Lousy call, lousy game, lousy system: A lousy Braves’ exit
This was a warm and fuzzy moment. The rest of the night stunk. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Why to hate baseball’s newly minted play-in game: Because you can be, as the Braves were over the course of six months, the demonstrably better team and still give a performance that fuses the three-error Brooks Conrad game of October 2010 and the Epic Collapse of September 2011. Because you can go home having sipped from the postseason cup for all of 189 minutes. Because you can put yourself in position to be rooked by those darn replacement umps.
Wait. These aren’t replacements? These are the real umpires? Is this a real sport?
Had Andrelton Simmons’ pop that dropped been allowed to stand, the Braves would have had the bases loaded and one out. When you’re trailing by three runs in the eighth inning, that’s rather different than having men on second and third with two out, which is what they wound up having. But not before the game was halted for 19 minutes as the field was cleared of the cups and bottles that had been flung, with somewhat greater accuracy than the Braves’ infielders displayed this night, by incensed patrons.
Pete Kozma, the St. Louis shortstop, was positioning himself to catch Simmons’ meek fly when he stopped running and chose to leave it to left fielder Matt Holliday. And here we note the incongruity: A shortstop deferred to an outfielder on what left-field umpire Sam Holbrook adjudged an infield fly. It was a horrible call, indefensible at the moment and more ludicrous after further video review, but this is baseball and replay can be applied only to home runs. (The Braves registered an official protest. Summarily denied.)
And thus, in its first manifestation, was baseball’s play-in game rendered a bigger joke that it appeared on paper. A team that won 94 games is gone; a team that won 88 gets to go home and play twice against the National League’s No. 1 seed. One bad performance. One lousy bit of umpiring. Season over.
“You’ve got to judge a team over the 162-game season,” said Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez, classy in bizarre defeat. “Anyone can have one bad call [go against them] or one bad game.”
His team was guilty on the latter charge. The team that made the fewest errors among National League teams offered up three in the span of four innings, leading to four unearned runs. Each was on a throw, each by an infielder. First Chipper Jones, playing his last game. Then Dan Uggla. Then the aforementioned Simmons, a rookie shortstop at the center of nearly everything Friday night.
The errors turned a two-run lead — and Chipper, speaking before the game, had suggested the game’s first run could be the determinant — into a 6-2 deficit after 6 1/2 innings. By then the unbeatable Kris Medlen was gone, having yielded only three hits and two earned runs but about to become a loser as a starting pitcher for the first time since 2010. That left the Braves in comeback mode, and there were moments when they appeared capable of climbing the mountain. But Chipper swung at the first pitch and grounded out in the seventh with two men in scoring position, and Michael Bourn struck out with the bases loaded to close the infamous eighth, and Uggla, representing the tying run, ended the season by grounding to second.
Said Gonzalez: “We didn’t score runs, and we didn’t handle the baseball.”
Said Chipper: “You give a good team extra outs and it ends up lightning.”
To his credit, the man who will play no more faulted himself above all. “Ultimately when we look back on this loss we have to look ourselves in the mirror,” Chipper said. “We put ourselves behind 6-2. Three errors cost us the ballgame, and mine [a fourth-inning throwaway of a cinch double play] was probably the biggest. I’m not willing to say a call cost us the ballgame.”
Because he always been a stand-up guy, you wanted it to end better. Still, in his final at-bat the great Chipper Jones managed to block out the deafening ovation and the applause from the Cardinals’ dugout — he tipped his helmet to the crowd and pointed to the visiting team — and the flashes from camera-phones and remind us why he was so great. He worked the count to 3-2 against the heat-bringing Jason Motte, and finally he put bat on ball (breaking said bat) and legged out an infield hit. Down to his and his team’s final strike, he got a hit.
We’re lucky that, as time does its work, we’ll have our memories of Chipper Jones to keep us warm. And maybe someday we can get past the strange doings on a lousy night in October 2012, when a good team played badly and got unlucky to boot, and thanks to this silly professional “system” it was eliminated. At least in the College World Series they play double elimination.
By Mark Bradley
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516 comments Add your comment
Walt
October 6th, 2012
1:53 am
@kingdaddy, You are a chump.
rocllfan
October 6th, 2012
1:55 am
Ditto all around.I’m officially boycotting ESPN.They had the gall to post on FB that the reign of Chipper Jones had come to an end.Did he deserve a standing O.Can u believe it? I’ve unfollowed themand am a HUGE sports fan.Never will I watch ANYTHING on there again.
Busch Leaguer
October 6th, 2012
2:02 am
Holbrook should at the very least do what Jim Joyce did ,and admit he blew the call.
Busch Leaguer
October 6th, 2012
2:06 am
But the real reason for the loss is what has dogged this team all year,another 0-fer day with runners in scoring position.It is hard to win against playoff caliber teams when you have to depend on home runs to score all of your runs.
bulldogbubba
October 6th, 2012
2:10 am
Time to rebuild.Glad Chipper is gone.Hope we lose Uggla and Hanson over the off season. I would rather have a rookie at 2nd base next year than no hit Uggla.Bourn will either leave or take less money since he declined at the end of this season. We need somebody with pop in their bat to score runs. Oh well Frank will fix it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get over it
October 6th, 2012
2:12 am
It wasn’t the ninth inning where Chip made his error. It was the top of the fourth. The team still had 24 outs to score runs. 3-2 in the fourth is winnable…IF the team drives in baserunners. Bravos struggled
scoring all year. Bourn had a nice year, not a great one. He doesn’t put the ball in play enough.
Uggla….what an enigma. Do you send him home with instructions to NOT see how big he can get his biceps, slowing down his swing in the process? Or do you just send him home, with instructions to get another job?
But, we’ll be solid in RF, 1B, 3B, SS and rotation. Interesting offseason awaits….but first, FOOTBALL
Nick
October 6th, 2012
2:14 am
And thats why I don’t go to games. Not watching on tv anymore either.
Get over it
October 6th, 2012
2:14 am
The error was in fourth inning. Plenty of time to recover. Braves can’t score runs all year. At some point, pitching and defense aren’t enough. When the defense has a bad day, pitching alone surely isn’t enough. We need offensive addition in the offseason. Uggla isn’t it.
Get over it
October 6th, 2012
2:15 am
How about giving Pastor a shot a second? Anyone in the minors ready to take over there? Left field?
Gerry
October 6th, 2012
2:28 am
Hey, Braves. Now you know how WE feel.
- Sincerely, the Green Bay Packers.
Robert Brooks
October 6th, 2012
2:34 am
It was the right call. Thank God, no replacements made it. Shame, shame on the redneck drunks. Ted and city deserve better. Would never happen in St.Louis.
Gritsfed
October 6th, 2012
2:39 am
Terrible, terrible defense by the Braves. It was almost embarrasing! Especially by Chipper and Uggla! I feel bad for Medlen. He pitched very well all things considered and the defense ripped his heart out as well as Braves’ fans everywhere.
Spud
October 6th, 2012
3:20 am
Mark, probably the most spot on article you have ever written! Stupid “playoff” system where one bad game sends you home and a horrible call was the cherry on top. A 225 foot infield fly! Really!?!? I doubt any of us will ever see a call like that again.
Going to miss Chipper and Born! Hope the new CF is a good leadoff hitter.
Atlanta-HomeOfTheWhiteTrashLoserIdiots
October 6th, 2012
3:53 am
To the abundantly uneducated fans, writers and players in Atlanta that abound everywhere. Let us classy St Louis Cardinal fans who don’t throw beer on opposing fans when they visit our stadium or run them out of the stadium so they can’t finish to watch the game they paid to attend or throw trash at players, umpires, opposing fans and the field when calls don’t go there way. That’s exactly how white trash six year olds behave.
First 100% of every umpire, umpire analyst, supervisor of officials and executive VP of MLB not only agree that the call was made 100% correctly but that how the call was made was done 100% correctly.
To educate the uneducated city further. The umpires in every baseball game for decades have made this call the exact same way this entire time (If anyone in Atlanta can afford the MLB baseball channel, I suggest you watch it as they have been happy to educate the city of Atlanta on their show tonight) They even showed examples of other games showing players traveling just as far as Kozma and umpires calling the play with the exact same timing as Mr. Holbrook.
As every umpire and analyst will explain, they wait until the ball reaches the apex (big word for you Atlanta) of it’s flight then look to see if the infielder (or even outfielder if it could ordinarily have been handled by an infielder) is underneath the ball to make an “ordinary” catch. MLB network showed that the ball landed exactly one step to the side of where Kozma the shortstop was standing.
Every umpire analyst (nearly all former mlb umpires) stated that this is always how they are instructed to call the infield fly rule and that is the exact order in how they are instructed to signal the call. The third base umpire confirmed Mr. Holbrooks call on the field as well. It is the left field umpires call as stated by the analysts, and made 100% correctly.
In the future, I suggest doing what the Cardinals always do. Like hitting when runners are in scoring position. And preventing the opposing team from scoring when they have runners in scoring position. It’s an amazing strategy that has worked really well for their 11 World Series titles in the past. This way you are not looking for the umpires to hand you the victory just because you are mentally petulant, white-trash 6 year olds.
I like other Cardinal fans have stated for years that the rule is stupid and should never be called that far away from the infield, even though it has ALWAYS been called that way. So should any of the Braves fans, writers or players taken the intelligent argument that it is a stupid rule despite the umpire accurately making the call, then that would have been highly understandable.
Instead the fans, writers, and players of Atlanta want to make the whiny, stupid argument that the whole world is out to get them and please hand them the victory Mr. umpire because they can never earn it themselves. Brilliant!
Then they throw beer and trash at the umpires, players, Cardinal fans and the field because that’s exactly what 6 year white trash Atlanta losers do. Cardinal fans drenched in beer (yes I have Cardinal friends this happened to whom were attending the game and witnessed others in similar despair) are forced to leave the game in the 8th inning and the game is delayed for 20 minutes. Brilliant!
You have the undisputed title as the worst fans in baseball! Congratulations Atlanta you finally earned something!
Watchman
October 6th, 2012
3:53 am
Um, Bradley, ftw is up with this: *** Why to hate baseball’s newly minted play-in game: Because you can be, as the Braves were over the course of six months, the demonstrably better team ***
Have you forgotten the Braves weren’t good enough to WIN THE DIVISION? Should the “first” Wild Card team get advantages the “second” team doesn’t get? LOL!! Think about your words, Bradley. LOL! What a pathetic journalist you are. And you pack a feeble mind in addition. Quit whining. Better yet, resign!
Strange Murphy
October 6th, 2012
3:54 am
Done with MLB.
Happy Watching @ Home!
October 6th, 2012
4:22 am
To the abundantly uneducated fans, writers and players in Atlanta that abound everywhere. Let us classy St Louis Cardinal fans who don’t throw beer on opposing fans when they visit our stadium or run them out of the stadium so they can’t finish to watch the game they paid to attend or throw trash at players, umpires, opposing fans and the field when calls don’t go there way. That’s exactly how white trash six year olds behave.
First 100% of every umpire, umpire analyst, supervisor of officials and executive VP of MLB not only agree that the call was made 100% correctly but that how the call was made was done 100% correctly.
To educate the uneducated city further. The umpires in every baseball game for decades have made this call the exact same way this entire time (If anyone in Atlanta can afford the MLB baseball channel, I suggest you watch it as they have been happy to educate the city of Atlanta on their show tonight) They even showed examples of other games showing players traveling just as far as Kozma and umpires calling the play with the exact same timing as Mr. Holbrook.
As every umpire and analyst will explain, they wait until the ball reaches the apex (big word for you Atlanta) of it’s flight then look to see if the infielder (or even outfielder if it could ordinarily have been handled by an infielder) is underneath the ball to make an “ordinary” catch. MLB network showed that the ball landed exactly one step to the side of where Kozma the shortstop was standing.
Every umpire analyst (nearly all former MLB umpires) stated that this is always how they are instructed to call the infield fly rule and that is the exact order in how they are instructed to signal the call. The third base umpire confirmed Mr. Holbrooks call on the field as well. It is the left field umpires call as stated by the analysts, and made 100% correctly.
In the future, I suggest doing what the Cardinals always do. Like hitting when runners are in scoring position. And preventing the opposing team from scoring when they have runners in scoring position. It’s an amazing strategy that has worked really well for their 11 World Series titles in the past. This way you are not looking for the umpires to hand you the victory just because you are mentally petulant, white-trash 6 year olds.
I like other Cardinal fans have stated for years that the rule is stupid and should never be called that far away from the infield, even though it has ALWAYS been called that way. So should any of the Braves fans, writers or players taken the intelligent argument that it is a stupid rule despite the umpire accurately making the call, then that would have been highly understandable.
Instead the fans, writers, and players of Atlanta want to make the whiny, stupid argument that the whole world is out to get them and please hand them the victory Mr. umpire because they can never earn it themselves. Brilliant!
Then they throw beer and trash at the umpires, players, Cardinal fans and the field because that’s exactly what 6 year white trash Atlanta losers do. Cardinal fans drenched in beer (yes I have Cardinal friends this happened to whom were attending the game and witnessed others in similar despair) are forced to leave the game in the 8th inning and the game is delayed for 20 minutes. Brilliant!
You have the undisputed title as the worst fans in baseball! Congratulations Atlanta you finally earned something!
RaleighDawg
October 6th, 2012
5:37 am
Let’s all be honest – Chipper’s final “hit” was an error on the Cardinal’s second baseman…had Chipper been hustling down the line I could see giving him a hit, but true to his nature, even in his final at bat, Chipper was loafing down the line. HOF’er my patootie !
Road Scholar
October 6th, 2012
5:38 am
Why have a “protest” rule if you never uphold and obviously putrid call?
RaleighDawg
October 6th, 2012
5:39 am
Any chance at all that Josh Hamilton would end up with the Braves ?
Lupica
October 6th, 2012
5:39 am
Hey Chipper dont let the door hit you on the way out, thanks for the errors last night!!!!
Go Vols
October 6th, 2012
6:13 am
From Wohler’s giving up the bomb that turned the Series around to Lonnie Smith not knowing where he was on the basepaths to the era with the big bangers (Shef and company) who couldn’t deliver in the playoffs to Brooks Conrad to last year’s collapse to this, the Braves continue to demonstrate a lack of mental toughness in the playoffs. They’ve been built for years to provide us with solid, regular season competitiveness but time and again, they demonstrate they don’t have what it takes at the next level. I will always be a Braves fan but it is agonizing to experience. I’ll miss Chipper as well and hate that he faltered in his last night.
Disputed Call Nearly Causes Riot at Wild-Card Game – ABC News
October 6th, 2012
6:13 am
[...] if many people — even hard-score fans — don't know exactly what it is. The disputed …Lousy call, lousy game, lousy system: A lousy Braves' exitAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)Braves play, lose playoff game under protest after controversial [...]
Thank you and good night.
October 6th, 2012
6:17 am
That’s baseball.
Buddy Landel
October 6th, 2012
6:34 am
Raleigh- That was FAR from a routine play by the 2nd baseman on Chipper’s hit. You are wrong there.
James
October 6th, 2012
6:37 am
Blame the home plate ump…he should have clearly overruled the call. The clown ump in the outfield still stands by his call. He should be unemployed after that call. What a joke!
Ron Gant
October 6th, 2012
6:40 am
I know bad calls.
That was a horrible call!
Ebenezer Snerdberg
October 6th, 2012
6:50 am
LAST TWO (2) POSTS HAVE BEEN SQUELCHED. SO BE IT AJC KMA!
Falconsjrt
October 6th, 2012
6:58 am
Come off it fans who are putting down and disrespecting our atlanta braves! I am a proud fan of passion and last night the umps were wrong and for the first time sence 1999 i saw passion with us THE REAL AND TRUE DIE HARD FANS of our Braves!! A lot of you have jumped of the band waggon and saying bad things about our team. LIKE CHIPPER SHOW SOME RESPECT FANS!!!!
Thinking Out Loud
October 6th, 2012
7:01 am
Has anyone looked into the pattern developing between the St. Louis Cardinals and debris being thrown onto the playing field? Just a couple of examples: Joe Medwick in the 1934 WS game with the Detroit Tigers; 1999 Phillies/Cards game where batteries were thrown at JD Drew; and now last night’s debacle. I’m starting to think maybe it’s really all the Cardinals’ fault?!
Carl
October 6th, 2012
7:09 am
We came from middle TN to watch an historic event, two Cardinal fans, two Braves fans, one of the Braves fans being a nine year old. A mother with a newborn sitting in front of us. My son and I are avid Cardinal fans, but love being at Turner Field with what we used to think were hospitable fans. Then mayhem visited us and the ugly side of human nature reared up its atrocious head. We left in the middle of the melee because the nine yr old was obviously traumatized. Will he recover? I hope so. Atlanta fans… I understand the frustration, I would feel terrible, but you have to remind yourself that the world is watching… and judging.
HJ Nalpak
October 6th, 2012
7:10 am
Atlanta professional sports as always…so disappointing.
Rob
October 6th, 2012
7:15 am
The right call was made. Look up the rule and apply it correctly and you will make the same. Call. My problem is the time should have never been given after Lohse started his motion. That 2 run homer was a gift. Also after looking at replays chipper was out at first. Craig did touch the base just before jones did. Funny bow you Brave fans aren’t crying about those blown calls.
RGP
October 6th, 2012
7:16 am
The three errors killed them. The bad call snuffed out a potential comeback. After that crappy call maybe next year MLB will allow infield fly rules to be reviewed.
bill
October 6th, 2012
7:16 am
would the same call have been made against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. No and that fan did not reach out and catch an out several years ago. Baseball is a simple game compared to football but these union boozoos keep screwing it up.
desbil123
October 6th, 2012
7:17 am
BASEBALL IS RIGGED EVERYONE
JOE BIDEN
October 6th, 2012
7:20 am
Sam Holbrook,is a good friend of mine and he made the right call ,i would have done the same thing!
GT
October 6th, 2012
7:35 am
Chipper Jones brought winning to Losersville. Before Chipper and his crowd you could sit behind home plate and watch baseball like it was on your television, with a few thousand fans that could hear each other several sections over. Chipper Jones maybe even more than Hank Aaron, who did most of his best work in Milwaukee, made Atlanta a real major league town. You could be on business in NY or LA and the two things people wanted to know about was Augusta and the Braves. To this day the only professional championship we have ever had. He started here and he finished here, he is one of us.
Stinger 2
October 6th, 2012
7:35 am
To Dum-Bass: Good to hear you say you are dumping the Braves. I hope other “fans” like you will do the same.
dale morphy
October 6th, 2012
7:36 am
The Braves played great defense all year, just not tonight. Medlen also was subpar compared to his usual lofty standards. The call was questionable at best. It all just underscores the need to go to a 3 game series, a home, away, home format. Baseball is not like any other sport: anybody can beat anybody in a single game. If the Yankees or Reds or whoever plays last night, they are just as likely to lose, and that is just wrong.
Peter
October 6th, 2012
7:37 am
Well sorry to say but this is like last year… terrible ending. 3 errors, lack of clutch hitting.
Please fire WREN.. Baltimore got over him………now they are moving on in the playoffs.
Infante and Blanco are both on the playoffs, and Uggla is out.
This team gave away the winning formula two seasons ago, when they made the trades after the all-star break……then continued to do so when we got Uggla.
Bourne is another rental……… PLEASE FIRE WREN !
MONKATL
October 6th, 2012
7:37 am
There was No one on first base , No force out in play , the men on second and third did not have to move or run. Thus No infield fly rule in play . The WRONG Call was NOT CORRECTED.
Major League Baseball should be Ashamed, Not the Braves Fans at the Game. I Was there and no
baserunners were being protected, OK? The Braves were just getting SHAFTED!
Thanks for the 19, #10.
Joey
October 6th, 2012
7:40 am
“Down to his and his team’s final strike, he got a hit.”
************************************
Naturally, there was no RISP when he get the hit.
juice sourcer
October 6th, 2012
7:41 am
I was very proud of the Braves fans at the game that littered the field in protest. What a BS call.
juice sourcer
October 6th, 2012
7:44 am
Rob’s post clearly shows that he is a moron.
Jeff
October 6th, 2012
7:45 am
Its encouraging to read the comments already posted. Outside of a few unreasonable people, I find it refreshing to see that the readers are far more rational, objective and understanding of the facts surrounding the game than the editorial writer. The Braves blew the game, not the refs. Plain and simple.
B.J.
October 6th, 2012
7:49 am
I didn’t watch a game all season because it is like watching grass grow and then Friday night I see the absolute most ignorant call in recent history. Must have been a replacement umpire. Anyway, he should be fired or sent back to the minors. You left wing sushi eaters need to leave the fans alone, they reacted the way real fans should.
D man
October 6th, 2012
7:53 am
I have learned to take the bad with the good. As a lifetime 47 year Atlanta fan, I have had to endure 175 professional seasons (Braves, Flames/Thrashers, Hawks, and Falcons) of not winning it all. I have learned that there can only be one team that wins it all and a bunch who don’t. We have to take the good times and enjoy them and forget the bad times. That’s the only way to sanely enjoy sports.
Last night was a big disappointment but I enjoyed all of the good times we had this year with this team. Thanks for more good memories than bad Bravos…
Stinger 2
October 6th, 2012
7:55 am
Everyone has a right to their opinion and to say what they want to about the 2012 Braves. I start my post with that statement for the benefit of bubbadog, Joey and others who call me out for saying that I discourage the rants and raves by another negative Braves regular who tries to be funny with his relentless hits on Fredi, Chipper, Uggla and others.
The above being said, I think this Braves team deserves to be commended and praised for winning 94 games in spite of some costly injuries to Beachy, McCann, Simmons and Chipper. Also, Fredi should be given credit for keeping the team on track. He probably had more hecklers who were downright personal in their comments than anyone else in the organization. All of you naysayers can blame the loss last night on anyone or anything else that happened. It does not take away that this team left it all on the field.Sure, they made uncharacteristic errors. So be it. Over 162 games, they were the best fielding team in the NL.
jfreak13713
October 6th, 2012
8:08 am
You have to have replay! Even if they get the call right there is no way of knowing if the braves would have gotten a big hit but now we / they will never know! Baseball is bullsh***! How in the world can baseball in playoff games not have replay for these types of situations is enough to make me not want to spend / waste my money on this sport.
Oh, the errors were terrible and this game prior to and after the bad calls proves that something is wrong with the team because they just can’t seem to perform under pressure. Not sure what that is but something isn’t wright.