Braves can only hope for business as usual
Montreal - John Rocker spent Wednesday afternoon sunning by the pool at the Braves' team hotel in Montreal.
On the eve of his return to Shea Stadium, Rocker was chatting on his cellular telephone - and he wasn't exactly in a New York state of mind.
If he was worried about his future, his health or the next four days in the city he shook with his derogatory comments in Sports Illustrated in December, he didn't look like it.
"Whatever happens happens," Rocker had said earlier. "I'll take it from there."
The Braves, Major League Baseball and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani already have suggested to Rocker that he not take the No. 7 train from the team hotel in Manhattan to Shea.
Rocker has kept his plans a secret. Asked about it in Montreal, he said, "I don't know."
But the New York Daily News reported that a source said Major League Baseball told police Rocker would not be taking the train. Despite that guarantee, the police are gearing up for the ride - in case Rocker changes his mind.
What about his on-the-field activities, in the middle of the fans that are tough enough on their own, much less Public Enemy No. 1?
"I won't do anything different," Rocker said. "I'll go to the bullpen when I usually do. I'll stretch when I want to stretch."
As for his plans for the assembled media, Rocker shrugged off that subject, too.
"Maybe the media can focus on something worthwhile for a change," Rocker said.
Some of his teammates might have more legitimate fears. It was something that Brian Jordan, the former Falcons safety, kidded about in Montreal.
"I'll pack my shoulder pads, my thigh pads and my knee pads," Jordan said. "I just hope it doesn't get out of hand."
The Braves discussed having the outfielders wear catcher's helmets onto the field but thought better of it.
The security fuss in general puzzled Wally Joyner, even though he had received one of New York's harshest greetings.
Joyner was playing for the Angels in the late 1980s when he was walking off the field at Yankee Stadium with pitcher Mike Witt, who had just shut out the home team. Joyner felt something brush past his shoulder. He looked back and saw on the ground a hunting knife with a blade five inches long.
"Obviously, [Rocker] said some things that didn't go over well, and now we're protecting him," Joyner said. "I'm not saying we shouldn't protect him. I'm saying let it go. ... We've talked about it and promoted it so much we're setting the stage, and that's what I have a hard time with."
The stage will be packed today. More media have requested credentials for this series than for the upcoming Mets-Yankees day-night doubleheader. Some outlets are sending more representatives for this series than they did to the playoffs last season.
The Braves, used to the media crush of nine postseasons, give the impression that they won't have to brace themselves much more than usual.
"You still swing the same, whether you take batting practice at 4:50 [p.m.] with nobody out there but the grounds crew," Greg Maddux said. "Maybe you start to walk to the cage earlier, knowing you might have to dodge a few people. . . . The media is always there, whether it's two guys or 200 guys. I don't think it'll be a whole lot different. Maybe we'll have to find a place to hide longer."
Their best hope is the game itself.
"Worry about the Mets," Chipper Jones said. "Everything else doesn't matter. . . . The focus should be on the first- and second-place teams in the NL East."
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