Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003 | 10:32 a.m.
MLB snap shot
Hampton (11-5) had been 3-5, giving up nine earned runs in a 20-1 defeat at Florida before beginning his streak of success. The only time he didn't win in his past nine starts was a no-decision in an eventual 5-4 defeat to the Marlins at home.
Riggs is attempting to keep the jersey, which had been earmarked for a return trip to the manufacturer.
New York (54-69) now has those two duds in its rear-view mirror.
San Francisco's slugger is expected to rejoin the team in Atlanta today.
The seventh inning Sunday told anyone at Turner Field, or the casual channel surfer who had -- luckily -- landed on the telecast, about Arizona starter Curt Schilling's dominance in Atlanta.
Braves slugger Gary Sheffield popped out to catcher Rod Barajas, only a step or two in front of the plate. Then cleanup hitter Chipper Jones popped out to third. Then Andruw Jones flailed at strike three.
Atlanta starter Greg Maddux had no chance.
In what we're billing as the best pitchers' duel of the season, so far, Schilling kept making them look like Little Leaguers in Arizona's 2-0 victory against a Braves team that had led the National League in batting average, homers, runs and slugging.
It was the first time Atlanta had been shut out since April 19, and second baseman Marcus Giles got the Braves' lone hit off Schilling when he doubled off the wall in the first inning.
"I think you all know how good of a pitcher he is, and he proved it today," Giles told reporters, of Schilling, after the game. "He had his A-game today. At the same time, our pitcher threw a pretty good game, too.
"Doggie (Maddux) kept us in the game."
Doggie served up a bone to Alex Cintron in the top of the seventh, when Arizona's left-handed-hitting shortstop poked a 1-0 gopher ball into the right-field bleachers.
"He should have hit it," Maddux said. "It was right there. You can't do that. I made a bad pitch, and it cost us the game."
Schilling went 1-4 in his first five starts since returning from a broken bone in his right hand, but his past three outings have been scintillating.
He won all three, allowing only two earned runs, walking five and striking out 30 -- including 12 Sunday -- over 22 innings of 3-2, 2-0 and 2-0 victories. Opponents are hitting only .213 against him this season.
"Anytime you go up against Greg, runs are going to be at a premium," Schilling said. "He and I have pitched some games in the past that have gone just like this. You have to do everything fundamentally correct."
Our other half-dozen dandy duels of 2003:
This was Willis' breakthrough performance, his first complete game in which he limited the Mets to one hit and one walk, striking out eight and improving to 6-1 in the 1-0 victory.
Glavine yielded four hits, walking three and striking out four in seven innings before giving way to the Mets' bullpen. The only player to score was Florida catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who homered off Glavine in the fourth.
They combined to log 15 innings, walk one and strike out 20. Martinez allowed five of the seven hits, but neither hurler factored in the decision of a 2-1 victory by the Yankees.
Boston reliever Byung-Hyun Kim, who makes pinstripers and all their fans salivate, fell to 1-6 when he dropped the game in the ninth.
Wood recorded his second consecutive victorious complete game in the Cubs' 1-0 victory, and he allowed only two hits after giving up only three to the Marlins earlier in the season.
The only run was unearned, coming on a sacrifice fly by Alex Gonzalez in the fifth. Wood threw 130 pitches. Meanwhile, Penny walked one, struck out eight, allowed four hits and was relieved by Nate Bump in the ninth.
Scott Hatteberg, the second batter of the game, smacked a solo home run off Clemens, and that's all the offense Zito needed to win the fifth of his first seven starts in a 2-0 victory.
Oakland pushed across an unearned run in the third. Both pitchers allowed four hits, and Zito went eight innings while Clemens threw seven.
In one of the most unheralded outings of the season, Cornejo was impressive in keeping the White Sox at bay in the Tigers' 1-0 victory.
Loaiza went the entire eight innings, walking none and striking out seven. Cornejo had gone 10 consecutive starts without winning, and the victory over Chicago gave Detroit its first home sweep of the season.
Cornejo gave up seven hits, leaving after walking Frank Thomas to start the ninth. Jamie Walker and Chris Mears then mopped up the gem.
Maddux, 37, will probably start seven more times, barring injury. Two of those will likely come against the Mets, once at Turner and once at Shea Stadium. The Braves are 3-0 against New York this season when Maddux throws against the Mets.
He should also face Florida twice more, but the Braves are 1-2 against the Marlins in Maddux starts. Moreover, Atlanta is 1-2 when Maddux takes the hill against Philadelphia and Montreal, although he gets those two at home.
That other start is his next, Friday at Colorado. Maddux hasn't started against the Rockies this season, and that's not an enticing proposition for anyone in Denver.
However, Maddux got into a groove in July, winning four starts in a row, a streak that stretched to six victories in seven starts. Over that span, he shaved his ERA from 4.84 to 4.24.
Last season, before Miguel Asencio, then 21, made the second start of his big- league career, in Anaheim, Pena was asked what he expected from the right-handed Dominican who spot-started to give the rotation a breather.
"What do you expect?" Pena shot back.
"He'll get rocked," said an unsuspecting reporter. "He got rocked in his first start, and this time he goes up against the league's best hitters in their own yard."
Containing his fury, Pena said, "That is why they play the games. You don't know. He will go out, pitch well and then I will come in here and tell you to shut up."
Asencio allowed a hit and a run in five innings, striking out four in a game Kansas City later lost. That outing convinced Pena to start him 19 more times in 2002.
After the game, a group of reporters gathered in the Edison Field visiting manager's office, pointed their cameras, turned on tape recorders, put pens to paper and then were silenced by Pena.
He glared at a certain reporter, then said, "Shut up!"
At Wrigley Field in Chicago, Osbourne mumbled, murmured and slurred his way through the song in the seventh inning. Funny? Try sad, if not horrific. Wide-eyed glares from many of the fans were unmistakable.
Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, wherever they are, probably weren't amused. Norworth wrote the popular song in 1908, and Von Tilzer later added music. Stick to English soccer songs, preferably in Britain, Ozzy.
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