News
Braves drop season finale in 15 innings
McLouth's homer a bright spot as offensive woes continue
By Mark Bowman / MLB.com
10/04/09 8:38 PM EST
ATLANTA -- This certainly wasn't the way the Braves envisioned concluding what will still be viewed as a season of progress. Once their postseason hopes were erased early in this final homestand, they attempted to keep themselves motivated by the consolation prize that stood in the form of a second-place finish in the National League East.Given its inability to accomplish either of those two goals, it might have been fitting that Atlanta came up just short once again during the 2-1, 15-inning loss that it suffered against Washington at Turner Field on Sunday afternoon.
After Alberto Gonzalez's two-out 15th-inning single off Boone Logan gave the Nationals the lead, the Braves made things interesting with one last two-out rally. Omar Infante singled and moved to third base with Martin Prado's double into the left-center-field gap. But the last-gasp attempt ended when third-base umpire Ron Kulpa ruled that Brooks Conrad was unable to check his two-strike swing against Logan Kensing.
"You hate to end the game on a check swing, which I didn't think he swung at," said manager Bobby Cox, showing the frustration of a six-game losing streak that took his club from postseason contender to third-place finisher in the NL East.
With their loss to the Phillies on Sunday afternoon, the Marlins provided the Braves the possibility to at least tie for second place in the division. But while stranding 12 runners, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, Cox's club was unable to take advantage of the strong performances provided by the eight pitchers he sent to the mound.
"It was a crazy game, but we gave the fans some extra baseball to kind of remember us by," said Chipper Jones, who was among the top players missing from both clubs' lineups during this season finale. "It's not the way we wanted to end it. But give the guys credit. It's hard to come out here and play on the last day of the regular season when you don't really have anything riding on it."
Having won 14 of its previous 16 games, Atlanta entered this homestand hoping that a seven-game winning streak would be enough to provide the club the opportunity to compete in the postseason. Instead the Braves capped this year with the season's only six-game losing streak and saw the 103-loss Nationals enter the offseason with the seven consecutive wins the fans of Atlanta were hoping to celebrate in the season's last week.
Still, even with its final-week struggles, Atlanta notched 86 wins, which represents a 14-game improvement from the 2008 season.
"We played good," Cox said. "We had a good year, really. We made a run for it with just four or five days to go, and that's pretty good. I'm proud of how they handled themselves, even today. They wanted to finish second. There was some purpose for playing."
With a run-saving diving catch in the 12th inning and a three-hit performance, Infante seemed to be playing with a purpose. But while hitting just .224 during this final homestand, the Braves found offensive futility too often standing in the way of purpose.
"Obviously today is disappointing," said Tim Hudson, who limited the Nationals to one run and seven hits in seven innings. "We were hoping to go out on a good note today. But you never know what's going to happen during the last game of the season. We just fell short. For me, I felt pretty good going out there and giving us a pretty good chance to win."
Hudson, who remains hopeful that he could return next season with a deal that would void the $12 million option in his current contract, took advantage of a Washington lineup that was absent Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn.
The veteran right-hander, who went 2-1 with a 3.61 ERA in the seven starts he made after returning from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, didn't run into trouble until surrendering three consecutive one-out singles in the seventh inning. Dunn came off the bench to cap that stretch with an RBI single to right field.
Like Zimmerman and Dunn, Jones and Brian McCann were absent from Atlanta's final-day lineup. This was a welcome sign for J.D. Martin, whose only damage over six innings was provided by Nate McLouth's sixth-inning leadoff homer.
Jones, who hit .264 during the most frustrating season of his career, snapped an 0-for-19 skid with an eight-inning pinch-hit single. But like too many of his teammates in the last week, the veteran third baseman found himself stranded at the end of the inning.
"Huddy looked good," Cox said. "All of our pitching looked pretty darn good to give up two runs in 15 innings. I guess their's did, too. We just didn't do much with the bats the entire homestand."
Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
