Glaus! Heyward! McLouth! Folks, this is really getting good
How's that for your first extra-base hit of 2010, Mr. McLouth? Pretty sweet, you say? (AJC photo by Jason Getz)
An amazing thing has happened. A 20-year-old has become the rising tide that is lifting all boats. The Braves beat the reigning National League champs 4-3 on Tuesday on a night when they had no runs and surely no hope after 26 outs.
To recap: They were one out from being blanked on a night when the Phillies’ starting pitcher was Kyle Kendrick, he of the 17.47 ERA. But Kendrick had done as bad pitchers too often have done to the Braves: He made them look timid. He worked eight scoreless innings and left the game to Ryan Madson, who’s not really a closer but who’s trying to bridge the gap until Brad Lidge gets healthy.
Madson walked Chipper Jones with one out. Then he retired Brian McCann, and then you saw who was coming up next and you thought, “Good night, Irene.” Because it was Troy Glaus, the latest incarnation of the All-American out. Put it this way: When last did you hear a guy coming up with two out in the ninth being booed by the home crowd?
It had been, sorry to say, a Glaussian night. He had misplayed a grounder by Ryan Howard into an RBI single in the top of the fourth inning, and in the bottom he had hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Some pitchers have Tommy John surgery. Was it possible the operation Troy Glaus underwent last summer was Greg Norton surgery?
But then, just as you were about to throw a shoe at the TV, Glaus did the darnedest thing. He hit a home run. And suddenly the Braves had hope. They were still down a run, but the No. 6 hitter was due to bat. And it wasn’t the usual No. 6 hitter. No, on this night Bobby Cox had bumped up Jason Heyward, who had been batting in the 7-hole, ahead of Yunel Escobar. Talk about genius managing.
So: Here was Joltin’ Jason with a chance to tie it. And just as you were thinking, “Nah — he can’t do it again,” he did it again.
Home run. Tie game. Unbelievable.
We pause here to note that Heyward’s game-winning single against the Rockies on Sunday mirrored a fairly famous precedent: Bases loaded, two out, the Braves a run down and then walk-off winners. Anybody recall Francisco Cabrera, Game 7, 1992 NLCS?
These are the sort of touchstone wonders Heyward has already wrought, and Tuesday’s astonishment was the most astonishing yet. Because he was the middle man in a most unlikely group of homer heroes: Glaus you didn’t expect; Heyward maybe you did, but then …
Nate McLouth? Who hadn’t had an extra-base hit this season? Whose flailings had prompted this typist to note during Tuesday’s live online chat: “You can’t spell McLouth without O-U-T”? That Nate McLouth?
Yep. Led off the 10th. Hit a home run. Won the wildest game we had seen since … well, since Sunday afternoon.
I’ve said it before, and I say it again: Something’s happening here. The Braves are believing in a way they haven’t believed since the run of division titles was broken in 2006. They’re believing because they’ve got a difference-maker on their side now, a difference-maker who isn’t yet old enough to take a legal sip of champagne. But he will be come October. You might want to file that away.
There was no reason for the Braves to win Sunday, but they did because the rookie took four pitches before finding one to his liking. There was less reason for them to prevail Tuesday, but they did because Glaus, of all people, kept it going for Heyward and because McLouth, of all people, caught the contagion.
Before the game, Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel was asked if a transcendent young player — like the Phillies’ Howard was back in 2005, or like Heyward is today — can energize an entire franchise. “A guy like that can bring excitement and bring energy,” Manuel said. “He can bring a whole lot to a team and to a clubhouse.”
We Atlantans are seeing it on a daily basis. Barely two weeks on the job, Jason Heyward hasn’t just stamped himself as the Next Big Thing. He’s making a big thing out of the team around him. He’s making us think it’s 1991 all over again. And maybe it is.
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239 comments Add your comment
Monger
April 21st, 2010
12:08 am
The Greg Norton Surgery and “the darndest thing happened, Glaus hit a home run” had me ROFL Bradley, thats why you are one of the funniest, knowledgable, and creative sports writer… Keep those zingers coming…
oh and it wouldnt be a Glaussian night without an error at first and a double play in a huge situation, right on with that one…
SHO-NUFF
April 21st, 2010
12:09 am
tree r. and Orlando’s C, gives us a break on the negative vibes, hey the Braves won, can’t you just be a little happy about it.
Mark Bradley
April 21st, 2010
12:13 am
Thanks, Monger. Thanks, Barkin’ Dawg. I’m obliged.
Monger
April 21st, 2010
12:14 am
that greg norton surgery line was the greatest comedic sports zinger I’ve heard in months, nice one bradley- you are the man….
this is starting to feel like the 90s again- good pitching, amazing comebacks, etc. If only we could get Deion to pour champagne over some reporter’s head (hmmm), you down for that role MB if we take the pennant?
Growler
April 21st, 2010
12:15 am
Mark:
Yeah it was amazing… I mean Heyward seems like the second coming of [name your Hall-of-Famer here!]. But…. it’s still very very early.
Try not to get too caught up in tonight, or even Sunday. Glaus is still 0-fer with the bases loaded and batting like .200 RISP. The offense is mostly anemic. Excellent starting pitching keeps them close.
With the Braves, like last year, it will come down to mainly whether the bullpen can hold leads in low-scoring games.. and also keep 1-run deficits from becoming 2 or 3-run deficits late (something that doesn’t show up in the stats but happened all the time last year), so they can come back.
Heyward aside, it’s still a pretty fragile formula for success. That said, I hope for the city, fans, newspaper, your blog and yes — even Bobby — it works.
Kane337
April 21st, 2010
12:16 am
Wow, what an ending to that game. The Braves looked hopeless for 8 and 2/3’s of that game. Heyward is something else. WOW!
Mark Bradley
April 21st, 2010
12:16 am
Thanks, Youngerthan. Thanks, ATLiens. (I’m just now catching up after the Taco Bell stop.)
Mark Bradley
April 21st, 2010
12:18 am
Deion Sanders might make a comeback just to dump water on me, Monger. We didn’t part on the best of terms.
Orlando's Cepeda
April 21st, 2010
12:18 am
ShO-NUFF / I’M SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS WIN IT’S 12:17 AM
AND I CAN’T WIND DOWN.
and the J-Hey Legend Grows...STILL
April 21st, 2010
12:20 am
J Hey is just unbelievable! I was definitely thinking home run from him the SECOND after Glaus homered…and he came thru on the 1st pitch!! MAN I love watching this kid play/bat!! Hope the backs can wake up tomorrow a little earlier than the 9th. GO BRAVES..and yes go hawks!
Mark Bradley
April 21st, 2010
12:21 am
I know, Growler. I was thinking driving home, “It’s a long season. Keep things in perspective.”
That said, here’s how the Braves have done their last three games: Gotten no-hit; won despite trailing when the final pitch was made, and won 4-3 after trailing 3-0 with one out remaining. It’s hard not to something remarkable in that parlay.
mike
April 21st, 2010
12:23 am
I dozed off with 2 outs in the 9th ( I guess about 7 seconds too early)…woke up to see the final score flash across the screen….DVR’s are the bomb
Mark Bradley
April 21st, 2010
12:26 am
I’m going to try to doze off now, Mike. Not sure I’ll be able to fall asleep for a while.
Thanks to everyone for hanging in with me these past seven hours. It was a night I’ll remember for a while.
Coach (I Believe)
April 21st, 2010
12:31 am
I know. Watching Troy Glaus walk to the plate and thinking this game is over, then the improbable followed by the impossible happened…..again.
Stunned is all I can say. But what is even more impressive concerning Heyward’s HR is that he wasn’t even trying to hit it out. J-hey was just trying to drive the ball and it went over the wall anyway. The natural resides in RF in a Braves uniform. I mean, Jeff who????
McLouth’s HR was inspiring to say the least and funny as hell to watch him round first base as the dugout emptied down the tunnel. As Smoltz said, I to have never seen such a thing happen on a walk off. It was planned and I would like to know who came up with the idea?
Atlien052
April 21st, 2010
12:34 am
“We pause here to note that Heyward’s game-winning single against the Rockies on Sunday marked the first time a Brave had managed a two-out walk-off hit with his team behind and the bases loaded since …
Francisco Cabrera, Game 7, 1992 NLCS.”
Baseball either has the greatest statistics ever or too much time on their hand.
Any idea on what Heyward hits with one out, runners in scoring position, during a night game with the score tied or down by one, versus the defending National League champion, under a waxing moon, when the pitcher hails from somewhere in the upper Mid-west, the temperature is above 50 degrees, and a barometric pressure reading of 52?
Got to love baseball stats!
choozer
April 21st, 2010
12:44 am
Excellent writing! I feel like I was there, or at least watching on TV, yet I was neither.
SHO-NUFF
April 21st, 2010
12:47 am
GO BRAVES! Yeah Man! Yeeee Haw!!
BATMAN
April 21st, 2010
12:53 am
ARE WE GOING TO LOSE ANOTHER WORLD SERIES COME THE FALL?
urm...
April 21st, 2010
12:58 am
hellz to the yeah
chem
April 21st, 2010
1:29 am
I mean what idiot manager would would send Francisco Cabrera to the plate in that spot?
BravesFanLostinOhio
April 21st, 2010
1:35 am
What a game! Too bad it was me and 18,000 people who actually saw it in person. Come on, Atlanta! Get your butts in those seats!
checkagain
April 21st, 2010
1:37 am
We pause here to note that Heyward’s game-winning single against the Rockies on Sunday marked the first time a Brave had managed a two-out walk-off hit with his team behind and the bases loaded since…
Francisco Cabrera, Game 7, 1992 NLCS.
9/5/07 Diaz’s two-out, three-run double in ninth caps key victory
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070905&content_id=2191154&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
GT BOYZ
April 21st, 2010
1:38 am
what? no Melky… no problem….
MB, again….
‘We pause here to note that Heyward’s game-winning single against the Rockies on Sunday marked the first time a Brave had managed a two-out walk-off hit with his team behind and the bases loaded since …
Francisco Cabrera, Game 7, 1992 NLCS.’
This sounds incorrect. 18 years, not one hit with the bases loaded in the ninth from behind? not one? not so sure…
GT BOYZ
April 21st, 2010
1:39 am
with two out. geezus.. 2 out, buddy… Not so sure about your memory. Doesn’t sound accurate.
Shane
April 21st, 2010
1:41 am
Unreal. Just Unreal. Cant wait for tomorrow
carlchamblee
April 21st, 2010
1:44 am
“As Smoltz said, I too have never seen such a thing happen on a walk off. It was planned and I would like to know who came up with the idea?”
Coach, I’d like to know how anyone would even THINK to plan that with McLouth coming up to bat!
Seriously, I’m so glad I was at the game tonight. And I’m glad all the fans who left after the 8th in a 3-0 game missed the magic. Tonight really summed up the beauty of baseball -it’s unpredictability. The game was disappointing and frustrating right up until the surreal Glaus blast. Then when J-Hey homered it was like a dream. McLouth finishing it off, well, it just didn’t happen. Couldn’t have.
As my friend at the game (a Yankeee fan – boo) said, a win like this can define the season. Don’t know about that but it certainly is a shot in the arm to an offense that other than Hey and Prado has been lifeless.
Mark – good article tonight. I take issue with so much of what you say re: baseball but tonight after such a victory it’s all sunshine and lollipops! I do have to say I guess your “informant” was sandbagging you about keeping Heyward in the 7 hole
carlchamblee
April 21st, 2010
2:04 am
Enter your comments here
Mark Bradley
April 21st, 2010
2:18 am
I’ve rewritten the part about Francisco Cabrera until I can check further. In the heat of the moment, I might well have misheard a snippet of information. Or misinformation, as the case may be.
Shane
April 21st, 2010
3:36 am
I guess that would make the Phillies the Dodgers and Ryan Howard is Darryl Strawberry.
I mean if its 1991 and all
Shane
April 21st, 2010
3:46 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgqQFWJ66SI
MitchC
April 21st, 2010
6:24 am
Mark, Tuesday’s game was great, no doubt about that. As I said on your other page last night., I’m guilty of giving up on the game in the seventh inning, when we were down. Then, I turned the TV back on, and saw 3-3, and said. “Holy..”. I definitely saw Mclouth’s shot. That was a thing of beauty.
You mentioned Jason Heyward being a difference maker, and filing it away come “”October”. Is that Bradley predicting the future, saying he thinks the Braves are going to make the playoffs? The same Bradley who before opening day said “Ba Humbug.. 85 wins and third place”.
We can’t say that two awesome wins in April necessarially mean that this team will be celebrating a World Series title come this fall, but I will still go with my belief. If we are healthy, and everyone produces as they should, even if Chipper is injured for his usual amount of games, I believe we will make the playoffs, even as the wild card.
Abother thing: Billy Wagner has looked pretty darned good this season so far. His fastball has been electric.
Okay, now, we can stop gushing. Back to business tonight. We need to win at least one more game in this series, to send the message to the Phillies, and make sure they receive it.
MitchC
April 21st, 2010
6:30 am
Once again my comment didn’t go up the first time, so I’ll try again.
Mark, you mentioned Heyward being the difference maker come “October”. Are you saying that you now think this team has a chance to make the playoffs? Is this the same Mark Bradley who at the start of the season said, and I quote: “Ba Humbug, 85 wins and third place”?
One win in April does not make a season, but it does send a message to the Phillies. Psychologically, we need to win at least one of the next two games to take the series.
Yes, I know it’s only April, but I’m telling you, Mark, if this team performs as it should, they will make the playoffs. I’m not saying we will win the National League East, but, there is absolutely no reason that we shouldnt at least make the wild card.
TheAntiMe
April 21st, 2010
6:38 am
And what about those who, after all he’s done for this franchise, still bash Bobby’s managing… I wish they’d just, for one last season, STHU. You said is wonderfully… on this night Bobby Cox had bumped up Jason Heyward (to the 6-spot), who had been batting in the 7-hole, ahead of Yunel Escobar. Talk about genius managing. - Barkin’Dog
I totally agree. It’s really incredible how some of these so-called Braves fans can constantly hate on Bobby Cox the way they do. No matter how many games the Braves win, there is nothing he can do right in the eyes of these wannabe managers. The man is going into the HoF as the 4th winningest manager in baseball history, so he must be doing something right.
It’s one thing to criticize, but the venom that is constantly spewed by the Bobby haters is really beyond belief. I have watched the opposing broadcast feeds on MLB.com for years now and there is no one around the league who has anything but great things to say about Bobby Cox. Only here, in his own town, do these unclassy people continue to bash him. They really need to get a life and get a clue.
UGASlobberknocker
April 21st, 2010
6:43 am
Glaus had Greg Nortion surgery?.
Mark, that’s your best line so far this season.
TheAntiMe
April 21st, 2010
6:44 am
And what about those who, after all he’s done for this franchise, still bash Bobby’s managing… I wish they’d just, for one last season, STHU. You said is wonderfully… on this night Bobby Cox had bumped up Jason Heyward (to the 6-spot), who had been batting in the 7-hole, ahead of Yunel Escobar. Talk about genius managing. - Barkin’Dog
I totally agree. It’s really incredible how some of these so-called Braves fans can constantly hate on Bobby Cox the way they do. No matter how many games the Braves win, there is nothing he can do right in the eyes of these wannabe managers. The man is going into the HoF as the 4th winningest manager in baseball history, so he must be doing something right.
It’s one thing to criticize, but the venom that is constantly spewed by the Bobby haters is really beyond belief. I have watched the opposing broadcast feeds on MLB.com for years now and there is no one around the league who has anything but great things to say about Bobby Cox. Only here, in his own town do these unclassy people continue to bash him. They really need to get a life and get a clue.
UGASlobberknocker
April 21st, 2010
6:47 am
Im with Mitch C in wondering why about half the time I try to post something, It doesnt go, then if you try to resend it, I get a comment “Looks like youve already said that”.
Maybe the AJC should get Heyward over to take a look at it..he could probably fix it. With his bat.
TheAntiMe
April 21st, 2010
6:52 am
We have some technical problems, my posts aren’t making it through either.
Bunch o' Braves
April 21st, 2010
6:52 am
Wait, wait, wait! GLAUS???
Jesse Stone
April 21st, 2010
6:57 am
I compared Melky to Ryan Church this offseason. I’m sorry Ryan.
WIlly
April 21st, 2010
6:58 am
The Braves have already been no-hit once, shut out twice and been beaten 17-2 by the Padres. Yet they’re 8-5 and tied for first place – I’d say that makes them resilient.
TheAntiMe
April 21st, 2010
6:58 am
Game Summary – Phillies vs. Braves – April 20, 2010
9th inning:
Troy Glaus – Big
Jason Heyward – Bigger
10th inning:
Nate McLouth Biggest
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
April 21st, 2010
7:00 am
sure it was a great way to salvage the game and hopefully get into the phillies’ heads. i’m still a little concerned about this offense- i mean if we struggle against kendrick with @17.00 ERA, what is Halladay going to do to us tonight? Heyward is awesome, but a 20yr old shouldn’t carry all the weight for the offense- time for the other players to step up
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
April 21st, 2010
7:04 am
if we struggle like that against kendrick with his 17.00 ERA, what to do you think Halladay is going to do? its time for the other players to STEP IT UP!!! A 20yr kid should not being carrying to the entire team on his shoulders for offense.
DoninAcworth
April 21st, 2010
7:08 am
My, my, my, what a game…sitting there and watching 8 innings of allful and then
MAGIC! So, my, my, my, well I never! Go Huddie!
Jordan's Almonds
April 21st, 2010
7:12 am
Something tells me Matty Diaz was behind the team disappearing into the tunnel on McLouth’s walk-off. The guy is our resident four leaf clover and the tie that binds.
LininInAL
April 21st, 2010
7:17 am
Let’s not be too critical of Glaus and McLouth’s recent performances. They are in good company with Teixeira who has one homer and is battng 167. So better days are ahead for the Braves!
sugarfoot
April 21st, 2010
7:18 am
Wow! It was nice to wake up this morning and see that they came back and won. I went to bed when I saw it was 3-0. I did not think they stood a chance. I am starting to think Heyward may be for real.
Braves Fan in Dawg Country
April 21st, 2010
7:18 am
Gee… the decision to start Heyward in the majors instead of sending him down for the first two weeks to save a year of arbitration looks pretty good right now. Where would they be right now if they had done that. I must admit, at the beginning of spring training, I thought that sounded like a smart plan, give up two weeks now to save a year later. Something tells me the Braves will sign him long term before they have to worry about that…
(He does remind me of Fred McGriff at the plate … and is having the same impact on these Braves!)
Ross
April 21st, 2010
7:22 am
T. Pendleton D. Drabek Double to RF (Line Drive to Deep RF Line)
D. Justice D. Drabek Reached on E4 (Ground Ball); Pendleton to 3B
S. Bream D. Drabek Walk; Justice to 2B
R. Gant S. Belinda Lineout: LF/Sacrifice Fly (Deep LF Line); Pendleton Scores
D. Berryhill S. Belinda Walk; Justice to 3B; Bream to 2B
F. Cabrera S. Belinda Single to LF (Line Drive to Short LF); Justice Scores/unER; Bream Scores/unER; Berryhill to 2B
Pirates 2, Braves 3.
Ross
April 21st, 2010
7:23 am
Best baseball comment in some time – “What, did Glaus have Greg Norton surgery?”