Live from the Braves: There’s a wild card to be clinched
This is how it ended last season. It should go better this time. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Three hundred sixty-three days after they last took the field with a chance to make the playoffs, the Braves are here again. The night of Sept. 28, 2011, went badly: They lost 4-3 to Philadelphia in 13 innings while the Cardinals were winning 8-0 in Houston, and the Braves went nowhere but home.
There’s reason to believe tonight will yield a better return. Kris Medlen is pitching, and the Braves haven’t lost a game he has started since May 23, 2010. The opponent is Miami, which quit on the season long ago and is apparently trying to decide who to fire when. But this is baseball, and as the famous philosopher/pitcher Joaquin Andujar once noted: “There is one word in America that says it all, and that word is ‘you never know.’ ”
The magic number for clinching a wild card is down to 1, so even if the Braves lose the deed would be done should both the Brewers and Dodgers lose. (The former is playing in Cincinnati, the latter in San Diego.) But the Braves would like to be able to have their champagne party — that’s correct; even the wild card is occasion to break out the bubbly — without having to wait around until 1 a.m.
Whatever happens, I’d appreciate your company as the night unfolds. And I’d also ask a favor: In between innings, click over and watch my little video chat with Noah Coslov of CineSport. It concerns the Braves, oddly enough, and we do like it when y’all watch our videos.
As ever, I thank you in advance.
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187 comments Add your comment
Steve
September 25th, 2012
7:56 pm
Not sure why my comment did not post. Josh my guess is either 4:00 or 8:00. MLB will wait and see who is in and then put the big market/popular teams on prime-time.
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
7:56 pm
MB, immaterial now what the Brewers are doing. It will obviously be the Cards the Braves face TO SEE WHO THE WILDCARD REP IS !!! Then the playoffs start.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
7:57 pm
Martin Prado with a two-out triple. Nice bit of hitting. Took it the opposite way and ran hard.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
7:58 pm
But Jason H. whiffs. Four strikeouts for Eovaldi, three that inning.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
7:59 pm
It’s not immaterial how the Brewers are doing if the Braves lose this one. They can still clinch tonight if both Milwaukee and L.A. lose.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:01 pm
Reyes with an infield hit. Simmons got the ball but couldn’t throw him out.
Cracker
September 25th, 2012
8:01 pm
Prado is unreplaceable. With Hudson’s lifetime record when he has a big lead, I’d tend to cut him a little slack, myself. Hindsight isn’t just 20-20, it’s perfect. I’m trying to think about what I’d do in the manager’s place, with Hudson on the mound in the 7th and a four run lead. If he weren’t worn out, I’d let him pitch.
Steve
September 25th, 2012
8:02 pm
I think Dum-Bass needs a hug.
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
8:02 pm
Also, STEVE and CRACKER, FG did not start “mixing up his lineup” until way past the all star break, which was too late. Many were calling for him to put Prado at 2B and Reed Johnson in left way before he started doing it. That right there, plus a couple of other “tweaks” could have easily made a 5-6 game difference. You said nobody had cited any examples, there’s two I have presented already. Say “Uncle”.
Remley
September 25th, 2012
8:04 pm
Reyes was out!
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:04 pm
Medlen almost picks off Reyes. Not quite, though. Freeman wanted the call.
But Carlos Lee hits into a double play.
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
8:04 pm
Clinch what, MB?
Remley
September 25th, 2012
8:05 pm
Well didn’t matter with the DP
Josh
September 25th, 2012
8:05 pm
Philadelphia-2
Nationals-1
Bottom 3rd
Big Crimson 75
September 25th, 2012
8:05 pm
Uggla has been completely backwards as a Brave :
better than advertised fielder & worse than advertised hitter!!
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
8:05 pm
No, STEVE, I actually NEED a million dollars!
Josh
September 25th, 2012
8:06 pm
Philadelphia-5
Nationals-1
Bottom 3rd
Steve
September 25th, 2012
8:06 pm
Atlanta has the 6th best record in baseball. Just pathetic right! Ha. 3rd best on the road in all of MLB. Terrible manager!
Cracker
September 25th, 2012
8:10 pm
Okay, Dumb-Bass; many people calling for it must make it right. You’re right, Steve and I are wrong. Let’s enjoy the game.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:11 pm
Good to see that Bradley is at the ball yard to watch the braves clinch.
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
8:11 pm
Most “normal” managers would much prefer to be winning a division than looking forward to playing just one game to see if they can somehow be the wildcard rep. Anything can happen in one game. Ask any of them and see what answer you get. FG has done better, I will grant you that, recently, but he is far from being what would be considered one of the “better” managers in baseball. He comes up way short in many areas.
Paul Lipsey
September 25th, 2012
8:12 pm
Just wondering — while Bourn isn’t playing, can they send him over to the Falcon’s practice facility and let him show our QB how to slide without looking like he’s going to break a leg? It can’t be as hard to get on the ground as Ryan makes it look ALMOST EVERY TIME . . . . .
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:13 pm
Having Medlen in the rotation all season could have made up those games also.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:14 pm
Freeman with a good at-bat that ends in a strikeout. Eovaldi looks sharp.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:14 pm
Hello Dum-bass, did you leave the DOB blog?
MitchC
September 25th, 2012
8:16 pm
Mark, after what happened last year, I will be happy to see the Braves get one of the wild cards,. I hope I;m not being too pessimistic, but.. I can’t really feel the electricity unless they get past the “play in game”.
As I’m sure many others have expressed, I’m not in favor of that at all. Even though we will have home field advantage for the game, its still.. uneasy.
My personal feeling is that next year, they should either do away with the play in game.. or.. make it like they did in 1951, and make the two wild cards play a three game series to decide who goes to the NLDS.
After what happened last year, I will be happy if the Braves get it. They have had a good season, but the play in game really is something I dont approve of.
bulldogbubba
September 25th, 2012
8:16 pm
Can,t we just go ahead and score some runs get this over with?Don Sutton is encouraged by Dan Uggla’s hitting.What more can we ask for!
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:16 pm
Uggla with another walk
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:18 pm
Agree with you Mitch. The one game playoff just makes you use your best pitcher before the NLDS.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:20 pm
after last season it will be nice to see the braves clinch anything.
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
8:24 pm
Hi ACE, well, yes and no. On it sometimes. Too many “prima donnas”, DOB Elite fan club members, and “Clique groups” for my enjoyment usually. If you say one thing one of the long-timers disagrees with, usually the others will gang up and bully you verbally. DOB does have his “pets” too!
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:26 pm
Still 1-1. Still nothing much happening in the way of hitting.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:28 pm
Dum-Bass. Spot on, spot on. It you dare disagree with any DOB says the DOBBERS will gang up in a hurry. I have often thought that DOB was using an alias too.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:29 pm
Let’s get some runs for Medlen.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:31 pm
It’s getting late early
Chop 'em braves
September 25th, 2012
8:32 pm
Hey Mark, who’s St Louis looking to start against Medlen?
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:34 pm
what is the attendance tonight at the Ted
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:36 pm
Not sure, Chop. I’d guess Wainwright.
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
8:36 pm
It would be terrible for Medlen to give up one run on a HR, and the Braves NOT win the game!
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:36 pm
Be great for Chipper to hit one in bottom of the ninth for the team to clinch.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:37 pm
Attendance won’t be announced for a bit. I’d say 18,000.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
8:38 pm
Mark, how is the attendance tonight. Does it have that playoff feel.
Dum-Bass
September 25th, 2012
8:38 pm
I’ve always like Wayne Wright(I know, I know, somebody use to call him that) ever since he came out of high school in Brunswick GA. He should be with the Braves!
shelbydawkins
September 25th, 2012
8:39 pm
Miami is playing us like it’s the seventh game of the world series… gonna take a miracle to win this one.
Chop 'em braves
September 25th, 2012
8:40 pm
That’s an awful attendance. School is the only thing keeping me away!
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:40 pm
After further review, let me change my guess: Kyle Lohse.
He would have been the Cards’ pitcher for the one-game playoff in St. Louis last year, had there been one.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:41 pm
Each hurler with seven K’s.
Turd Ferguson
September 25th, 2012
8:42 pm
any one but the Braves
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:42 pm
Maybe 20-some thousand here. I’m not good on crowd estimates.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
8:42 pm
Heyward with a one-out triple. Chipper stands in