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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (ESPN.com news services) -- The Team of the Decade has begun to show signs of decay.
The Atlanta Braves are playing the final days of the 1990s with a
style reminiscent of their futility at the start of the decade.
|  | | Scott Brosius lines an RBI single to center off Kevin Millwood in the first inning. |
They are doing it in the national spotlight of the World Series. And it doesn't look as if there is anything Atlanta manager Bobby
Cox can do about it.
Cox revamped his lineup, admitting he was sacrificing defense in hopes of finding offens. He got neither.
David Cone allowed one hit in seven innings, Kevin Millwood allowed three runs in the first inning and the Yankees
capitalized on the Braves' mistakes en route to a 7-2 victory in Game
2 of the World Series at Turner Field that gave the Bronx Bombers a 2-0 Series lead.
That's two hits in 14 innings against Yankees starters in two games
for Atlanta, which scored its only runs on Greg Myers' two-out single
in the ninth off reliever Ramiro Mendoza, and an ensuing double by
pinch-hitter Bret Boone off reliever Jeff Nelson. Myers also singled in the fifth
for the Braves' lone hit off Cone.
A night after an eighth-inning rally produced a 4-1 victory,
the defending champions wasted no time pounding Millwood for
their 10th straight World Series victory.
"This year in the postseason, I guess we're picking up where we
left off last year," outfielder Bernie Williams said.
Cone exactly duplicated the one-hit, seven-inning pitching of
Orlando Hernandez in the opener, and Atlanta finished with five
hits, three in the ninth inning.
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GAME 2 AT A GLANCE
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Every game a hero
 David Cone"> |
For the second consecutive game, the New York starter pitched seven innings and allowed one hit. David Cone gave up only a fifth-inning single to Greg Myers. It may have been his last game in a Yankee uniform as he is a free agent after the season.
Goat
Sure, Kevin Millwood didn't pitch well, but what the heck was Ozzie Guillen doing on that soft line drive from David Cone? Guillen dropped the ball, allowing New York's fifth run to score. Later, on a routine double play, he gave a bad feed to second baseman Keith Lockhart, who threw it away for another run.
Managerial move of the night
Bobby Cox tried to jump-start the offense by putting more lefties into the lineup -- Guillen, Lockhart and Greg Myers. Good idea, but you need the horses, and Guillen and Lockhart each hit one home run during the season.
Key number
34-11. Of the 45 teams to win the first two games of the World Series, they have gone on to win the Series 34 times. The Braves were up 2-0 against the Yankees in '96 before New York won the final four games.
Last word
"Certainly, it's gone through my mind. It's a
possibility because the Yankees have some tough decisions to make.
I put it out of my mind. All that matters is right here, right
now."
-- Cone
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"I just think we have a 'don't-give-in' type of attitude,"
Cone said. "This series is far from over."
The sellout crowd of 51,226 was still buzzing at the sight of
Pete Rose, Ted Williams and Hank Aaron on the field together --
along with Yogi Berra in a Yankees hat and Roger Clemens in a blue
pinstriped suit -- as baseball's All-Century team was announced in a
30-minute tribute.
Then, the Yankees went to work.
Chuck Knoblauch, Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill started the game
with singles, and Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius delivered RBI
singles with two outs.
"I thought I had pretty good stuff," Millwood said. "I wasn't
nervous. I just threw everything down the middle."
Ricky Ledee's double chased Millwood in the
third, and it was 7-0 by the fifth.
"We played a real bad game," Cox said.
Now, the Braves' best hope is a repeat of the 1996 Series, when
New York lost the first two games at Yankee Stadium to Atlanta
before taking the next four.
"I was in northern Arizona camping at the time," said Terry
Mulholland, acquired in a midseason trade. "The 1996 Series has no
bearing on this Series as far as I'm concerned."
Game 3 will be Tuesday night in New York with Tom Glavine,
scratched from his Game 1 start because of the flu, expected to
pitch for the Braves against Andy Pettitte. If Glavine can't go,
John Smoltz will start.
Cox got no major benefit from a major lineup switch in which he
benched NL Championship Series MVP Eddie Perez, Bret Boone and Walt
Weiss.
Replacment Myers had two hits but Guillen and Lockhart had a lot of trouble up the
middle, dropping balls and throwing them away in an all-around
sloppy defensive effort by the Braves.
Booed for missing Cone's soft liner in the third inning, Guillen gave the Turner
Field crowd a disdainful look after it gave him a mock cheer when he later caught a popup.
Williams had three of the Yankees' 14 hits as they won
their seventh straight Series road game and improved to 7-0 overall
at Atlanta. By the end, chants of "Let's go, Yankees" began to
get louder as New York moved toward its third title in four years.
Atlanta's best chance before the ninth came in the bottom of the first. Already
down 3-0, the Braves put a runner on third with two outs and Brian
Jordan lifted a long fly to left field. Ledee caught it at the wall.
Myers singled cleanly to center leading off the fifth and was
quickly erased on Andruw Jones' double-play grounder. Cone walked five and struck out four in raising his career
postseason record to 8-3.
"David kept the ball down really good tonight," Cox said. "He had breaking stuff. He wasn't overpowering at all. He didn't throw that hard, but his ball was sinking like
crazy."
But it will be remembered as much as his start in Game 3 of the
1996 World Series. The Yankees were down 0-2 after losing the first
two games at home, and Cone allowed one run and four hits in six
innings as New York beat the Braves 5-2.
"He walks the tightrope every once in a while," Joe Torre said,
remembering how he joked with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre during
the game. "Why doesn't he just start out of the stretch? It looked
like he had better rhythm out of the stretch than winding up."
For Atlanta fans, the top highlights probably came before the
first pitch when the sport's All-Century team was announced.
Rose made his first appearance on a major league field since
being banished from baseball in 1989 and got the biggest ovation of
the evening. Aaron, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. helped the
81-year-old Williams onto the podium in the middle of the diamond
for the half-hour presentation.
After that, nothing went right for the Braves.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Yankees Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
Cone's magic makes Braves disappear
Frozen moment: Glavine gets sick
Braves offense turns offensive
Key at-bat: O'Neill singles in the first
Baseball's greatest assemble in Atlanta for All-Century Team
RECAPS
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Yankee starter David Cone knows he was fortunate to get out of the seventh inning.
avi: 753 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Bernie Williams is glad to be returning to New York with a 2-0 lead.
avi: 982 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
ESPN's Dave Campbell and Harold Reynolds break down Game 2.
RealVideo: | 28.8
Yankees Game 2 postgame news conference
RealVideo: | 28.8
Braves postgame news conference
RealVideo: | 28.8
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