BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : NATIONAL LEAGUE : This Victory Is the Sweetest for Pirates’ Leyland, Wife

Two months ago, in the quiet of his office before a game, Pittsburgh Pirate Manager Jim Leyland talked about something that worried him nearly every waking minute, something that kept him up nights.

It was not his baseball team.

It was his unborn child.

After watching his first child die after his wife, Katie, gave birth two years ago, he could think of nothing but this second chance.

“I go home every day and put my ear to my wife’s belly,” he said at the time. “Doctors say everything is fine, but until I see the baby, I cannot relax. I will not believe until I see.”

On Friday afternoon, Leyland believed. His wife gave birth to a son, Patrick James, who was a healthy 7 pounds 2 ounces.

The birth occurred on a day off during the National League playoffs between the Pirates and Atlanta Braves, so Leyland did not join his team in Atlanta until Saturday.

By then, he was still beaming.

“I saw Katie and the baby this morning, then flew right down. Boy, it was special, real special,” Leyland said. “I don’t want to make this a showcase, because every baby born that day was special. But ours was special because of what happened to our first one.

“This has been a tough year. This baby has been my top priority. I’m so glad everything worked out.”

With each Pirate loss, the chances that the Pirates’ Doug Drabek will pitch Monday as scheduled increase. But as of Saturday, those chances still were not good after Drabek had difficulty running in the outfield while testing his strained left hamstring.

“If this were the regular season, it would be the kind of thing where he might get pushed back one day,” Pirate trainer Kent Biggerstaff said. “Right now, I wouldn’t say his chances are better than 50-50 of starting Monday.”

The Pirates announced that left-hander Randy Tomlin would start Game 4 today, meaning Bob Walk would be the probable starting pitcher Monday. If Drabek misses the Game 5 start, Biggerstaff says he might return for Game 6.

“Because of the day off, we could give him 48 more hours to get ready,” Biggerstaff said. “That could be enough.”

Alejandro Pena, who has 13 saves in 13 opportunities since joining the Braves from the New York Mets Aug. 29, says playing in Atlanta is more fun than playing for the Dodgers during the 1988 postseason.

“When you are with the Dodgers, it is like winning is expected,” Pena said. “Here, we are much younger, and have not been here before, so it is a lot better, a lot more fun.”

Pena is glad to prove that the Mets, who would not use him as a stopper, were wrong in trading him for minor leaguers Tony Castillo and Joe Roa.

“When (then-Met Manager) Bud Harrelson told me about the trade, he was actually laughing, so I thought it was a joke,” Pena said. “But when I find it is no joke, I am the one who is happy.”

Leo Mazzone, the Braves’ pitching coach, defends his team’s rule that starting pitchers must throw twice between starts. Most teams ask that their pitchers throw once between starts, and even that is usually not mandatory.

Some observers say that the Braves’ rule is potentially damaging to their top four starting pitchers, all of whom pitched at least 210 innings.

Tom Glavine, who was defeated in Game 1, has complained of a dead arm. And John Smoltz suffered from a sore, tight shoulder throughout Saturday’s 10-3 victory.

“We think it actually builds up arm strength,” Mazzone said. “We’re watching them when we do it, we are regulating their effort. And they might only throw for 10 minutes. We just think it is a lot more beneficial than throwing in the outfield.”

Among those sitting in the front row of seats next to the Braves’ dugout were former President Jimmy Carter and his family, team owner Ted Turner and fiancee Jane Fonda. . . . Lonnie Smith went hitless in three at-bats, making him hitless in 10 at-bats in the series, the only regular on either team who has yet to get a hit.