A major league baseball season is a long prolonged slog for the beleaguered fan and the over paid pampered 162 game purveyors of hits, errors, RBIs, steals, homers, strike outs and base on balls. Occasionally one play in a game nearing season’s end can be the defining moment for a team contemplating a slot in the playoffs leading to the ultimate prize of World Series Winner.
It may resemble a signature dish of a beloved restaurant or it could be construed as one’s worse nightmare. The moment arrived for the struggling Atlanta Braves on Monday 19th September in a near empty cavernous stadium in downtown Miami where they were playing the first of a three game series against one of their nemesis the Florida Marlins.
At the resumption of the season following the All Star Break the Braves led the St Louis Cardinals in the race for the wild card by 91/2 games. Their lead was now reduced to a miserable 31/2 games before the start of play with the Marlins. The game didn’t begin too well for the Braves and they were quickly trailing 1-4. Fortunately the recently misfiring offense rediscovered some pop in their bats and battled back to lead 5-4.
Bottom of the ninth, the Braves rookie and record breaking closer, Craig Kimbrell entered the fray in search of three outs to win the game for his 45th save of the season. Everything was going according to plan with Kimbrell recording two routine outs. His third and potentially final victim stepped up to the plate and chopped the ball high into the night air toward Chipper Jones lurking at 3rd base. Inexplicably Chipper appeared to lose the ball in the lights and the ball fell to the ground in front of him and shot into the outfield for a base hit.
Chipper was seen to mutter something about the baseball gods not being very kind to an aging superstar and the body language of his team mates concurred with his negative vibes But not to worry; the next batter was former Brave Omar Infante with a mere 5 home runs for the season, and on paper no match for Craig Kimbrell. Apparently Infante had not read the script and proceeded to blast Kimbrell’s fast ball into orbit for a two run homer to win the game 5-4.
The Braves gave their fans some encouragement winning the second game of the series, but were shut out in the final game of the series by ironically another ex-Brave Javier Velasquez. Meanwhile the St. Louis Cardinals continued to move like a juggernaut recording 8 wins in their last 10 games, threatening to steam roller the misfiring Braves. The Wild Card lead was now down to 11/2 games.
But wait; do I see a ray of hope for long suffering Braves fans? Yesterday (Thursday 22nd September) the Cardinals had one more game to play against the stinking Mets and were leading 6-2 entering the ninth and final innings. I was chalking this game into the win column for the Cardinals when ex-Brave Rafael Furcal’s fielding error at shortstop initiated a revival for the Mets who proceeded to score six unanswered runs to incredulously win the game. The Braves had received a break without even playing and their lead in the wild card is 2 games with six games left to play.
The Cardinals ostensibly have the easier run-in with a 3 game series at home to the Chicago Cubs and a final three games at Houston. Meanwhile the Braves travel to Washington this weekend for three games against the Nationals and return home to play a three game finale with Philadelphia. The Phillies have clinched the division and a berth in the playoffs, so it remains to be seen whether they will rest their starters in readiness for the playoffs. Fasten your seat belts Braves fans; you could be in for a bumpy ride.
