Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals – Box Score – September 27, 2009 – ESPN
The Braves didn’t take a lead until the tenth, but that’s when it counts. Derek Lowe gave up back-to-back solo homers in the second first to make it 2-0. The Braves rallied back in the fourth, with Prado scoring on an ACHE groundout and Chipper on an Escobar “triple”. (Nats defense again.) But Lowe immediately gave up the lead again on a leadoff homer. The record will show that Lowe had a “quality start”, going six innings and allowing three runs. Math will show that if you do that every time out, you will have a 4.50 ERA. It’s not that it’s not useful, but it’s not worth the money.
The Braves tied it up in the seventh when Yunel walked and LaRoche doubled him home. But Diaz bunted for some reason and Bobby sent up Norton, who is no more a hitter than he is Miss Hawaii, to pinch-hit, and he of course hit a grounder that couldn’t score the run. Moylan gave up a leadoff triple but pitched around it in the seventh, and then blew through the eighth. The Nats couldn’t get anything going off of Gonzalez in the ninth.
With one out in the tenth, McLouth walked, then Prado was hit by a pitch. Chipper hit an infield single that probably should have been an error, then McCann hit a grounder in the same spot that scored the go-ahead run. Infante’s pinch single made it 6-3, then Soriano had no problems at all in the bottom of the tenth, finishing with a strikeout.
19.1% chance of making the playoffs!
19.1% chance of making playoffs
Peter Moylan is my hero.
Rockies are losing
I’m going to try my damnedest to get to Turner Field this week.
This having No Hope thing is fun! If we had only figured out the key is to have No Hope back in August of ’06.
#1,#2. I don’t think that takes into account the result today.
Rockies retake the lead after Pujols boots an easy grounder.
Pujols stinks!
7 – If the Rockies win, the chance will go down, anyway.
8, yeah, Pujols is the Greg Norton of the Cardinals.
Still no hope, no matter what the numbers might suggest. Keep that lid on.
Nice win today, though. That 10th inning was a lot of fun.
No Hope is the name of the game.
Mac, the back-to-back homers were in the first, not the second. Had to double-check.
Eh.
Not that it particularly matters. 🙂
How are you feeling?
Can anyone tell me what exactly the Braves did to the Cardinals to provoke this hatefully poor level of play? Did Bobby Cox smack Tony La Russa’s kid or something?
Mac, also Lowe didn’t “give up the lead again”. The game was tied. No Braves lead until the 10th.
Where in the hell is Holliday. I don’t think LaRussa is trying today. He has tomorrow off and then a nothing series with Cinci to rest him. Lawyers like Tony are unerringly slime. Don’t tell me he is jealous of Cox’s record.
The Cards are actually doing ok. I watched most of the game on MLB.TV, and they seem to be in it as much as one can expect after clinching.
On a different note, I don’t think anyone wants the Braves in the playoffs now. We’ll see what the Dogers will do, but if I were them I’d make sure to keep the Braves out of it.
That’s a pretty amazing play by Thurston to keep it at 4-3
Yeah – the Cards are not playing like a great team right now, but they’re only a run down.
The Brewer pitching sucks, but they might be able to mash enough to win 2 of 3. The’ve got to be trying hard to get to .500. I don’t think they’ll hold back. Same for the LAD. They don’t like the Rox and they won’t want to begin the playoffs on a down note.
Screw no hope. This is friggin’ exciting. Kiss my rear end with the no hope BS!
Cardinals come to bat in the 9th down by 1.
Folks I detest LaRussa as much as anyone but he’s well within his rights to rest whoever he wants heading into the playoffs.
As it stands he’s probably not going to take home field from the Dodgers so there’s not much to play for other than finishing out the string with minimum exertion and risk of injury.
Lugo with a leadoff single
Schumaker pinch-hitting, Pujols on deck
For someone with no hope, I sure am paying a lot of attention to this Rox game.
Schumaker grounds out with Lugo advancing to 2nd, Pujols IBB’d
Ludwick up
blown call by the ump, and instead of pujols batting with no outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, it is 1 out, runner on 2nd and they are giving pujols an ibb
Lugo steals 3rd
Boy, that was huge. Top 9, with nobody out and a runner on 1st, the Cards hit a single to short. The runner was safe by ten feet (doing a stupid head-first slide though), but got called out at first anyway. Absolutely crazy. That took the bat out of Albert’s hands, who was walked with 1B now open.
Bad, bad call.
Lugo steals third, an interesting play.
And Barmes catches a pop-up behind second, and Pujols gets himself picked off. Rox win.
Goddamnit!!
Bad umpiring and bad baserunning by Pujols costs the Bravos big.
Pujols is singlehandedly killing us.
In a very different way than normal.
Damn.
If Pujols holds at first, the game would be tied.
The fish will go down. Fredi owes the old man. There is a sunami wave rising and we’re still on top. BELIEVE!!!
Man, it’s nice to be mad at a team that’s not the Braves.
Rockies are 3-12 against the Dodgers this year.
That was horrific. I can’t handle watching two games a day anymore.
The Cardinals looked like anything but a playoff team there. It looked like they could care less, really.
Surely you all noticed that lame ass win we pulled off today. This was the equivalent of Beamer Ball on a baseball diamond. We just need to stay in these Marlin games and wait for devine intervention. It’s going to happen folks. It’s ordained. We are the Atlanta Braves once more!
Now that I have hope, it’s going to be really agonizing if the Braves end up falling short by a game or two. All those Ryan Howard homeruns, Frenchy double plays, blowing a game pitching in his 3rd consecutive game will come home to roost. Ugh.
See what hope does?
We are running out of games folks. Keep hope dead!!!
btw, prado is now 2nd among nl 2nd basemen in ops, only behind utley.
no hope, we have to go 6-1 and the rocks have to go 3-3
blowing a 4 run lead against Colorado right before the allstar break is huge. Btw, Soriano and Gonzo were unavailable in that game when we were up 7-6 going into the 8th that day. Valdez got the loss
No Hope. Had the Cards won today I would have allowed a glimmer. Ron E. – thats why I won’t allow myself to have any hope.
Yup, needed that Cardinal win today.
Hope? Feh. Gotta stop it. Maybe something good will happen.
Saw the Yankees clinch today. No fun, really–just wet.
BTW, very glad that AJ Green is on my team.
I respect the right of free individuals to hope against all reason for a miracle.
I won’t take part in that hope and be disappointed. Instead I’ll enjoy every victory over and above 81 which I consider gravy on a good season.
If the Braves win tomorrow (with the Rockies off), they’ll be an even two games out with both the Braves and Rockies having six games left.
In other words: they’re dead Jim.
Our playoff hopes were seriously dampened when Pujols ran to third this afternoon.
Boise State and Texas for the National Championship
Just catching up after being offline for the past week goofing around our Northeast Kingdom and the People’s Republic. I’m stunned hope is even an option.
To all: whether you have hope, or no hope, don’t change a thing, it’s working.
if we get to 92-70 and dont make the playoffs then you just have to tip your cap to them…gotta win all at this point and it still might not be enough
Maybe JS can announce he is retiring, too.
That might just get us in.
@56 I agree with you 100%.
Ugh….Just saw that the Rockies won. I went to bed with the Cardinals winning and believing that we had a good chance to make the playoffs….
At least September has been fun for the first time since 2005….
Keeping Hope dead at my end….
There is hope, I saw it live Sunday:
VIKINGS RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I remember correctly, the ’91 Braves were 2 games back at about this point in the year. There is hope! Slim hope, yes. But it’s there.
Looks like I’ll get to go to the last game of the season… (word that isn’t hope) it’s not the last game of our season.
Braves were 88-67. LA was 89-66. Dodgers went 4-3 over the last 7, Braves went 6-1, finishing the season on an 8-1 tear, eight in a row to clinch the title in Game 161.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1991&t=ATL
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1991&t=LAN
Ron E, some of us developed hope and all it did was turn Albert Pujols into a stupid baseball player. I shudder to think what would happen if more people here caught the hope virus.
No hope…
But it’s so awesome to be playing the hated Fish with something on the line in the last week of the season.
Go Braves!
If the Braves go 7-0, they’ll win this thing. Anything less will be putting too much into the Rockies’ hands.
If I thought Kawakami would start instead of Lowe next time around, then maybe…
Weldon at 65 and others.
But wasn’t Lugo also stupid? If he is tagged up, on an over the shoulder catch by Barmes (it is linked to in Olney’s blog on ESPN today) by the time Barmes turns around and throws with nothing on it (actually, that is the BEST that could have happened, Barmes fell down and did a forward somersault on the ground) you can still beat the throw and tie the game (if hope hadn’t made Albert stupid). I think Lugo should have tagged up and Albert should have played it half way until he knew it dropped.
But a question I don’t know the answer to? IF Lugo had tagged and broken for the plate and gotten there before Pujols was doubled up, would his run have counted? I think so, because the only time I think it doesn’t count is on a force play.
I think Lugo and Puljos should have both gone half way. But I think Puljos was running on the pitch.
Barmes made a great play and Puljos was dead to rights.
Mike Lupica made these points on Sunday:
1) Alabama is the best football team right now.
2) Because Florida was ranked #1 pre-season, if they don’t lose, Alabama can’t pass them.
3) Because of the schedule, the teams wouldn’t meet until the SEC Championship game (often called the National Championship game in these parts)
4) If Alabama wins that game, but loses in January, Florida could pass them again with a win.
Don’t like the BCS much.
Cliff – Yes, Lugo should have tagged. But I’m not convinced he would have beaten the throw. It seemed like Barmes got to his senses pretty quick.
I think Florida, Alabama and Texas are the three best teams in the country and no one else is in the same boat. If they continue to play well, it will work out.
If you don’t win the National Championship and finish in the top five, who cares?
I am not quite as convinced that Alabama is that mighty, but unless LSU really puts it together or Alabama has an unusually large let down, they don’t have a real challenge before a prospective SEC Championship game.
However, everybody other than Alabama, Florida, and Texas look awfully shaky.
Another “baseball is so traditional, but why hasn’t somebody . . . ?” question.
I ran track in high school and couldn’t see the ball well enough to see a baseball. i did play softball some. Whenever I tagged up, I got down in a sprinter’s stance (back foot tight and against the front side of the base) and looked out of the stance at the fielder. Then, I would go from the stance when it was touched.
I feel certain that most people would pick up 2 to 3 tenths of a second third to home (or second to third) by doing this. Think about it. How often has a football player getting timed on the 40 just stood up with a lean when he was in a combine where money was at stake for a better time?
Is it just because nobody “wants to look weird”?
I cant believe how bad the defenses are so far in the SEC, outside of FLA and UA, it seems that every team is just playing to outscore their opponents. Mallet looked terrible against a better defense, but his receivers looked even worse
VU has a really good defense. We can’t outscore anybody, though.
Vandy and Tennessee have really good defenses
Dear LSU Fans,
Welcome to Third-and-Chavis. Any time a team has a third down and more than even yards to go against a John Chavis defense, count on soft coverage and no protection over the middle.
Looking forward to Neanderball, also known as the Vandy-UT game.
Are y’all forgetting the Kentucky Headhunters? Small, slow white boys named Wyndham are going where no UGA defensive end has ever gone!
Seriously, other than that one play, I’ve never been so humiliated watching Kentucky Football in my life. (Well, other than the Curry years …)
Stu, I think you can add a conference win to your predictions. We truly are the worst team in the SEC and it ain’t close.
Well, look — if Alabama does the expected this Saturday (I’m nervous, I don’t like the morning road games) everyone will be paying attention to you so you can say who’s better, Florida or Alabama.
Glad we can be of some assistance.
Just leave the check on the dresser when you’re done.
Alabama has a chance to be great, but as an Alabama fan I have to admit that I still have some concerns. The kickoff coverage is my biggest issue – we’ve had a breakdown or two every game (although some have been negated by penalty). Except for one big play, Arkansas also shut down our running game. If we make a few turnovers, can’t run, and a team shuts down our big plays, we could be in trouble. I think if all the stars lined up and the scenario happened above, I could see Tennessee, LSU and Auburn giving us a major challenge.
Wyndham for Heisman!
A lot of Florida’s season is based on how long Tebow is out. If he is out for LSU and they lose, but win out (beating Bama) they will get a free pass to the title game.
I bet Tebow is out for a game or two.
Arkansas’s linebackers and safeties fly to the ball on run plays. They shut down Georgia’s run game too, except for one big play. What it means is that they’re dead on play action, because their corners are all alone out there and not very good to begin with. Also, they acted like they’d never seen a screen pass before, and passes to the backs basically replaced the running game in the third quarter, to great success.
We’re done for. Can’t we just move on and start talking about whether the savings in Hanson’s arbitration hearings in 2012 will have been worth not making the playoffs this year, having barely missed because we trotted out the poo-poo platter in the 5 spot for 2 months so he wouldn’t be a super-two? And then the conversations about whether or not he would have pitched as well for the Big Club had he not spent those months refining and getting hungrier for the G-Braves?
This is why good will always lose to evil: because good is dumb. We’re not making it.
But, there’s a fun question Rob Neyer points out today on BeyondTheBoxScore.com: an article about whether Jair Jurrjens has more trade value right now than Prince Fielder.
The jump: http://tinyurl.com/y9627dq
hank,
I included a win over UK in my predictions.
Braves before Francoeur trade: 41-44
Braves since Francoeur trade: 44-26
I say we won that trade.
When Georgia realized they didn’t need to run vs Arkansas—who does one-on-one coverage vs AJ Green?—they kinda didn’t, save the Samuel run.
They got behind early 21-10 & pretty much winged it the rest of the way. It was like a Nerf football game in your backyard.
BTW, Florida has a week off before the LSU game. Pretty fortunate for them (and Tebow’s skull), I think.
I think the Dawgs beat LSU. The Tigers are just looking like they want to be beat.
At this point, the only thing that would surprise me with this team is if we suddenly developed a consistent pass rush. Otherwise, anything goes…
I think the Dawgs beat LSU. The Tigers are just looking like they want to be beat.
Holy cow, that is some BCS-worthy projection there. When it comes to “looking like they want to get beat” UGA is a one-team masochism club.
[Jerry Royster circa 1982]
“We’re two and a half out with a week left. We got ’em right where we want ’em!”
[/JRc1982]
UGA could be 0-4, but we’ ve decided to be heroic at the end of the last 3 games.
UGA’s performance continues the trend that a Mark Richt team can’t play well for 4 quarters. The usual limit is 2 quarters.
Since he has been in Athens, that has been exceeded maybe 5 or 6 times.
2001 Ga. Tech 51-7
2002 (?) SEC chanmpionship v. Arkansas
2004 (?) v. LSU in Athens
2007 v. Florida
2008 (Jan.) v. Hawaii
I may have missed a couple of those on first thought, but 2 quarters of good football is usually our limit.
I think LSU is trying, but they’re not very good. Their lines are pretty terrible: the O-line can’t open holes anymore, and the D-line isn’t suited for Chavis’ scheme.
Charles Scott and Richard Samuel can have a “run straight ahead and fall down” contest. Could be fun.
Or Richard Samuel and Caleb King can have a fumbling contest.
Cliff,
I’m not saying it isn’t an issue, but Richt’s Dawgs have played plenty of big-time games from beginning to end.
Remember the 41-14 thumping of Tennessee in K-Town? There have been a few Auburn beatdowns, too. We spanked LSU in the SEC title game in ’05. No problem with those efforts.
Not that it was a big deal at the time, but remember all the hype Boise State was making when we opened with them a few years ago? How did that turn out? Same with Clemson the year we opened with a 30-0 whitewash.
And Richt’s SEC road record is still pretty great. A win’s a win, especially on the road. We Dawg fans can quibble, but the guy’s averaged 10 wins a season for 8 years.
Dodgers are losing. The more they lose, the better our chances are that they will try to win against the Rocks (or at least I think). I would think they would want home-field advantage, but then again, I don’t think anyone wants to play the Braves right now.
New poll is up, thread will be up at 2:00 CT.
Nobody wants to play Colorado either. They have been the best team in the NL for the past three months. Nobody is trying to lose just to keep the Braves out.
If Colorado is within 3 games of LA this weekend, that’s bad news for us.
Game thread now up.