Atlanta Braves vs. Chicago Cubs – Box Score – August 21, 2010 – ESPN.

Tommy Hanson just doesn’t know how to have his teammates not play like little leaguers behind him. After one of the most pathetic displays of defense I’ve seen from a Braves club post-1990 (they were charged with three errors, which only goes to show how borderline a concept the error really is) they almost came back, but not quite.

Hanson wasn’t his sharpest, for certain — five innings, 94 pitches, 56 strikes, four strikeouts, four walks — but the five runs he allowed were hardly all his own fault. In the first, the leadoff man got credited with a double after Matt Diaz bobbled a routine single, then scored on a two-out single by Aramis Ramirez, Braves Assassin, who went to third on an actually charged error on Martin Prado. He then scored on an infield single that was a textbook Prado, one where Derrek Lee simply jumped over the ball rather than field it or even knock it down.

The Cubs got three more runs in the third after Hanson walked two men with one out, then allowed three singles, none of them hit hard. The walks, his fault, the singles, just one of those things that happens. To him, a lot.

The Braves, meanwhile, were doing their “Let’s not hit with runners on” routine. They had two on with one out in the first, and did nothing. (Lee flew out on what looked like a home run swing; I don’t like to say that people are pressing, but I think he’s pressing.) Alex Gonzalez led off the second with a walk and was standing at first at the end of the inning. Jason Heyward was the same after a one-out infield single in the third, and David Ross was stranded after a two-out double in the fourth. In the fifth, Infante reached on a bunt single and Prado had a two-out double, but he didn’t score, and Lee flew out again. You get the idea. Finally in the sixth Diaz and AAR AAG had back-to-back doubles leading off to score a run, but AAG was, again, still standing at second when the inning ended.

The Cubs actually had a 1-2-3 seventh, then the Braves loaded the bases with one out in the eighth. Melky Cabrera, hitting for yesterday’s hero Rick Ankiel against a lefty, struck out, but Brooks Conrad, Folk Hero, rebounded with a double over the centerfielder to clear the bases. (The last run, Ross from first, was scored “unearned”. Riiiiight.) Omar was intentionally walked and Heyward hit by a pitch (suspensions forthcoming, I’m sure) but Prado grounded out with the bases loaded to end the threat. In the ninth, Lee reached on a walk, but he then got to find out what it feels like to stand at first base while your teammates strike out. For the record, the Braves left men on in eight innings, almost all of them either runners in scoring position or those who reached first with none or one out.