AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > October > 04 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USNo grace despite miracle season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
To solidify what already is true, which is that Bobby Cox is peerless in baseball history among managers, the Braves must ignore everything, ranging from overwhelming youth to Pettitte, Clemens and Oswalt, and win. Their division series. The NLCS. Everything. It’s just that to accomplish such an unlikely but possible feat, they must conquer the Houston Astros and all of those ghosts with tomahawks across their chests.
Lonnie Smith rumbling, stumbling, bumbling. Charlie Leibrandt (Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield). That meltdown against the Phillies after surviving that showdown against the Giants. Jim Leyritz. Eric Gregg’s strike zone. Sterling (or was that Alfred?) Hitchcock. Any given hitting, pitching or fielding gaffe along the way to losing in the first round during four of the past five years.
“If we can just somehow go inside a bubble and not concern ourselves with the past, we’d be better off,” said pitcher John Smoltz, telling the truth about a subject that he knows well. He’s the only Braves player to have witnessed all of those horrors during a postseason streak that will extend to 14 today when the Braves meet the Astros at Turner Field. Yes, fourteen. You’d think that anybody during such a streak would stumble into at least a couple of world championships.
Instead, the Braves’ only ring in their run for the ages came 10 years ago. Not good, not for the venerable Cox, not with his Braves flipping, flopping and choking away chances to become something other than what they’ve been, and that is successors to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s as the greatest underachievers ever.
So why was Chipper Jones shaking his head? “You know, I’ve said this all along, and that is, with the exception of 1996 [when the Braves collapsed against Leyritz and his Yankees], I think that at the time we got beat in the postseason, we got beat by a slightly better team at that particular time,” said Jones, joining Smoltz as Braves’ elder statesmen. “I mean, if we ever go into a postseason on a 15-game winning streak, I’ll feel a little differently, but that hasn’t happened since I’ve been here.”
It certainly didn’t happen this season, with the Braves slumping into October while the Astros are streaking like they did last season, when they became the fifth consecutive team to shove the Braves out of the playoffs with an elimination game at Turner Field.
The bullpen is a mess. The same goes for Andruw Jones’ batting stroke since his 50th home run. Plus, Smoltz’s shoulder is so tender that he went from the Braves’ postseason ace to a Game 2 starter on Thursday night.
If that isn’t enough, Cox must do the improbable during the postseason after he accomplished the impossible during the regular season. He won a 15th consecutive division title (if you include his last season with the Toronto Blue Jays) despite injuries to 3/5th of his starting pitchers, despite operating much of the season without an injured Chipper Jones and despite using 18 different rookies on his roster.
Speaking of rookies, Cox will use eight of them against the Astros, and nobody in recent or distant memory has tried to travel from this point to a world championship with that much youth.
Whatever. Although these Braves had nothing to do with the October failures of those other Braves, history couldn’t care less. History will recall what the Braves franchise did or didn’t do after a fourteenth consecutive trip to the postseason, and history won’t be kind if the Braves franchise doesn’t prosper.
“It’s either hero or goat,” Smoltz said with a chuckle. “It’s gone from our flying start in 1996 against the Yankees, when it was ‘Why play the rest of the World Series?’ to ‘I can’t believe they let us down again.’ With the miracle team that we had this year, and with all of the youth, if we had not of won the division, we would have been given more grace than any team in the history of sports. But the fact that we did win this year, there will be no grace.”
Nope. And, given that this is the Braves’ fourteenth consecutive trip to the playoffs, there shouldn’t be.
Permalink | Comments (35) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
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By johnny
October 4, 2005 11:00 PM | Link to this
i would love to say this will be our 14 world series title,but hey 1 is better than none.hopefully world series #2 is coming up,but hey i live and die 162 games a year with the braves and 14 titles ain’t bad.beats what we had prior to 1991,and anyone who doesn’t believe that call a brewers fan.i’m a braves fan 365 days a year and no matter what happens this year i hope to be celebrating division title #15 next year,thank you very much!!
By Josh
October 4, 2005 11:31 PM | Link to this
I am pumped for tomorrow, the Ted will be rockin’, we FINALLY are gonna sell-out our playoff games, and we got Hudson goin for us. I EXPECT to win, hopefully the Braves do to.
By Bill
October 4, 2005 11:56 PM | Link to this
Yeah Yeah, write something new, we have heard this 1,000 times. Why don’t you give us some real insight on something. Do you think that most of us haven’t lived the heart-ache with Smoltz. Terence Moore, you are the most over rated columnist in America. Everyday you just write stuff to p** people off. No one is buying it anymore.
By m. thomas
October 5, 2005 02:54 AM | Link to this
great article once again t. moore. it is very disappointing to have only 1 world series in 14 years. at what point do u suck it up and show some that this team has some fight left in it.
By eddie
October 5, 2005 02:57 AM | Link to this
The city of Atlanta, you will only be able to blame your selfs. “after 14, they better win”, “I expect to win”, “there’s no way we loose.” I know,…why not have the entire sports media, write about how if the Braves don’t win it will be unacceptable. Forget the fact that 18 rookies played this season, and you still made the playoffs. Forget about the return of smoltzie to the starting rotation, or Andrew Jones having his best year. Just write about how they better win, so these fans, say “we will win.” Just keep adding the pressure to the young braves player. If you remember (or don’t know) the Astros didn’t start winning untill the Houston media wrote them off in may with the picture of a tombstone on the front page of a local paper. Then the pressure was off and they could respond. Reading all you “braves columist”, it’s no wonder the braves are going to loose another first round playoff series. Watch how the stros respond when the preesure gets tight, the watch the braves with the unfair expectations that have been placed on them. Alson notice the big 3 taking advantage of young guys trying to do to much. Then realize, that you never had a chane.
By Carroll
October 5, 2005 07:57 AM | Link to this
It’s a new day in the Atl! This is the NEW Braves! Hudsy’s gonna shut em down today (no more than 1-2 runs) and our offense will “explode” for 4-5 with Farnsy turing out the lights in the 9th. Then Smoltz and Clemens will lock horns in a duel of epic proportions on Thursday night with the Braves escaping with a 2-1 11th inning win. Then the wheels fall off for the ‘Stros on Saturday as the “magician” miffs them to a 6-0 defeat and a series sweep. The all the “experts” can enjoy their crow pie a la mode.
Then it will be on to one of the greatest NLCS series of all times against the Cards, coming down to Farnsy saving a one-run 7th game victory in front of the “greatest fans on earth” in St. Louis.
Next up, I’d like to get revenge against the Yanks and exercise those demons of 1996 but I have a strong feeling it will be the Braves beating the Angels at home in 5 to become 2005 WS Champs!
Just my humble opinion with perhaps a li’l wishful thinkin’ mixed in :)~
By don
October 5, 2005 09:49 AM | Link to this
We’re spoiled.
The White Sox just won their first home game since 1959.
When’s the last time the Cubs were even in the ‘Series?(LOOONG time ago)
Think the Phillies might want 1 or 2 games back they lost this season?
Yeah, the Braves might not make it to the last act, but look at what has been accomplished!
This from a 50 year old guy who used to bum rides to the old ATL-Fulton Co. Stadium when he was 12yrs old because I could find a dollar that would put me in the outfield seats.
Good luck, Braves. Have fun. Play hard.
By Braves fan in Yankee land
October 5, 2005 10:11 AM | Link to this
Win or loss this has been an incredible year. Considering the bullpen was an absolute abortion, the pitching staff spent more time on the dl then on the mound, and Chipper can’t seem to get out of his own way with injuries. Noone expected us to be in the playoffs so these games are all bonus. Living in Yankee land makes it even worse so hopefully the Ted can be sold out-pretty embarrassing the crowds you get down there. Pray the starters go at least 8 b/c we do not want to see Foster and the likes.
By mark white
October 5, 2005 10:11 AM | Link to this
What the heck. Braves in three.
By Pete
October 5, 2005 10:16 AM | Link to this
The Chipper Jones comments pretty much say it all in explaining why many Braves fans are former Braves fans. Incredible … .
By Carroll
October 5, 2005 10:31 AM | Link to this
Pete: Agreed…I think he should just keep his tobacco shoot closed!
By Mikey
October 5, 2005 10:41 AM | Link to this
well to say the least the article was pretty good, but it still had the same message that it had a year ago,and the year before that, that you hope the Braves win it, but at the same time you don’t show any type of faith. I believe the Braves will win this and will make it to the World Series, just because the Braves had a little slump, but if u realize after they clinched the divison on a 12-3 victory, the braves had the back ups playing, so by them losing their last games doesn’t mean anything, but i think if the fans have enough faith and support and take some of the pressure of the Braves and just let them do their best, thats all you can ask for
Who’s With Me On This
By kensue
October 5, 2005 11:07 AM | Link to this
Hey Mikey,
I am with you, man. Being a Brave fan in Redsville (Louisville, KY) ain’t easy either, but I represent pride in my team. I even have my Braves jersey at my desk today. As don stated earlier, some of us are spoiled. Do you want us to go back to pre-1991? But then I should ask are you really fans. I was a fan back when the Braves were below the cellar and wanted to get in. No one even gave them a second thought or glance. But as an elementary and high school student, I stayed up for those left coast games on school nights. I am so proud of what this team has accomplished this year. I believe they can do it this year, but even if they don’t, they and the city of Atlanta should be proud! LET’S GO BRAVES!
By A true die-hard
October 5, 2005 11:24 AM | Link to this
If you’re now a former Braves fan because they’ve only won one World Series title in these 14 years then who needs you? You were never a Braves fan in the first place, you’re a stinking front-runner. I grew up with the Braves, going to games with my buddies when the team won 50 games a year and we were about the only people in the old stadium on a freaking Tuesday night. Personally, I prefer this to that anyday. I’ve lived long enough to see the Braves win a World Series with my own eyes, they play games that mean something every year and the postseason is still more fun when you’ve got a rooting interest in it. And who knows, maybe one of these days the Braves will pull a Marlins, Diamondbacks or Angels and steal a title they have no business winning. It might even be this year. But even if it’s not and we’re disappointed again, I’ll still be out there again in April as passionate as ever. That’s what a TRUE fan does.
By Rob D
October 5, 2005 11:27 AM | Link to this
You guys who are Braves fans don’t worry. I am just happy to see my team play a few games in the playoffs. But you have to remember we are in the ATL and winning is never enough. Ask # 7 on the Falcons, I would love to see the Hawks get a winning record and hop into the playoffs who cares if they win at least they have a product worth watching. Some ATL fans just need something to crap on. All you have to do is listen to all the other teams and how much they respect the Braves accomplishments and see that they have done something special.
By KT
October 5, 2005 11:35 AM | Link to this
I am so sick of hearing all of the garbage about “only” one World Series. How many teams in baseball would love to have one WS and 14 division crowns in the past 14 seasons. Also, anyone that knows baseball realizes that the true test of a team is being able to stay on top for the length of a 162 game season. Teams get hot and cold, and the wild card format of the playoffs just happen to benefit the team that has to scratch and claw their way in to the playoffs a little bit more than those that nail down the division a little earlier. Terrence- you have just been nominated for the “Just SHUT UP Award”. Here’s to victory.
By Wolfman
October 5, 2005 11:36 AM | Link to this
The Braves are in another post season and that is awesome after all that happened this year to the Starting rotation with injuries, and the flops of Jordan and Mondesiin the OF.The “CRAPSHOOT” will begin again today, and the games are 50% talent and 50% LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!…..The Braves are used to getting only the 50% talent part in this run of 14 division titles. You have to have those breaks sometimes or lady luck on your side to add to your talent , and thats what will produce more than 1 World Series title!!! I can look back at sooooooo many plays from the past where one bounce here in the whole, one blooper hit falling in with the bases loaded, or one foul ball hooking fare or just foul where it went,it seems like, always against our Braves!!.. They could easily have had two or at least three Titles by now, then what would all these so called experts have to say then!!! This is the YEAR where those lucky bounces go our way and we win another Title or at least advance to the World Series!!!!………..Go Francoeur Franks tonight in upper Deck!!!!!!!!!
By HAHAHAHA
October 5, 2005 11:51 AM | Link to this
Terence Moore, you are an idiot!
Just like the rest of these Craplanta fans!
The only difference is, you’re not a sister-kissing, inbred redneck idiot.
Bobby Cox is terrible.
He’s the one who brought in Liebrandt.
He’s the one making the terrible pinch-hitting and bullpen decisions.
He’s the reason his teams choke, just like the other idiot in St. Louis is the reason his teams choke.
I’ve been watching October Baseball for years and years, and Cox and LaLoser are 1a and 1b of the WORST October managers ever…
And the Braves are the WORST October team ever!
In the history of the game, there has been no worse team in the postseason than the Craplanta Braves.
Da Bums had to play the Yankees.
The Craplanta Braves have had some of the best teams in baseball history, and they and their crappy manager have choked all of those years away.
Have fun this week, Craplanta fans.
This October ends like all others, you bunch of delusional redneck inbreeders.
With a loss, and more than likely, with a loss in that crappy amusement park you call a stadium.
Turner Field… where the visitors go to celebrate October baseball wins!
HAHAHAHA!
By 1972
October 5, 2005 12:18 PM | Link to this
This criticism is getting so tiresome and weak. I used to defend Atlanta sports fans to my friends, but Im not sure I can defend them to myself, much less anyone else, anymore.
I was born and raised in Atlanta, celebrated with the Braves in ‘82 and suffered with them for the rest of the dreadful 1980s. To any of us who were there in those years when the Braves were the laughingstock of MLB, 14 straight division championships is a phenomenal feat worthy of constant and unending praise.
Terrence Moore, Jeff Schultz, and the rest of those that insist on criticzing the Braves must not remember the mid-1980s Sports Illustrated article about Atlanta entitled “Loserville”? I do. And I remember the civic humiliation of being branded a city full of losers in a highly-respected national magazine. Which “pain” is worse, 14 straight division titles and one world championship or Loserville?
Do you remember the Andres Thomas / Russ Nixon-era of Braves baseball? I do. I also remember Chuck Tanner promising a parade down Peachtree Street and then leading his team to 106 losses. Is it not lost on anyone that the most frequently cited great moment of Braves baseball from 1984 to 1990 is Rick Camp hitting a homerun in the bottom of the 18th to tie a game that the Braves ultimately lost. Good times. Wooohooo.
I would take 100 division championships and only one world series over losing 100 games a season. At least now we have some sense that it COULD happen.
Sure I’d love to have more championships, but I ask myself, would I rather be a Marlins fan or a Braves fan? The Marlins have two world series titles since the Braves won our one. Florida has never finished first in the division and also has a lot of also rans and last place finishes, including, I think, this year. Its a no brainer. The Braves every day of the week and twice on Sunday. This franchise has done something that NO TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS HAS EVER DONE!! Not the Yankees (congrats on your eighth consecutive division title (sort of, anyway), NY. Call us when you’ve hit the teens … ). Not the mighty Patriots or Steelers or … Anyone else. Why cant we celebrate this franchise and its tremendous accomplishment rather than constantly criticizing what an amazing thing we have here in the city formerly known as Loserville.
I love Atlanta, but I cannot understand why our sports culture is so overwhelmingly negative. Last week Terrence Moore was praising the Braves and Bobby Cox. Heroes all. This week, they just arent good enough. Ridiculous. And its not just Mr. Moore. Its an entire city of people who simply cannot appreciate how good we have it.
Sadly, I moved from Atlanta six years ago, but Ill still be there tomorrow night to root this great team and this great franchise on to victory over the Astros.
Give ‘em hell, boys. We’re proud of you.
By don
October 5, 2005 01:55 PM | Link to this
The lack of response to “Ha Ha Ha Ha” shows who has class. And it ain’t him. (Yeah, “ain’t” is a REAL word, Ha Ha Ha Ha, versus “Yous Guise” which is used where you’re probably from.)
When you’re unemployed, as he probably is, and using a library computer-what do you expect.
I know more Philly fans with more class than this jerk.
And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.
By RRR
October 5, 2005 02:22 PM | Link to this
Kudos 1972. :thumbs up: I remember all of that, too. (see my response in the latest Shultz commentary) And it is remarkable how cynical sportswriters are. How can these local ones not see the difference between now and then?? But, this is NOT a local phenomenon. We live in a “culture of complaint”, and every other city has the same type of writers. They don’t just report the news any longer, they comment on it, and it happens with everything, not just sports. That being said, I do remember the pain of some of those October losses. We may experience it again this year, but this is definitely a new era, a new team, with new possibilities. How anyone can compare this team to any other Braves team (other than 1991) is beyond cynicism: it is ludicrous. And keep up with the Braves Morre, et al, because there are surely many more to come after this year (titles that is). GO BRAVES!!!
By BB FAN
October 5, 2005 02:38 PM | Link to this
It’s funny but Cox and LaRussa are considered 2 of the best managers ever and they have each won WS rings in the past. A manager can not win one every year. But this guy , HaHaHaHa knows differently. Whatever! The post season is a such a crap shoot with the wild card teams unlike in years past when only 2 teams (pre ‘69 and 4 teams (‘69-‘93) made the playoffs. But once again, HaHaHaHa does not know that. That is why the Yankees teams of the 50’s won so many WS rings. It used to go by the best record in the NL and AL period. Of the recent Yankees teams repeated as champs so many times because they had an unlimited payroll. But of course, HaHaHaHa does not see that either. Not many teams repeat as WS champs. It has happened only about 15 times since 1884. Only 5 times since divisional play in 1969. No team has fairly dominated the WS since then. I say fairly because 3 of the Yankees 4 WS wins came with UNLIMITED payrolls. That is not a fair playing field even if it has failed them since 2001.
All this hatred must be because he is a scorned fan of some team that never makes the playoffs. He still has not admitted to who his team is. Must be ashamed. He is very jealous of the fact the Braves have such a solid organization.
By Carroll
October 5, 2005 06:23 PM | Link to this
BB: you may be right about Ha, but I am awfully ashamed to be a Braves fan right now. This will be yet another flop and likely even be a sweep. I can’t believe I was so excited and positive earlier. What was I thinking?!
By Carroll
October 5, 2005 06:25 PM | Link to this
We can definitely chalk this one up to BC and his typical retarded playoff managing. BJ Jordan cost the game earlier with his gut wrenching double play and Julio should not be in there either.
By William
October 5, 2005 06:41 PM | Link to this
The Phillies should have won the Division, they would have given the Astos a GAME!!! This absolutly embarassing!!! Why would you walk Berkman(0 for 1) to get at Ensberg (2 for 3, 3 rbi)???
By Carroll
October 5, 2005 07:09 PM | Link to this
William: completely agree! I’m so over this s**!
By Roy
October 5, 2005 09:32 PM | Link to this
Year after year, Bobby Cox starts playoff games with lineups he doesn’t use during the year. If a lineup is good enough to get you there, why stop using them? Why not play Ryan Langerhans, the HOTTEST HITTING BRAVE, instead of Brian Jordan? Shades of Danny Bautista, Tony Graffanino, Greg Meyers, on and on and on.
By David
October 5, 2005 09:48 PM | Link to this
I’ve been thinking all year that Hudson was almost as big a flop as Kolb. Yeah, he had maybe three or four games during the season where he dominated, but mostly he had games where he blew up in one or two innings and pitched OK in the other innings. A real disappointment. Atlanta’s so-called big guns aren’t in the same league as Pettitte/Clemens.
By Mike
October 5, 2005 10:05 PM | Link to this
If there are eight teams in the playoffs then in 14 years you would expect to win a little less than 2 times. So we are only a little behind.
More than any other big time pro sport Baseball is more about the season than the playoffs. In a sport where a great team wins at a .600 clip and a terrible team wins at a .400 clip seven and, especially, five game series are hardly more than coin flips. (Dawg fans please trust me on this I went to Tech and did the math).
The only way in baseball to determine the best team is through the crucible of the full season. Thats why the Braves have 14 championships not one.
On a personal note my twin girls turn 14 tomorrow. They were born the day after the Braves clinched title number 1. I love that they have never known a time that the Braves weren’t the Champions. Happy Birthday girls.
By Wolf
October 5, 2005 11:40 PM | Link to this
The Braves management is great at putting together a team that plays well over 162 games, and that is not easy to do—having 25 guys being with each other almost every day for that many months, dealing with the ups and downs, the good days and the bad ones. HOWEVER, putting forth a maximum effort for a SHORT series is an entirely different thing, when ONE managerial decision, one misplay,one player “giving up” a time at bat, can be fatal. And the Braves consistently have “something happen”, have the one fatal flaw that shows up at just the wrong time. Sure, it can occur with any team, but when it happens a dozen times, and is now happening so frequently in the first round of the playoffs,you just can’t chalk it up to bad luck. There almost has to be something, maybe several somethings, going on in the front office, in the manager’s office, in the club house, SOMEWHERE. I wonder if the Braves brain trust ever sits down together after a post-season debacle and asks, “Why”? Or are they just happy to BE in post-season and pack up the equipment for the winter without much introspection?
By BB FAN
October 6, 2005 07:41 AM | Link to this
Why did COx go with Jordan? Jordan’s inning ending DP was the end of a great rally. Then Julio not stretching to get that out at 1st was the end. Better shape up for tonights game or it will be a short series.
By Braves fan in Yankee land
October 6, 2005 08:45 AM | Link to this
If Bobby would concentrate on beating a 1st round opponent instead of his wife then maybe the Braves would be more competitive? Langerhans plays most of the year and leads the team in clutch hits but he plays Jordan who has done nothing all year. He plays Estrada who has been a complete waste (probably will be released in the off season) instead of McCann who has been a savior behind the plate. Franco should be in the Mexican League doing his roids seeing he is a liability in the field( nice stretch at 1st). When all is said and done another year of one and done. Is it worth getting to the playoffs and being someones batting practice, the fans obviously don’t think so seeing there were alot of fans dressed up for Halloween as empty seats. See you next year with the same questions as this year.
By RRR
October 6, 2005 01:46 PM | Link to this
What happenned to all of that: “…it was a miracle we got there at all this year, and anything else is gravy”???
Wow, how negative everyone is. Did Cox not go with BJ, Estrada, and Franco because they were facing a LEFTY?? Did BJ not save a two run homer early in the game??? Did Hudson not pick up HIS end of the bargain, again? He was all over the place right from the door just like Clement did in the Bosox loss. I knew right away we were in trouble. Did not Reitsma and Foster blow it again??? Geesh, we scored FIVE runs against Pettite, and that SHOULD have been enough. Tell me the truth: if you all knew the Braves would score five runs in game one, wouldn’t you have taken it and figured a win was ours??? Our PITCHING blew it again, as they have SOOO many times before. I mean we gave up NINE walks and two more hit batsmen!!! The stos left 18 men on base!!! We’er lucky the score wasn’t even worse… NOT Cox, not BJ, not Estrada. The lack of pitching AGAIN!! Let’s hope John does something about that.
By Rob
October 7, 2005 07:58 AM | Link to this
Enough of this bull. The Braves have had 15 WINNING seasons. FIFTEEN!!!! They have the best WINNING percentagin that time. No other team is WITHIN 30 games of them. And yet all of you baseball experts(?) rip them for winning just one World Series. Come on folks. How many teams can compare with the Braves? They have given us many thrills. Wuit complaininng.
By Ron
October 7, 2005 11:43 AM | Link to this
As a Pirates fan, I would love to be in the Braves shoes. I live and die with my team for 162 games. Would it hurt to make the playoffs and not with the World Series? Sure. But it sure beats sitting at home in October waiting for another season to start again. Good luck to the Braves.