Braves Vs. Pirates: Atlanta Wins 19-Inning Marathon, 4-3, On Controversial Call

Hey, bad things happen to good teams. I get it. But the Pirates played three close games last week, losing all three in extra innings, and somehow none of those 39 innings, not a single one of them, were pitched by the Pirates’ All-Star relief pitcher.

Granted, Hurdle took things to a perhaps-unprecedented, possibly insane extreme when he couldn’t find room for Hanrahan in a 19-inning game. There probably aren’t many managers who would have taken this ill-considered protocol quite so far. But the protocol is there.

↵If you can’t have famy, there’s always infamy. Now we’ll see if the market for Jerry Mealsabilia blows up big time -- the supply of which is currently limited to this autograph on eBay.

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That game didn’t really mean anything; the Cubs likely lost the game as a result, but they’re going nowhere, and the Marlins are buried in last place in the National League East.

And if that angle doesn’t convince you, how about this one?

Baseball Nation’s Rob Neyer is one of the few saying that Meals may have been correct in calling McKenry out at home plate, and while no replays have actually shown that Meals’ call was terribly wrong, this is one of the more controversial calls in recent memory regardless.

The good news is that if another pitcher collects the dust and snorts it, he becomes a proven closer.

2. No one likes Jerry Meals and everyone is angry at him all the time

Call me a sensationalist or an iconoclast if you like, but I just gotta say something this morning ...

Jerry Meals might have been right.