Braves, Derek Lowe blow up again (but somehow still live)
Derek Lowe might've done better if he closed his eyes while he pitched Tuesday. Or maybe he did. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
(UPDATED: 11:45 p.m.)
So there’s this scene in Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” when all of those who have been condemned to death and are hanging from crosses suddenly break into the cheer tune, “Always look on the bright side of life …”
And that pretty much sums up the Braves right now. They are a team of “Brians.” Every ounce of their corpses screams – a blood-curdling scream – that they are condemned for a season without a playoff game, or at the very least without another win.
And yet, they live. They sing!
For a short while, Braves fans actually cheered Tuesday night when their team trailed the Philadelphia Phillies 7-0 in the seventh inning. Why? Because team officials – desperate for something to spark a cheer, or at least prevent throwing objects – showed highlights on the video board of Houston taking a 5-0 lead over St. Louis.
This is what Braves fans have to live for these days: Astros highlights.
Hoping to somehow, some way drag their seemingly dead behinds into the playoffs as a wild card, the Braves instead were dismembered by the Phillies 7-1. That makes four straight losses and eight in the last 11 and … well, we’ll stop there. And yes, league rules mandate they must play their 162nd game.
Meanwhile, Atlanta’s current favorite team also failed: The Astros botched that 5-0 lead and lost 13-6. So the Braves have dropped into a tie with the Cardinals.
The Braves could be toast soon. Derek Lowe already has pulled the chute. He allowed five runs in four-plus innings. It would’ve been more, but the Phillies couldn’t stop laughing.
Lowe didn’t quite provide $15 million worth of clutch. But given that he is now 9-17 with a 5.05 ERA, maybe there’s a chance the Braves at least qualify for federal disaster relief. He has lost his last five starts, most by several furlongs.
I can’t recall if the Turner Field crowd ever chanted, “Let’s go, Braves!” on Tuesday. But they chanted, “Let’s go, Houston.”
A 105-loss Astros team has a stronger pulse than the home team. The Braves’ game was so over so early that you half-wondered why the marketing department didn’t just mandate that the team leave the field. The could’ve shown the St. Louis-Houston game on the screen. It would’ve kept more fans in the stadium. They would’ve sold more hot dogs.
It’s one thing for a baseball team to fade in the pennant stretch. It’s another to spontaneously combust.
The Braves are 10-19 in their past 29. Yet somehow, they started the night with a magic number of two to clinch the National League wild card. They realized a win would at least clinch a tie with the Cardinals for the playoff berth, thereby forcing a one-game playoff (albeit in St. Louis on Thursday).
But Lowe gave them no chance. And frankly, their bats would’ve given Cy Young no chance. Those are the three absolutes about the Braves these days. They can’t hit. They can’t pitch (save Tim Hudson). The other team is better.
Asked before the game what his thoughts were of Lowe, manager Fredi Gonzalez said, ““My thoughts are he’s going to give us a hell of a pitching performance.”
Did he mean Vaudeville?
There was a rainbow over Turner Field two hours before the game. But any belief that it represented some wonderful fantasy evening ended quickly. The game’s second batter, Chase Utley, cracked a Lowe pitch somewhere over that rainbow. It was 1-0. And counting.
Lowe was booed in the first inning. And in the top of the third when he gave up two more runs. And in the bottom of the third when he came to the plate. And in the fourth when he allowed another run. And in the fifth when he allowed a leadoff single to Jimmy Rollins.
Finally, Gonzalez went out to get him. A mob with pitch forks and torches already had started to form on the field level.
Gonzalez gambled that the struggling Lowe could give him more than rookie Julio Teheran. Consider the gamble an epic fail. Lowe was 0-4 with an 8.24 ERA in his past four losses. Guess what? That wasn’t an aberration.
We can debate just how much should be expected of a 38-year-old starting pitcher who has thrown over 2,500 innings in his career. But when a team is dying on the postseason vine, nobody wants to hear excuses. The Braves needed a strong performance. Lowe face-planted. They all face-planted. But for what it’s worth, postseason tickets are on sale.
By Jeff Schultz
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518 comments Add your comment
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:08 pm
@Pratt, I won’t make excuses for McCann’s slumping in the second half. However, he’s still an All-Star catcher and will be for a while.
@Smokey stop making excuses for that waste of money, Derek Lowe. He’s horrible. And Fredi should be run out of town for continuing to believe he had something left in such a crucial game, no run support or not. HE SUCKS!
Bill
September 27th, 2011
11:09 pm
Hudson tomorrow against Blandton
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:09 pm
smokey cant read because he is high/drunk like the braves
BRAVES CANT F HIT,IF THEY COULD THIS WC WOULD HAVE BEEN CLINCHED A LONG TIME AGO
NOW HUDDY HAS THE THINKING F 1 RUN AND ITS OVER,WAKE THE F UP ITS THE OFFENSE NOT THE PITCHING THAT COSTS US AND BMAC IS TO BLAME AS WELL
Bill
September 27th, 2011
11:10 pm
Cards 12-6 in 8th..they will tie for wc….
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:10 pm
cards 12-6
ballgame
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:10 pm
Hitting sucks, yes. But SO DOES THE 5.05 ERA THAT DEREK LOWE HAS, JACKWAGON!
Enough Mazzone
September 27th, 2011
11:10 pm
Old School: You’re dead on. I used to love Mazzone back in the day. Turns out he has no idea what he’s talking about. I guess anyone would have looked like a genius as pitching coach during the Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine era. As soon as he went to Baltimore and wasn’t surrounded by future hall of famers we saw how good Leo really was. We’re hearing it now, too, every time he insists Lowe has a “proven track record” and that he should continue starting games no matter what.
Tom G
September 27th, 2011
11:11 pm
This will sound like sour grapes but for the past 6 weeks I’ve been saying it. When we had Constanza in RF everyday, our speed game was winning for us. Then for some reason(the face of ATL) was put back in RF and we proceeded downhill from that point on. He will finish around.225BA, with about one SO every 3-4AB’s. It is not soley about one player but we lost that chemistry/spark when Constanza was removed. Yes, George is not a good PH(his average has went down considerably when he was PHing! I told you it would happen and it has!! Mac has played poorly since coming back from his injury, perhaps he came back to soon or just could not get his stroke back, I do not know? We owe D Lowe $15 million for next season, hope we can trade him for about 7-8 million and just eat the difference! About Prado – make up your damn mind, either IF or OF and not both?
Bob Dider Caught Here
September 27th, 2011
11:11 pm
Shades of Buzz Capra, Tommy House and Marvin Freeman! I say these three former Braves pitcher would give us better than what we have now. I just got through watching Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” and I swear this team is deader than Lowe’s right arm!
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:11 pm
cards lose tomorrow
BANK ON IT
count_schemula
September 27th, 2011
11:12 pm
12-6, see how you do when the game be mattering?
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:13 pm
Tom G
kimbrel and venters have cost the braves 4 games ,keep sucking up to constanza,go to gwinett next year and make him proud
DawgDad
September 27th, 2011
11:14 pm
Allright, my post got lost, so here goes again. I was there tonight, and I already have tickets for the first two “postseason games”. Ha, jokes on me. Cards just went up 12-6.
I have never made even a single disparaging comment on Freddi’s managing, but he made two purely idiotic decisions tonight which cast a pall of hopelessless on the team and crowd. First, he started Lowe. Just what else did Lowe have to do to prove he’s done? Oh, pitch tonight, I guess, so the clueless manager can catch on. Second, he let him hit leading off the bottom of the third trailing 3-0. Purely idiotic on both counts, there is no tomorrow, you don’t manage your starting pitcher like this is an April game.
The Braves right now are tanking because their entire core of veterans is collectively in the tank. Bourn, Prado, Chipper, Uggla, McCann, and of course Gonzalez is not on the field. Win or lose, Wren needs to send this group packing elsewhere this winter, and that includes McCann, and rebuild around the core of young players. If they go into next year with this cast, playing not to win the Divsion but hoping to snag the wild card, well, things will be very ugly because I think they would finish dead last in the East.
Now, the problem is who in their right mind is going to take Uggla and his ridiculous salary?
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:14 pm
Oh, wow. So now @Braves is passing blame on Kimbrel and Venters. Two of the best relievers in all of baseball and the former will probably be Rookie of the Year.
You’re a bright one, dumbazz.
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:15 pm
Freddi I hope it was worth it too ya? Cant fool all of us, maybe most?
Earl Hickey
September 27th, 2011
11:15 pm
Old Leo Calzone has turned into nothing but the world’s only bald cheerleader. The way he and those other pre-game guys slobber over the Braves is truly pathetic.
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:16 pm
Atlanta pro sports is the worst?
Neverly Brother
September 27th, 2011
11:16 pm
Bye Bye Braves…they can’t hit, they can’t pitch…Bye Bye Braves…they can’t coach, but they choke…Bye Bye Braves…Bye Bye Happiness…$15 Million worth of selfishness…what a world we live in…Bye Bye Braves….
Big Wally
September 27th, 2011
11:17 pm
It all goes back to the Manager. Fredi is just not a good Manager. Lowe should have been relegated to pitching in blow outs only. Freeman should have been rested more. Now he has hit a wall. Ross should have been playing equal time to McChoke, and why in the world is K-ward playing in front of Constanza?
EDIMGIAFAD
September 27th, 2011
11:17 pm
Even IF the Braves make it either a playoff game or the NLDS, the Braves have no chance. And to think on 25 Aug, they had what a 10 1/2 game lead on the Wild Card? The answers are simple:
1) Fire Freddi – he was a loser in Miami, he is still a loser.
2) Send Lowe to AA next year (or retire).
3) Tell KK to take a hike (a given).
4) Thank Chipper for his service and ask him to retire.
5) Tell Uggla to take a pay cut or take the same bus that is taking Lowe to Mississippi.
6) Trade Jason Heyward.
7) Sign a couple hitters for the money saved in 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Of else be prepared for a battle next year with the fish and the nats for the basement.
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:18 pm
Holy Moly! 12-12 tie game. Astros just scored six runs in the bottom of the 8th.
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:18 pm
One of the worst Cities for Pro Sports..They fail year after year!!!11 All of em Stink!!
Big Wally
September 27th, 2011
11:18 pm
At least Chipper didn’t lose a grounder in the lights tonight.
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:18 pm
Just kidding.
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:18 pm
smokey
thats right and other relievers have costs us 14 games……..
JACKWAGON
BTW DUMBAZZ ATL.HAS AVG.2.1 RUNS /GAME IN LOWES 26 STARTS
JACKWAGON
Justafan
September 27th, 2011
11:19 pm
Tom G—- I agree 100% on Georgie..we were winning till he hurt his ankle..then Fredi the cat, decided he wouldn’t play him anymore for Diaz and Wilson and the guy named “Nate Heyward “in rf with his 223 ba.another Frenchy and Schafer.
I’ve been a die hard fan since 1966 but to tell the truth after all the crap from Fredi etc I hope Cards win the wild card. Braves just don’t deserve it period. I’m still a fan but this crap has to stop.
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:20 pm
@Braves
“BTW DUMBAZZ ATL.HAS AVG.2.1 RUNS /GAME IN LOWES 26 STARTS”
Explain away that 5.05 ERA, JACKWAGON!!
5.05, JACKWAGON
Are you his boyfriend or something?
Born2Buzz
September 27th, 2011
11:20 pm
Wow, I just saw Freddi Gonzo on the ESPN highlights show, he looks like he ate some bad fish. Completely shell shocked and with no clue what to do.
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:20 pm
FREDI HAS A DATE WITH OZZIE IN FLA. ON THURSDAY
afan
September 27th, 2011
11:21 pm
smokey u full of it
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:21 pm
Chipper for Mayor of Macon!
Waive Hayward..and get his eyes checked out pronto…
Freddie Greyhound is ready for ya..
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:21 pm
smokewagon
pls get off the meds
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:23 pm
just stating the facts .atl.has scored 4 runs in 3 games yet u want to blame lowe for all the losses
YOU SIR ARE TRULY A F REDNECK
Bill
September 27th, 2011
11:23 pm
13-6 Cards Rolling!!!!!!!!!!!!
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:23 pm
Da plane Da plane Da plane! Hey freddie u see da plane? Its for u amigo…
Oh no!
September 27th, 2011
11:23 pm
They won’t live much longer. Tomorrow night they will be flat lined. They actually look like they have already!!!
Mike
September 27th, 2011
11:24 pm
Agree Pratt. McFann has been awful down the stretch on offesne and his defense has been atrocious. He’s blown a few games with terrible pitch calls like the 0-2 fast ball down the middle against fla that they homered. Then the passed ball today and 3 3 3.
Oh no!
September 27th, 2011
11:25 pm
The only wild card the braves will draw is the Joker. What a big joke they have been.
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:25 pm
They are what we thought they were!
QUITTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:25 pm
@Braves
Blame it on Kimbrel again, idiot. He’s only going to be Rookie of the Year and set the rookie record for saves in a season.
Why not Flarehty? He had a 1.05 (or close) ERA this season. The best in MLB history with at least 75 innings pitched. I’m sure he did something terrible, too.
DEREK LOWE SUCKS, SUCKWAGON. And Fredi does too for believing in him tonight.
Gwinnett Fred
September 27th, 2011
11:25 pm
I’ll be flat out honest with you – if someone offered me 2 free tickets to either the Braves Wednesday game or the first home game for the Dream in the WBNA finals – I’d rather go see the ladies play in a heartbeat.
Speaking of heartbeats – are there any in the Braves clubhouse? I doubt it – because those punchless wonders haven’t shown any heart all month long.
blast
September 27th, 2011
11:25 pm
WHITE CANT F HIT PUT MORE BLACKS ON TEAM AND U MITE WIN.IF I WAS HEYWARD I WANT A TRADE TO GET RID OF ALL THESE CRACKERS
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:26 pm
Hey girls dont forget your skirts and heels tomorrow cause that what play like……
Smokey
September 27th, 2011
11:27 pm
No one’s blaming the collapse completely on Lowe, idiot @Braves. The hitting has been atrocious. But, Lowe has been crappy most of, if not all, of this season. Can you at least admit that?
Braves #17 Fan
September 27th, 2011
11:27 pm
I’ve been a Braves fan through since 1970 and have always stuck with my team through thick and thin. I’ll continue to stick with them, but if you think about it, the entire Wild Card is up to the Houston Astros tomorrow night. No champagne tomorrow night, either way.
Rabid Dawg
September 27th, 2011
11:27 pm
The worst part about this is you know that espn is going to be all over these wild card races. So the whole nation gets to watch the Braves hemorrhage to death tomorrow.
reality check
September 27th, 2011
11:27 pm
Tomorrows headlines…
The Dream continues and the Nightmare (braves) ends.
braves
September 27th, 2011
11:27 pm
smokewagon go suck on kimbels jock strap
jackwagon pos
We can beat those Cheese Steaks..
September 27th, 2011
11:27 pm
hey Blast this is 2011 not 1911?
Oh no!
September 27th, 2011
11:28 pm
I guess after tomorrows game they can start the excuse game. If not for the injuries….the schedule…….the parity in baseball……..the way the planets were aligned……..global warming.