Oops! The Braves lose the sort of game they’ve been winning
The Padres tie the game. Note Billy Wagner's reaction. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
It was a dark night in a sunny season. A great closer went out two runs ahead and came back with a blown save.
“He’s been perfect,” Bobby Cox said, speaking of Billy Wagner. Then, correcting himself: “Almost perfect.”
Right the second time. Because this is baseball, where nobody’s perfect. But sometimes you learn more about a club on a dark night that in the afterglow of the most improbable walk-off win, and here’s what we saw from Wagner late Wednesday:
A guy who blamed nobody but himself. Not the umps, not the fates, nobody but the guy who had the ball with a job to do and, for only the fourth time this season, couldn’t do it.
Wagner hated the fastball he threw to Scott Hairston, which became the home run that halved the lead. He could live with the ball Yorvit Torrealba drove into the right-field corner to tie the game: “He hit a pretty good pitch.” And sometimes it happens.
Said Wagner: “It was one of those nights. I didn’t have enough to get it done.”
He didn’t seek to downplay the loss. “This was a big game,” Wagner said. “If you win this, you win the series and you’re going for a sweep tomorrow. Now tomorrow’s an even bigger game for both teams.”
The Braves and Padres could well be playing this sort of game late in October. They’ve traded the National League’s best record these past two days, and they resemble one another in many ways: Good starting pitching, great bullpens, just enough offense. The Braves have 16 victories in their final at-bat; Wednesday’s game marked the Padres’ 14th.
And there’s really little more to say about this: The Braves had a chance but didn’t win; the Padres seized their chance and did. Fair play to the visitors. But now they play again this afternoon, a big-time series and the league’s best record again on the line.
“The night didn’t go our way,” Wagner said, “but we’re still confident.”
The Braves should be. They’re good. The Padres are, too. Thursday’s game is the final schedule meeting between the two, but that isn’t to say they won’t see another again. Best-of-seven for the right to represent the National League in the Fall Classic — how’s that sound?
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142 comments Add your comment
Blue Fox
July 22nd, 2010
10:53 am
McClouth allowing the player to advance to third on the shallow fly ball to center was a Little League gaff, and it’s not the first time this season he’s done it (see earlier plays where he didn’t attempt to throw out runners at the plate on shallow flies). Bobby should have done with he’s done in the past with A. Jones & Escabar: taken McClouth out of the game immediately.
Ben Hill, Been Real
July 22nd, 2010
10:55 am
Blue Fox
exactly! he had no intentions to throw that ball
Ralph
July 22nd, 2010
10:56 am
Why would you want to showcase McOut for trade pourposes, the more anyone sees him the less they want him.
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
10:57 am
McCann blew the most important play of the game when he got himself out of position on the play at the plate in which the tying run scored.
Anybody who knows anything about baseball knows McCann did all he could do on that play. Mark Bradley said as much.
Ross has to be the dumbest poster on this board and that is saying something.
Ben Hill, Been Real
July 22nd, 2010
10:59 am
bring in Pierre we need speed just as bad as power
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
11:02 am
It is good that we lost one though. It gives the negative folks a day to poke out their chest and complain.
Ted M
July 22nd, 2010
11:02 am
I wonder if Glaus messing up that foul pop in the ninth inning will haunt this team the way my similar screw up did?
Glaus has missed 4 of those same plays already. He doesn’t seem to be learning his home park as he always takes his eyes off the ball to check for the fence or tarp when he is not even close to them. And so what if you run into the tarp that won’t hurt.
MARK
July 22nd, 2010
11:05 am
Mclouth looked horrible at the plate last night,on the strike out he missed that ball 4 inches, I replayed it several times.Has he thrown anybody out from centerfield since he has been here? He sucks and I think they need to release him before he drags us down, With the new ss and Mcout in the lineup it’s 3 almost automatic outs in the back of the order counting the pitcher
Freddie : G
July 22nd, 2010
11:08 am
I will agree that this is not the first time that McLouth has not thrown the fly ball in allowing a runner to advance. I also agree tat had it been Escobar or Andruw Jones Cox would have benched them. It proves that all are not treated as equal. Having said all of that, how can anyone blame Cox for the loss? I am not a big fan of Cox but I cannot blame him for this one. Wag’s did not locate well and the catcher hit a good pitch. The tying run could have been avoided with a better throw from Prado and a better effort from Brian.
I wonder if anyone has not spoken to Brian telling him that the ball travels to him quicker than he going out to get it and then bring it back to tag the runner. He has done that repeatedly causing runners to score. This will all be forgotten soon when the Braves win 7 of the next 9 games. Go Braves…..
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
11:12 am
I will agree that this is not the first time that McLouth has not thrown the fly ball in allowing a runner to advance.
Where do you guys get this stuff? McClouth made the right play. The base runner made the wrong play. You don’t try to go to third with two outs when you are already in scoring position.
1. He wasn’t going to throw him out anyway
2. if he throws it he could potentially throw it away allowing the runner to score.
Man we need some baseball 101 around here in a bad way.
Chris
July 22nd, 2010
11:12 am
Yesterday you wrote the braves had the best record in the NL. Not today. See how silly it was to say that.
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
11:15 am
I wonder if anyone has not spoken to Brian telling him that the ball travels to him quicker than he going out to get it and then bring it back to tag the runner.
McCann couldnt have done anymore on that play. It took a great slide to get there.
Once again the Baseball IQ on this board is extremely low.
Lets see who do you think knows how to make that play better? Brian McCann who has being playing baseball everyday of his entire life or you sitting on your couch?
My money is on McCann.
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
11:17 am
McCann couldn’t have blocked the plate. He had to slide across after catching the ball. Mark Bradley
Straight from the man himself last night.
seamus151
July 22nd, 2010
11:19 am
How do you figure??? How are the Padres winning? Have you examined their stats on starting, pitching, bullpen, awesome defense and clutch hitting? Baseball is more than just homeruns and offense, LOL.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Padres are for real. Just take a look at their record, best in the NL. It’s a long in the tooth to not say they’re not for real.
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
11:20 am
McCann couldn’t have blocked the plate. He had to slide across after catching the ball. Mark Bradley
gadawgs
July 22nd, 2010
11:21 am
Shane..If he would have gotten himself into the correct position to atleast make it seem like he could make a strong throw or throw a laser to the cutoff man the guy would not have TRIED to advance. The problem was he had plenty of time to get under the ball and get his momentum going forward instead of backward. Once the runner saw that there was no way with his positioning he could make the throw he tagged up. Talk about baseball 101.
marc pen
July 22nd, 2010
11:27 am
- JohnSmith
Your clueless. The Pads are 1st in pitching and are tied for 1st with defense. In the majors!
TNBravesFan
July 22nd, 2010
11:39 am
Wow, so I guess any team that has won the world series in the past 100 went undefeated right? We lost 1 GAME people!! Yes it was a big game, but it happens, we’re not going to win every game we play. Wags had a bad night. Even the great Mo Rivera has blown a save before. It’s good to see who the real fans are when we lose games and all the band-waggoners come out and complain about losing a single game. I guess if we get into the playoffs and lose a game then we can’t win the series eh? Everybody have a beer (yeah I know it’s 11:30 but it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!) and just chill out!!
ICEMANcometh10
July 22nd, 2010
11:40 am
As long as the METS and the PHILLIES lose on the same night WHO CARES HOW THEY LOSE A ONCE IN A WHILE GAME……………………….
Gene
July 22nd, 2010
11:42 am
So, the Braves dropped one in 12 innings to the league leading Podres. Go get ‘em today.
bobby
July 22nd, 2010
11:50 am
Don’t blame Wags for last night. I have seen this coming for the last 4-5 games. He has been doing the job but something hasn’t looked quite right. I think the problem is in the dugout and it is an age old problem. Work the bullpen to death. You can work a mule to death and BC has done it to the bullpen for years. In another month they will all be worn out. Why a pitcher can’t pitch to more than one batter is something I don’t understand.
bobby
July 22nd, 2010
11:51 am
I guess you can’t say BC overworks the bullpen.
Don
July 22nd, 2010
11:54 am
Diaz homers in 3 straight games.
What does Booby Cox do – Bench him in the next game
Infante who is also hot – also on the bench.
Hinske (who has not been hitting recently) playing.
Booby apparently has no understanding of the simple concept of “Playing The Hot Hand”
Of Course, Booby does not have any understanding of a lot of the most simple basic essential fundamentals of winning – especially offensive production.
frank james
July 22nd, 2010
11:57 am
We really need to get more than singles from Glaus.
Don
July 22nd, 2010
11:59 am
Baseball may be a marathon – But you can spin it anyway you want and justiofy and rationalize all you want – But you can’t change the fact that every game Cox blew in the first 1/4 of the season by playing both McLouth and Melky in the outfield at the same time on a regular basis (one of them in a corner slot) – with them hitting almost nothing — Every one of these blown games and every game that Cox blows now will count in the standings at the end of the year as much as a loss in September.
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
12:01 pm
Diaz homers in 3 straight games.
What does Booby Cox do – Bench him in the next game
Infante who is also hot – also on the bench.
Hinske (who has not been hitting recently) playing.
Booby apparently has no understanding of the simple concept of “Playing The Hot Hand”
Of Course, Booby does not have any understanding of a lot of the most simple basic essential fundamentals of winning – especially offensive production.
Don your an idiot. let me count the ways.
1. Hinske was batting career .500 againts Garland
2. Diaz doesn’t hit righties well at all. He is hot but playing him against righties is a sure fire way to cool him off.
3. Infante is not an everyday player. Chipper played and hade two RBI’s
But im sure you know the game better than Bobby Cox who has only been managing for like 30 years.
How dumb is that?
bobby
July 22nd, 2010
12:02 pm
I say throw in BC in any deal the braves make.
Shane
July 22nd, 2010
12:03 pm
Of Course, Booby does not have any understanding of a lot of the most simple basic essential fundamentals of winning
Yeah he is only the 4th winningest manager in baseball history.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
12:12 pm
Mark Bradley on the Tshirt thing. Maybe it should say “I made a Stupid Comment about Sports and Bradley gave Me this Great SHIRT”
Let It Ride Mike
July 22nd, 2010
12:19 pm
Poor John Smith, bewildered, stunned
Sits alone muttering
“Impossible occurrence”
Too tough 44
July 22nd, 2010
12:27 pm
Trade Mc out! (clouth), add a big bat! AND, pick up the picther from the astros! And lets win a world series for the FANS!!!!! GO BRAVES!!!
bill
July 22nd, 2010
12:29 pm
I am all for giving Nate another chance (6 games) to turn it around but what is the problem with him throwing the ball. I cannot recall him trying to throw out a runner since he has been on the team. Tough loss yesterday but hopefully we can still win the series.
AlabamaBrave
July 22nd, 2010
12:54 pm
I am afraid McClouth just isn’t going to get back to where he needs to be. Just ride it out with a Blanco/Melky platoon
Yunel Escobar
July 22nd, 2010
12:56 pm
I’m all for giving Nate another chance…in the American League.
G man
July 22nd, 2010
1:00 pm
The bottom line: The Braves tried to have a 2 run lead stand up for 6 innings and went 9 without scoring-it caught up to us! Yes, the Phills and Mets lost but we lost a golden opportunity to pick up an easy game on both of them so yes, it hurts.
The Padres actually have slightly better pitching than the Braves-statistically speaking. It seems like every reliever they run out there has a sub-2 ERA.
The Padres look like a mirror image of the Braves-not surprisingly the series is tied 1-1 with the Braves having a 3-2 lead in the season series.
We have our best pitcher going today-it should be a good one!
Milburn Drysdale
July 22nd, 2010
1:10 pm
One word…..Adam Dunn!
boribrave
July 22nd, 2010
10:04 pm
alo fansBobi Hasle Caso
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July 24th, 2010
4:00 pm
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Christopher Chance
July 24th, 2010
10:25 pm
After watching tonight’s game, I’m going to start an online petition that will hopefully pressure Braves management into bringing back Greg “I couldn’t hit my way out of a paper bag” Norton and get rid of Brooks “Bobby Cox did me wrong last year” Conrad.
Christopher Chance
July 24th, 2010
10:27 pm
After watching tonight’s game, I hope that someone talks Braves management into bringing back Greg “I couldn’t hit my way out of a paper bag” Norton and get rid of Brooks “Bobby Cox did me wrong last year” Conrad.
Christopher Chance
July 24th, 2010
10:28 pm
The Braves should bring back Greg “I couldn’t hit my way out of a paper bag” Norton and get rid of Brooks “Bobby Cox did me wrong last year” Conrad.
Christopher Chance
July 24th, 2010
10:31 pm
Brooks Conrad has two pinch hit grand slams this year. Greg Norton………killed rally after rally last year. Bobby Cox was unwavering in his support and kept trotting his sorry azz out there last year.