BASEBALL / NATIONAL LEAGUE REPORT : CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Smoltz, who comes back on three days rest to face the Pirates in Game 4 tonight, has a 3-0 postseason record, having given up only six earned runs in 27 2/3 innings.

He said he feeds off the pressure of the big game.

“I probably pitched 500 games as a kid, and every one was the seventh game,” he said of those fantasy dreams. “I love it. My concentration and adrenaline are so much higher. The difference is that you don’t take the chances and the risks you would in the regular season, when you know you’re going to be out there again in five days.

“I always relate it to the NBA, where during the regular season you give them the lay-up, but in the playoffs you don’t give them anything.”

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Doug Drabek, who is eligible for free agency, could be making his final start for the Pirates tonight.

Has it been on his thoughts?

“I made up my mind at the start of the season that I didn’t want that pounding me every day, and my priority is still the season,” he said.

On the tenuous state of the Pirates: “I have to try to put the situation out of my mind and concentrate on the things I need to do,” he said. “I can’t try to make up two or three games in one game or I’ll get burned.”

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On the major issues confronting baseball, Pirate General Manager Ted Simmons said: “When I look at realignment and (the possible move of) the Giants and (the forced resignation of) Fay Vincent, one thing is clear. The industry is in a state of transition, and with transition comes confusion.”