Injured Blauser Removed From Braves’ Roster

The Atlanta Braves removed injured shortstop Jeff Blauser from the World Series roster just hours before Saturday night’s Game 1 against Cleveland, replacing him with minor-league infielder Ed Giavanola.

Blauser, who was 0 for 10 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, has been hampered by a deep right thigh bruise.

“It was a tough call,” manager Bobby Cox said. “Jeff is close. The injury is better, but it’s still not great. He can’t run.”

Cox said there was a chance Blauser might have been ready by next weekend.

“However, you can’t take a chance,” he said. “It’s going to be cold tonight and tomorrow and ice cold in Cleveland. This is a tough decision because Jeff has really meant a lot to this team. But he is an unselfish player and understands that it is better for everybody like this.”

Blauser struggled through his worse offensive season, batting .211.

“He didn’t hit for high average but we must have been doing something right with him in the lineup because we won our division by more than 20 games,” Cox said.

Rafael Belliard, who batted .222 in 75 games this season, replaced Blauser in the starting lineup.

Sandy sits

Tony Pena will replace Sandy Alomar at catcher when Dennis Martinez pitches Game 2 tonight, Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove said.

“Sandy is a tremendous catcher, but we all felt there was a marked improvement in the way Dennis went about his job (in Game 6 of the series against Seattle when Alomar was sidelined by a stiff neck),” Hargrove said. “We’re trying to maximize our chances to win, and we think this does that.”

Stop, thief

Leading off the game, Cleveland’s Kenny Lofton reached base on an error, then proceeded to steal second and third and score the Indians’ first run. That made him 7 for 7 in postseason play. The two stolen bases in one inning also tied a Series mark accomplished seven times previously.

The last ballplayer to do it was the Dodgers’ Davey Lopes in 1974.

Not quite perfect

The total of five hits by the two teams tied a record for fewest hits in a game. While that low output occurred four times in the past, the last was the most remarkable of the bunch. It happened in 1956 between Brooklyn and the New York Yankees, when Don Larsen recorded the only perfect game in World Series history.

Out to pasture?

Throwing out the first pitch at the World Series stirred some memories for Cal Ripken, not to mention a few concerns.

“This might be my only chance to get back,” he said, then added: “Only joking!”

The Orioles shortstop, who eclipsed Yankee Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-game record of 2,130 earlier this season, played in the 1983 World Series. Throwing out the first pitch was “an absolute honor, but a little bit strange, being a current player.”

Big shot

All the big-name network television sportscasters are at the World Series - Al Michaels, Bob Costas, Jim Palmer, Sparky Mortimer … Sparky Mortimer?

OK, all the big-name sportscasters plus one miniature sportscaster-to-be. Mortimer is a fully credentialed, CBS blazer-wearing 9-year-old from Alpine, Utah, who is covering the World Series for the “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Mortimer appeared on the show about two years ago after filing a report from a Brigham Young football game, and the talk-show host invited him back to New York to appear Friday night.

Saturday it was off to Atlanta for Game 1, where he and his father were in awe of their surroundings. Sparky said being at the World Series was an honor, “but being on the field is an experience.” Sparky and a TV crew will file live remotes to Letterman beginning Monday night.

“Hey, he can’t be any worse than Brent Musberger,” someone told Dave Mortimer.