Braves.Today.Com

By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com

Phillies 4, Braves 3 (10 innings)

Top of the Order: In a season full of games that have wiggled away, this one takes the cake: the Braves watching in horror as Kelly Johnson dropped what would’ve been the game’s final out, allowing the Phillies to tie it in the ninth inning and win it in the 10th.

The Good: Tim Hudson did his job, pitching like an ace and locking down one of the best offensive teams in all of baseball. Huddy went 7 2/3 innings, scattering just five hits while allowing one run. Will Ohman lowered his ERA to 2.45 with 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out one. Chipper Jones raised his major-league leading average to .421 with two hits and two walks. Brian McCann turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead with his 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot off Jamie Moyer to right-center in the sixth. Gregor Blanco went 2-for-5. Josh Anderson, the guy Blanco beat out for the final outfield spot coming out of spring training, continues to impress, singling and scoring in the 10th as the Braves tried to rally. Yunel Escobar lined the single that scored Anderson, moving his average to an even .300.

The Bad: We’ve seen plenty of plays that have taken our breath away – for all the wrong reasons – so far in 2008, but nothing can top this: Chris Coste’s pop up with two out in the ninth inning bouncing out of Johnson’s glove and landing just inside the foul line in short right field, allowing pinch-runner Eric Bruntlett to score and tie the game as the crowd at Turner Field stood in stunned silence.

Absolutely unbelievable as it was, watching the ball hit the palm of Johnson’s mitt, then plop a few inches inside the chalk, it wasn’t the only miscue on a night where the Braves were far from crisp. Escobar was thrown out by 15 feet at home plate after trying to score on Jeff Francoeur’s line drive in the sixth. Speaking of Francoeur, he endured another rotten night at the dish, going 0-for-5 and leaving NINE runners on base. His average slips to .249. Blaine Boyer walked back-to-back hitters with two outs and nobody on in the ninth, setting the stage for Johnson’s blunder. Manny Acosta’s bad week continued one inning later, as he allowed two hits and two runs in 1/3 of an inning as the Phillies opened a 4-2 advantage.

View from the Sports Garage: David O’Brien, who covers the Braves for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, recently wrote on his blog how this year’s team has been the most eventful he’s ever covered. Eventful is a good word, DOB … so is ulcer-inducing. As all of you know, there are several games the Braves have lost this season that they had no business losing, games that will be looked back upon with regret in October if this team misses the playoffs. But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can top the swift kick to the midsection that was Johnson dropping that pop-up in the ninth. It’s absolutely the single most-shocking, stunning, description-defying and deflating play I think I’ve seen in 30-plus years of watching this franchise play baseball (and that says something, doesn’t it, good people?). Catch the ball, and the Braves pull within 2 ½ games of first place, win a one-run game and enter the final two games of this important series with a ton of momentum. Instead, the ball drops, the Phils tie the game, then blow up Acosta in the top of the 10th. And, to pour a pound of salt into the gaping wound that is Johnson’s inability to catch the freaking baseball, the Braves put the tying runs on base, get the hit from Escobar, and Blanco gets nipped at the plate to end the game with the Braves one run short. Credit Anderson and Blanco and Escobar for making it interesting at the end and not going quietly into the night. And certainly, there were other moments in this game where the Braves didn’t resemble a team that belongs in the midst of a pennant race. But Johnson flat-out lost this game, plain and simple, and as a result, the Braves find themselves this morning trying to shake off the single-worst defeat they’ve suffered since that big lead in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS disappeared and Houston ended Atlanta’s season on Chris Burke’s 18th-inning homer off Joey Devine. Yes, this loss is that bad. It doesn’t end the Braves season per se … not yet, at least. But if this team goes into the tank and comes home from that murderous 10-game road trip that starts next week eight or nine games out of first, they will not recover. It will be over, and the end game will have started with the biggest gaffe of Kelly Johnson’s career. If you can’t catch a pop-up, then you don’t deserve to play in October. Simple as that.

On deck
Braves vs. Phillies
7:10 p.m. today, Turner Field

The Skinny: Jo-Jo Reyes (2-3, 4.78 ERA) turned a corner, so to speak, the last time he faced the Phillies. In that May 13 start in Philly, the young lefty gave up 11 hits and five runs, but didn’t walk anybody and threw strikes the way the Braves’ brass has wanted to see from Reyes. His confidence seems to improve with each outing. He only walked one in six innings Monday against Florida, giving up three runs. For Philly, Kyle Kendrick (5-2, 5.00 ERA) allowed two home runs in 5 1/3 innings. After what happened Friday night, Reyes better be on his game … and not induce any pop-ups to short right field.

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