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.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
239 comments Add your comment
Tim Tebow's Tears
April 21st, 2010
12:27 pm
Wow, Give me some Kool-Aid I’m aboard
jay
April 21st, 2010
12:30 pm
as a relocated braves fan, its no longer possible for me to attend games. Which is why it breaks my heart to see the disgraceful showing by atlanta sports fans at these games. there were maybe 8000 people there last night. its shameful, and people outside of atlanta don’t take our team seriously b/c they assume nobody in atl cares. and sadly – theyre right. i don’t know if fault lies more with the fans or the organization (prices), but either way – its the elephant in the room nobody’s talking about.
BuckheadBrave
April 21st, 2010
12:45 pm
Paddy O I will take a team with Matt Diaz in left over Francoeur any day of the week. First Francoeur has had 100 RBIs only twice in 5 years that was in his first 2 years in the league, the next two years he got progressively worse, are you saying you stick with a downward trend? I said i think Francoeur is a good guy but how do you figure he was the saint you are portraying, are you his dad or something??? How good could he be when the team was glad to see him go. He complained when Brian McCann was called up in 2005 until he was promoted as well, he complained incessantly and sealed his fate with Bobby Cox when he was demoted in 2008, do you see Heyward throwing a temper tantrum if he got sent down, i sure don’t. He may love to play, i love to play the game, that isn’t enough to make me Mickey Mantle. However good Jeff Francoeur really is he will always think he is better and that is not a recipe for success. Also, for the record as bad as a hitting coach as people think he is through two years of horrendous, disgusting, unwatchable plate appearances I am pretty freakin sure Terry Pendleton said lay off the dang curve balls in the dirt. He had a reputation from everyone as being uncoachable, Chipper called him out by name individually in public, it was that bad.
Skeezix
April 21st, 2010
12:45 pm
Mark: Most fun I’ve had watching the Braves for years. I had been lamenting the lack of run support for the pitchers and almost dozed off— but then Glaus, the goat of the game up to that point, quickly became one of its heroes…..then Jason, a hero again, then surprise of all surprises–strugggling Nate McLouth drives one way over the wall. So far this season has had several of those “electric” moments that only baseball can create. The Phillies are very good and now they are probably really mad, so hang tough tonight Bravos.
Gary
April 21st, 2010
12:48 pm
“Cox generally blows 10-20 games per year based on poor decisions”. DOOFUS ALERT!!! So…you are saying this team should win 110 games per year? I’m sorry if Bobby turned down your autograph request years ago, but Phil….let it go!
steve h
April 21st, 2010
12:50 pm
The kid for ROY and MVP, not to put any more pressure on him or anything.
You kiddin’??? This kid seeks out and thrives under pressure. That’s what makes him the “great one.”
BuckheadBrave
April 21st, 2010
12:53 pm
ok not sure what the heck is wrong with this posting system BUT here we ago again. Jeff drove in over 100 runs TWICE in FIVE years, not horrible but when you look it was his first 2 full seasons from that point on he got progressively worse, would you stick with a downward trend? Also i can’t help but think you are somehow related to Jeff or perhaps know him personally since nobody associated with the Braves seems to share your view on his beaming personality. He complained his way to the majors after McCann and Kyle Davies were called up, he complained his way into Bobby’s dog house when he was demoted in 2008, only staying in AA for 2 days and not adjusting anything at the plate. He has been called out publicly by the likes of Chipper Jones for being uncoachable, and however good Jeff may be he thinks he is better and that is never a recipe for success. Also Pendleton may or may not be a horrible hitting coach but after two years of double plays and strike outs in key situations do you not think he mentioned don’t swing at curveballs in the dirt? Get over it, he is a Met I don’t wish him ill but if you honestly will pull for the success of a new york met over the Braves no matter where he was born perhaps you should look in the mirror and see a real “fair weather” Atlanta fan. Please do us all a favor and move up north with your boy Failcouer, I hear the real estate has gotten very affordable.
girlzgotgame
April 21st, 2010
1:17 pm
WOW! Simply amazing!!!
Random
April 21st, 2010
1:18 pm
Mark Bradley –
“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. . . . 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.”
You are so full of it.
The Braves did not (and will not) win because they believe.
They believe because they won. (Which may or may not continue, depending on a plethora of variables, none of which is spelled b-e-l-i-e-v-e, and only ONE of which is spelled H-e-y-w-a-r-d.)
Fools like you cannot tell the difference.
Be Brave
April 21st, 2010
1:23 pm
This seems too good to be true. But I will believe it while it lasts. Whether that is 15 more days or 15 more years; I will believe.
Random
April 21st, 2010
1:24 pm
@BuckheadBrave — Well said.
Someone
April 21st, 2010
1:30 pm
Mcclouth’s homer was No.2 on Sportscenter. Glaus’s and Heyward’s were number 5. But you had to see what No. 1 was to believe it. Almost better than the Braves’ rally.
90s are over
April 21st, 2010
1:32 pm
I hope its not the 90s again!!! All of the deep runs in the playoffs and only 1 title to show for it?!!! Are we the Buffalo Bills of Major League Baseball? Just getting there is not enough.
Its time for an increasingly irrelevant franchise to go after a relevant manager. Bobby is the Marv Leavy of baseball. The lack of pitching and inability to hit on a consistently reinforces how the 90s are a thing of the past, and will be until Bobby is gone…
nique
April 21st, 2010
1:43 pm
I obviously love that we didn’t give up and that we came back and won, but I, like some of the other bloggers, am pretty disappointed that we keep getting shut down by average pitchers. Pretty nervous about the offense this year. I mean, someone check this stat, but we probably have the most guys who have started a game this year with sub-.200 avgs. TP?
Freddie G
April 21st, 2010
1:51 pm
Are you all believing now that something special is happening and something new is about to happen come October, which is the Braves winning the NL and in the series. I truly believe after the end of last season that had Prado been playing earlier and Big Red on the opening day roster, they could have been in the playoffs. Also consider how many games we lost due to lack of run support and leads blown by the Bullpen. I truly believe the Glaus will start hitting more consistently by 1st week of May. It takes time to shed the rust and get the timing back after not facing live pitching all of last year. We need Chipper, Yunel, McLouth and Melky to get going and all will be well.
Despite Glaus heroics last night I would still like to see Bobby move Glaus to the 7th spot and Yunel to the 5th spot just until Glaus gets his swing back on a consistent basis. I believe a period of two weeks with this change can be beneficial.
GLuck
April 21st, 2010
2:04 pm
Unbelievable. Unknown fun stat on our phenom rookie. Since being in the bigs, Jason Heyward has never been the last out to lose a game for the Braves. 2 chances thus far and here is how he faired when placed in that position……April 11 vs. SF, 2 outs, top 9th, down 6-2, no one on…….Homerun.(We eventually lost). Last night, bottom 9, two outs, down 3-2, no one one………homerun.(we know the outcome to this one). Early trend of clutch hitting???? Either way, it’s the first month but I will follow this stat as long as it lasts.
Go Braves.
Henry County Boys
April 21st, 2010
2:07 pm
J-Hey reppin Henry County hard! Its nice to see something good coming out of this county!
GLuck
April 21st, 2010
2:07 pm
Hey “90s are Over”,
FYI, the Bills never won a championship. Move back to Buffalo and root for your Sabres! We don’t want you in Atlanta but you have no choice because Buffalo has no opportunities.
HistoryJoe
April 21st, 2010
2:22 pm
This is my favorite column in a *long* time. Great game but thanks for making me smile today
Gary
April 21st, 2010
2:39 pm
90’s are over- Marv Levy is a Hall of Famer. Bobby will be and he has won a championship. Poor analogy.
LFP6
April 21st, 2010
3:03 pm
221st!
I will admit that I was cussing up a storm when I turned on the telly and saw we were down 2-0 in the 7th, and didnt turn on the tv til the next morning.
I put on ESPN news, then i glanced at the ticker, and I saw something strange there, so i had to rewind the dvr.
And then I saw it.
Phi 3, Atl 4 F/10
“THEY WON IT IN 10????”
Hot damn.
Rick
April 21st, 2010
3:12 pm
Come on. He’s a rookie making his first loop through the league. It will get tougher in the second half, when there will be meaningful scouting reports on him. It’s not reasonable to lay so much on this kid. There’s a ton of reasons why the Braves are going nowhere this year, no matter how Heyward performs. He’s a good one – but not a savior.
chop
April 21st, 2010
3:25 pm
Greg Norton surgery comment = solid gold.
BELIEVE BRAVES 2010
April 21st, 2010
4:01 pm
BELIEVE BRAVES 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT SINCE SPRING TRAINING, and NOW IT IS FINALLY HERE!
BUT DONT WORRY I HAVE ALL YOUR BELIEVE EQUIPTMENT!!!!!!!!!!
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BELIEVE BRAVES T SHIRT CHECK IT OUT ON EBAY, OR EmAIL ME AT believebraves2010@yahoo.com!!!!!!!! ALSO HAVE SILICON BRACLETS RED AND BLUE! SHOOT ME AN EMAIL!
Also if you were at this fantastic game last night you saw the BELIEVE 2010 teeshirts, because I was wearing one when I played the seat upgrade of the game, game with Mark on the jumbo tron! SO CHECK IT OUT!
BELIEVE BRAVES 2010
April 21st, 2010
4:04 pm
Believe Braves merchandise,
BRACELETS – SHIRTS ALL COLORS PLEASE EMAIL believebraves2010@yahoo.com
GO BRAVES BELIEVE 2010!
rebman76
April 21st, 2010
4:04 pm
Tonight is crucial. I think it’s Lowe vs Halladay on the mound. The Braves needto take 2 out of 3 from the Phils and go sweep the Mets this weekend. that would send a message big time.
rebman76
April 21st, 2010
4:06 pm
Gotta take 2 of 3 from the Phils and sweep the Mets. I think Halladay pitches tonight for Philly against Lowe. Should be a good pitching matchup. Heyward is progressing just fine and will be a great player for a long time to come.
LFP6
April 21st, 2010
4:29 pm
Rick…
Nowhere but up! HA!
26-Year Braves Fan
April 21st, 2010
4:53 pm
Tuesday evening attendance was freaky .. Should have been 35,000 .. Box score said about 18,000 and folks who were there say, no way, not close to 18,000 .. What’s that all about?
Paddy O
April 21st, 2010
5:26 pm
Buckhead – you are actually a woman, right? Or someone who just can’t debate. There is no reason to dislike Francoeur, unless you expect your sports heros to be pansy asses. The 14 straight division title Braves pitching was confident, arrogant even. Ask the 72 – 74 A’s, 75-76 Reds Yanks of 76-78 whether or not being arrogant helped them steam roll the opponent – guess what, being polite and sweet and timid is worthless in a pro sporting contest. The fact remains that Frenchy is fine ball player that stupid, moron and shallow Braves fans were glad to see go. If the shoe fits it, it fits it. As a Red Sox fan, I root for every ex-Red Sox management made a mistake giving way – Fisk, Lynn, Boggs, Clemens (you remember him from the WS don’t you?), etc. Wren made a Steve Philips error in trading Francoeur, and I will root for him as long as he plays. Also, he plays with excitement – a good commodity.
Skeezix
April 21st, 2010
5:28 pm
I don’t understand the constant bashing of future hall of famer Bobby Cox . This Braves fan feels very fortunate to have watched the Master and great motivator, Bobby Cox, coach the Braves all these years. If he was a chess player he would be a grand master. The man doesn’t miss anything that is going on di=uring a game, nothing. The Braves have lost a lot over the last few years, but that has usually been due to the opponents having more talent, rarely due to being out coached. The question I ask is how bad it just might have been over the last few years had Bobby Cox not been the coach. The problems of the last few years are a direct result of constraints of corporate ownership and several trade decisions that were borderline incompetent.
Freddie G
April 21st, 2010
5:46 pm
Yu’all don’t get too crazy around here, the Phillies are still the King and it will be hard to dethrone them. I believe it will be a dog fight all season if Chipper, Yunel, Glaus and Nate starts hitting. Prado, BMac and the Rook have been doing the job on a consistent basis, but they are so far apart in the lineup so we are not able to string the hits together to produce the runs. Please Bobby look at the lineup and make the necessary changes.
Larry Platt
April 21st, 2010
6:40 pm
The braves are gunna have a challenge facing Doc. Good thing we won 4-3 yesterday! Doc is an amazing pitcher hopefully Timmy can bring his “A” game! Let’s go braves and remember PANTS ON THE GROUND!
Youngerthan Thatnow
April 21st, 2010
7:46 pm
“I don’t understand the constant bashing of future hall of famer Bobby Cox . This Braves fan feels very fortunate to have watched the Master and great motivator, Bobby Cox, coach the Braves all these years…” Skeezix
Thanks Skeezix… I’ve been saying the same thing for a couple of years now and I still don’t understand it. For the past two, now three seasons, I’ve had the MLB package on DirecTV and I watch a lot of games, or at least parts of a lot of games of the other teams in MLB and I hear a lot of the other voices around the league making comments about #6 and I’ve never, NEVER, heard anything but praise for him and most agree that he might be the best of all time, considering some of the players that he’s had to work with and the results that he got from them. Reminds me of a HS coach I had… we would absolutely run thru a brick wall for him… gladly. 99.9% of every player that’s ever played for Cox would do the same. There are exceptions… Lofton, Boone, etc., but if you’ll remember, they didn’t stick around very long.
He is the one constant going back to the ‘91 season, Schuerholz included, and will forget more about this game today than most here will ever know. I’m mighty glad to have had the pleasure of watching the man in action.
This isn’t a popular sentiment here, but I’ll stick to it and take my chances.
Paddy O
April 21st, 2010
7:52 pm
Cox has been successful. But with the staff he had, that is not surprising. The Braves never had a great, or even good, closer through that stretch. I do remember him playing Ozzie Guillen in a WS, and that backfired pretty good. All in all, Cox was a great – a lot like Marv Levy.
Paddy O
April 21st, 2010
8:01 pm
Hey, Bucky beaver: The five years includes his rookie year, when he only appeared in 70 games. So actually, 50% of the time he had over 100 RBI; his only really bad year was 08; in 09 he hit 280. If he plays 18 years (he is only 26 now), and has 9 100 RBI seasons, he most likely is headed for the HOF. IF you were glad he was traded for a guy you released, you really, truly are an ignoramous moron. If you were glad he was traded to a team in your division, your talent scouts would be terminated and many would probably reprimand the GM for something so blatantly redneck stupid.
mike
April 22nd, 2010
8:43 am
I remember everybody getting excited like this about Francouer, too. And remember how that played out.
Paddy O
April 22nd, 2010
10:23 am
Mike: You may be prescient. Nothing more popular in GA during the honeymoon than a new restaurant. Once that sucker gets old, ship it out if its not perfect (a remnant of Plantation Days).
Random
April 22nd, 2010
10:47 am
“If the shoe fits it, it fits it.” — Paddy O
Classic idiocy.