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Braves Lose 12 Inning Marathon 12-11
Written by Colin on April 1, 2008 – 11:48 amLast night was – with no exceptions – the craziest ballgame I’ve ever been to. The BravesBlast crew gathered in our seats before the pregame ceremonies and stayed there until the final out over five hours later. Tom Glavine looked good. He sure threw a lot of balls – high pitch count really quickly – thus he only got through 5 innings. But the crowd was glad to have him back. We got the lead early – but the bullpen squandered that. Manny Acosta was horrible – hardly the calm and collected reliever we saw in spring training. He gave up four runs and two home runs in two innings, and all of a sudden it was 9-4, Pirates lead. Let’s hope the bullpen doesn’t lapse to last season.
Then came the bottom of the ninth – and we rallied. Started by the second string once again – who drew a series of walks, we somehow pulled alongside the Pirates on a lazy two-out pop fly by Brian McCann. Chipper kicked it into gear as soon as the ball was hit and when the ball inexplicably dropped in short center field, he was already crossing the plate with the tying run. McCann stood on first base with a look of disbelief on his face (that was proudly displayed on the big screen).
At this point, we brought in Soriano. He looked good and kept the Pirates scoreless after giving up a double. The Braves took him out as his spot in the batting order was coming up. Now by this time, the Braves had used so many relievers that Blaine Boyer was the only one left in the ‘pen.
Boyer was spotless in the 11th, striking out two. We went to the 12th. Boyer was back on the mound, partially because he was gorgeous in the 11th, partially because there were no more relievers. Heck, Jair Jurrjens showed up in the bullpen and spent a little time warming up. He’s supposed to start Wednesday’s game.
But Boyer allowed two base runners and then gave up a shot to right field that just cleared the fence – putting the Pirates up 12-9. But nobody left – everyone who stuck through the 9-4 deficit in the 9th figured we could pull out of a 12-9 in the 12th. And we almost did.
Francoeur’s solo shot (which I called, by the way) made it 12-10. Then Diaz knocked in a run to make it 12-11. And with a runner on base and two outs in the 12th, Corky Miller (the only bench player left to pinch-hit for Boyer) popped a ball to center field. This time they caught it. And we had to go home.
Sure, we got an L in the W/L column. But it didn’t feel like a loss. It felt like a team ready to fight no matter what the odds this season. It felt like our team was ready to do battle. It’s baseball season!
Rue’s Scorecards For The Night:
ATL PIT Extra Innings
Tags: Blaine Boyer, Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, Jeff Francoeur, Manny Acosta, Pittsburgh Pirates, Rafael Soriano, Tom Glavine
Posted in Game Analysis | 13 Comments »
By Jonathan on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Definitely a great game to be at and a great home opener, even though we came out with the loss. I’m still surprised the Kotsay counter is at 0, but there’s still time. He actually looked decent last night.
By Bill on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
I thought it was a very frustrating game. We played a very careless game, 3 errors at first base is just not something we can get away with. An exciting game, yes, but it should not have been. We should have put away the Pirates easily…and we would have were it not for our sloppy defense. Blame Tex or the other infielders, it is just not Braves baseball.
By Jonathan on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
I agree with you on the careless errors and giving away unearned runs. I don’t place all of the blame on Tex however. Our infielders were throwing him crap all night long.
By Rue Grant on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
really it was more like a little less than a half marathon.
that game was fantastic. except the 8th inning.
i’m somewhat upset, however, about the “manny sucks” chant. that enraged me.
By Jonathan on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Thankfully, it required a little less effort out of us than the half marathon did.
The “Manny Sucks” chant was definitely not a good thing. I’m a firm believer in the theory that if someone’s on your team, you at least support them. You don’t have to be happy with how well they play (I put up with Jo-Jo, didn’t I?) but you should still support them.
Rue’s scorecards from the game are now added to the end of the post.
By Bill on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
That’s very disappointing for Braves fans to have been chanting ‘Manny Sucks’.
Jonathan, I don’t place all of the blame on Tex, it was certainly the shared responsibility of the entire infield. I hope (I KNOW) that we will see improvement in this element of our game.
By Rue Grant on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
i’m guilty of not being a jo-jo supporter – ever. in fact i verbally bashed him on pat and bert’s show. oops. and i’m not particularly a kelly johnson fan. i just can’t help but be a critic, but i suppose i can at least say that i won’t do it during their games or to their face.
By Jonathan on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Definitely a great game to be at and a great home opener, even though we came out with the loss. I'm still surprised the Kotsay counter is at 0, but there's still time. He actually looked decent last night.
By Jonathan on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
I agree with you on the careless errors and giving away unearned runs. I don't place all of the blame on Tex however. Our infielders were throwing him crap all night long.
By Rue Grant on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
really it was more like a little less than a half marathon.
that game was fantastic. except the 8th inning.
i'm somewhat upset, however, about the "manny sucks" chant. that enraged me.
By Jonathan on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Thankfully, it required a little less effort out of us than the half marathon did.
The "Manny Sucks" chant was definitely not a good thing. I'm a firm believer in the theory that if someone's on your team, you at least support them. You don't have to be happy with how well they play (I put up with Jo-Jo, didn't I?) but you should still support them.
Rue's scorecards from the game are now added to the end of the post.
By Bill on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
That's very disappointing for Braves fans to have been chanting 'Manny Sucks'.
Jonathan, I don't place all of the blame on Tex, it was certainly the shared responsibility of the entire infield. I hope (I KNOW) that we will see improvement in this element of our game.
By Rue Grant on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
i'm guilty of not being a jo-jo supporter – ever. in fact i verbally bashed him on pat and bert's show. oops. and i'm not particularly a kelly johnson fan. i just can't help but be a critic, but i suppose i can at least say that i won't do it during their games or to their face.