Baseball Championships

Right fielder Brian Jordan, whose bat and glove helped the St. Louis Cardinals complete a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres in their National League division series Saturday night, will now turn that in-your-face football mentality on the Atlanta Braves. The National League championship series begins Wednesday in Atlanta, where Jordan once performed for the NFL's Falcons under Jerry Glanville, whom he compares to St. Louis manager Tony La Russa.

Cardinal catcher Tom Pagnozzi grasped the situation immediately. "A three-game-to-one lead is now a zero-game lead," he said. Cardinal shortstop Royce Clayton said: So what? "What's the disadvantage?" he demanded to know. "You explain it to me." Well . . . (a) Momentum? (b) Home-field advantage for Atlanta? (c) Tom Glavine pitching Game 7 for the Braves? (d) Cardinals hitting .212 as a team? (e) One run in their last 18 innings? (f) . . . "That has nothing to do with anything," Clayton said.

Andy Benes talks about the good feeling of being wanted. A two-year, $8.1-million free-agent contract can make you feel wanted. Benes, in his best season, returned dividends, going 18-10 after a 1-7 start with the St. Louis Cardinals.

When they play next season at Ted Turner Stadium--or "The Ted," as I assume they'll call it--perhaps the Atlanta Braves will fly two World Series championship flags, and perhaps they will remember Game 1 of the 1996 National League playoffs, and how easily they could have lost it. Mike Piazza at bat. Eighth inning. Nobody on. Two out. Tie score. Dodgers without a postseason win in eight years. Where, oh where, is Kirk Gibson when you really need him?

The first prime-time game of baseball's new postseason TV format, Texas' 6-2 victory over the New York Yankees at New York on Tuesday night, got an 8.6 rating and 15 share. Last year, regionalized coverage of the opening night of the playoffs got a 10.1 rating and 12 share on NBC. Baseball was criticized for not televising all games nationally, so it switched back to staggered starts this year and sold afternoon games to ESPN, the first postseason baseball games on cable. In all, 12.

Roberto Alomar on Wednesday dropped his appeal of his five-game suspension for spitting in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck, which probably will send umpires and major league baseball back to court. Umpires voted Monday to boycott postseason games over what they considered lenient punishment against Alomar, an all-star second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles. They agreed in federal court to work games Tuesday, Wednesday and today if a hearing was held by American League President Gene Budig.

In 1968, the Cardinals were leading the World Series, three games to one. But then the Detroit Tigers won the next three. The score of Game 6 was 13-1, which was the worst beating St. Louis ever took in a postseason baseball game . . . until Monday night. Braves 14, Cards zero, zip, nada, nothing, goose egg. Bob Gibson, who struck out 35 men in that '68 World Series, and Lou Brock, who batted .

It was a super-stressful summer for New York Yankee Manager Joe Torre, whose team enjoyed a 12-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles on July 28, only to have it dwindle to 2 1/2 games on Sept. 9. But after the Yankees wrapped up their 34th American League pennant with a 6-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 5 of the championship series at Camden Yards on Sunday, Torre could reflect on the near-colossal collapse as the defining 1996 moment for his team.