Steve Avery

Now that free-agent shopping season officially has begun, Phillies president Bill Giles said yesterday the team has expressed an interest in "15 to 20" players who are available to the highest bidder. Hold the champagne and party streamers . . . "The players attracted to our situation tend to be the lesser lights, to be honest," Giles said. "They're the type of guys who think they could be everyday players for the Phillies, where maybe they couldn't for the Yankees or the Braves.

A funny thing happened to the Atlanta Braves on their way to claiming their little slice of immortality. The defending world champions were ever so close last night to pushing the New York Yankees to the brink of elimination, to positioning themselves to close out the 92nd World Series tonight in the last game played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium before it is bulldozed into a parking lot. But despite knocking the Yankees' starter out...

It isn't often that any manager - let alone the manager of a team in the World Series - will admit he deliberately lied to the world. But Joe Torre, of those always-innovative New York Yankees, isn't any manager. So last night - one day after making out a lineup card that didn't have his regular first baseman, Tino Martinez, in it - Torre confessed that he had, uh, evaded the truth when he said Monday that Martinez would start last night. "I must admit I lied to you about Tino," Torre said in a pregame session with the nation's inquiring media minds.

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far way, the New York Yankees envisioned that a gentleman named Greg Maddux would be pitching a World Series game at Yankee Stadium. Tonight, that vision comes true. In slightly different form than the Yankees imagined it. The Yankees figured that Maddux would be pitching that World Series game for them - not the Atlanta Braves. But that isn't how it has worked out. In a tumultuous week in December 1992, Maddux turned down a skyscraper full of money from the Yankees to sign a five-year, $28.5 million contract with the Braves.

Best-laid plans and three-run leads are fleeting in baseball, and the Atlanta Braves saw one of each fizzle last night. With No. 4 starter Denny Neagle on the mound, the Braves were seven outs from tying the National League championship series at two games apiece. But a four-run explosion by St. Louis in the seventh and eighth innings - topped by a game-winning home run by Brian Jordan - propelled the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory and left them just a win away from going to the World Series.

To Tom Glavine, who pitches this afternoon as the Braves attempt to sweep their National League division series against the Dodgers, it is no surprise that the Atlanta team still hungers for success despite a 1995 world championship. "We felt we could have won a couple more," Glavine said, referring to the Braves' inability to go the distance after winning division titles in 1991, 1992 and 93. "And you wonder how many more opportunities you're going to have. We've got some pretty big guys coming up on free agency.

The Atlanta Braves won a battle of World Series teams to swing a trade for lefthander Denny Neagle, sending three prospects to the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday for the 14-game winner. Anxious to replace the injured Steve Avery in their rotation, the defending champion Braves outbid the Cleveland Indians by giving up minor league slugger Ron Wright, outfielder Corey Pointer and a player to be named later. That player might be righthander Jason Schmidt (3-4, 6.75 ERA), who began the season as the Braves' No. 5 starter but is on the disabled list.

The rich got richer in the National League yesterday when the Atlanta Braves added lefthander Denny Neagle to baseball's most formidable pitching staff. Neagle, 27, was 14-6 with a 3.05 ERA for the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates, having outdueled Braves 20-game winner John Smoltz in a 3-2 win on Tuesday. The Braves gave the Pirates two minor-league prospects, first baseman Ron Wright and outfielder Corey Pointer, and a player to be named. Speculation on the player to be named centered on Jason Schmidt, a 23-year-old rookie righthander who began the season as the Braves' fifth starter but has been on the disabled list with an inflamed elbow.

Todd Hundley in particular and the New York Mets in general served notice that they won't take anything from anybody, especially the Atlanta Braves. Hundley drove in five runs, four of them on a pair of homers, and had four hits last night in an 8-3 victory over visiting Atlanta that was marred by a bench- and bullpen-clearing fracas. Losing pitcher Steve Avery (6-5) and Hundley exchanged words in the top of the fifth inning after second baseman Jose Vizcaino was hit on the right kneecap by the Braves' lefthander.

David Justice took a swing Saturday night, and the Phillies came out swinging yesterday afternoon. "Certain things took place last night that woke us up," manager Jim Fregosi said after the Phillies' 6-0 victory over the Braves yesterday. The "certain thing" was Justice's swing at a 3-0 pitch in Saturday's ninth inning with the Braves leading, 11-3. That violation of baseball etiquette led to a stormy confrontation between Justice and Phillies third base coach Larry Bowa. It also led to a thirst for revenge.