DEL.ICIO.USGround-rule double costs Braves in loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Just when it appeared the Braves had sampled every excruciating way imaginable to lose a close game, they had a whole new method dropped on them Saturday against the Washington Nationals.
Kelly Johnson’s potential three-run, game-winning double in the ninth inning became a two-run, ground-rule double when the ball bounced over the fence. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
The game was extended, and closer Mike Gonzalez crumbled in a three-run 10th inning to give the Nationals an 8-5 win before a crowd of 34,649 at Turner Field.
“It’s amazing,” said Johnson, who saw the ball bounce over the fence as he rounded first base and immediately realized what it meant. “I don’t know what to say about it. Wasn’t meant to be, I guess. That’s ridiculous.”
Jeff Francoeur scored the tying run from second base on the play, and said pinch-runner Brent Lillibridge would have scored the winning run easily.
“That puts our season in a nutshell right there,” Francoeur said after the Braves fell to 2-9 in extra-inning games. “Lillibridge was five steps behind me. He almost passed me, he’s so fast. Unbelievable.”
It takes a lot to stun these Braves and their fans into a state of disbelief, after the litany of pain — defeats and injuries — they’ve experienced in this most disappointing of seasons.
“We got the win easily [if the ball doesn’t bounce over],” said manager Bobby Cox, whose Braves had their modest two-game winning streak and three-game home streak snapped. “Lillibridge, by the time they [would have] grabbed the ball, was crossing home. He was flying around the bases. It’s too bad.”
Reliever Joel Hanrahan intentionally walked Chipper Jones and Brian McCann grounded out to end the inning.
The suspense didn’t last long in the 10th, when Gonzalez (0-2) recorded only one out and was charged with three runs and three hits, including a leadoff homer by ex-Braves outfielder Ryan Langerhans. That was the fifth homer for the Nationals, who hit four off Mike Hampton, including two by Elijah Dukes.
“Really disappointing,” said Gonzalez, who hung a curveball that Langerhans crushed, a rarity for a lefty hitter against the lefty reliever. “You’ve got to get the zero there and get that win. I just didn’t get it done.”
Gonzalez has a 0.93 ERA in nine appearances in save situations, but he’s 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in 17 non-save situations.
He struck out the next batter, Willie Harris, then gave up a triple and a double and … well, Cox had seen enough. The closer was replaced by journeyman Jorge Julio, who allowed a walk and a another single. He was in because Cox was resting worn-out reliever Will Ohman.
In a brief span the game and the atmosphere at Turner Field had completely turned, from the brief jubilation of a would-be game-ending hit, to agony.
“That’s crazy,” Hampton said. “I wish they’d drag the track and make it a little softer. That ball would have stayed in and we would have won the game.”
The Braves nearly won despite Hampton allowing four homers before recording his 10th out, as many as he’d given up in his previous nine starts this season.
All four were solo shots, and he ended up staying in for seven innings and giving up five runs (four earned) and eight hits.
“I don’t remember ever giving up that many homers,” said Hampton, whose bread-and-butter pitch is the grounder-inducing sinker.
Dukes had leadoff homers in the second and fourth innings to help the Nationals improve to 11-6 against the Braves before today’s series finale.
The Braves loaded the bases in the ninth against Hanrahan on Casey Kotchman’s leadoff single, Francoeur’s one-out double and Greg Norton’s walk.
Hanrahan struck out rookie Josh Anderson with the bases loaded before Johnson hit a towering fly to the right-center gap that bounced over the fence.
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