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
ijonathan
September 27th, 2011
9:13 pm
I’m quite sure Gaga can “man up” better than most of the frauds wearing Braves uniforms.
George Washington
September 27th, 2011
9:13 pm
Value Days at the Ted.
kerryb
September 27th, 2011
9:13 pm
I wonder how much prodding they have to do to get Chip to pitch people getting tickets for tomorrow nights game?
Hit A Single
September 27th, 2011
9:13 pm
Bring back Glenn Hubbard.
Old Dawg Fan
September 27th, 2011
9:14 pm
Merciful 3 and out inning for the braves!
Coach
September 27th, 2011
9:14 pm
@flailing Cubs have had top ten attendance for 10 years….Go figure why we keep paying to see them
billy bob
September 27th, 2011
9:14 pm
Who cares if we make the playoffs! 3 and out! get swept.
monarch
September 27th, 2011
9:14 pm
5-4 houston
Brave rave
September 27th, 2011
9:14 pm
What would happen if Bob Horner and Derrick Lowe went to a bar together….
Stay tuned…..
bj
September 27th, 2011
9:15 pm
Cards make it 5-4 game and still batting..4th inning
Kimbrel rocks
September 27th, 2011
9:15 pm
5-4 houston only up by a run
David
September 27th, 2011
9:15 pm
Next year?
extremus
September 27th, 2011
9:15 pm
Gotta tip your cap to the Braves ownership and front management if next year’s clubhouse has a LOT of new faces…starting with Freddi Gonzalez’s and Larry Parrish’s replacements. At this point I don’t know what’d be worse; to see the Braves miss the playoffs entirely or somehow manage to sneak in and get humiliated on an even bigger stage. Choose your poison, Braves fans.
ab initio
September 27th, 2011
9:15 pm
“The TV announcers are begging people to come to the game tomorrow night!
Send a message-no one show up!”
Should’ve done that at the start of this season.
Hit A Single
September 27th, 2011
9:15 pm
My dad Chief-Noc-A-Homa has been dancing for 48 hours straight and I don’t believe it is doing a bit of good. But I don’t have the heart to tell him.
MitchC
September 27th, 2011
9:15 pm
Its now 5-4. Maybe we should just root for the Braves to go home tomorrow. The way they are playing, they will go three and out in the NLDS anyway,.
rugburn
September 27th, 2011
9:16 pm
pinch hit for everybody.clear the bench. the starters have put up a whopping 0 runs. the pitchers on our team could score that many. houston 5-4.
Caseyatthebat
September 27th, 2011
9:16 pm
Never before have so many teams been SOoo happy to come to Atlanta. I don’t defend Lowe but he could give up ten runs and, if the Braves can’t score, it doesn’t matter. When the he’ll is Wren going to get us some big hitters? Not guys who just get up there and swing. We could have had Pence for two young pitchers. What the hell good is this pitching wealth that Wren values so much doing us now?
count_schemula
September 27th, 2011
9:17 pm
Terrible.
C3PO
September 27th, 2011
9:17 pm
Cardinals have heart. Braves are the Tinmen…
Wes
September 27th, 2011
9:17 pm
It’s really simple…this team has quit and is a reflection on it’s coach! Fire Freddie and the idiot that hired him, Wren. I’m disgusted by this team and no coaching and no management is beyond belief.
Old Dawg Fan
September 27th, 2011
9:17 pm
How about this line up tomorrow night?
Mike Lum
Biff Pocaroba
Jerry Royster
Dale Murphy
Bob Horner
Ralph Garr
Dusty Baker
Claudell Washington
Pitching-Phil Neikro
How wonderful would it be to see these guys one more time?
I would pay money to go back in time. I saw them growing up many times!
reality check
September 27th, 2011
9:17 pm
that huge sucking sound is…. the braves choking!
Dead and Done how pathetic……
ESPN
September 27th, 2011
9:17 pm
“As fans gathered for the 7th game, many were still haunted by game 6.”
From Catching Hell. (Steve Bartman story)
Being broadcast simultaneously with tonight’s game.
One good choking performance deserves another.
count_schemula
September 27th, 2011
9:18 pm
Go Cards! End this charade.
Robbie
September 27th, 2011
9:18 pm
I can’t take any more of this crap, I’m out of here!
up north
September 27th, 2011
9:19 pm
I am not even watching the game. This blog is more fun!!! The Braves do not deserve for St. Louis to lose and keep them alive!
C3PO
September 27th, 2011
9:19 pm
Phillies look like 1960 Yankees and Braves look like 2010 Orioles…
Old Dawg Fan
September 27th, 2011
9:19 pm
Go Cardinals!
Hit A Single
September 27th, 2011
9:19 pm
Old Dawg – I might go with Earl Williams behind the plate and Felix Millan at second.
Biff Pocoroba
September 27th, 2011
9:19 pm
It is good that the Cardinals are going to come back and win. The Hawks had to sell half price playoff tickets on Sweetjack.com so it would be pretty embarrassing if the Braves had to do it too. Anyone who would pay full price to see this team play needs to have their head examined unless they are cheering for the other team.
bart
September 27th, 2011
9:19 pm
Incredibly embarrassing – this team has quit and they still have the wild-card lead – how can they show their faces in town – never seen a team so obviously terrified of success. This team is bringing shame to the city of Atlanta and all the fans that have infested their time, money & support. And they wonder why fans can be lukewarm in their support of the team. Players should at least pretend like they really care.
Philly Phanatic
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
5-4 now gang. I’m telling you there’s no way the Cards lose tonight. Only the 4th inning. Pull up your bootstarps tomorrow and like Don Corleone said to Frank Sinatra”act like a man”
Coach
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
@ESPN Alou had no chance of catching that ball. Besides, there was another fan involved that went to catch the ball. He backed away at the last second
Sonny Clusters
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
This whole team needs to go out after the game and develop some flu-like symptoms.
kerryb
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
The Cards must have seen the Braves score and decided to turn it up a notch.
Hit A Single
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
Hardest lick we have had tonight is when Prado hit the kid in the head with the foul ball.
Vain Jangling
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son.
David
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
I’m done! In thirty years I have never been embarrassed to be a Braves fan, I am now. I just don’t understand how pro’s can collectively become this bad. I will give them one thing, they have forever raised the bar on choking. Welcome to Atlanta, traffic sucks, nothing to do downtown and every team that comes here finds a way to lose.
Big Whoops Braves Fan
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
My, my, this is what we used to call a ass-whooping. I’m still proud of our boys. It takes a special talent to lose that many games in September. Raises for everybody! We simply must show our appreciation for this special accomplishment!
FlaBrave695
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
Braves radio…,”Tomorrow will be Johnny Wholestafff….”
chase
September 27th, 2011
9:20 pm
going meekly into that goodnight!!!!!! meanwhile the cards are fightin
PMC
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
Get yer playoff tickets and next years season tickets at Braves.com
See professionals make an 89 win team look like they lost 120
C3PO
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
Braves putting in the scrubs now. Conrad & Diaz.
H
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
Game, set, match. Just get this year over with. Absolute choke.
billy bob
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
Fans ban showing up tomorrow and watching these turds!
rally
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
And if the Cardinals make it, they get to face and eliminate the Phillies who they owned this year.
dogoneit
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
How long can fireworks keep before they are useless?
PMC
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
I can’t wait to hear Leo Mazzone put a positive spin on this.
George Washington
September 27th, 2011
9:21 pm
Coach: Alou was absolutely going to catch that ball. Still, not Bartman’s fault.