Aug 22 2008
Lights-out: Braves extend one-run road loss infamy
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
Mets 5, Braves 4
Top of the Order: The Braves keep inventing new and excruciating ways to extend their major-league record for consecutive one-run losses on the road, this one coming after Omar Infante lost a ball in the lights to allow the Mets to plate the game winner in the bottom of the ninth.
The Good: Yunel Escobar hit his first homer since June 5, blasting Pedro Martinez’s first pitch of the game. Escobar finished with three hits and two runs scored, his first three-hit game since July 6. Snicker about his injury history all you want, but Mike Hampton still can pitch, the left-hander allowing eight hits and three earned runs in six strong innings. Dude so deserved the win. Brian McCann went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, doubled home two runs in the sixth, giving the Braves a short-lived lead. Julian Tavarez gave up a hit in 1 1/3 innings. Off the field, Tom Glavine’s elbow surgery went well, and the doctors also cleaned up his shoulder (might as well while they were in there).
The Bad: Wow, where to begin. How about the defense? With Casey Kotchman on the bereavement list and Greg Norton a late scratch, Martin Prado made his second career appearance at first base. He couldn’t connect with Will Ohman at first base in the seventh, allowing the tying run to score (Mark Teixeira, where are you? Oh yeah, with the Angels). Then in the ninth, Carlos Delgado’s low liner hit off Infante’s glove, Infante losing the ball in the lights, driving home the winning run. Jeff Bennett allowed a hit and a run in the seventh. Vladimir Nunez took the loss, giving up two hits and walking one in the ninth as the Braves extended their big-league record of consecutive one-run road losses to – say it with me – TWENTY-SEVEN. 27!! I said 27!!! That’s 1/6th of a full season. Wow.
View from the Sports Garage: I spent part of Thursday trying to remember the enthusiasm, the optimism, the feeling surrounding this team coming out of spring training. You remember those days, right, when the dogwoods were in bloom and the temperatures were pleasant and the Braves looked liked honest-to-goodness contenders? Well, wake up and smell the stench of another game that slipped away, like that bass you have on the hook all the way to the edge of the bank, only to see it spit out the hook, give you the finger (OK, so bass don’t have fingers, but work with me here) and swim away smirking. Ever seen a bass smirk? I’ve got a better question: ever seen a season totally implode like this? I mean, we’re talking about a campaign of historic proportions here. It just keeps getting worse. How can it get any lower? Just keep watching; this team aims to keep plunging. Prado at first base? Nunez pitching the ninth? I mean, come on. At some point in time, all of this has to stop, right? It will folks, sometime around 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 28, when this season mercifully comes to its long-awaited and much-needed conclusion. Infante squinting into the lights, sliding and sticking his glove into the air in vain, might as well be the picture of the season. This once-proud franchise, reduced to a bumbling bunch playing out the string. And playing it out quite poorly, I might add. Ten losses in the past 11 games, 16 games under .500, 15 games out of first place. If this team was lying in the hospital, the doctor would’ve pulled the plug by now and put the Braves – and all of us – out of our misery.
On deck
Braves at Cardinals
8:15 p.m., Busch Stadium
The Skinny: Two tall, lanky right-handers who look alike and who throw a nasty 12-to-6 bender toe the slab in the opener of a three-game set in the Lou. For the Braves, it’s Charlie Morton (3-7, 5.95 ERA), who’s pitched well in three of his past four starts. Unfortunately for young Charlie, his first appearance against St. Louis was dreadful: eight earned runs and four walks in 3 2/3 innings July 28. For the Cardinals, former Braves prospect and the pride of St. Simons Island, Adam Wainwright (6-3, 3.14 ERA), makes his return after two months on the disabled list. Having gotten to know Adam and his family during my newspaper days in Southeast Georgia, I can tell you he indeed is one of the nicest people on the face of the Earth. He’s also a heck of a pitcher, one who the Cards desperately need to pitch well now that he’s back from a sprain of his right middle finger. Here’s hoping AW throws it well in his return, and that Young Charlie – who looks a heck of a lot like Wainwright – can pitch well, too.
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Bud, I have gotten to where I just can not bear to watch the season go by.
Yeah Danni, I know the feeling. Friday’s drubbing was as tough as they come to watch.
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