the first post of october (baseball)


from february 11, 2010:

"do note that not one of my storylines worries about the braves chances at winning the division. i would love it if it happened. but the braves didn't add roy halladay to an already stacked team. the phillies did. it's wild card or bust, in my mind, when setting a realistic goal for the season."

so, the braves made the playoffs...as the wild card.

wow!

i mean that exclamation with the utmost sincerity. i resisted the temptation to post sunday because i would have been caught up in all the euphoria of the last game of the season, the last inning of the season when billy wagner looked like an absolute killer after showing his mortal side in the eighth, and how the braves, backs against the wall one last time in a season where that had become a recurring theme, gutted it out and held on for a win in their "most important game of the season". in baseball, though, moreso than any other sport, perspective is dreadfully important. one game or one series only becomes "important" based on the outcome of the previous game or series. the same logic can be applied to any sport, of course, but not in the same meta way that a 162 game regular season requires. given a few days now to ponder the strange course of the season, here is what i remember as the highlights.

 - opening day and the "THIS STADIUM IS UPSIDE DOWN!" call after jason "julio" heyward stepped up to the plate for his first major league at-bat and destroyed a ball into the right field bullpen. we'll get back to heyward in a second, but this moment had a more impactful lifespan than any other during the last five years.

- troy glaus being his usual terrible self in april only to explode and carry the braves through may and part of june, playing well enough to be the national league player of the month in may.

- heyward hurting his thumb, cox not allowing him to heal and heyward missing the all-star game.

- brooks conrad's monster walk-off grand slam to complete the bottom of the ninth, down by seven rally over the reds that propelled the braves into their best stretch of baseball they played all season.

- beginning of august, chipper gets hurt. i lobby for heyward being moved to the three hole. bobby cox does not listen.

- my timmy's string of dominance in late july and most of august that propelled him into the cy young conversation. he lost it a little bit in september, but made two HUGE starts during the last week of the season, won both, including the final game, and was the braves most dependable starter all year.

- derek lowe going insane during the month of september. 5-0, era under 1.25, commanding the confidence of this braves fan that he is totally going to beat tim lincecum in the opening game of the divisionals tomorrow night.

- martin prado and omar infante, period. last year, these guys "weren't good enough to play everyday". how about this season as one big "fuck you" to the detractors. infante finished third in the batting race, made the all-star team. prado was the braves offensive mvp this year, finished in the top ten in the batting race and made the all-star team. i was more heartbroken when prado went down for the year in the next-to-last week of the season than i was when chipper shredded his knee. that, in and of itself, tells me how emotionally attached i had become to prado. love that guy.

- mccann. mccann's the offensive lineman of the braves. you don't hear much about him. he just goes about his business being the best offensive catcher in the league and winning all-star game mvp's and hitting walk off home runs and braves fans, including me, just take him for granted.

- jonny venters being nasty and unhittable for the first five months of the season. billy wagner extending the same type of dominance through the end of the year.

- jason heyward will get his own post when the regular season awards start rolling out, but he should be the rookie of the year. end of story.

that's it. that's the scrapbook i have in my head for the braves, version 2010. this past sunday's game was incredible, but only because the previous 161 games had set it up to be so. the miracle win that i witnessed way back in april was every bit as important. the nine game losing streak that left the braves bandwagon searching for a driver was every bit as important. losing six of nine to the terrible nats and pirates down the stretch was just as important. the braves' sweeps of the mets and the marlins during the last 15 games of the year were every bit as important.

91-71. TWENTY games above .500. the sixth best record in all of baseball. in the meta-narrative that is any mlb team's season, the braves accounted for themselves quite well.

however the braves end up faring in the playoffs, in my opinion, the season has been a massive success.

while we are talking about it, though, the braves are going to beat the giants. tomorrow night and in the series.

we'll talk about the phillies if that prediction holds true.

roll braves.