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
Larry in 19006
September 23rd, 2010
7:12 am
AS a longtime Phillies fan, it was a fun three-game series (especially with the end result). But, like Braves fans, I was surprised that Matt Diaz didn’t play more, because he has always hit the Phils. I also think Brian McCann is a class act, but anyone can make an error. What absolutely mystifies me is to see Turner Field with so many empty seats game after game. Where are the Braves fans?? The Phillies can handle the Rays if they get to the WS, but the Yankees will prove (again) a real challenge. I think we’re prepared to let Jason Werth walk; people like Scott Boras and his uncallous greed have absolutely ruined baseball. Bobby Cox is also a class act and I salute him for a fine career and the many challenges he’s given the Phils over the years.
Arkie
September 23rd, 2010
7:13 am
Cox’s handling of pitchers has cost our Braves numerous chances for wins. Ventors has been a “Lites Out” pitcher. Bobby has over used him to the point that it appears his arm is worn out. A new pitching coach, a new hitting coach and Manager for 2012 and we could get back to post season play. This season is going down hill FAST. We all love our Braves BUT they have many holes in the outfield that Wren did not address. Most of his stupid trades doomed us from the start. JS is Wren replaceable too. We have needed a power hitter for years. Wren stop shopping in the bargain basement!!
Ray
September 23rd, 2010
7:13 am
While I understand being down after being swept, you guys still have the SECOND BEST RECORD in the National League even after a tough few weeks!!! That’s nothing to sneeze at. The Phils have been CRAZY hot – I only hope they can let it down after they clinch and then somehow get it back when the post season starts. But you’ve played the Phils about even this year (maybe better, I’m not sure of the record for the season series but I know you were up before this series) and, given how close you came in 2 of these 3 games, things could turn around in the playoffs all too easily.
So, keep your heads up and play well and you’ll win the wild card. If the Phils clinch home field (which since we’re six games up on you folks and you’re up on everyone else, seems highly likely), they’ll come into Atlanta next weekend resting their people, so you have a good shot at winning that series, if not sweeping it. So take care of business against the Nats and Fish and you should get in while those NL West teams keep beating each other up. And then its a whole new season.
Look, I’m a Phillies guy through and through and I actually think that, now that we’re more or less healthy (J-Roll aside), this is the strongest Phillies team of the past three. So we should be favorites to reach the series and, if we do, I even like our chances against the Yanks or whoever this year just because of the strength of our top three pitchers. But we arguably weren’t good enough to win in 2008 but we got hot at the right time and pulled it out. And given how bad our starters were in the post season last year (we had Lee and half a Pedro and NOTHING else last year), we had no business getting there and deserved to lose to the Yankees. This year, we could beat anyone. But we could just as easily flame out in the first round or NLCS – baseball’s like that. We could EASILY lose to Cincinnati or you guys or Colorado. Although I like our chances against the Giants or Padres.
So hang in there. You have just about as good a shot as anyone and better than most.
-Ray
-Ray
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
September 23rd, 2010
7:14 am
wow, surprise surprise, the intense elite braves managed 1 FREAKIN HIT!!!! if this is any indication on how the season will end, folks you just witnessed it last night. no fire, no sense of urgency, nothing. maybe BC is doing this on purpose or the players have just given up. Either way, what a disappointing end to what was a great season. see you in 2011.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
September 23rd, 2010
7:15 am
yay, we got a hit last night. what a disappointing end to a great season. both the mgr and players have thrown in the towel. see you in 2011
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September 23rd, 2010
7:17 am
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Eric
September 23rd, 2010
7:19 am
As Leo says.. their BRICKS!
Eric
September 23rd, 2010
7:19 am
duhh they’re
losers!!
September 23rd, 2010
7:20 am
First pitch stirkes, 5 errors in three games,oh more errors than runs scored, lack of offense, nuff said….Braves are done and they deserve to be!!
rc35
September 23rd, 2010
7:21 am
A team with no offense just can’t get it done unless, to use Tom Glavine’s quote from Warren Spahn, “You pitch a shutout and hit a homerun!” The Phillies were just too deep–just compare first base–Ryan Howard, 30 HR and 100+ RBI–our first base–one month of greatness, two has-beens, and a maybe-someday-but-not-yet.
Right now, in the emotion of the moment, it’s hard to evaluate the situation. Come winter, will we remember the euphoria of June, July, and August, as a scrappy band of brothers fought and held first place, or will we remember the stench of September as an assemblage of incompetents did still-life portraits at home plate and played Three Stooges defense?
I once sat behind a somewhat-inebriated fan at the old Riverfront Stadium. For several innings, every time a Red came to bat, he shouted: “See the ball! Hit the ball!” Somehow, our hitters seem to have forgotten that simple admonition.
Arkie
September 23rd, 2010
7:21 am
Still half a sleep – Manager for 2012 – should be 2011. JS go out side the organization for your Coaches and Manager. They will want wins and production, not have been players.
Thomas
September 23rd, 2010
7:21 am
It is clear that Budget Baseball teams at the end of the season lose the ability to play, mostly from “man I just need a vacation or to what team will I be on next year?” This season can be reflected by the attendance at the ball park, We the fans, do not like the ownership of this team and will not support them.
losers!!
September 23rd, 2010
7:24 am
D Lee and A Gonz need to go!! Braves should have gotten A Dunn for the power they lack but didn’t and does it ever show. So, it’s more of the same…which is, see ya next year folks!
Jethro Bodeen
September 23rd, 2010
7:26 am
The Braves players will be sitting around their cement ponds with their portable tv’s watching the post season games like the rest of us!
papadawg
September 23rd, 2010
7:26 am
How long will we have to wait for the Braves to announce the new manager and which farm team will he be coming from. That’s the pay they will most likely want
CreekBoy
September 23rd, 2010
7:33 am
The reason people aren’t going out to the ball park is because of performances like last night’s. The hitters didn’t show up…something that has happened over and over again with this team.
It's over
September 23rd, 2010
7:37 am
Braves will be out of the wild card race before the Phillies come to town. But does it really matter? If they made it to the playoffs, do we really think we can beat the Phillies one game, much less 4?
JPop
September 23rd, 2010
7:42 am
If you follow baseball, you know that teams go through stretches where everything goes right. Each liner down the line stays fair. Each borderline ball/strike call goes your way. Well, the Phillies are in one of those stretches right now. The consolation for Braves fans is that those stretches eventually end and the baseball gods stop smiling on you. I’m not sure the Phillies luck will change fast enough but it will change. I’m hopeful we’ll sneak in with the wild card just as the Phillies start experiencing some of the bad breaks the Braves have experienced this week.
Cox Basher
September 23rd, 2010
7:56 am
This series is another example of why Bobby Cox should have retired years ago. The most overrated Manager in baseball history. With the talent he has had over the year, should have been more successful. Thank God he is finally retiring but please don;t put Terry P. in the seat.
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September 23rd, 2010
8:01 am
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Dumbo
September 23rd, 2010
8:02 am
Yes Sir…..Frank “I have no idea” Wren and Bobby “Thumb in the bun” Cox oughta be happy. Their team, the Braves, have managed to have won 85+ games this year, in spite of their (Wren & Cox) lousy attempts to fix the team. No team I can recall has made as many errors or been so dreadful at hitting with men on base as this Braves team. Heck, for a pitcher to get a win, he has to pitch a shutout and pray that the other pitcher makes a few bad pitches. Hanson has either lost or had a no decision in 11 starts, in which he gave up less than 3 runs. Yes sir, Wren & Cox, can we, also, ask Wren to leave after the season, just to make sure Cox doesn’t get lonely.
Gen Neyland
September 23rd, 2010
8:03 am
Start two rookies on the hill in a critical three game series, then another rookie charged with a game changing error in game one. Lollipop Nate gets partial credit for last nights only Phillies run, Prado sure didn’t look hiself at all. The Phillies are a solid veteran club practically top to bottom and it has shown, not only in the Braves series, but in the month of SEP..Still, it ain’t over till it’s over…
Gordie Howe
September 23rd, 2010
8:05 am
HOW SWEET IT IS!!! NO PLAYOFFS FOR BRAVES IS THE GOAL WE ALL AS ATLANTANS STRIVE FOR.
Ramjet
September 23rd, 2010
8:06 am
McLouth is an iceberg, he is sinking the ship.
joe
September 23rd, 2010
8:07 am
20 years ago there was a poor defensive catcher that made up for his dificiencies with his offense. The difference is Piazza hit .320/30+ HR/120 RBI and Mcfat hits .275/20/80. Time to get better behind the plate Brian……
Gordie Howe
September 23rd, 2010
8:08 am
you are right MClouth was great with the Pirates the Braves organization squashes talent..they come here and get stupid much like the residents
The other Dean
September 23rd, 2010
8:08 am
Boy, it sure would be nice to have the 48 home runs Adam Laroche and Kelly Johnson have for AZ.
If I were the Phillies I’d be thinking, “The Braves have no hitters to speak of and we could have easily lost 2 of 3.”
If their pitching falters at all in the playoffs, they’re done.
braves fan
September 23rd, 2010
8:08 am
Would any other “play-off” team in the major leagues start either Nate McLouth (.185) or Rick Ankiel (.205)????…..it’s no mystery why they continue to falter……I really liked Ankiel’s top of the 6th at bat…….take two heaters right down the middle of the plate, then whiff at one shouler high and inside……….maybe next year.
BaseballBuff
September 23rd, 2010
8:09 am
The Phils have a good, confident team and are fun to watch. The Yankees or Rays will have their hands full with them. As for the Braves, maybe next year, but I’m starting to get old.
Taylor Wooten
September 23rd, 2010
8:10 am
That was a pitiful display. Talk about rolling over. They have dont deserve the playoffs.
10-1 lead after 3
September 23rd, 2010
8:10 am
Someone has to be held accountable for this implosion. This is the worst collapse in Atlanta’s sports history. HOW DOES BOBBY COX STILL HAVE A JOB????
reebok
September 23rd, 2010
8:10 am
” “We couldn’t have done much better,” manager Bobby Cox said after Wednesday’s loss.” I would think that was a mis-quote unless I’d watched this moron butcher the management of this team for nearly 20 years.
Absolutely pathetic. A fitting coda to this tired, incompetent old fool’s reign of error will be taking a team leading its’ division by 7 games in August and missing the playoffs altogether. What a perfect finish to the career of the ‘manager’ who took more talent and accomplished less with it than any manager in MLB history.
bbkorbel
September 23rd, 2010
8:11 am
Tuesday night I was watching the game in bed & tried to go to sleep listening the rest of the way. Couldn’t fall to sleep with the Braves losing. So my wife came into the room & turned on Dancing with the Stars & BOOM…out like a light!
Werthless
September 23rd, 2010
8:14 am
I think “if” is the most common word used by Braves fans. It’s kind of pathetic, time to face reality. Also, if you look at the teams since the All Star break, Philly has been playing much better than TB or NYY and the Phillies have better pitching witch always carries you far in October. Not just one ACE, but now three!
hucker
September 23rd, 2010
8:15 am
Let’s face it – if you can’t hit, you can’t win. The Braves right now are not playing basic baseball – witness missing the cutoff man on the Phillies run in the eighth. They don’t move runners over, hardly ever get the big hit. Don’t look for a playoff spot. Given the team’s history in Washington, I’d bet they will lose two of three there. They didn’t put the Phillies away when they had the chance in July and it’s coming back to haunt them.
JMOR
September 23rd, 2010
8:16 am
I can see the Braves losing the rest of their games…Who is going to get a hit? Although the starting rotation was supposed to be “the best in baseball” we know that is not true. The game last night could have gone 15 innings and the Braves would not have scored. The pitching no longer matters with the offense shut down. And the defense, what can I say.If there is a worse defensive catcher in the league, I can’t name him. Half this team will be gone next year…Ankiel,Melky,Lee,Glaus,Farnsworth,all gone, and KK and McLouth not tradeable because they have large contracts and are not major league talents. The Braves need to dismantle this mess and go with youth next year.
Thomas
September 23rd, 2010
8:17 am
Complete games by Braves starting pitchers this season? 2
Werthless
September 23rd, 2010
8:18 am
Give your young pitchers credit, although it is common in MLB for rookie pitchers to have moderate success before a reliable scouting report can be formulated and hitters get acclimated to their pitches. Philly should not be worried too much about their run production, they have a habit of scoring when(and only when) they need to. With studs on the mound, they fell into a false sense of security.
Meatball
September 23rd, 2010
8:18 am
Why do we want the Braves to get the wild card slot – it just extends the pain. This team is done. Watching another post season of Bobby Cox bone head decisions is not how I want to spend early October.
DALTON BRAVE
September 23rd, 2010
8:20 am
Ankiel should not play another game this year still takes that pitchers approche swing hard in case you hit it which he never does. put McClouth in center the rest of the way. put Diaz in left screw the lefty righty crap Diaz is a very unconvential hitter and given the chance might get it done.
Cecil34
September 23rd, 2010
8:21 am
More than likely, based upon how the Braves usually play Washington and Florida, they will drop 2 out of 3 from each series, then face Phillies scrubs the last 3 games and struggle to win one of them.
Too little, too late.
BaseballBuff
September 23rd, 2010
8:21 am
Many fans predicted this godawful collapse. Talented or not, the Braves had a solid lead in the division and were plenty good enough to do better than they have. Sure, we still lead the wildcard and may somehow hang on to it, but any hope of postseason play seems like grasping at straws at the moment. If we lose the wildcard spot, this will certainly be one of the biggest, most prolonged collapses of the Bobby Cox era, but it sadly is not surprising.
RGP
September 23rd, 2010
8:23 am
Hansen pitched superb. Don’t understand why Hudson didnt start one of the 3 games instead of two rookies. Phils had their 3 aces going. Team defense has killed us all year and did again. McCann needs to work on his throws to second and not throws into the outfield.
jsmuga
September 23rd, 2010
8:23 am
Glad Bobby Cox is gone soon……………..
RM
September 23rd, 2010
8:24 am
Last night’s performance is exactly what you will get from the Braves if they even make the playoffs. A game they needed to win and they get 1 lousy hit! They will get swept in the first round so who really cares if they make it. They have no business in the playoffs with those bats.
RM
September 23rd, 2010
8:25 am
What you saw last night is exactly what you will get from the braves in the playoffs. Crunch time and they get 1 hit!
jimmya
September 23rd, 2010
8:28 am
wish wren would go to
Randle Patrick McMurphy
September 23rd, 2010
8:29 am
McCann needs to work on more than his throwing… try pushing himself away from the table and working on his waistline…
Steve-o
September 23rd, 2010
8:30 am
In the most important series of the year, Bobby Cox inserts Ankiel into the lineup for two straight games. Brilliant strategizing! News flash Bobby — Ankiel CANNOT hit. And, unfortunately, McLouth is back to early season form. A lineup with two players hitting .184 and ..202 is downright embarrassing. Result: loss.
Liberty Media Brass
September 23rd, 2010
8:31 am
Over 2 million attendance. Not bad for a non playoff team. Let’s all take a drink and be somebody.