For the second straight night, the Braves' offense looked like it was going to squander an excellent outing from a starting pitcher. Fortunately, for the second straight night, the pitching held on long enough for the hitting to scratch across just enough runs to win. And tonight it didn't even take 11 innings!
For that, we have Eric Hinske to thank. After trailing 1-0 for much of the game, the Braves finally got on the board in the 7th with a triple by Clutch Dog (Brooks Conrad) that drove in Melky Cabrera. That put the go-ahead run on third with only 1 out, but Rick Ankiel had a terrible at-bat, striking out on a ball that ended up a foot inside. The Marlins elected to keep starter Anibal Sanchez in the game to face Hinske, who was pinch-hitting. That proved to be a huge mistake, as Hinske picked up his teammate with a blast into the right-center-field seats.
The homer* gave the Braves a 3-1 lead that they would not relinquish and finally sent Sanchez to the showers. His final line looks a lot worse than it would have if he had been pulled after 6 innings, but that's baseball I guess: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, and 6 K.
* Hinske would say after the game that it was probably the biggest homer of his career. Pretty cool.
Sanchez's counterpart, Tim Hudson, did not have dominant stuff but somehow held the Marlins to only 1 run in 6 innings. He seemed to struggle with his command at times, walking 4 and going to deep counts. He did get a lot of ground balls (13/19, 68%), but 4 of them (all in the first 3 innings) went for infield hits. He also wasn't helped by his defense, as Melky Cabrera did the hokey-pokey around a fly ball in the third inning, leading to a fluke double and the only run Huddy gave up. Oh, and he was pitching on short rest. All in all, it was a very gutsy effort on a night that the Braves needed one. Great job, Huddy.
The bullpen, as usual, was damn good, although Peter Moylan did give up a solo home run to Dan Uggla on a ball that just barely stayed fair down the left-field line and just barely cleared the wall. But the right-handed and left-handed Billy Wagners (Craig Kimbrel and, well, Wagner) struck out the side in their innings. Wagner earned his 421st career save, just 3 back of John Franco for the most ever by a lefty. Here's hoping that he can somehow tie that mark this year (and then come back next year to break the record!). If he does, the Braves are basically guaranteed to be in the playoffs.
Speaking of playoffs, the Braves' playoff outlook is starting to look pretty good. With the Giants and Padres playing right now (both games are scoreless early), the Braves are currently a game up on the Padres for the wild card lead. Go, Cubs and Diamondbacks!
The series concludes tomorrow afternoon at (**Weird Start Time Alert**) 4:30 eastern. Derek Lowe, who's been awesome in September, throws on short rest for the Braves against Andrew Miller (who has an ERA above 8). This looks like a good chance for a sweep, so let's do it!
0 recs | 87 comments
D-backs just took a 1-0 lead on the Giants.
Rodrigo Lopez (of all people) drove in Adam LaRoche with a sac fly.
Jacob Peterson - September 28, 2010
we have the cubs/padres and giants/d-backs convo going in the overflow thread
for those that want to join
leedawg - September 28, 2010
I fine you $5 for prematurely using the S dash-dash-dash-dash word in the write-up. We can’t take any chances on jinxing ourselves anymore.
J-Freak - September 29, 2010
great game
Hudson pitched good on short rest and Hinske had a huge hit. Let’s try to get the sweep tomorrow
Braves24 - September 28, 2010
Go Cards! Go Cubs!
BeatTehMets - September 28, 2010
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2010_09_28_flomlb_atlmlb_1&mode=wrap
BeatTehMets - September 28, 2010
Well
Hudson was helped by the defense. Heywards’ catch on Uggla’s? line drive saved a run.
sag969 - September 28, 2010
Wow. Insightful.
If Huddy had tried that Call The Fielders In bit that Satchel Paige used to do, he’d have been in a world of hurt.
Sam Jethroe - September 29, 2010
WOOHOO!
Great win.
P.S. I found this new funny twitter that I think you guys would like. twitter.com/FauxJoeMorgan hilarious!
MBL1 - September 28, 2010 via mobile
Hinske 0 for 10 against Sanchez before that HR.
The bat flip was epic and Sanchez’s reaction was priceless.
TonyAlmeyda - September 28, 2010
Hinske said in the postgame interview that “It was the biggest homerun of my career” :-)
NCChopper - September 28, 2010
Somebody needs to make a gif of that. That would be awesome.
10-4 - September 29, 2010
i guess i should read a thread completely before i comment from now on. lesson learned.
10-4 - September 29, 2010
Lovely win tonight.
NCChopper - September 28, 2010
One more again please...
double check Wednesday would be nice (win/sweep).
Mr. Sanchez - September 29, 2010
the offense
looks like it needs a couple of 5-Hour Energies…but we won, so I’m not complaining.
hawves - September 28, 2010
I'll send 'em crates of the stuff it'll get them going again.
Chopaholic - September 29, 2010
That shit is like a mini-heart attack in a bottle. I drank half of one the other day and could feel my heart racing within a few seconds.
Scott Coleman - September 29, 2010
Cubs leading 4-2 in the 6th. Dempster's battling....
Where are the Braves if the Padres win and Giants lose? One game up on the Giants?
Undocorkscrew - September 28, 2010
And should I be wanting the Giants to win?
Assuming the Padres lose, the Giants would be 1.5 a head of them in the division, Braves would be 1.5 ahead of the Padres in the WC, correct? So I suppose that would be better.
I’m a bit baked, to be honest.
Undocorkscrew - September 28, 2010
Then again, it would be better for both to lose....
[sigh]
Undocorkscrew - September 28, 2010
come join us in the game overflow thread
there are several of us in there talking about both games
leedawg - September 29, 2010
yeah... we want them both to lose
the top 2 teams out of the 3 of us make it. so…. yeah, we want them both to be worse than us to maximize our chances
lingsched - September 29, 2010
Can we fire Snitker? My god, what a terrible decision to send McSloth. I did have a nice laugh at McCann’s dead man impression once he finally got to the plate.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t think we were going to win that game with only 2 hits through 5 innings but we did what good baseball teams do: we performed in the clutch and scored runs. Let’s get the sweep tomorrow.
BullManUGA - September 29, 2010
Completely agree on firing Skitker....
He’s been horrible sending and stopping runners this year. And for a team that struggles with RISP, as well as runner at 3B, 1 out situations……it’s the most frustrating thing in the world.
Undocorkscrew - September 29, 2010
He was awful at that last year too. Anyone remember the Great Diaz/Snitker Incident of Late 2009?
J-Freak - September 29, 2010
How the fuck was that Snitker's fault?
Coaches don’t send runners on wild pitches. If anything, blame Prado for it. He was the one who waved down Diaz.
Prado even cried like a baby about it after the game.
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
How bout you sit these next few plays out, chief.
kauf67 - September 29, 2010
Couldn’t have said it better. Good looking out.
J-Freak - September 29, 2010
Eric Hinske
has the sexiest bat drop in the league. He has it down to an art.
Scott Coleman - September 29, 2010 via mobile
I agree, it made me squirm.
NCChopper - September 29, 2010
that was quite a strut as well
Bravely going forward - September 29, 2010
Well I'm glad I read this
Or I would have missed the game tomorrow. Why is it a 4:35 start?
kauf67 - September 29, 2010
Cubs WIN / Giants Win
NCChopper - September 29, 2010
Oh My God. The Braves lead the Wild Card by 1.5 with 4 games left.
And the Padres are tanking at just the right time.
It’s probably going to happen, isn’t it?
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
Once again, we control our destiny.
Let’s just win our games so we don’t have to worry what the other teams are doing.
rubbles88 - September 29, 2010
exactly.
by tomorrow night things may be a bit clearer.
nuftjedi - September 29, 2010
Still a lot of baseball left. And the Pads are only 1 back in the loss column.
Yakker - September 29, 2010
well if the Pads keep losing then we’ll definitely be fine.
Walker Wallace - September 29, 2010
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
Nice!
He is probably going to get hit tomorrow though.
dragonhawk26 - September 29, 2010
If Wes Helms has anything to say about it, they’ll probably be throwing bats at him from the dugout whenever he approaches the plate.
J-Freak - September 29, 2010
Eric Hinske deserves a contract extension for that bat drop alone.
and epic strut
SouthernPanther - September 29, 2010
“Epic strut”. I like that!
WienerDog - September 29, 2010
The reactions of both Hinske and Sanchez says it all! Nice.
rubbles88 - September 29, 2010
THIS
Yakker - September 29, 2010
rec'd
nuftjedi - September 29, 2010
MAKE IT THE TC PICTURE!
Scott Coleman - September 29, 2010
rec'd
15ks - September 29, 2010
Make it green
Yakker - September 29, 2010
That home run energized this team, imo
heap16 - September 29, 2010 via mobile
I thought it would be awesome, and i was correct. Well done!
10-4 - September 29, 2010
maybe the greatest single moment of the season. Absolutely Epic.
and 20 feet from 1B, as the coup de grâce, he turned and gave the Braves’ dugout this “We got this thing” look.
fandave - September 29, 2010
Sexy
NCChopper - September 29, 2010
Sanchez's
reaction is priceless. I could watch that all day.
Kineticist - September 29, 2010
I almost enjoy watching that more than the ball going out
almost
nuftjedi - September 29, 2010
I can't stop watching.
The bat-flip and the hat-flip. Awesome.
Cayla - September 29, 2010
If we qualify for the playoffs, do you have any preference who we face in the first round?
If the season ended today, we would be playing the Giants because they have a better record than the Reds.
rubbles88 - September 29, 2010
The Reds 100%.
The Reds have actually been scuffling a bit lately and Francisco Cordero has been making a lot of games interesting in the 9th. And of course, they still have nightmares about the Raw Dog.
If the Braves end up facing the Giants, you can forget about it. I know the Braves beat both Lincecum and Cain in August, but these teams are totally different now.
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
Reds vs. NL Central: 46-28
Reds vs. NL East: 17-15
Reds vs. NL West: 17-19
Does that answer your question?
Yakker - September 29, 2010
Giants made a ton of moves recently to make their lineup a lot better
Adding Guillen, Cody Ross and Fontenot (for defense mainly) really helped bolster their very vet and gritty lineup
Combined with Cain, Lins and Sanchez?
Along with a good (with new additions GREAT) bullpen and ace closer?
very very scary.
But we can do it
MikeTrain - September 29, 2010
None of those guys make their team any better at all offensively. If you shut down Huff and Posey, you shut the Giants down.
Scott Coleman - September 29, 2010
If you get to their starting pitchers, you beat them.
If you don’t, you don’t. It’s really about that simple.
Sam Jethroe - September 29, 2010
Same for the Phillies, really. If we could actually chace one of their starting pitchers before the 8th inning we could really go to town on their bullpen.
kalesi - September 29, 2010
No Question
I’d rather be playing the Reds.
kalesi - September 29, 2010
This is gonna be tricky...
If playoffs started today, the Braves would get the Giants, the Phils would have the Reds (for lunch). San Fran has a one game lead in that race-to-face the Wild Card team. That would put us in the strange position of perhaps rooting for San Diego over the weekend to knock off SF a couple of times so that Cincy could pass them…. while then requiring the Braves to beat Philly once or twice. This is getting a little weird.
Bottom line: I, too, would prefer Philly to face the Giants in Round 1.
carpengui - September 29, 2010
Phillies Perspective.... Who would they rather play? Will it make a difference this weekend?
1. If we’re in the playoffs, the Phils get the worst division winner – currently Cincy. They’re probably fine with that, I’m sure. So if that remains the scenario, they’re happy.
2. If San Fran falters, they don’t want the Giants either – meaning that suddenly they might wish to go all out vs. the Braves to knock us out… and then Philly gets the Padres in Round 1.
3. They might want to try and knock us out anyway — our pitching is probably their biggest fear other than that of San Fran’s.
4. If the Pads sweep San Fran — which might be necessary for them to make the post-season — then everybody gets happy. San Diego wins the West, SF is probably out all together, the Braves play Cincy and the Phils get the Padres.
carpengui - September 29, 2010
Hinske's homer is coming up on the replay if anyone missed it live.
Ankiel’s fail at-bat is up now.
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
We scored 3 runs today, yesterday 2. I'm hoping that the offense is starting a trend here.
rubbles88 - September 29, 2010
They've also homered in four consecutive games.
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
WOOO Braves!!!
Nice win tonight. Unfortunately I had out-of-town guests to entertain and just caught the highlights.
We need Lowe to keep it going tomorrow!!
Yakker - September 29, 2010
i loved watching tonights game!!!
and then i ssaw alfonso soriano and the cubs do it up!
radamez85 - September 29, 2010
Can't say it enough. Tim Hudson came up HUGE tonight.
He’s ready for October. Can Derek Lowe make it 5-0 in September? The Braves are 5-0 in Lowe’s last 5 starts.
Make it #6.
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
That's exactly right.
Got it done without exemplary stuff. Very Glavinesque.
Sam Jethroe - September 29, 2010
The reason the game is on at 4:35EST tomorrow...
it’s on ESPN!
Scott Coleman - September 29, 2010
So I’m wasted at the bar tonight… and when the Conrad hit happens… i scream at the top of my lungs “Melky, you better score you fat mother F*$%ker”… needless to say I get yelled at, then the bartender realizes i’m sitting next to, and hanging out with teh GM of the great establishment, and he leaves me alone. Then the same thing happens during the Cubs game, all in all…. great night for us!!! I feel like I did a great job on this msg and shouldn’t get yelled at by TC this time, unlike last time i gothome and drunk posted… I <3 the Braves! Go Braves!
B4TheFlop - September 29, 2010
Rock on.
BravoChop! - September 29, 2010
SUCCESS
kbertling353 - September 29, 2010
For publicly declaring your Braves excitement in hostile environment = Rec’d
NCChopper - September 29, 2010
Honestly
I was at a bar yelling the exact same thing when Conrad got the hit, and I wasn’t the only one yelling it either
atlbraves1991 - September 29, 2010
Andrew Miller
Braves are facing Andrew Miller tomorrow. He was 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his first two starts. The second of those two starts was a win against the Braves on September 3 in Florida. He was pitching on only three-days rest. He only went 5 innings, giving up 7 hits and walking 3, but he struck out 6 and held Atlanta to just 1 run. The Marlins ’pen shut out Atlanta the rest of the way and the Marlins won after battering Kenshin Kawakami 6-1. Kawakami drove in the only run for the Braves.
It’s been all downhill from there. And that’s putting it nicely.
Miller has been spectacularly horrible in the four starts that followed his victory over Atlanta. In his last four starts, he’s 0-4 with a 12.89 ERA. Opponents are hitting a jaw-dropping .443 against him. He’s allowed 4 home runs in those 14.2 innings.
The Marlins are 1-5 in his 6 starts this year.
If the Braves bats can’t come to life against this guy, there may be no hope.
AnEternalEnigma - September 29, 2010
I love it when the two guys Bobby has virtually forgotten about in September are the heroes of the game. Captain Clutch and Hinske bailed us out big time. I was hoping for a squeeze when Ankiel was up, but apparently he’s too good a hitter to take the bat out of his hands……
10-4 - September 29, 2010
I was shaking my head in agreement, until the sad laughter took over at the end.
NCChopper - September 29, 2010
Before the 3 run inning, I was thinking somebody’s got to go yard and win this game for us. What a hero Eric Hinske is! Brooks Conrad too!
fandave - September 29, 2010
What was the announced
attendance last night? Sorry dont feel like scouring the OT to find it, assuming someone said it. Looked like a pretty good crowd
Kineticist - September 29, 2010
36,155
10-4 - September 29, 2010
36,000 plus
Jacob Peterson - September 29, 2010
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