The Game
Michael Harris II‘s pinch hit bases clearing double in the 7th was all the Braves needed to complete the 3-game sweep.
Bryce Elder‘s first inning was sub-optimal, allowing a homer by Spencer Horwitz to lead off the game. A couple of walks, an infield single, and a double play accounted for the Pirates final run in the 3rd. With Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez, and Raisel Iglesias seemingly unavailable, Reynaldo Lopez, Tyler Kinley and Didier Fuentes danced around trouble the final 2 innings, with Fuentes earning his first MLB save.
The Braves had only 3 hits; an error and 2 walks set the stage for Harris’s heroics. Meanwhile, Brandon and C.J. gushed about Walt Weiss‘s decision making (which has largely worked out well.)
When I was in college, I had a summer job working in a factory and once on the graveyard shift one of the old-timers was telling us about his days as a logger’s helper. While his boss and he were in the middle of felling a tree with a crosscut saw, suddenly the forest was filled with this enormously loud and unfamiliar sound. All the other loggers stopped and watched as they saw this new contraption called the “chainsaw.” And when the first tree came down, “The boss just looked at me and said ‘Well. Let’s go.'” And they got in the truck, and they went to town, and they bought two chainsaws, and I think the degree of difficulty in that decision and the decision of whether or not to use Michael Harris or Sandy Leon down two runs with the bases loaded in the 7th inning is about the same.
When Sid Slid
For Braves fans of a certain age, I suppose when the Pirates come across our radar it may bring back memories of the 1992 NLCS. If you’re somehow unaware, you can catch up here. Bream, Cabrera and The Slide 31 years later
I was watching from home with my wife and my 1-year-old son. He was asleep on the floor in his carrier and missed the whole thing.
I knew both Stan Belinda and Francisco Cabrera relatively well as both had been on my fantasy teams in the past. I knew Belinda was good, but not overpowering, the kind of guy who can rack up a lot of saves on a good team just by being anointed “closer.” And I knew as well that Cabrera had a reputation as a good fastball hitter. So, even though Cabrera had hardly played in the majors that season, I felt like he had a decent chance against Belinda. Then when Belinda got behind in the count 2 – 1, I thought come on man, just throw that fastball.
Now here’s the funny part. I was so focused on getting the tying run in that I totally forgot that Bream was on 2nd! I’m jumping up and down like a maniac because it’s tied, and then HERE COMES BREAM.
Braves win, Braves win, Braves win, Braves win. Braves win.
Where were you when Sid slid?
At the White Sox on Tuesday at 7:40 Eastern, Grant Holmes and Davis Martin scheduled.
Temporarily living in a residential hotel in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Life has gotten a lot better 🙂
Love Ocean Grove!
Watched 1992 NLCS Game 7 from my railroad apartment in Hoboken, NJ. I thought that when Ron Gant swung with the bases loaded (& no outs) that Braves had won the game on a GSHR. Instead, Bonds reached up & caught it at the wall for an RBI F-7 — in the moment, a real disappointment.
But when Sid slid, I almost ran thru a glass door.
Anyone who lived thru the NL West division races in ’91 & ’92 knew that Cabrera had a flair for the dramatic. His 3-run HR off Rob Dibble w/ 2 outs in the 9th tied a September ’91 game that they’d later win in extras. (Those races in ’91 & ’93 were really something.)
BTW, how ’bout them Diamond Dogs? Those 2 games vs. Mississippi St. this wknd were just nuts.
New Rochelle, NY in a horrible apartment. I was so nervous in those days that I couldn’t bear to have the sound on… I watched while playing calming music. (I know… it was stupid and it didn’t work.) But I turned the sound on after the safe sign. And by the way, the Retrosheet code for that play is S7/L7S.3-H(UR);2-H(UR);1-2
10 years old in my parents’ dining room. My Dad packed it in early because he felt the game had already been decided. I stayed up as an act of defiance. Plus, you know, Game 7.
The play was so exciting I adopted the Braves as my new favourite team (after four years of cheering for The Bash Brothers in Oakland) 34 years later I’m still here.
On the floor of my living room in Lubbock TX, with our two kids (age 10 and 6) next to me. I happen to be with my son right now (he’s now 40) and I asked him if he remembers it. He says he does, although we’ve seen the replay so many times it’s hard to separate that from the actual memory.
I can remember the whole sequence vividly — I had far less hope for Cabrera — but can’t remember where I was.
Happy to report that I was at today’s game at Truist Park — the magic of airplanes, when they are actually on schedule — and there was something magic about the rain, MH II coming out of the dugout to hit, that one swing, and the tumult of watching the B team players scamper around the bases.
Not so surprised that the A team took the day off, amazed and pleased that we stole the win and swept the series from a very good Pirates team. On Saturday I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed that the first seven Pittsburgh batters had .800+ OPS. Heck, Spencer Horwitz has a better slashline than RAJ. But whatever: Braves win. This is not quite the 162-0 that JonathanF was looking for, but it is not exactly not that kind of a season, the kind you imagine as a kid, “Well what if everything just broke our way?”
I sure did love Mateo’s reaction.
I was in central OK at the time but everything in baseball seemed expected after Carbo’s HR (and then Fisk’s).
American Embassy in Singapore with a group of misplaced Georgia native airmen, sailors, marines and civil servants. What a game to remember!
I was in 2nd grade and probably asleep.
Our next starting pitcher we face is Erik Fedde. The White Sox really don’t have any better options?
In the army in Germany at that time, read about it in the USA Today at the newsstand… two days after it happened. This was my only source to get Braves scores back in the day.
Standing in front of the TV in Pleasantville NY because I was so excited I couldn’t sit down. It was my favorite hit in Braves’ history since Eddie Mathews had homered to pull out game 4 of the 1957 WS against the Yankees in the 10th inning (I couldn’t sit down then either).
I remember being abroad for 10 days during September ’93 in the heat of that ATL/SF race. Getting up-to-date sports info from America was tough in those days… maybe you’d see scores on a crawl on CNN Int’l in your hotel room, if you got lucky. And newspapers w/ sports results weren’t at every newsstand.
My Solution: I’d go to the lobbies of nicer hotels looking for USA Today, which we called “USA Yesterday.” Old news, but it was the best we could do.
That reminds me of a story I think I’ve told before, but I’ll tell it again. In 1974, a friend of mine and I were bumming around Europe before college and we would look at the International Herald Tribune every day to try and keep up with Braves scores. We were in Paris, on the Métro, and I said to my friend: “Oh my god! They fired Eddie Mathews!” And a couple sitting across from us in the subway car said: “The Braves fired Eddie Mathews?” One of my favorite small world stories. (Note that I think this was probably two days after he was fired.)
Ann Arbor, Michigan. As the game went on, I had a feeling of unreality that I sometimes get when my team is losing a potentially season-ending game – “They can’t just lose after all this, can they?” That time, “all this” included beating the Pirates in the thrilling 1991 NLCS and The Catch in mid-1992. When I have that feeling, “they” usually do lose, but not when Sid slid, and I was delighted but somehow not all that surprised even though I realized how unlikely it had been. I still have the YouTube video of Skip’s call (“They’re going to have to hospitalize Sid Bream!…”) bookmarked.
Also, I remember feeling old because, while most of the students in my master’s program were just out of college, I had just turned 30…
I was in my early thirties and hanging with two buddies from high school. We sat on my neighbor’s couch in a first-floor brick apartment in Avondale Estates. One of the girls across the hall was a big Braves fan, mainly because she liked Ron Gant’s butt, but she couldn’t join us. We went bananas when Sid scored and immediately drove down College Avenue into Decatur to the Trackside Tavern to celebrate.
My dorm at Olivet College in Michigan. I ran up and down the hallways screaming like crazy. To this day, probably the most absolutely euphoric sports moment of my lifetime.
Honestly, whatever memories I have of learning about the moment itself have been completely subsumed in my countless rewatches of the Lightning Strikes Twice! tape the team produced and sent out to season ticket holders. I wore out that VHS tape, and its lovingly lingering shot of Andy van Slyke out in center, sitting down with his cap sitting on top of his head. Magic.
This team wins games they should win and also wins some games they should lose. There’s something happening here, and it ain’t a bad thing.
Honestly, whatever memories I have of learning about the moment itself have been completely subsumed in my countless rewatches of the Lightning Strikes Twice! tape the team produced and sent out to season ticket holders. I wore out that VHS tape, and its lovingly lingering shot of Andy van Slyke out in center, sitting down with his cap sitting on top of his head. Magic.
This team wins games they should win and also wins some games they should lose. There’s something happening here, and it ain’t a bad thing.
I was 8 and not even a Braves fan yet. But I always love watching that play and hearing Skip’s call. Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!…Braves win! And I enjoy everyone’s recollections.
I was just a boy in my bedroom watching the TV I’d been allowed to have in there that same year. I was the only person awake in my house. I was pacing about nervously and leapt when Cabrera singled to left. I heard Sean McDonough’s call at the time and only heard Skip’s great one after the fact.
My dad went to college with Sid. They’re close friends to this day. I’ve been coming to this site for Braves news for about five years now. I became a Braves fan because of ‘91 worst-first. When Sid slid, it cemented me as a Braves fan for life. I’d met Sid before, and at 7 years old the idea that a person I knew being on TV was just incredible. My dad and I were in our living room in our home in West Virginia at the time. It was a big deal to be allowed to stay up that late and watch. I can remember my dad being speechless when it happened. He didn’t cheer aloud, never does at any sporting event. But he asked me when Sid was up if I remembered meeting him, and I did. When he scored, I cheered. But my Dad just smiled. The next day, I remember him still smiling and talking about how Sid couldn’t run. A couple days later he and Sid talked on the phone late in the evening about the play, and I thought it was so cool when he told me about it after.
Due to his friendship with my dad, I’ve interacted with Sid many times over the years. I can attest to his very strong faith and testimony. He loves the Lord and shares the gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere he goes. He gets approached in public and asked about that play constantly, and he never fails to acknowledge it and discuss it graciously with fans. Sid is a truly great guy.
That is so cool. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, JoshKinNJ. Great memory.
Sid had a fine long career, but there’s just one moment everyone remembers. It would take a lot of grace and generosity to deal with that as kindly as he seems to have. Thank you for sharing that memory!
It didn’t break my heart that we missed Skenes this past weekend & it doesn’t upset me that we won’t see Murakami, the White Sox best player, either.
Holmes is a good guy and a great story, but I hope we can move him to the pen in the second half.
You can’t build a team around Acuña.
Is Carrasco really our best option in a 1-run game with men on? Did someone get injured?
And after an off day.
Well, 2 outs on the basepaths will do the trick. Hopefully now back to good pitchers to finish the game out.
Wow. White Sox really want to lose this game on the basepaths. Great throw by White.
This sure has been a stupid game, from two non challenges from Wynn leading to their first two runs, to managerial malpractice with multiple inning Carrasco in a one run game.
It’s like they saw that the Phils lost and they said “screw it”
Edit: yup, now Riley on the bases nearly making me bash my head against a wall
And now baserunning misadventures.
Hope Lee isn’t hurt. He’s had 2 days off but yet Weiss left Cookie in to blow the lead.
Who knows who will pitch if this goes to extras.
If this game goes extras, that’s gonna be worse for the bullpen than just using your guys in the first place. I know we don’t know everything that the team knows, but it’s hard to see how your worst reliever is your best option with a 1-run lead in the 7th inning against the heart of the lineup.
The cameraman Chip Caray’ed us on that Olson flyball.
Probably going to see multiple roster moves tomorrow.
The baserunning tonight, good grief
Omg, i reiterate, what a stupid ass game.
Iggy’s overdue for some regression. 5.39 ERA, 1.49 WHIP in his last six appearances.
I can’t fault him for a 343 foot fly ball at 98.6mph, which is only a HR in two parks.
He was painting the corners a lot, but yeah, he had a few hanging change ups.
Kinley and Lee were missing in action, never should’ve had to have him pitch two innings in the first place.
Recapped