Roger and Julio in October

[TommyD (MrOJ)]

Julio is batting right now in the 9th

[fknmclane]

Julio just batted again...in the 18th this time.

[TommyD (MrOJ)]

Damn the Braves...

[OctoFranco]

Damn nothing, this was the greatest baseball game I've ever witnessed.  I mean, wow.  The whole thing was just like a giant fantasy.  I am still in disbelief.  I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Astros after this, and am definitely pulling for them to somehow manage to take it all this year.

And don't be too upset with the Braves, it was pretty much a given that the bullpen would cost them in the postseason anyway (figures though that after the seventh inning last night, and the 8th-9th tonight, that the bastards finally cobble together a string of scoreless innings, only to have it snapped in season-ending fashion).

And after Julio's first at-bat against Rocket where he got struck out, I thought that was a pretty good RBI portent to who would wind up winning the game.  The rematch in the 18th resulting in a pop-up pretty much sealed the deal.

As the RBI'ers go, so goes the team...

Still though, effing phenomenal.  It'll take a while for this one to sink in totally.

[DamnTheCowboys]

That was emotional as hell, watching Julio vs. the Rocket in this game.....both at-bats, Franco did not give in to Clemens.  He battled his ass off and you could tell that as each player was eying down the other, there was an unspoken mutual respect between the two, as if they were both thinking, "hats off to you, RBI holdover.  We've made it.....we're the last ones."



I got chills watching that.

[TommyD (MrOJ)]

Julio got screwed on that called strike 3..

[OctoFranco]

Anyway, who's to say that one of them will wind up costing their team a title somehow or another.  What pessimism.

Okay, nobody else has mentioned it, so I guess I'm going to have to...

Well, Adam LaRoche started yesterday's game at first base.  Adam LaRoche is 6'3", youthful, spry and flexible.

Bobby Cox decided it would be a good idea to sub in Julio to play 1st in the bottom of the 8th.  As much as I love the guy, he is not as tall as LaRoche, and god knows doesn't have the same reach.  Well, this was a factor in that fateful 8th, when two Braves out-costing misplays set up that grand slam.  The second of these misplays was a would-be double play that took Julio off of first by about half an inch -- just enough to not get the out call at first.

I can't help but speculate that if it had still been LaRoche out there manning the bag, he would have handled the throw, completing the double play, which would have avoided the double-steal of second and third by the remaining baserunners and subsequent base-loading walk that Burkman would memorably punish...

Although I suppose that if you dig and look hard enough, you could pin the blame on anyone... Still though, can't help but believe that had Cox just saved Julio for pinch hit duty in the 9th that game 5 would be going on in Atlanta right now...

[erhajj]

Larouche didn't bust his ass hard enough hustling around the bases in, what the 7th inning.  He was on first when a double was hit to the left field corner and he had it in cruise control around the bag and ended up getting thrown out at home.  I think he thought that he was going to be held at third with nobody out. 

My point being is that maybe he could shoulder some blame for braves fans (all 5 of them) as far as why this game was lost.

[Attezzobal]

While we're at it, let's blame Joey Devine for grooving Chris Burke a pitch...

C'mon, how can you say Laroche wasn't 'busting his ass' in the highlight I saw of it, he wasn't exactly jogging around the bases, it's not as if Laroche is known for being a fast runner by any stretch of the imagination.

[erhajj]

I was watching and it looked like he was not running full speed.  It looked like he thought that he would cruise into third instead of running hard.  It looked like he is slow but I think that he was not trying to hit top gear going around the bag at second. 

And if he is that slow then why was the 3B coach sending him with nobody out?

[TommyD (MrOJ)]

LaRoche was looking at the ball though, at least 2 times just that the camera saw.  I guarentee if he is looking forward and pushing 100% he makes that run happen 

[Attezzobal]

I don't think you guys realize just how slow Adam Laroche is.

[erhajj]

He is slow, given, but he was running less than his meger top speed for a significant amount of the time that he was running from first to home on that double.  I really think that if he ran even his meger top speed on that play there would have been a game in atlanta tonight.

[TommyD (MrOJ)]

I feel the same way... like I said.. the guy was looking at the ball, not focusing on giving 100% on the basepaths.  Also, he wasn't out of breath (or at least it didn't appear that way) when he was called out.  *Nor did he look very disappointed*

[ultimate7]

Although I suppose that if you dig and look hard enough, you could pin the blame on anyone...

It seems to me you have to look pretty hard to blame anyone other than Farnsworth

[OctoFranco]

Although I suppose that if you dig and look hard enough, you could pin the blame on anyone...

It seems to me you have to look pretty hard to blame anyone other than Farnsworth

No, he's actually the only one that did exactly what people expected of him.

And I forgot that LaRoche's loafing it around third happened right before he was yanked (in which case I can say rightly so), so I guess I can't fault Cox for putting in Julio for defense in the bottom of the 8th...

In any event, unless Roger says he's been strained by his two-days'-rest relief stint, he should be ready to go on regular rest again for game three against St. Louis on Saturday.  I'm not sure if Julio's going to a Mexican/winter league this offseason.