Jack Morris went looking for John Smoltz on Wednesday and found his nemesis from Game 7 of the 1991 World Series walking outside the Atlanta Braves clubhouse.
Until that moment -- shortly after 5 p.m. -- they never had spoken about the events at the Metrodome that night in 1991, when Smoltz pitched 71/3 innings and Morris pitched all 10 in the Twins' 1-0 triumph.
Morris said he told Smoltz, "If he wouldn't have gotten taken out, we'd have both been out there in the 14th [inning]."
Two of the best pitchers in postseason history stood there for about 15 minutes -- Smoltz in full uniform, Morris in a blue Tommy Bahama shirt -- reminiscing.
At one point, Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur walked up and introduced himself to Morris.
Francoeur, an Atlanta native, was a 7-year-old watching Morris shatter his favorite team's dreams that night. He pointed at Morris and told Smoltz, "I always hated that guy."
Sixteen years later, Smoltz said the memory that sticks with him the most is the eighth inning. After pitching a 1-2-3 seventh, Smoltz retreated to the clubhouse, hoping he could change the team's luck by watching on TV.
Smoltz, then 24, saw Lonnie Smith single, leading off the eighth. Then, the Twins caught a huge break. Terry Pendleton doubled to deep left-center field, but Smith fell for a phantom play by middle infielders Greg Gagne and Chuck Knoblauch. Smith looked confused at second base and barely made it to third.
Still, the Braves had runners at second and third. Nobody out. Smoltz decided he'd better get back to the dugout.
"I wanted to see us score the run," he said. "I knew the game was going to be over. And I guess the worst possible scenario happened. You watched the air go out of the balloon. That might have been the toughest inning I've seen in my professional career."
Early lesson
Smoltz knew all about Morris. Growing up in Michigan, he was 17 when Morris pitched a no-hitter and led the Detroit Tigers to the 1984 World Series title.
Smoltz signed with the Tigers the next year and was rising through their farm system when they traded him to Atlanta for Doyle Alexander in 1987.
Now, Smoltz sat in disbelief as Morris pitched out of that eighth-inning jam. A harmless groundout from Ron Gant. An intentional walk to David Justice. And then Sid Bream hit a grounder right at Kent Hrbek, who started a 3-2-3, inning-ending double play.
"It's everything I admired about [Morris] growing up," Smoltz said. "And it was everything that became our undoing as it unfolded."
The Twins finally chased Smoltz in the eighth, when Randy Bush and Knoblauch singled, putting runners at first and third with one out. That prompted Braves manager Bobby Cox to summon reliever Mike Stanton, and he escaped the jam when Hrbek lined into an inning-ending double play.
But as Morris kept going, all Smoltz could do was watch.
"Both guys were dominant," former Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "If you had to pick a guy who pitched better, I don't know if you could separate those two guys."
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