So much of the country's attention right now is focused on the Boston Red Sox. And for good reason - the Red Sox have gone just 5-14 in September, frittering away most of their lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL Wild Card. There is a playoff race, where before there was not a playoff race.
Atlanta Braves Feeling The Heat After Omar Infante Plays Hero
Craig Kimbrel blew the save and took the loss Monday night when Omar Infante drilled a walk-off home run, and all of a sudden, the Braves’ Wild Card lead is down to two and a half games.
But while the intensifying AL Wild Card race is a hot topic, there's another race that's heating up, too, right at the same time. Another race with a long way to go. And that's the race for the NL Wild Card, where the Atlanta Braves - much like the Red Sox - seem to be losing ground by the day.
Monday night, the NL Wild Card standings again drew tighter. On September 8, the Braves were up 7-1/2 games on the St. Louis Cardinals. Their lead now? A third of that. I'll explain.
The Cardinals began Monday 3-1/2 back, but they took care of business against a Philadelphia Phillies team that's no longer playing for much, having clinched or all but clinched everything there is to be clinched. Kyle Lohse allowed one run while pitching into the eighth, Lance Berkman homered and drove in another run with a single, and Octavio Dotel retired Hunter Pence in the ninth with the tying run on base as the Cardinals won 4-3. It was the Cardinals' tenth win in 12 games.
The Cardinals, then, kept the pressure on the Braves, who were tangling with the Florida Marlins. And things got off to a rocky start. In the bottom of the first inning, Mike Minor threw a pitch that Mike Stanton put here:
Later, in the third, Minor threw a pitch that Stanton put here:
Ho-hum, just another two of the longest home runs anybody's ever seen. They put the Marlins up 2-0, and the Braves didn't so much as pick up their first hit until the top of the fifth. Jason Heyward got the visitors on the board with a solo shot in the sixth, but Logan Morrison answered with a two-run bomb in the bottom half, and the Braves were staring at a three-run deficit with three innings to go.
Then, in the seventh, it looked like they got their break. Dan Uggla led off with a home run. Later, Michael Bourn picked up an RBI infield single. Martin Prado then walked with the bases loaded to tie things up, and Chipper Jones subsequently hit a grounder to Omar Infante that Infante fumbled, allowing everyone to reach and the Braves to pull ahead 5-4.
Armed with perhaps the most dominant bullpen in the game, the Braves suddenly found themselves in good position. Eric O'Flaherty spun a scoreless seventh. Jonny Venters spun a perfect eighth. The score remained where it was going into the bottom of the ninth, and the Braves had to trust Craig Kimbrel to slam the door. Kimbrel, after all, came in with 45 saves, a 1.81 ERA, and 124 strikeouts in 76 games.
-G Dobbs flied out to left
-J Baker grounded out to shortstop
-E Bonifacio singled to shallow left
-O Infante homered to deep left, E Bonifacio scored
Impossible. Kimbrel threw this high-and-tight fastball at 96 miles per hour:
And Omar Infante, of all people, turned on it, blasting a walk-off two-run homer out to left. You wouldn’t expect to see that again if repeated a hundred times.
But it happened, and the Braves, stunned, fell to 87-67. They're just 7-12 in September, now up 2-1/2 games on the Cardinals and 3-1/2 games on the streaking San Francisco Giants. All things considered, they're still in a good position, but they're in their weakest position in a long, long time.
Tuesday, the Braves will throw Randall Delgado at the Marlins, while the Cardinals go with Edwin Jackson against the Mets, and the Giants go with Tim Lincecum against the Dodgers. Stay tuned! You'll want to stay tuned.
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