Braves Ignominious End to 2019

After a disappointing Game One, the Atlanta Braves steadied themselves in Games Two and Three with strong pitching and timely hitting.  The Braves beat the Cardinals “ace” pitcher, Jack Flaherty, 3-0 to even up the series.  A 2-run homer by Adam Duvall helped offensively while Mike Foltynewicz was virtually unhittable pitching into the 8^th inning.  This was definitely the best and biggest game of Folty’s young career, and an amazing feat considering that the Braves had to send him down to the minor leagues during the middle part of the season.  

Moving to St. Louis, we were treated to another old-fashioned pitching duel in Game Three.  It was 38 year-old Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals against Braves rookie pitching sensation 22 year-old Mike Soroka.  Both pitchers threw superb games, with the Cards having the advantage 1-0 on two skinny hits off Soroka, who didn’t walk anybody.  Then Wainwright ran out of gas with two walks in the 8^th.  The Braves still failed to score until, with two-out in the 9^th, they stunned the Cardinals with a 3-run rally to win 3-1 and take the lead in the best of five series.  Once again, Adam Duvall provided the key hit, a 2-run single that gave the Braves the cushion they needed.

Freddie Freeman and Josh Donaldson, Atlanta’s two supposedly ‘big guns’ offensively, were noticeably quite in the series up to that point.  Although, Donaldson did provide a lead-off double to start the rally in Game Three.  They continued to struggle in Game Four. Ozzie Albies provided the power with a 2-run homer to put the Braves up 4-3 with 12 outs to go.  The Braves offense left the bases loaded in both the 6^th and 7^th innings without scoring a run.  Shane Greene allowed an RBI single to the great Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina in the bottom of the 8^th to tie the game.  

Ronald Acuna, Jr. opened the Braves 9^th with a double but Albies, Freeman, and Donaldson failed to drive him in.  Pitiful.  Acuna went 4-4 and looked great in the field.  He led off one inning with a triple and the Braves could not drive him in.  The Braves hit poorly overall and didn’t deserve to win that game.

Atlanta’s bullpen, though it had performed well overall throughout the series, was threadbare by this point in the game.  Greene remained on the mound for the bottom of the 9^th and worked around a double to send the game to extra innings.

Once again, the Braves offense proved wimpy.  That brought in Julio Teheran, who was not even on the original postseason roster, to pitch the 10^th.  Teheran was added to the roster when Chris Martin was injured while warming up in Game One.  Suddenly, Teheran was pitching in the biggest game of his life.  He promptly gave up a lead-off double by Kolten Wong, who ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly giving the Cardinals a 5-4 victory.

Which brought the whole season back to Atlanta for a must-win Game 5.  Going into the game I had one overriding thought.  I had told a few friends back at the beginning of September that the Braves would not make the postseason if Ronald Acuna, Jr. or Freddie Freeman got injured.  Well, both did, in fact, get injured.  Acuna (slight groin strain) missed the last few games of the season as a precaution.  Freeman (bone spurs in the elbow) came back for the final series against the Mets and he looked terrible at the plate.  That continued into the series against St. Louis.  Without Freemen hitting like Freeman the rest of the lineup would either have to step it up or our offense would wither.  Could Freeman turn things around at the plate in Game 5?

One thing was for sure, Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuma were red hot for the Cardinals going into the final game of the NLDS.  Both batting over .400.  If Freeman and Donaldson had been hitting like that the Braves would have beat the Cardinals like a drum.  Instead, it was Ozuma who drove in the first run of Game 5 off of Folty, who was not sharp, having walked the lead-off batter.

Then the floodgates opened and Folty was quickly relieved by Max Fried, who got belted in his turn.  St.Louis scored 10 runs in the first inning – the most runs scored in the first inning of ANY postseason game EVER.  It was mostly the pitching (and the hot Cardinal hitting) but a rare fielding error by Freeman didn’t help anything.  The whole escapade was difficult to watch.  The Braves have not won a Division Series round since 2001.  Which brings us back around to my previous post.  When it comes time for the play-offs the Braves find new and even record-setting ways to suck.  Oh well, they are still my team.

In the other LDS’s, I did not realize until the Yankees swept the Twins that they have now beaten Minnesota 13 postseason games in arow.  I originally thought that with the best road record in baseball and their home run power the Twins might take the Yanks.  Wrong.  The Yanks swept the series.  Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is making it a lot tougher on Houston than anyone thought.  Game 5 of that series is tonight. 

I said all along that the Washington Nationals are the hottest team in baseball right now.  Last night they proved it with a decisive Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers thanks to a 10^th inning grand slam after Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw failed to hold a 3-1 lead in the 8^th inning.  Suddenly, St. Louis, the team I still believe is the weakest of all the postseason teams will have home field advantage against the Nationals in the NLCS.  I am picking Washington, though my selections haven’t been worth much so far.  But, no one is playing better than the Nats at this stage of the season and that counts above all other statistics and probabilities.  We’ll see.