Braves fans, does this ring a bell?

Ninth inning. Two outs. Two on. The Braves, facing a fierce division rival, cling to a 2-1 lead, both runs coming on a homer to right field.

Finally, the tension lifts, as the opposing batter hits a certain out to the second baseman. Time to celebrate, except ...

"Just one of those things that just doesn't happen. Not supposed to happen, doesn't happen. ... Probably the worst feeling someone can have on a baseball field, outside of a playoff game." — Kelly Johnson, second baseman, June 6, 2008, after his ninth-inning error allowed Philadelphia to tie the score in a game the Braves lost 4-3 in 10 innings.

"I did something on that play you can never do; I took it for granted. ... We could have won, sure, and I blew it." — Jerry Royster, second baseman, Aug. 5, 1982, after his ninth-inning error allowed the Los Angeles Dodgers to tie the score in a game the Braves lost 3-2 in 10 innings.

As longtime Braves fans remember (though they'd rather not), what happened at Turner Field eight days ago isn't unprecedented in team lore. The only difference: Johnson dropped a routine pop up; Royster allowed a weak grounder to sneak beneath his glove.

The respective errors led to eerily similar results. Each game was lost by one run, precipitating tailspins. The current Braves haven't won since June 5, six straight games. The '82 edition prevailed just once in the 15 games following Royster's boot, eventually blowing what had been a 9-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They rebounded in time to win the franchise's second division title since relocating to Atlanta in 1966. So how 'bout some deja vu all over again?

"I don't see it happening," said longtime fan Johnny Tallant, of Cumming. The former president of the Braves 400 Club said he can't remember a loss more frustrating than the June 6 debacle against Philadelphia.

"I do remember that '82 game, staying up late to watch them in Los Angeles," he said. "It was frustrating, but that team didn't have the same expectations, even though they were leading the division."

Those Braves, winners of their first 13 games, were led by eventual NL MVP Dale Murphy and Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro, though Royster's contributions were significant.

A Brave for 10 seasons, the former Dodger farmhand batted a career-best .295 while playing multiple positions. (Enjoy coincidence? Johnson was hitting .295 after the June 6 game.)

How 'bout some more? Joe Torre, who was in his first year as Braves skipper in 1982, is now managing the Dodgers. The man he replaced in Atlanta, Bobby Cox, returned to the Braves dugout in 1990, where he remains.

See, history does repeat.

"I've been trying to forget that play for 26 years, and now I'll never wipe it from my memory," said Scott Bowles, a copy editor now living in Fort Worth, Texas. "I was watching the game at a sports bar in Austin, saw Royster get in front of it and thought, game over. Oops. Still, I figured we'd come back and get 'em the next day. Or the next day. Or ...

"But I think this team will go deeper into the tank," he said. "It's not nearly as good."

Of course the '82 team didn't have to deal with significant injuries to two of its top starters and its two best relievers. The baseball gods seem to be enacting some karmic realignment against the Braves after a decade-and-a-half of unparalleled success.

Still, it's not too late for the gods to have pity; maybe history will repeat again.

Maybe a young pitcher, say, Jair Jurrjens, will get lost en route to Turner Field, just as Pascual "I-285" Perez did nearly 26 years ago (two weeks after Royster's crucial miscue).

The Dominican righty's errant sense of direction seemed to relax the Braves, then mired in a 2-19 slump. They ended up winning that night, and 12 of their next 14, clinching the division on the season's final day.

Barring such comic — or karmic — relief, these Braves must overcome a problem familiar to the '82 squad.

"I think the real problem is we aren't scoring runs," said Royster (now managing the Lotte Giants in the Korean League) on that August night some 26 years ago.

Past is prologue, indeed.