Pretty good game. Jaret Wright and Kirk Rueter kept it scoreless through five. In the sixth, the Giants put together a couple of singles, the Braves got an out, and, well, Barry Bonds was due up. He homered, of course, so it was 3-0 Giants, but you can’t really blame Wright.
But then the Braves rallied back in the bottom of the inning. Marcus and Drew doubled back-to-back, then Chipper homered to tie it. Julio and Andruw singled and then Marrero grounded out to get them to second and third. The Giants walked Eddie Perez to load the bases with one out.
I figured Bobby would hit for Wright then. Bases loaded, tie game, he gave you six good innings. But he hit. Then, on an 0-2 pitch, Wright bunted, apparently on his own, and Giants pitcher Matt Herges got a brainlock and threw to first, allowing Julio to score the go-ahead run. I’m guessing he forgot something about the situation, possibly that there was a force at home.
Bonds had another chance with a runner on and two out in the eighth, but Tom Martin, relieving Reitsma, struck him out looking. The Braves added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning on a two-out throwing error by the third baseman. Smoltz finished the game with a groundout and two strikeouts, the last of Michael Tucker.
The Braves left ten men on base, which is pretty much never good. In addition to his homer, Chipper singled in his only other AB and also walked twice. Marcus had a two-hit game.
The rest of the East won as well. The Marlins beat the Dodgers, so the Braves still lead by 9 1/2, but now have the second-best record in the league by half a game… Fox game tomorrow afternoon, with Jason Schmidt going against Paul Byrd. How did we wind up with Byrd instead of the Cy Young candidate from our own farm system?
We wound up without Schmidt because Schuerholz thought Denny Neagle was a better fit for the late 90s rotation, and so wheeled Jason to the Pirates. Neagle made that look good for a year, but Schmidt has been lights out ever since he got to Pac Bell.
Braves traded Schmidt in 1996. Schmidt became an actual good pitcher in 2002, with a few years before that in the slightly-above-average range.
RHETORICAL QUESTION SENSOR: ON!