ATLANTA — Every great player deserves a signature moment, when the sum of his success can be captured in one highlight. One big memory as a proxy for a thousand smaller ones. Until Game 3 of the National League Division Series Sunday night, Freddie Freeman, a three-time All-Star and career .293 hitter, and one of the more overlooked rock-solid professional hitters in the game, had not lived such a moment.
It arrived on, of course, the first pitch he saw from Dodgers lefthander Alex Wood in the sixth inning, with tension and nerves here as thick as the humidity in August.