2002 National League Division Series

2002 National League Division Series
Teams
Team (Wins) Manager Season San Francisco Giants (3) Dusty Baker 95–66, .590, GB: 2+1⁄2 Atlanta Braves (2) Bobby Cox 101–59, .631, GA: 19
Dates	October 2–7
Television	Fox (Games 2, 4–5) FX (Game 3)
TV announcers	Dave O'Brien, Tony Gwynn (Game 1) Thom Brennaman, Steve Lyons (Games 2, 4) Josh Lewin, Steve Lyons (Game 3) Joe Buck, Tim McCarver (Game 5)
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Gary Cohen, Rob Dibble
Teams
Team (Wins) Manager Season St. Louis Cardinals (3) Tony La Russa 97–65, .599, GA: 13 Arizona Diamondbacks (0) Bob Brenly 98–64, .605, GA: 2+1⁄2
Dates	October 1–5
Television	Angel Hernandez, Jerry Layne, Tim Tschida, Ted Barrett (Braves–Giants, Games 1–2, 5; Diamondbacks–Cardinals, Game 3) Bruce Froemming, Bill Miller, Ron Kulpa, Gary Darling, Steve Rippley, Mark Hirschbeck (Diamondbacks–Cardinals, Games 1–2; Braves–Giants, Games 3–4)
← 2001 NLDS 2003 →

The 2002 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the 2002 National League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 1, and ended on Monday, October 7, with the champions of the three NL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. The teams were:

• (1) Atlanta Braves (Eastern Division champion, 101–59) vs. (4) San Francisco Giants (Wild Card, 95–66); Giants win series, 3–2.
• (2) Arizona Diamondbacks (Western Division champion, 98–64) vs. (3) St. Louis Cardinals (Central Division champion, 97–65); Cardinals win series, 3–0.^[1]

The Cardinals and Giants went on to meet in the

The Atlanta Braves had continued to move forward in a golden era of consistency that had resulted in their eleventh consecutive division title since 1991 (with only the cancelled 1994 season being the exception), marked by consistent pitching from Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Kevin Millwood (who combined for 52 wins to 25 losses) to go with John Smoltz and his league-leading 55 saves. They won over 100 games for the first since 1999, having experienced an improvement of thirteen games from the previous year. The Braves led the National League in runs allowed, ERA (3.13), and hits allowed (San Francisco led in home runs allowed). For the San Francisco Giants, this was their third postseason appearance in the past six seasons. While a five-game improvement from last year was not enough to catch the NL West title, it was enough to loom over the lone Wild Card spot, marked by ending the year with an eight-game winning streak. As for the Giants, Barry Bonds (who experienced back-to-back NLCS losses to the Braves in 1991 and 1992 as the left fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates) continued his unprecedented run to start the 21st century. While he had less games played and home runs from the previous year, he managed to hit 46 while drawing a record of 198 walks while batting a career high .370 to coast to the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award, which was his fifth as a player and second of ultimately four in a row. Right beside Bonds in offense was Jeff Kent, who hit .313 with 37 home runs with 195 hits in 152 games. While Kirk Rueter and Russ Ortiz led the Giants in wins as a pitcher (14), it was Robb Nen who served as the key star in pitching once again. In his fifth season with the Giants, he went to the All-Star Game for the third time while garnering 43 saves.

Game 1

Turner Field in Atlanta

In Game 1, Russ Ortiz faced Tom Glavine. In the top of the second, after Benito Santiago and Reggie Sanders hit back-to-back one-out singles, J. T. Snow hit a two-run double, then David Bell singled Snow home to make it 3–0 Giants. Glavine would help his own cause by hitting a bases-loaded two-run single to left field that almost tied the game thanks to an error by Bonds in the bottom half of the second. In the fourth, David Bell and Russ Ortiz back-to-back one-out singles, then Kenny Lofton's RBI single and Rich Aurilia's two-run double made it 6–2 Giants. Chris Hammond relieved Glavine in the sixth and after a two-out double and intentional walk, Santiago's double scored both runners. In the bottom of the eighth Gary Sheffield's homer off Tim Worrell made it 8–3. With one on and one out, Santiago dropped a foul fly ball hit by Javy López, who then homered to make it 8–5. In the ninth, the Braves put the tying run at the plate off Robb Nen for Sheffield, but he hit into a game-ending double play.

Game 2

Turner Field in Atlanta

In Game 2,

In Game 3, Greg Maddux of the Braves faced Jason Schmidt of the Giants. In the bottom of the first, Kenny Lofton hit a leadoff single and scored on Jeff Kent's doubled to make it 1–0 Giants. In the top of the third, Rafael Furcal hit a leadoff triple and scored on a groundout by Julio Franco. The game remained tied until the sixth. With one out, three consecutive walks ended Schmidt's night. Vinny Castilla singled in two runs off Manny Aybar, then Keith Lockhart followed with a towering three-run homer to make it 6–1 Braves. Barry Bonds's homer in the bottom half made it 6–2, but the ninth saw the Braves add insurance. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out off Tim Worrell. Chipper Jones hit an RBI single off Aaron Fultz, who was relieved by Robb Nen. Andruw Jones's single scored two, then one out later, Lockhart's single scored another. Kevin Gryboski retired the Giants in order in the bottom of the inning as the Braves' 10–2 win gave them a 2–1 series lead. This would be the last series lead the Braves would hold in a postseason series until winning Game 3 of the 2019 NLDS.

Game 4

In Game 4, Glavine would be sent to the mound once again, this time facing

Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the clinching Game 5,

2002 NLDS (3–2): San Francisco Giants over Atlanta Braves

Arizona vs. St. Louis

The Arizona Diamondbacks won the West for the second straight year, having a better record than the previous year when they won the 2001 World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals were making their third straight postseason appearance.

Game 1

In Game 1, Matt Morris faced eventual 2002 Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson, who dominated the 2001 postseason with ease. However, in the top of the first an error by Tony Womack put a runner on for Jim Edmonds, who then hit a home run to make it 2–0 Cardinals. The Diamondbacks scratched out a run in the bottom half on Steve Finley's sacrifice fly with runners on first and third. In the bottom of the third, Quinton McCracken tied the game with an RBI single. In the fourth, the floodgates began to open as Albert Pujols led off the inning with a triple and Scott Rolen followed with a two-run homer. Then Édgar Rentería's singled, stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on Mike Matheny's RBI single to make it is 5–2 Cards. Eli Marrero's sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 6–2 Cardinals before they blew the game open in the seventh. Matt Mantei allowed a single and walk, then Tino Martinez walked off Greg Swindell to load the bases. Swindell's errant throw on Matheny's bunt attempt allowed two runs to score, then Matt Morris's single scored two more runs. Mike Fetters relieved Swindell and walked Jim Edmonds with two outs to reload the bases before Albert Pujols's two-run single capped the scoring at 12–2 Cardinals, giving them a 1–0 series lead.

Game 2

In Game 2, Chuck Finley faced Curt Schilling. J. D. Drew got the scoring started with a homer in the third to put the Cardinals up 1–0. Finley and Schilling dueled until Finley left with a cramp in his pitching hand. When Albert Pujols moved from left field in the eighth, he immediately created trouble by misplaying a ball hit by Greg Colbrunn off Rick White. Then Quinton McCracken tied the game with a double. The Cardinals regained the lead in the top of the ninth, however, when Édgar Rentería hit a leadoff single off Mike Koplove, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a Miguel Cairo RBI single. Jason Isringhausen shut the D'Backs down 1–2–3 in the bottom of the inning for the save, giving the Cardinals a 2–0 lead in the series. Jeff Fassero got the win in relief by retiring the last batter of the eighth.

Game 3

Trying to avoid a series sweep, the Diamondbacks struck first in the second off starter

2002 NLDS (3–0): St. Louis Cardinals over Arizona Diamondbacks

Notes

External links

• SFG vs. ATL at Baseball-Reference
• STL vs. ARI at Baseball-Reference