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
Old Dawg Fan
September 27th, 2011
8:57 pm
Rollins is on a roll.
Brave rave
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
Hey Fredi gonna get on that bird headed for st louis on thursday?
Brave-less
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
lol this is great (Cards still playing for a 1 game playoff, that i’m sure!). Cards/Braves lose again tonight, Braves send Hudson to the mound tomorrow in a possible clinching game but watch …. they’ll lose simply because they stink / can’t play with determination / they’re stuck in a losing frame of mind.
Cards giving the Braves chances, they’re not taking it. Braves giving Cards chances they’re not taking it UNTIL! the last game of the season where I’m thinking they’ll blow the Astros out, force the playoff and go on to beat the Braves (and eventually make the Phillies regret not helping the Braves get in)
NorCal Brave
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
Hypothetical question: If they somehow come out of this with the wild card, will the Braves have the gall to celebrate?
carlchamblee
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
Now at least the score is the same as Lowe’s breathalyzer 7.0
IlliniBrave
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
It’s like BP for the Phillies.
ijonathan
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
TechRon, Chris Dimino at 790 has developed severe shill-itis over the past few years. First with his cozy relationship with Chipper — kind of like Ahmad Rashad and Jordan, or Pedro Gomez and Barry Bonds. Now, that 790 is the broadcaster for the Falcons, you can’t say a bad word about the Falcons, he went through the microphone on a couple of callers the past two days.
Vino Fino
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
Jeff- just jumping on here, so not sure if it’s been discussed, but somebody has to get fired for this, right? Astros lead notwithstanding, let’s assume the Braves lose a play-in game in St. Louis. You can’t suffer one of the most monumental collapses in baseball history and not change course, right? I know that’s not the Braves style, but isn’t it time for a shake up? Any chance they’d let Fredi go? Can they fire Parrish just to make a point?
FlaBrave695
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
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!!!?”
Super!!
Robbie
September 27th, 2011
8:58 pm
more than ever now Fredi needs to concede and go into the clubhouse and watch the Cards & Astros
bostonbravo
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
“Now pitching for Atlanta…Eric, the 1/2 a bee….”
Big Wally
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
No, it wasn’t, but LOL, I’m old enough to remember ole Russ.
Can I get a woo wooooooo
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
Like Dandy Don said, “Turn out the lights this party is over”
monarch
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
Howard is praying he gets 1 more at bat
Bruce Mac
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
Atlanta, your team has no heart and very little talent. This is pathetic and if they back into the playoffs stupid azz Fredi will start Lowe again. Unbelievable.
NO MORE PARRISH
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
Who are we going to pull for when we are playing the Brewers? We can’t win our own games!!!
Kissinger
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
This will be kind of like the NBA or NHL where teams who can’t play make the playoffs.
IlliniBrave
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
@carl: too funny. Thing is, he might have pitched better a little trashed tonight. Could not have done worse, that’s for sure.
dogoneit
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
The headline ” The Pennant That No One Wanted” or ” Was there a Game Tonight?” or ( from Chipper Jones) “I wonder if I can make it home in time for the Tonight Show?”
Ridonkulous
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
The Phillies top three in the order are 5-9 with 3 HR’s and 6 RBI. Bourn, Prado & Chipper are 1-8.
Joseph
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
The Cards will come back and win, don’t worry.
Jack Daniels
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
McCann was on fire before the DL thing and then he rode by the Krispy Kreme store…….What happen Mr.McCann………………Did you eat every flavor they had? This is shocking what we are seeing tonight………………….We probably can still clinch this tomorrow if Hudson wins. Go figure
Falcons4Eva
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
There ought to be a mercy rule. We have suffered enough these last 6 weeks.
Just as soon put us out our misery TONIGHT.
Just wait til next year….we’ll show ‘em. (LOL).
Chipper
September 27th, 2011
8:59 pm
If the Cards lose tonight, we’ll lose tommorrow night. We can’t stand the pressure. Oh did you all notice I’m playing injured?
ramblinwreck80
September 27th, 2011
9:00 pm
Why do Braves pitchers not know how to pitch to Phillies batters?…this is ridiculous!!!
Brave rave
September 27th, 2011
9:00 pm
Everyy time i see fatso gonzalez in tnat dugout swalling seeds i pray he snorts one up his nostril
NO MORE PARRISH
September 27th, 2011
9:00 pm
I think that rainbow pictures now proves this team is gay.
Jeff Schultz
September 27th, 2011
9:00 pm
They are now showing replays of Astros runs on scoreboard.
ab initio
September 27th, 2011
9:00 pm
“Yes! Crowd chanting, “Let’s go Houston”
If Braves’ fans had any sense, they would be booing.
sg10abc
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
Oh..how I miss Kawakami these days? Wouldn’t he be an upgrade over Lowe right now? Heck, if Greg Norton could throw over the plate, he would be better option than Lowe.
Big Wally
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
I say give the wild card to the Astros, they are at least trying.
ESPN
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
Concerning Bartman incident, Chicago guy blackbailed me from joining a group renting a home in Berkeley California.
Maybe it was not the goat or the black cat jinxing the Cubs.
Maybe it was me.
The Atlanta Warlock.
NO MORE PARRISH
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
Is baseball the new wrestling? Hard to believe the Cards are losing again to Houston.
Skeezix
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
Looks like it is time for a Braves pitcher to dust a Phils batter.
Fan34571/2
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
The guy ya’ll wanted to pitch tonight instead of Lowe just gave up ANOTHER homerun. I think my love affair with this team has ended and I have returned to my senses. As an ole fuddy duddy (60’s) I loved baseball when it was really a great sport. I think this year has ended my love affair with not only the braves (don’t deserve caps) but all of baseball is starting to reek to high heaven.
Robbie
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
Go Dream
Old Dawg Fan
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
Embarassing game.
Sons of Rick Matula
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
I never want to see that fat turd Alex Gonzalez in a Braves uni again.
PhilliesFan
September 27th, 2011
9:01 pm
Don’t worry 1 touchdown drive and you are right back in it.
Vain Jangling
September 27th, 2011
9:02 pm
Well, there’s spam, egg, sausage and spam. That’s not got too much spam in it.
Philly Phanatic
September 27th, 2011
9:02 pm
Rollins just kicked the extra point. That’s right Homer, don’t compliment the Phillies. Skip is a tool but at least he recognizes brilliance. I heard Simpson getting on Polanco for arguing a bowling ball. The guy that strikes out less than anybody may just know the strike zone. I can’t believe how lucky you are with the Stros beating Crads 5-0. I don’t know who’s a bigger choke, you or the Crads
chuck
September 27th, 2011
9:02 pm
Fredi G. has been a lousy manager, but he’ll be back. Derek Lowe is a washed up, a worthless, bottom-feeder of a pitcher. He should retire, but Frank Wren, gave hime 4 years @ $15 million, so he’ll be back to piss down his leg again next year. The offense is simply pathetic. No clutch hitters on this team. Not one. Not even close. Not even Mr. three Hole Hitter. Prado has been giving away at bats for more than a month. His 15 minutes of fame was last year. He’s a minor league caliber utility player. Nothhing more. McCann has been a huge choke in the last quarter of the season. He’s a below average defensive player as well. His “third, third, third” call cost a run tonight.. He had a passed ball, when it hit him in the glove. What a disappointment. Uggla, in September, hits only when no one is on base. He had a good two months, and was a disaster the rest of the season. Pitchers were hurt, but the offesive guys led the collapse.
When this thing ends tomorrow, and the Braves can wipe the puke off their shoes, and go home. I hope they realize they have been a part of one of the biggest collapses in MLB history. They did it because they are a no chrome bunch of bottom feeders, with no bats or balls.
They make more money than God, so they get the last laugh. In the end through, I hope they realize, in their profession, they will be looked at as failures. It’s what they are. It’s how they responded, when the season was on the line.
They’ll give quotes about “How hard they worked…” and that nobody quit”…”and they hit a rough patch”, and they “just couldn;t get it done.” They won’t say the truth…That they spit it out, puked it up, and choked for over the last month of the season.
Atlanta Braves, 2011 CHOKERS. Period.
C3PO
September 27th, 2011
9:02 pm
Joe Simpson, the Phillies just didn’t try very hard during the 1-9 stretch. They can turn the offense off & on and Braves can never even turn their offense on.
bostonbravo
September 27th, 2011
9:02 pm
“He’s not dead…he’s just sleeping”
Ridonkulous
September 27th, 2011
9:03 pm
Maybe we could get a sportswriter from the Houston Chronicle to say something serious about this game, you’re supposed to be watching, Jeff.
Old Dawg Fan
September 27th, 2011
9:03 pm
Is Rick Camp out of Jail yet?
I am sure he can still at least try to pitch?
erubi
September 27th, 2011
9:03 pm
New season on CBS…much more interesting. The Braves in the playoffs? Just to drag out our misery? Please just take your bats and balls and go home boys.
Ronald Millsaps
September 27th, 2011
9:03 pm
The Braves are showing that they are not the ‘91 team in terms of character.
Derek Lowe has not pitched well this year, though he has been a good acquisition overall.
In fairness to the Cardinals, if both teams end up tied, I really think a one-game playoff is a disservice to them. They did, after all, win five out of six against Atlanta.
rugburn
September 27th, 2011
9:04 pm
maybe chipper can give us a top 10 list of feeble excuses
FlaBrave695
September 27th, 2011
9:04 pm
Matt Ryan will pitch the 8th, down by a TD….