Maddux on the verge of historical feat

By Rob Miech

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003 | 8:30 a.m.

The Cardinals have won only one other time in their past eight games, and they will need more sterling performances from their $10.5 million starter to have any chance at the playoffs. Morris is 10-6.

In addition, his 4.96 ERA is his worst since 1994, when he got hit hard (5.29 ERA) in the Dominican in his first professional campaign.

Considering the time of the year and both foes are in the playoff hunt, that's heady stuff for the Devil Rays. However, that six-game Tropicana Field total of 59,615 was almost matched at Yankee Stadium (55,212) on Sunday alone, when New York played Boston.

The Padres are 9-3 against their northern neighbors, including 4-2 in Chavez Ravine. This series, and the four-game set in San Diego during the last week of the season, will be the playoff barometer for the Dodgers.

After finishing only his second round of golf this season, Greg Maddux steered his rig through the drive-thru of an Atlanta-area fast-food restaurant early Monday afternoon.

He was much more interested in the roast beef sandwich and diet soda he had just picked up than talking about making baseball history.

Saturday, Maddux, a 37-year-old Valley High graduate who is in his 11th season as a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, beat Pittsburgh to improve to 14-10.

With one more victory, he will become the first major leaguer to win at least 15 games in 16 consecutive seasons, a run that began for Maddux when he went 18-8 for the Chicago Cubs in 1988.

Cy Young accomplished that feat 15 years in a row, from 1891-1905.

Young would have stretched that to 19 years, if not for a 13-21 season for the Boston Pilgrims in 1906. He went 21-15 in '07 and 21-11 in '08 for the Red Sox, and 19-15 for the Cleveland Naps in '09.

"Well, I don't know," Maddux said via his cell phone. "I'm worried a lot more about beating the Phillies than winning games. I've never really pitched for results or numbers."

Maddux is scheduled to start Thursday night against Philadelphia at Turner Field in Atlanta, and he will likely get three more opportunities to establish the new standard.

The Braves' rotation should pit him against the Expos in Montreal next Tuesday, at home against Florida on Sept. 22 and in Philadelphia to end the regular season on Sunday, Sept. 28.

"I just go out and try to get ready for my start the way I think is best," Maddux said. "If I win, great. If not, I try to get ready five days later. Maybe when I'm done playing, it will mean more.

"Right now, I want to stay focused on what I have to do to stay around in a game for seven or eight innings."

Maddux signed a $14.75 million contract with the Braves in February, the richest one-year deal in the game's history.

This season, he has proven his value with the likely continuation of "The Streak."

No other active pitcher comes close to even winning at least 10 games in 15 consecutive seasons. Nolan Ryan's stretch of 15-victory seasons was three, and Jim Palmer hit five. Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton each pulled it off seven years in a row.

Seven is also the most consecutive seasons that Roger Clemens won at least 15 games. Don Sutton did it eight times, Warren Spahn 11 and Gaylord Perry reached it 13 successive years.

Making history was a tough proposition for Maddux in the first half of the season. He lost his first three starts, allowing 29 hits and 18 earned runs over 14 2/3 innings. At the halfway point, he was 6-8 with an earned-run average of 4.84.

Trying to right himself on the mound left scant time for Maddox to tee it up on the finer golf courses in and around Atlanta.

The QuesTec system, installed in various parks to monitor the accuracy of umpires' calls, played a role in requiring this finesse pitcher to be even finer with his throws.

"It changes the strike zone around a little bit," Maddux said. "It wasn't so much the pitches I was making outside QuesTec (stadiums), it was the ones inside them. You can't win a game with one or two pitches, but you can lose a game with one or two pitches.

"I was pretty much costing my team games with one or two pitches. So, as soon as I started locating (pitches) a little better ... "

Maddux has also altered his workout regimen, learning more about how to take care of himself. As he ages, he has realized the toll he puts on his knees, and legs, by jogging on tracks or running in the streets.

So he works out more frequently on the stationary bike or runs on a treadmill. He has also discovered more-efficient arm exercises.

"It's harder, now, to last seven innings," Maddux said. "The age thing. It's the first year I've felt it a little bit."

He has logged seven innings in two of his past nine starts.

If his first-half trend had continued, it would have been the first time Maddux had an ERA in the 4s since his 15-victory streak started in '88.

However, Maddux turned his fortunes around when the calendar turned to July. So far in the second half, he is 8-2 with a 2.67 ERA, and the Braves have lost consecutive starts by him only once. His season ERA is 3.92.

He has quality starts -- at least six innings without allowing more than three earned runs -- in six of his past seven trips to the hill.

His next victory will also give Maddux 288 career wins, tying him with Tommy John for 22nd on the all-time chart.

Again, he wanted to pay more attention to his sandwich and soft drink than his place in the annals of the game.

"I just try not to worry a whole lot about it, just try to worry about getting ready to pitch," Maddux said. "I don't want to worry about what I've done, but what I can do and to get right for the postseason.

"I want to do what I can to finish up the year well and have a good October."

Atlanta has tailed off, though, and is on pace to finish with 239 homers. Texas (with 242) and Boston (238) are projected to give the Braves a run for this season's clouting title.

Of more concern to the Braves will be the status of four-pitch closer John Smoltz, who has saved 44 games this season but was placed on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right elbow on Aug. 27.

On one side of the debate, the rest will benefit Smoltz, re-energizing him for the playoffs. On the other, he will need fine-tuning in game situations before the postseason begins.

"I think it's more important for him to pitch two, three or five games before the postseason starts," Maddux said. "Regardless of what he does the rest of the month, he's already had a great year. He's proven that he can have a lot of success in different roles.

"What the plan is, I don't know. But it would be important for him to have two or three good games before the postseason."

That's the challenge for Edwin Jackson, whom the Dodgers promoted from Double-A Jacksonville over the weekend to start his first major-league game tonight in Phoenix on his 20th birthday.

It will mark the third time Jackson has been in a major-league stadium. In 2001, he attended two Marlins games -- one against the Dodgers -- in Miami.

Jackson takes the place of Hideo Nomo, who has a sore right shoulder. Other teams have asked about Jackson and Greg Miller in past trade talks, but the Dodgers have pegged those two young hurlers as the two "untouchables" in their system.

The Dodgers will get a glimpse at their future tonight, when Jackson opposes one of the game's best pitchers, on the road and in the heat of a wild-card race.

"His stuff is quite capable of getting major-league hitters out," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy told reporters. "He's got a real good idea of getting major league hitters out."