Oct 26 2008
Game 3 wins are great, but you’ve gotta follow up and keep winning
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
ATLANTA — Well, back to reality. You’ll notice this is being posted on Sunday night, as my mountains’ excursion took a little longer to finish than expected.
Oh well, back to reality.
And reality continues to play out in the World Series, although I’ll gladly blame the Fall Classic for my late return to the Atlanta suburbs. Staying up to watch Saturday night’s Game 3 — a game that started late due to rain, a game that ended just before 2 a.m. today — pushed back our departure from our mountain getaway.
But enough about that.
The Phillies got a win they desperately needed. Winning the third game of a seven-game series when things are tied at 1-1 usually puts you in a good position. But you’ve got to follow up and seal the deal.
The Braves had been in that position before during their playoff runs in the 1990s. Remember 1991? Tied 1-1 in the National League Championship Series with Pittsburgh, Atlanta returned home and rode a Ron Gant grand slam to a convincing victory in Game 3.
But Pittsburgh squeaked out victories in the next two games, and the Braves were forced to win two straight in Pittsburgh to win the series, which they did.
A Game 3 win is great, but you’ve got to follow up from there and get the job done the next night. As of this writing, the Phils are up 1-0 early in Game 4 against the Rays … man, still seems strange that Tampa Bay is playing in the World Series.
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