LIVE: Braves can clinch tonight (and it starts with Lowe)
The Braves will do more scoreboard watching tonight, and hope to have another banner to raise.
Amid all of the angst of the Braves’ collapse (10-18), the injured starters (Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson), the slumping hitters (Martin Prado, Jason Heyward, Brian McCann) and the overused bullpen, guess what? The Braves can actually clinch the wild card tonight.
OK, for that to happen, the Braves need to hit a long-odds parlay: 1) The maligned starter, Derek Lowe, needs a strong outing to defeat the Phillies at Turner Field; 2) The St. Louis Cardinals need to lose for a second straight game in Houston. Those two developments would give the Braves the National League wild card spot for the second straight year, and render Wednesday’s regular-season finale against Philadelphia meaningless.
Few expected the Cards to lose to the Astros Monday night. It happened (5-4 in 10 innings). But the Braves’ postseason chances mostly hinge on Lowe. If he and the Braves win tonight, at worst the magic number is down to one, with Tim Hudson on the mound Wednesday against Joe Blanton (advantage: Braves).
What the Braves need is the Lowe of Sept. 2010, not 2011. Last season, he went 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA (29 strikeouts, three walks) in his final five regular season starts. But this has been the worst season of his career. He’s 9-16 with a 4.92 ERA. He’s 0-4 in his last four starts with an 8.24 ERA (though his last start at Florida was solid).
The other obvious issue for the Braves is a lack of offense. They lost 4-2 on Monday, have scored two or fewer runs in four of their last five games and three or fewer in six of their last 10. They’re also hitting only .239 in the month of September and .181 (32-for-177) with with runners in scoring position this month.
They’ll need to break out of that against the Phillies’ Roy Oswalt, who has been strong in two starts against the Braves this season (1-0, 2.08 in two starts) but in his career is only 1-3 with a 5.15 ERA.
As you prepare to scoreboard watch, your second favorite team, the Astros, will start Henry Sosa (3-5, 4.68) against the Cardinals’ Jake Westbrook (12-9, 4.48).
And with that, I turn it over to you. We wait to see what Lowe gives us.
Can this be an omen? There was a rainbow over Turner Field two hours before the Braves' game.
By Jeff Schultz
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1,258 comments Add your comment
Cheese
September 27th, 2011
8:52 pm
5-0 Stro’s the braves might make the playoffs while being 1 game up and going 1-5 in the last 6 games of the year
MitchC
September 27th, 2011
8:52 pm
5-0 Stros. It looks like neither the Braves or Cards want to win this wild card.
Tim goes tomorrow. I still think this will go down to a Thursday tiebreaker.
PhilliesFan
September 27th, 2011
8:52 pm
I really can’t believe this collapse I really thought the Braves were the clearly the 2nd best team in the NL and I thought we would have a very fun NLCS. I was way off. Also were are all the Braves fans on here that told me all year how well they match up with the Phils. Saying things like “6 and 6 and against the Phils” 0 and 5 in September. Wow if the Phils weren’t in Atlanta I would swear they are the Mets with this collapse
TruthSeeker
September 27th, 2011
8:52 pm
Does anyone else feel almost embarrassed that the Astros are doing our dirty work for us?
bostonbravo
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
the Astros would be kicking ours tonight too.
BACK TO “SPARTACUS”!!!!
monarch
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
5-0 Houston man on 3rd 1 out
Kissinger
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
I fart in your general direction. You and your band of l-osers.
Ridonkulous
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
The Braves new slogan: Three up, three down.
dogoneit
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
Watch the braves and the cardinals both get sweep in their final series! LOL How would you write that one up Jeff?
PhilliesFan
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
Astros 5-0. THis is crazy does neither team want to get in?
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
Check that. 5-0 Astros.
FlaBrave695
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
Jeff…looks like Braves did Sept 1
bj
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
Braves are 10 games out of first going to play-off, what a joke.
Kimbrel rocks
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
dammit astros stop beating the cards. i want this over with!
Vino Fino
September 27th, 2011
8:53 pm
Truth- That’s the least embarrassing thing we have to worry about right now!
PhilliesFan
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
If the Astros sweep the cards the Braves should send Champagne to Houston
PMC
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
Ok, all that optimism for nothing today.
Derrick Lowe should be paying people to watch THEM pitch. Guy is a titanic bust.
This team is so completely and totally gutless. Team Chemistry is GARBAGE without talent.
Choking Dogs.
Braves Fan
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
Lowe blows!
TechRon
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
Oh, by the way, KimbrellRocks decries Mazzone for saying Lowe should be out there tonight. I have to agree with him. If I ever saw a pitcher with absolutely no chance to win, it would have to be Lowe. Mazzone is like every other house shill in this town. They are watching a disaster unfold and they don’t have the balls or the brains to just call it what it is. Buck Belue, Chuck Dowdle, Mark Lemke, the whole Braves broadcast team, all the same. They are evidently paid to “keep it positive” at all costs. Anyway, anyone with two eyes to see cannot buy that nonsense.
Big Wally
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
This is like boys vs men.
ToeMeetsLeather
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
Hey, we are a mid-level payroll team with a 30 million dollar anchor around our neck (Chip & Lowe). I will tune back in when these washed up dudes are gone.
Dan Uggla in the Dugout
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
Hey you guys got the tee times reserved for Thursday? It is a shame we can’t play golf tomorrow.
"Chef" Tim Dix
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
“And now for something completely different. A man with three buttocks.”
MR
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
We were sold a bill of goods with Fredi. Bobby Cox handed down to Frank “hitting?” Wren the sacred tablets that gave the hiring of Fredi his gold seal of approval. As if were from the lips of God himself. And Frank saw that it was good and went back to sleep in his desk chair comforted in knowing that the team had all the hitting they needed by adding Michael Bourn. Frank Wren has never won ANYTHING since coming to the Braves, but his standing was well and safe in the Braves front office. Never a hitting coach shall be fired from Atlanta nor a GM be questioned by the local paper. And the good people of Atlanta stayed away from The Ted again and longed for college football Saturdays knowing that next season the Braves will once again put all their eggs into the pitching basket forgetting that a balanced attack wins ballgames and the rest of MLB laugh in jest at how Wren was kidding all along about their vaunted young pitchers. Wren didn’t even know which one to trade for a bat.
ijonathan
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
Jeff, I think Fredi was heard in the dugout saying, after Pence’s home run, “that’s okay, just a flesh wound.”
Silky-d
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
It’s the curse of Chief Knockahoma!!! Bring back the teepee and someone apologize to JaBu!!!
rugburn
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
we haven’t scored 6 runs in a week have we? 5-0 houston. they are playing like they want to win
Kimbrel rocks
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
braves will become the first team ever to win a playoff bid by losing lol
James
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
It’s gonna come down to tomorrow the Braves will get swept by the Phillies and the Cardinals will win the final game of their series against the Astros and force a one game playoff against the Braves to go to the playoffs. Braves @ Cardinals on tuesday
Big Whoops Braves Fan
September 27th, 2011
8:55 pm
Lemme see, now, 6-0 Phillies into the 6th.
I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with duck to describe the Braves. Hmmm. What could it be? It can’t be Blowes. Oh, well, I’ll think of a word if you give me enough time.
And thanks for all the ticket money, suckas.
George Washington
September 27th, 2011
8:55 pm
Well Hell. We’re still alive and well! Well, alive anyway. This is all very Twilight Zoneish.
Kimbrel rocks
September 27th, 2011
8:55 pm
i officially tip my hat to the astros
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2011
8:55 pm
Yes! Crowd chanting, “Let’s go Houston”
PhilliesFan
September 27th, 2011
8:55 pm
I am actually flipping back and forth between the Phils and the cards. There is something right about Larusa looking all upset.
"Chef" Tim Dix
September 27th, 2011
8:55 pm
Big Wally
September 27th, 2011
8:54 pm
This is like boys vs men.
Is that like a Russ Minshew reference?
NO MORE PARRISH
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
FRANK WREN – If you want to show you are serious then fire Parrish before the game tomorrow and watch this team show up. White Sox can release their manager (who won a world series) so you can fire grandpa Parrish tonight. DO IT!!!
bostonbravo
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
“Mr. Lowe, Mr. Lowe…your booth is ready”…”Mr. Lowe bring your cocktails with you…your booth is ready”
Joseph
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
Hey look, the Bartman special is on ESPN. That’ll help the pain.
ls1z28chris
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
This is more embarrassing than the Falcons.
jerry
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
Let’s get the Cards in the playoffs and show them sons-a-…….what the Braves are made of.
Ridonkulous
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
The Braves Fantasy Camp will be held tonight – bring your glove, you could play either corner outfield position tomorrow!
IlliniBrave
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
Chipper heard saying in the dugout, when asked by Fredi why he hasn’t been able to hit with RISP the last few nights: “she turned me into a newt!”
Rabid Dawg
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
If the Braves can somehow end up as the wild card team and I were F Gonzalez…..at my media briefing do you know what you would hear?
From the great Jim Mora Sr……
“PLAYOFFS?!!! PLAYOFFS?!!!….you kidding me This team…PLAYOFFS!!!?”
Old Dawg Fan
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
This loss is squarely on FG for pitching the worst pitcher in MLB. Julio is pitching like a wild man. He is actually trying which is more than I can say for the rest of the braves at this point.
TruthSeeker
September 27th, 2011
8:56 pm
MR, that made me laugh.
C3PO
September 27th, 2011
8:57 pm
Did Chief use to pee pee in his tee pee ?
rally
September 27th, 2011
8:57 pm
Lowe deserves the same for next year that Kawakami got this year. Either take some money and leave or be a $15 million minor league pitcher for 2012.
FlaBrave695
September 27th, 2011
8:57 pm
7-0!!
dawg4u
September 27th, 2011
8:57 pm
The thing that makes this performance (or stink out) even worse is that these guys (Braves) are still getting paid for this BS (at the fan’s expense). This team is already the butt of so many jokes around the league and well deserved. I hope we just continue to stink because nobody wants to see this team in the playoffs especially the die-hard Braves’ fans. Frank Wren needs to just start from scratch. This just didn’t work!
Robbie
September 27th, 2011
8:57 pm
Could the Bravos actually back into the playoffs?
Go Astronauts.