Swept in Philly and nearly no-hit, the beaten Braves move on
Tommy Hanson's night: Six innings, two hits, no runs, one fine outing. (AP photo)
PHILADELPHIA — They got the start they needed. Alas, they got nothing else. Heck, they nearly got no-hit.
They came here thinking one win — one crummy win — would leave them in good stead for the wild card. Instead they got swept. They weren’t overwhelmed in any of the games, which made it even worse. Three nights running, the Braves got to see firsthand how vast the expanse is between them and the Phillies.
“We got beat all three games,” Brian McCann said. “We were in every ballgame. We just got beat.”
Wednesday’s loss was sweet excruciation. Tommy Hanson matched Roy Oswalt for six innings, and Roy Oswalt was all but untouchable over his seven. (The Braves’ one hit was Martin Prado’s two-out double in the fourth.) In the eighth Jonny Venters opened by plunking Chase Utley, but induced Ryan Howard to hit into a double play.
Then Venters pitched around the right-handed hitting Jayson Werth, which made sense. Then he fell behind Raul Ibanez 2-0 and tried to throw a sinker. The ball didn’t sink. Ibanez, a pro’s pro, poked it into the left-field corner, and Nate McLouth overthrew the cutoff man and the Phillies had the run they needed. And the Braves had an 0-for-Philly.
McCann: “It ain’t easy for a left-handed hitter [meaning Ibanez] to hit a 95-mph sinker into the left-field corner. You tip your hat. And we move on.”
The Braves needed this game to prove to themselves that they could beat the Phillies when it mattered, and all it proved was that they couldn’t. Hanson did what neither of the rookie starters deployed in Games 1 and 2 could manage: He gave his team a chance to win. His team, sorry to say, wasn’t good enough to avail itself. His team is running on fumes.
The Braves had more errors (five) in the series than runs (four). Yes, they ran face-first into the Phillies’ Big Three, but if you plan on playing postseason baseball, you’d better be ready to face top-shelf pitching. All the Braves could think to try was another oddball lineup — McLouth in left and Rick Ankiel in center — against the Roys (Halladay and Oswalt), and here were the two-night totals for the twosome:
Thirteen at-bats, one single, four strikeouts.
“We couldn’t have done much better,” manager Bobby Cox said after Wednesday’s loss, and that assessment sounded at once pitiful and pithy. The Braves have tried everything this season and have gotten further than they probably should have, and now it’s down to this: Nine games to go, the wild card blowing in the wind.
McCann: “This is our season. We’ve got nine games left. We have to be able to get up for these.”
Motivation wasn’t the issue here. The Braves tried their best. The Phillies’ best was just better. Cox even broke with custom before Wednesday’s game. “I talked to the team today,” he said afterward. Then this: “We’re trying to win a game.”
They couldn’t win even once here, but late Wednesday they boarded a chartered Amtrak car for the trek down to D.C., where they’ll meet the last-place Washington Nationals. Then they return home for the season’s final week — six games against the Marlins and the Phillies, and the latter will surely have clinched the National League East by the time they arrive at Turner Field.
Meaning: For all that went wrong here, the Braves should still be able to draw the wild card. (With San Francisco losing in Chicago on Wednesday, the Braves were assured of staying atop the runner-up race at least another day.) They spent three days proving they’re no longer a match for the Phillies, but that’s no longer the issue. The Braves simply have to win as many games as they can and hope it’s enough.
Before the game, Cox had said: “I wouldn’t mind seeing a ‘WC’ [for wild card] up on the wall of our ballpark.” In previous seasons the Braves were always the team winning division titles and letting lesser lights claim the ‘WC’, but in 2010 it’s their only real hope. A big series was lost in egregious fashion, and now they move on.
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321 comments Add your comment
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:08 am
Even though Atlanta and BC was the bane of our existence for so many years!
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:10 am
Winning probably helps….when you win, the angst of the fan base is reduced and fans and team alike are shown in a positive light…when you are losing, the media tends to focus on the negative…right now (and for several years) you’ve had the bright light of positive vibes shining on your team….good things will show through when that happens.
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:11 am
Chrissy…”Even though Atlanta and BC was the bane of our existence for so many years!”
Yeah…but not anymore….don’t know when again.
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:12 am
It has been amazing. And I am so happy to be a part of it!
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:13 am
The thing is…I went to your journalism to see what you had written… because I thought it would be false.
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:14 am
Enter your comments here
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:14 am
Nah..Atlanta is too nice to do that.
Ueeediot
September 23rd, 2010
2:15 am
I sure want to hear about how hard Frank Wren worked to get Oswalt here in Atlanta. I bet it wasn’t nearly as long as he worked to get Blanco out of Atlanta. Does Wren look at the schedule? In July did he not figure out that if he didnt get Oswalt, Philly would? Did he not understand how good Oswalt is against the NL Central and how many games he had left with them?
Here is an idea, lets go to the worst teams in baseball, like the Royals and Cubs, and pick their *best* players. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
If they had good players, they wouldnt be the worst teams in baseball.
I love Bobby Cox, but someone please tell me why it took so many games to figure out that KK sucks? Most importantly, the one last game 6 let KK start. If you couldn’t tell, or if anyone was just too scared to print it, KK threw that game. He didn’t attempt to win. He gave that game away as his commentary on how he felt about being demoted. Crybaby says “I didnt come here to pitch in the minors”
Psst, hey….KK…..you dam sure aint pitching in the majors either numbnuts.
There are some games and situations that have been mismanaged, but not many. Hardly enough to crucify 6.
The man who should be crucified is Wren. Wren MUST GO.
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:15 am
Good night….early morning….done shedding my tears….enjoy the playoffs Phillies, you deserve it.
JB has spoken
September 23rd, 2010
2:17 am
I love Frank Wren…architect of the Greatest Team in the History of Baseball….watch out, here comes the lizard!!
JB HAS SPOKEN
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:17 am
I almost came down to Atlanta for the last series.
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:17 am
Enjoy the playoffs Phillies, you deserve it. Good night.
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:18 am
You should have…..its a fun town….good fans despite what the media shows.
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:19 am
Enjoy the playoffs Phillies, you deserve it….early morning, gotta run.
ward
September 23rd, 2010
2:19 am
CHURCH FOR FRANCOUR,AND CURCH IS WITH PIITSBURGE, AND WE HAD A CHANCE TO PICK UP XAVIER NADY,BUT DIDN;T. TO ME THATS NOT BEING A GENIOUS. IF WREN IS THERE NEXT YEAR! THAT WIIL BE ANOTHER LONG SEASON! JUST SATED SOME FACTS. GO BRAVES!!!!
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:22 am
Starting to be exhausted…I have been to the last Phils wins…sad lafelong…send me your address:)
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:26 am
Chrissy…would be glad to but how can I do that without sending it to everyone on this blog?
ward
September 23rd, 2010
2:26 am
JB YOU NEED TO STOP SMOKING YOUR PIPE! THE WILD CARD IS, UP FOR TAKING,B IT;S GOING TO BE A LONG BATTLE FOR IT! I;M STILL IN HOPE, ALSO LOOKING AT REALITY. GO BRAVES!!!!!!!
ward
September 23rd, 2010
2:30 am
I;M NOT BEING MEAN, BUT JUST BE HAPPY WITH THE WILD CARD, AND GO FROM THERE. GO BRAVES!!!!
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:30 am
It’s your blog…you tell me!
Eric C.
September 23rd, 2010
2:30 am
Philee fan…it wasn’t long ago that the Braves ran off 14 consecutive division championships. Start talking when you get 10 more dude.
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:30 am
Chrissy..try bravos7724@yahoo.com
Just created that temporarily.
Sad lifelong Braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
2:31 am
There you go Chrissy…email me there.
JB Has Spoken
September 23rd, 2010
2:32 am
The lizard Ward..watch out the lizard, and Frank Wren is the king lizard….SSSSSSSSS…..WAM when they ain’t looking. 10+ wins from here on out.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
JB HAS SPOKEN
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:36 am
Just did.
Ueeediot
September 23rd, 2010
2:38 am
More I think about it angrier I get.
Troy Glaus…you knew he was a liability. You didn’t have a plan in February/March for June to know you would need to trade for a quality first baseman?
Did you not listen to Schureholtz at all? YOU MUST HAVE STRONG CORNERS like TP and McGriff and Chipper and Galaraga and the likes.
Kawakami. You tried (like a moron) to trade him all off season. You ruined any chances you had to actually trade him at the most opportune time, the opening days of spring training. Nevermind your dumb move to give the man 7.7 million a season when he had not pitched to a single MLB hitter. I wonder if that had ANYTHING at all to do with not being able to move him? (See Derek Lowe)
Then to add insult to injury it takes 0-10 before you realize…maybe this guy is a problem? over 50 games into the season? We knew 3 starts before the Tampa Bay series he was done. Why didnt you have a contingency plan back in Feb/Mar for this?
Nate and Melky let you down. But you didnt realize that you had to ride on Melky and get Blanco up to the majors and give him a fair shake? He came up, played his dam fool head off, and got sent to the Royals? THE effin ROYALS???
So then you make the fool trade of Blanco and *TIM COLLINS*. Gee, let us remember the moments we had Tim Collins. 2010 Stats you ask? In 3 different AA and AAA leagues with Toronto, Atlanta, and KC, Won 3 Lost 1 ERA 2.02 in 56 games, with 15 saves, in 71.1 IP 40 hits 16 runs (all earned) 5HR 27BB and (wait for it) ….. 108 SO. By all means, trade that away. And be sure *NOT* to get a starting pitcher in this trade, cause we’re all stocked up here, right? In fact, why don’t you take a washup who was washed up the LAST time he came through here? I mean, gee, his numbers havent changed any, but wait, I forgot, this is the *magical* Disney season. He will be just fine when he gets a Braves uni on.
You owe a debt of gratitude to Derek Lowe. He could have gone out there and phoned it in for you, Frank. I mean, after all, it was only the best kept secret in the organization that you didnt think he was worth his money.
I wonder what Houston would have thought about Jurgiens mid June when he was 3-0 after coming off the DL and on fire?
Wren must go.
Chrissy
September 23rd, 2010
2:38 am
I think we have it under wraps…but is going to be a little weird to get it on the road…unless we do it sunday!
JB Has Spoken
September 23rd, 2010
2:40 am
The Braves can’t lose….Wren is great, assembling the greatest team ever.
Braves to the World Series,,,,,,,,YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JB HAS SPOKEN
Ueeediot
September 23rd, 2010
2:40 am
If Derrick Lee wants to watch baseball, why wont he buy tickets?
ward
September 23rd, 2010
2:44 am
ANYWAY : WE STILL HAVE TO FINISH OFF WASHINGTON NEXT, AND THEN THE BRAVES CAN MOVE ON FROM THERE. HAVE A GOOD ONE SEE YOU LATER! GO BRAVES!!!!!!!
Rowsdower
September 23rd, 2010
3:05 am
First off…congrats Phillies. You did what you had to do when it mattered. No reason to gloat.
Now, we are not out of this by any stretch. We still lead the WC despite what happened the last 3 days. At no point were we out of these games. We easily could’ve won 2 of 3 against their stacked pitching. I’m encouraged by this.
We have to field the ball better and we have to hit better when it matters. Easier said than done, but without errors, we can pitch our way to the wins we need.
You would think the Phils won all 3 games by 10 runs the way their fans have flocked to our blog to talk smack. See you guys in the NLCS.
Ueeediot
September 23rd, 2010
3:10 am
Better win 5/6 against Washington and Florida. And youll need at least 1 from the Phillies at home. (Cmon, at least win on Sunday for 6)
If I was the Phillies, I would be trying to put the Braves out of the playoffs next week when the Braves pitching staff STILL isnt matched up.
phillee fan
September 23rd, 2010
4:12 am
Chrissy, shut your damn mouth!!! The phillies will not win a world series, we barely beat a team that had two rookie pitchers on the mound two straight games, we should be lucky and thankful to win a division in which such a supreme team has dominated for so many straight years……
rc35
September 23rd, 2010
4:41 am
I’ve got nothing against the Phillies. They’re a class organization and have played excellent baseball for a month. If you line up player by player, we’re toast–I mean Utley is a gamer, and compare 1B–Ryan Howard has 30 HR and over 100 RBI while we have Glaus with a great month, two has-beens and a never-was over there. The only way the Braves can/could compete was to get the best out of various combos of guys full of heart, but it was sort of like getting the best dice roll on Strat-o-Matic, and those rolls only come up so many times.
Emotionally, it LOOKS like the Braves have quit. Our offense has had something like two good innings in the past week, and unless you get Tom Glavine’s proverbial “Pitch a shutout and hit a homerun,” good pitchinig alone can’t win games when the batters are putting up still life portraits every night.
I hope I can remember June, July, and August this winter, but the stink of September is making that pretty hard to do right now.
Eric C.
September 23rd, 2010
4:49 am
phillee fan or philee fan? why?
SUCK
September 23rd, 2010
5:09 am
I don’t want to see this miserable team in the playoffs—go play golf and lets start over with a few new faces next spring
Disgusted Braves Fan
September 23rd, 2010
5:38 am
The Braves may get in the playoffs on the WC but only because
of the closeness on the Padres/Giants/Rockies in the West Division
standings….otherwise I don`t think Braves can make it without help
they way they are playing now.
Bye-bye Braves – phillyBurbs.com (PS3 NEWS) » PS3 SONY PLAYSTATION 3 BLOG
September 23rd, 2010
5:48 am
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Ted M
September 23rd, 2010
5:56 am
McLouth’s throw was pitiful. I don’t get it, why lob the the ball in.
Terry
September 23rd, 2010
6:10 am
If Chipper and Bobby can’t get this team motivated, stick a fork in them……..their done!!!
Sons of Rick Matula
September 23rd, 2010
6:36 am
Whatever happened to Hinske? He’s no gazelle out there but could he play left worse than McLouth? We are supposedly putting our best defensive team out there in a bandbox ballpark. And we still had more errors than runs in the three games. Put Nate in center and put Ankiel on waivers. Hinske plays left.
Or, Brooks Conrad at 2B and Omar in LF – where he has played before.
Bobby’s book won’t work with Wren’s wretched club.
The math is not looking good for the last nine.
stoky
September 23rd, 2010
6:37 am
the phils gave bobby a case of kleenex last night as a going away present. Did you see him in the dugout pulling boogers like a machine. Yes he gave the phils the finger but in true cox fashion, it was the wrong one.
BobDawg
September 23rd, 2010
6:51 am
…these off days the Braves have (2 still) are huge…we win 2 out of 3 from the Nats and Fish and then get the Phils in our place which should be fun. My parents live in S.Jersey and we are going back and forth with smack talk… I used to be a HUGE Phillies fan growing up there but gotta support the local teams now…Go Braves!
whoops i did it again
September 23rd, 2010
6:54 am
Well its come to this two sports writers who act like nothin bad ever has in cox manangin skills lets remember Fact 91 92 lose world series..In 93 we win 103 games more then the sillies what happens we lose 4-2 to them.Excuse from Glavine we were Tired at end of season…Big excuse were the Yankees Tired when they won 109 games in 2000..with Torre and won 4-0 over mets..Lets hear is Dave O’Liein and Mark brodley…no answer we need go 9-0 folks to win Wild card are the Rockies will be there we be home watchin McCann throw ball over 2nd base.Where Prado at did he die are somethin…if we lose to Nats weekend n play like we waitin for spring Trainin well we did…So we also Hope The ted will be packed every game with Marlins n Phillies and we make loud sounds of cheers wave hankies to like in Phillies Fans do…Oh wait we In atlanta where People sit on there hands n clap like at a church picnic i go but alas some things keep me from doin that. So this is the game we must win 8-1 be in wild card be 95-67 at end are that all…and u see maybe atlanta vs Newyork in world series if Not be Phills vs Tampa Rays in World series again like face in 2008…
papadawg
September 23rd, 2010
6:56 am
Thanks for the season Braves, see you next year
DALTON BRAVE
September 23rd, 2010
7:03 am
Love my braves but phils are obviously the class of the N L they will win the pennant easily. Their big 3 starters remind me of the 96 braves Maddox, Glavine, Smoltz. Hold on to the Wild Card Braves!!
Turtsnap
September 23rd, 2010
7:04 am
Perhaps the Braves should look to hire Ron Gardenhire at the end of the season. Similar payroll, but he atleast knows how to get the most out of his players!
Bill Donohoo
September 23rd, 2010
7:05 am
It was so nice to see McLouth laughing as he came off the field after lollypopping a throw that cost the game. I hope he continues to have a good time on another team ASAP.
JP
September 23rd, 2010
7:11 am
The Braves are finished for the year. Pitching is not the Braves problem, it is hitting. When you score 4 runs in 3 games, you aren’t going to win many. Cox will be gone soon, and there will be changes made in the coaching staff. Maybe that will help.
DawgInDC
September 23rd, 2010
7:12 am
The Phillies are better and the braves know it. Heck they can’t even beat the crappy nationals…i don’t want to hear any dang stupid excuses when they lose 2 of 3 to the sorry nastynals