| Douglas Benton. 10th October, 2005 - 3:33 am
 So once again, the Braves make an early exit in October and are left to wonder this winter what could have been. The theories will begin almost immediately about if the Braves could have won this game and how they blew a five run lead, while only needing five more outs. So I too will break it down and for me, it came down to one bad decision.
All season, the Braves have talked about how their bullpen was this team’s Achilles heal. Then, in an elimination game, they pull Tim Hudson, a guy they traded three good prospects and paid a large sum of money, for Kyle Farnsworth. Hudson was brought here to win games like these, but he failed in his first attempt in game one. However, on Sunday, he was the Hudson of old and had only thrown 92 pitches at the time of his removal.
Then manager Bobby Cox decided to trust a bullpen that lost this trust around Memorial Day. Farnsworth proceeded to give up a grand slam to Lance Berkman and a solo shot to Brad Aumus to blow what was a five run lead. Now, it is very realistic that Hudson could have gotten into trouble, but it should have been Hudson’s game to lose. During the television broadcast, the announcers said that Bobby Cox wins at least 10 games every year by out managing his opponents, but on Sunday he lost one. Now the Braves will have to live through another long winter knowing that they got beat with their best pitcher on the bench.
However, no matter what decisions won or lost the game, this was a great baseball game. If you are a Braves fan, myself included, the greatness of this game might not be viewed this way during the game, but after reflection, you should learn the errors in the error in your ways. After the game, John Smoltz compared this game to the feeling he had after the 1-0 thriller in Minnesota in 1991. Both produced losses for the Braves, but great theater for baseball fans everywhere. |
