Junto Boys

BREAM KILLS DREAM: An October Memory

Pirates fans remember where they were when the slowest man in baseball slid across with the game winning run in October 1992. I was in a bar in Cincinnati. I had been in Three Rivers Stadium for Game 4.

Here's how it went down:

Terry Pendleton led off [bottom 9, Bucs up 2-0] with a shot to the right-field corner, where Cecil Espy - a defensive replacement for Lloyd McClendon - passively allowed it to drop for a double. David Justice bounced a ball to Jose Lind, who misplayed it. Men on first and third. Bream walked on four pitches to load the bases, prompting Leyland to pull Drabek, who'd thrown 129 pitches. In came Stan Belinda, who'd converted just 18 of 24 save chances. Bonds promptly caught Ron Gant's blast at the left-field fence. A run scored. Men on first and second, one out. Damon Berryhill, hitting .167, laid off some agonizingly close pitches that were called balls. A 3-1 slider appeared to catch the inside corner. "He's human; he missed it," Belinda would say of Marsh, who'd replaced John McSherry behind the plate after the first inning because McSherry was ill. Bases loaded, one out (to this day, Bream can't believe manager Bobby Cox did not use a pinch-runner for him). Brian Hunter pinch hit for second baseman Rafael Belliard and popped out. The Pirates were one out away from their first World Series since 1979. With pitcher Jeff Reardon due up, Cox summoned the last position player on his bench, third-string catcher/first baseman Francisco Cabrera, who'd been added to the roster Aug. 31. An odd thought entered Cabrera's mind as he stood in the on-deck circle. "I was thinking, 'Who's going to play second?' If I had only tied the game, I might have had to play second. So I appreciate Sid Bream for coming in. It usually took a triple for him to score from second. I knew if I got that hit, I'd become a hero. But if I didn't, it would have been OK, because people didn't know me anyways."

Bonds is still blamed for a lame throw to the plate. But was it? You know Bonds won't admit it.

Bonds was playing a deep left field to protect against a gap shot. He raced to his left and threw across his body. His throw was about two feet wide, forcing LaValliere to backhand it, then dive back toward the plate, where he tagged Bream too late. Few plays in Pirates' history are scrutinized more than Bonds' throw. Leyland, McClendon and others have said it was a good play. Bonds agrees. "If I played any shallower, that ball probably would've gotten past me," he said. "I had to come over toward my left, then cross-fire it. You can go back and look at the history of the game of baseball and how many guys have thrown guys out in that situation."

The Pirates had other chances to win it.

Among the game's less-scrutinized issues: Van Slyke flied out with the bases loaded in the seventh; Orlando Merced got thrown out at home in the eighth, attempting to score from first on Jeff King's double; and Leyland stuck with his platoon system, starting lefties Merced, LaValliere and Alex Cole, even though they'd gone a combined 4 for 21 against John Smoltz in Games 1 and 4. That meant McClendon, Gary Redus and Don Slaught sat, even though they were a collective .487 in the series.

Cabrera did nothing before or after.

Cabrera was released by the Braves in 1993 and never played another game. He hit .254 in 351 major-league at-bats but remains a hero in Atlanta and in the Dominican Republic. "Sometimes in the Dominican Republic, I'll be called for an interview, and they'll ask me to bring the tape," he said in the spring of 2003. "I've watched it over and over."

Bream, a Pittsburgh favorite, felt for the Pirates.

The moment was bittersweet for Bream, because he'd spent five seasons with the Pirates before he was dealt to Atlanta after the 1990 season. "I felt bad, thinking they'd never get another chance," he said. "I desperately wanted to see them get to the World Series."

A Pittsburgh native describes the pain that persists into what will be a 16th consecutive losing season next year.

A poem: My Heart Did Not Burst

my heart did not burst
when ex-Buc Sid Bream
slid his dirty slide
all over the once white plate
just past our pudgy catcher's
too late tag
and the umpire in the same instant
spread both arms in either direction
signaling an end to world serious hope
for my precious Pirates

my nerves did not snap
despite eight and two-thirds frames of tension
I did my deepest breathing to relax
control I did not have
over loaded bases
and balls that were strikes
that were not called
in the bottom of the 9th
at the unlikely sound
of Francisco Cabrera's homicidal single
my brain did not crack
under tons of promise and possibilities
that twist and untwist
but can never undo
the undisputed truth
of 3-2

my arms did not rip
the TV from its cabinet
I could not shatter
the televised outcome
It happened, like a bad wreck
I could not help but watch
the explosion of Atlanta madness
I wished was mine, ours
days, months after the damage
Happened