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American Morning

Philadelphia Phillies Give Atlanta Braves That Familiar Feeling

Aired July 09, 2001 - 09:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nancy Newman in here doing sports -- and coming up on the All-Star game. It's tomorrow night, I think, in Seattle.

NANCY NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right -- home run derby tonight. So we're going to get you in the baseball spirit, if you are not already there.

The nine-time defending division champion Atlanta Braves hit the break one game back of the Phillies in the NL East.

But, as CNN Sports Illustrated's Paul Crane reports, leapfrogging those Phils is not going to be any layup. For, you see, these Phillies look rather familiar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Phillies have not been in the postseason since 1993, when they beat the Braves in the National League Championship Series.

Now the Phillies find themselves battling the Braves once again. Only this time, it's in a division race against a team which has won an unprecedented nine consecutive division titles.

BOBBY ABREAU, PHILLIES OUTFIELDER: I think we've got the team. We've got the team to make it to the playoffs. And we've got a team to win our division. If we stay in focus and we do everything together, we're going to do it.

BOBBY COX, BRAVES MANAGER: Nobody picked them to win this year at all. But if you look at their team now, this is not a flash-in- the-pan. They have got a super everyday lineup.

OMAR DAAL, PHILLIES PITCHER: After you play three months in the season and you are still in the first place, I don't think it's a surprise. You know, we've been playing good. We've got a good team. We've got a good defense, a good hitting team. The pitchers have been pitching good.

CRANE: Should this become a down-to-the-wire division race, the Phillies will be in unchartered waters for them. Players on the entire Philadelphia roster have a grand total of 43 postseason games. And 26 of those are by closer Jose Mesa from his days with the Indians and Mariners.

Braves third baseman Chipper Jones alone has played in 65.

LARRY BOWA, PHILLIES MANAGER: We do have a young team. Do I know what's going to happen down the road? That's the disadvantage of having young kids. If you are a veteran team, you can look back on their bubblegum card and say: Well, this guy hits 310 the second half. This guys wins 10-12 games.

I don't have anything to relate to here.

TOM GLAVINE, BRAVES PITCHER: You keep having people come up to me or come up to us and say, you know: "Are you guys -- are the Phillies for real? Are you expecting them to fold?"

And the answer has always been no, because we were that team in '91. And everybody expected us to fold. And we didn't.

CRANE (on camera): In 1991, the Braves were coming off a last- place finish the year before and trailed by 9 1/2 games at the All- Star break. In the second half, they passed the defending world champion Reds and then caught the Dodgers in the standings. Those youthful, inexperienced Braves went onto win their division that year and every year since then.

In Atlanta, I'm Paul Crane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN: Thank you, Paul Crane.

Meanwhile, across the Pond, the main's men event at Wimbledon is on finally -- heavy rains pushing back the grand slam to this morning: Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic, the first wild card to ever make the finals vs. Australia's Patrick Rafter.

What a match it has been. The two players split the first four sets. And how about a 6-all score in the fifth-and-deciding set? So we'll keep you up to date and watch this thing as it unravels. It's a great story so far. Yes, either way, it's a great story.

KAGAN: Nancy, thank you so much. We will see you in the next hour.

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