Nah, baseball cliches: -Everyone is available -Clutch -"He hit .180 during the year but you knew he was due for a big hit" -"have to learn the umpires strike zone" -"Anything Tim McCarver says" -"the best 3-0 fastball hitter in the game" -"with all of the injuries manager such and such should win manager of the year" -"I talked with so and so before the game and he said that everyone in the clubhouse was loose"
Atlanta can always find a way to lose. This time a Brooks Conrad error opened the flood gates. Hope you're planning on another late game slam Brooks. I don't know why I bother with these guys. San Diego is going to win again. No playoffs. See you next April. Sad to see Bobby go and sad to see these players sending him off with an epic September choke job.
We were practically no hit by a rookie, I see no reason to think we're going to win tomorrow. Philly is actually putting a couple of their real pitchers on the mound. I swear if Miami doesn't beat New England on Monday I'm going to go postal.
It's better to cut your losses and move on. Atlanta was a playoff team from May through August. That team is gone. This one really stings b/c it's Bobby's last season and they were capable of so much better. It really must be tearing Chipper up too not being able to do anything about it. The Giants are also doing a great choke job. If SD wins tomorrow I think they still have to have a one game playoff to decide the winner. The Giants went into the series three games up.
If we lose tomorrow and SD wins, we are out. If we win tomorrow and SD Wins: SD@SF Monday, Loser @ATL Tuesday If We Win tomorrow and SF Wins: We Win WC, SF wins West. Pitching matchup: PHI@ATL: Hamels (12-11 3.09 ERA) v. Hudson (16-9 2.76 ERA) SD@SF: Latos (14-9 2.92 ERA) v. Sanchez (12-9 3.15 ERA)
Apparently Utley stole second in the top of the eighth. Nice move with a four run lead in a game that means nothing. Stay classy Philly. Edit: He's still got Utley in the game trying to pour it on in the ninth. I don't normally wish for injuries but man. In my mind this is a disrespectful thing to do against Bobby Cox. On his field on a day when he was honored especially. It's just low class.
I wish Derek Lowe was pitching tomorrow. He's been the best pitcher in the rotation by far the past month. In a month where everybody else has let us down he has shined.
Are you sure? I think if SD wins tomorrow they win the West outright? And the Giants win the WC And Atlanta ends the season on a whimper and not a bang?
No, SD went into that series three games back. They will only be tied if they win tomorrow. They'll have a one game playoff on Monday. If that happens and Atlanta loses tomorrow, Atlanta is out.
Sorry but there's nothing wrong with trying to steal a base up by 4 runs even if a win doesn't mean anything to the Phillies. They're still trying to win a ball game. And there's also nothing wrong with a team leaving in their star players, even though Philly did pull Howard and Rollins earlier in the game. The Phillies shouldn't care that it's Bobby Cox Day nor should it have any impact on how they play in that particular game. How is it low class? Do you expect Philly to just roll over and let the Braves win the game just because Cox was honored before the game?
I agree...make ATL earn the playoff birth. Plus, it was only a 4 run game. How many times have ATL came back late to win games?
If Atlanta wins and there is a one game playoff, who wins the wildcard? For me, I'd like to see the season cut back to 152 and another Wildcard Slot added as the regular season is just to filled with games that do not mean anything at all.
SD and SF would have a one game playoff for the division on Monday. Then the loser comes to Atlanta and has a one game playoff for the wildcard I believe. In other news, we were up 8-4 in the 8th and gave up three so far. It looks like Wagner was brought in an attempt to stop the game and maybe a four out save. Man I hope they don't blow this.
No I don't think it's normal to steal bases late when you're up in a game by several runs. Just because you're trying to win a game doesn't mean you need to pour it on. I find it funny you equate not stealing a base with rolling over and letting them win. Like the game was even close after the 6th inning.
It's not normal to steal bases with a 4 run lead late? Since when? If they were up 6 or 7 you have a point, but theoretically a team could be one swing away from tying the game, even if they are down by 4. I doubt there is one player on either the Phillies or Braves who had a problem with it. Actually when I was talking about rolling over and letting them win it was because you were complaining that they didn't take out Utley (even though the Phillies had taken out Rollins in 7th and Howard in the 8th) and how the Phillies were, in your opinion, disrespecting Bobby Cox because they were piling on runs in the 9th (when one of the 2 runs scored that inning was walked in by Saito so I not sure how you could even blame Mayberry or the Phillies for that one) when the game meant nothing to them. Why shouldn't the Phillies try to play hard and win a game? Once the Phillies scored more than 4 runs were they suppose to walk up to the plate with the bat on their shoulder and not try to hit the ball?
SF is up 2-0 and cruising the padres have mounted no serious threats to score, just Denoforia making it to third base in the 2nd inning.
If your lead is big enough to not be considered a save situation and it's that late in the game I fail to see why you need to manufacture runs. If your hitters drive them in, fine. There's no problem with that. But why are you having one of your best players steal like you're in a situation where you just have to make something happen? As if their lineup struggles to get hits. Not to mention Atlanta had not mounted anything resembling a scoring threat the entire game. If Utley slides into the base and gets hurt there then somebody will be paying attention. Saito giving up runs is on him. I only had the benfit of gamecast, I was just surprised they had one of their best players who had already missed significant time due to injury in that late. Atlanta shouldn't expect anybody to feel sorry for them. We'll forget about that but I still think the base stealing was not the greatest sportsmanship there's ever been. I realize some people are of the mindset that it's just the loser's fault if they're getting beaten up in professional sports and the winner should never back off. That's their opinion I suppose. Any lead can be blown. Nine run leads have been blown in one inning. But four runs late is generally not going to slip away, which is why it's not a save situation.
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I figured one game in the series would get it done. I'm just happy they pulled that off. Anything can happen now. It's been too long, it's going to be great to see some Braves playoff baseball again.
It just said on MLB network that we're facing Cincinnati. I didn't realize they finished with a better record than SF. Or maybe it was a tie? We've played Cincy pretty well too in the regular season. Edit: Nevermind, they fixed it.
What a great final day of the season..... nice heading into this with that bit of momentum and energy.
Hudson is lucky the entire Philly team didn't run out on the field today after he hit Ruiz in the elbow. But glad you guys got in....good luck against the Giants...better you facing the Giants then us. I was hoping we would play the Padres but the Reds are the next best thing.
I haven't seen any indication he hit him on purpose. I don't know why anybody would be running out to the mound.
Why would he hit him on purpose in a game the Braves had to win? That doesn't make any sense at all. It was an inside pitch that got away from him.
I'm sure Ruiz will shake it off. He's probably the Phillies' toughest player and the team's real MVP. Gee look the Yankees get the prime time games while everyone else gets the daytime scraps.
because who wants to watch the braves/giants.....?? or the reds....it just goes to show you who runs baseball.....everybody wants to see either the Yankees win or the Yankees lose...
The Braves have a strong national fanbase. So do the Giants. But we should all know the sports world revolves around NY teams. I don't know what we were thinking.
http://www.foxsportssouth.com/pages/video?PID=tVsZNjbUb0MkHqk3Qox0iFpdwWxnjd_4 If you haven't seen it. Pretty cool stuff. Also, I love it when the baseball ratings are low. It means there is parity. If you only watch baseball when the Yankees, Sox, Dodgers and Cubs are in the playoffs (which is almost never) you can go **** yourself.
Lincecum must have a great changeup and a deceptive delivery because he is only throwing his fastball 91-93 and we can't hit it. We got screwed on Posey's stolen base which led to the only run through 7 and 1/3. He was clearly out.
His changeup must look exactly like his fastball for a guy like Heyward to swing at it in the dirt. Tough to lose when giving up one run that probably shouldn't have been allowed.
I beg to differ. While I understand why Cox walked Sandoval due to % to get to Ross but Sandoval is a GiDP machine (I know first hand as a Giants fan). To which we saw later in the game, when the Giants had men at the corners. You guys played poor defense, the ball hit by Cody should of been caught by your 3B.