run.  Like the first game, the Braves got 1 back in the top of the 2nd inning on a Sid Bream Home Run.  Atlanta tied it up in the 5th inning on a Ron Gant walk and an RBI double by Greg Olson.  Atlanta took their first lead of the series when Bream led off the inning with a double off of Don Sutton and Rafael Belliard singled him home two batters latter giving Atlanta a 3-2 lead.  Juan Berenguer came on in the 9th to save the game for Avery.

Atlanta 3   Los Angeles 2  (Series tied at 1)

Game 3   Los Angeles (Singer) at Atlanta (Leibrandt)

The series now moves to Atlanta with Bill Singer taking the mound for LA and Charlie Leibrandt for Atlanta.  Neither team scores in the first two innings but in the bottom of the 3rd Otis Nixon singles with 2 out, steals 2nd and scores on a Jeff Treadway double for an Atlanta 1-0 lead.  Sutton looses his control in the 4th as he walks 2 in the inning and Francisco Cabrera makes him pay for it with a 3 run HR as Atlanta leads 4-0 after 4 innings.  The ever dangerous Dodgers are down but not out as they chip away with a run in the 6th on a Tom Haller single and tie it in the 7th on an RBI double by Willie Davis and a 2 run HR by Wes Parker.  The score remains tie until the bottom of the 9th when Jim Brewer comes on in relief of Sutton.  The sure handed RF Andy Kosco opens the door for Atlanta when he drops Rafael Belliards fly ball for a 2 base error.  He moves to third on a ground out and scores the game winning run when Otis Nixon lines a single between 3rd and short.

Atlanta 5   Los Angeles 4    (Atlanta leads series 2-1)

Game 4    Los Angeles (Bunning)  at Atlanta (Glavine)

In an important game for both teams, Atlanta hoping to stretch their lead 3-1 and Los Angeles

hoping to square the series, the Dodgers send 37 year old Jim Bunning to the hill while the Braves counter with Tom Glavine.  Sid Bream gives Atlanta the early lead in the 2nd on a sac fly but Los Angeles ties the game in the 4th on a Tom Haller single.  Atlanta retakes the lead in the bottom half of the inning on Bream HR and an RBI double by Glavine.   Maury Wills finds enough juice in his bat to tie the game up in the 5th with a 2 run dinger.  The game remained tied until the 8th inning when Ted Sizemore gave LA a 4-3 lead with an RBI single.  Atlanta wasted a hit and 2 walks in the 8th inning and the Dodgers take a 1 run lead into the 9th.  LA fails to score in the top of the 9th and Jim Brewer, the tough luck loser of game 3, comes on to try and get the save.  PH Keith Mitchell leads off the 9th with a single and moves to 3rd on an Otis Nixon SAC.  Brewer than walks Jeff Treadway and Terry Pendleton singles to load up the bases.  Dave Justice than drives the ball deep enough to score Mitchell and tie the game at 4 and when Gant strikes out the game goes to extra innings.  Both teams had their opportunities in extra innings. LA had a man on 3rd with 2 outs in the 10th and 12th but couldn’t score him.  Atlanta had a runner on 2nd with 1 out in the 11th and 2 out in the 13th but failed to score.  LA had a man on 2nd with 1 out in the 14th and 2 outs in the 15th without scoring.  Atlanta had a runner on second with no outs in the 14th and 2 outs in the 15th with the same results.  Both teams went down in order in the 16th and LA went out in order in the 17th inning.  In the bottom of the 17th Brian Hunter leads off the inning with a double, moves to 3rd on a wild pitch and scores the winning run on a Rafael Belliard single to end the 5 hour and 15 minute marathon.

Atlanta 5  Los Angeles 4   (Atlanta leads series 3-1)

Game 5   Los Angeles (Osteen) at Atlanta (Smoltz)

Game 1 starters faced each other once again and LA was hoping Claude Osteen could duplicate his performance.  As in game 1 the Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second on 3 singles and 2 walks. Osteen got the 1st run in on an RBI walk and Maury Wills walked to get the 2nd run in.  The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth when Atlanta tied the game on consecutive singles by Jeff Blauser andTerry Pendleton.  The Dodgers untied it in the top of the 7th on a 2 out single by Maury Wills, a wild pitch, a walk to Willie Davis and an RBI double by Wes Parker that gave LA a 3-2 lead.  Once again Claude Osteen was effective and pitched his 2nd complete game of the series and allowed the Dodgers to return home and play another day.

Los Angeles 3   Atlanta 2 (Atlanta leads series 3-2)

Game 6   Atlanta (Avery) at Los Angeles (Sutton)

With game 6 Los Angeles faces going home and Atlanta moving on to the World Series so it is a

meaningful game for both teams.  Atlanta wants to try and end it early and put 3 runs on the board in the first inning sending 8 men to the plate and getting a 2 run double from David Justice and a SF from Jeff Blauser.  But as we all know baseball is a 9 inning game and the Dodgers game right back in the bottom of the 1st to put a 4 spot on the board for a 4-3 lead.  Wes Parker drove in the first run, Bill Sudakis doubled in the next 2 and Andy Kosco doubled in the 4th run of the inning for a 4-3 Dodger lead.  Terry Pendleton tied the game 2nd with an RBI single and the Braves added 2 more in the top of the 3rd on a Francisco RBI double and an Otis Nixon ground out.  Atlanta extended their lead in the 5th on a Nixon single but Los Angeles came back in the bottom of the inning to score 2 on a Wes Parker round tripper to close the gap to 7-6 Atlanta lead.  Jim Bunning, who started game 4, came on in relief of Sutton in the 6th inning and ran into trouble.  He gave up 4 hits and a walk and surrendered 4 runs on a SF by Jeff Blauser and a 3 run HR by Francisco Cabrera giving the Braves a 11-6 lead after 6 innings.  The two teams traded 3 run innings in the 7th on Sid Bream and Blauser singles and an Avery ground out while LA scored their 3 runs on a Wes Parker 3 run HR bringing this slugfest to a 14-9 Atlanta advantage.  In the 8th Ron Gant put the final nail into the Dodgers coffin with a 2 run HR and the Wild Card ’91 Atlanta Braves move on to the World Series to face the ’83 Toronto Blue Jays who won their division and beat the ’15 Houston Astros, another Wild Card team, in 6 games to advance to the Fall Classic.
Atlanta 16  Los Angeles 9  (Atlanta wins series 4-2) 

--submitted by Erik Nelson--