Prime Time himself made all three putouts in the bottom of the fifth inning in game five of the 1992 Fall Classic. Deion Sanders real forte may have been football, but the guy had a good overall game on the diamond. He was a pretty good leftfielder! The Blue Jays got to see some of his rushing yards! But, I swear, he looked like he could run two miles.
The Atlanta Braves were down three games to one to the Toronto Blue Jays. But in game five, they had taken a 7-2 lead after four and a half. The Jays needed to get something going off John Smoltz soon. Smoltz wasn't exactly in great shape himself, you see. He was up to 81 pitches after four innings. The Jays were hitting the ball well against him, and making him use every single pitch in his arsenal. He'd also walked three batters at this point.
Roberto Alomar led off the bottom of the fifth and took Smoltz to 2-2. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Alomar went the other way (He was batting from the left side) and sent Sanders back some ways. One out. Joe Carter, hitless so far, got under one and Sanders was there in left for the second out. Otis Nixon, the centrefielder, veered into Sanders territory, since the ball was a gapper. It did not affect the outcome, but Deion was 2-2 this inning! Dave Winfield broke spell by getting a hit on the first pitch. It was right back up through the box. Sanders did not have a chance on it.
John Olerud was next, and Smoltz had had all sorts of problems with him. He'd gone 3-2 on Olerud in the bottom of the first, only to have Olerud single. In the bottom of the fourth, Olerud added another single of Smoltz. Each time, he ended up trotting on home.
Smoltz raced out to an 0-2 count. John seemed safe. But then Smoltz started to miss the plate. Three straight balls meant Winfield would be going with the delivery. Olerud fouled off the next pitch. Smoltz then threw him a good pitch on the outside edge and Olerud went the other way where Sanders had to flag it down for his third putout of the inning.
It had been quite an interesting game for Deion. He'd gone down on strikes in the top of the first against Jack Morris, but the Braves scored the game's first run anyways. All he could do in the top of the third was ground out to Alomar at second. Nonetheless, he singled to give the Braves a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth. That ended up being the game-winning RBI. The Braves scored four more runs (Deion being the third of that four) on a Lonnie Smith grand slam later that inning. That's what gave them that nice, five-run cushion. Deion and the Braves were in both endzones all night long!
Sanders batted two more times in the game. In the top of the seventh against the Jays' second reliever Mike Timlin, he got some good wood on it. Sanders sent Devon White back, but Devo made the catch. In the top of the ninth, Atlanta appeared to have another rally going, and Deion had something to do with it.
Mark Lemke and Otis Nixon singled with two outs, meaning Sanders would bat again. He sent a short fly to centre. Lemke and Nixon had to hold up, not wanting to be doubled off. When the ball fell in, Sanders had another hit. A fly ball off Terry Pendleton's bat was hit to Sander's counterpart in left, Candy Maldonado. The Candy Man nailed Lemke at the plate.
Deion had some adventures in left outside of the fifth inning, when he did it all. In the bottom of the fourth, Kelly Gruber, who hit the ball well all game without a hit, sent Deion to the warning track with two men on and nobody out. Sanders only failed to get to one ball hit in his direction all game. Pat Borders hit a booming double to left in the bottom of the second. But it was well out of Sanders' range.
Deion did not get to make another putout in the game after the fifth inning, but the 1992 Fall Classic was one to remembered for Sanders, even if his team ultimately lost. He batted .533, which at the time was the eighth highest single-season batting average ever in the World Series. He didn't play in games one and four, but connected for three hits in game three, two more here in game five, and two more for good measure in game six. In game two, he only got one hit, but he scored a run and swiped two bases. Deion added two more stolen bases in game six. Overall, Sanders had five stolen bases and was not thrown out once by Pat Borders, the Toronto catcher. Pat got the MVP, anyways. But Sanders showed him speed he'd never seen on the bases, no doubt.
I use to scoff at two-sports stars. Looking back, I was foolish. Some just have the natural talent to do it in more than one sport. Sanders was a natural talent in both football and baseball. And since 1985, all World Series games have been played at night. A perfect spot for the man known as Prime Time!
References
1992 World Series. Performance by Len Cariou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1992. DVD.
“MLB World Series: Game 5- Atlanta At Toronto.” Fishman, Bob, director. MLB World Series, season 46, episode 5, Columbia Broadcast Corporation, 22 Oct. 1992. Television Broadcast (Viewed on Youtube, post since deleted).
Retrosheet. Web. 8 Jul. 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.
The Atlanta Braves were down three games to one to the Toronto Blue Jays. But in game five, they had taken a 7-2 lead after four and a half. The Jays needed to get something going off John Smoltz soon. Smoltz wasn't exactly in great shape himself, you see. He was up to 81 pitches after four innings. The Jays were hitting the ball well against him, and making him use every single pitch in his arsenal. He'd also walked three batters at this point.
Roberto Alomar led off the bottom of the fifth and took Smoltz to 2-2. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Alomar went the other way (He was batting from the left side) and sent Sanders back some ways. One out. Joe Carter, hitless so far, got under one and Sanders was there in left for the second out. Otis Nixon, the centrefielder, veered into Sanders territory, since the ball was a gapper. It did not affect the outcome, but Deion was 2-2 this inning! Dave Winfield broke spell by getting a hit on the first pitch. It was right back up through the box. Sanders did not have a chance on it.
John Olerud was next, and Smoltz had had all sorts of problems with him. He'd gone 3-2 on Olerud in the bottom of the first, only to have Olerud single. In the bottom of the fourth, Olerud added another single of Smoltz. Each time, he ended up trotting on home.
Smoltz raced out to an 0-2 count. John seemed safe. But then Smoltz started to miss the plate. Three straight balls meant Winfield would be going with the delivery. Olerud fouled off the next pitch. Smoltz then threw him a good pitch on the outside edge and Olerud went the other way where Sanders had to flag it down for his third putout of the inning.
It had been quite an interesting game for Deion. He'd gone down on strikes in the top of the first against Jack Morris, but the Braves scored the game's first run anyways. All he could do in the top of the third was ground out to Alomar at second. Nonetheless, he singled to give the Braves a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth. That ended up being the game-winning RBI. The Braves scored four more runs (Deion being the third of that four) on a Lonnie Smith grand slam later that inning. That's what gave them that nice, five-run cushion. Deion and the Braves were in both endzones all night long!
Sanders batted two more times in the game. In the top of the seventh against the Jays' second reliever Mike Timlin, he got some good wood on it. Sanders sent Devon White back, but Devo made the catch. In the top of the ninth, Atlanta appeared to have another rally going, and Deion had something to do with it.
Mark Lemke and Otis Nixon singled with two outs, meaning Sanders would bat again. He sent a short fly to centre. Lemke and Nixon had to hold up, not wanting to be doubled off. When the ball fell in, Sanders had another hit. A fly ball off Terry Pendleton's bat was hit to Sander's counterpart in left, Candy Maldonado. The Candy Man nailed Lemke at the plate.
Deion had some adventures in left outside of the fifth inning, when he did it all. In the bottom of the fourth, Kelly Gruber, who hit the ball well all game without a hit, sent Deion to the warning track with two men on and nobody out. Sanders only failed to get to one ball hit in his direction all game. Pat Borders hit a booming double to left in the bottom of the second. But it was well out of Sanders' range.
Deion did not get to make another putout in the game after the fifth inning, but the 1992 Fall Classic was one to remembered for Sanders, even if his team ultimately lost. He batted .533, which at the time was the eighth highest single-season batting average ever in the World Series. He didn't play in games one and four, but connected for three hits in game three, two more here in game five, and two more for good measure in game six. In game two, he only got one hit, but he scored a run and swiped two bases. Deion added two more stolen bases in game six. Overall, Sanders had five stolen bases and was not thrown out once by Pat Borders, the Toronto catcher. Pat got the MVP, anyways. But Sanders showed him speed he'd never seen on the bases, no doubt.
I use to scoff at two-sports stars. Looking back, I was foolish. Some just have the natural talent to do it in more than one sport. Sanders was a natural talent in both football and baseball. And since 1985, all World Series games have been played at night. A perfect spot for the man known as Prime Time!
References
1992 World Series. Performance by Len Cariou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1992. DVD.
Brunt, Stephen. Diamond Dreams: 20 Years Of Blue Jays
Baseball. Penguin, 1997. Print.
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
2005. Print.
Gamester,
George, and Gerald Hall. On Top Of The World: The Toronto Star’s Tribute To
The ‘92 Blue Jays. Doubleday Canada, 1992. Print.
“MLB World Series: Game 5- Atlanta At Toronto.” Fishman, Bob, director. MLB World Series, season 46, episode 5, Columbia Broadcast Corporation, 22 Oct. 1992. Television Broadcast (Viewed on Youtube, post since deleted).
Retrosheet. Web. 8 Jul. 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major
League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/.
Web. 8 Jul. 2015.
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