Brooks had a very bad day

Yeah yeah yeah... three errors including 2 that produced runs in a 3-2 game.
Lest we forget he ALSO screwed up a sacrifice bunt in the 8th inning.

I feel very bad for him.
9 years in the minors... he scrapped and clawed his way to the big leagues.... he played 5 different positions in the minors trying to get a big league shot... He gets to the big leagues... hits a dramatic walk off grand slam earlier this year... and now finds himself starting in the post season.

It should be a feel good story about a guy who just wouldn't quit.
And now he is going to be remembered as a post season goat.

I can't help but feel bad for the guy.

A silver lining? He plays in Atlanta which isn't exactly an intense baseball town. If he did this in New York, Boston or Philadelphia, he'd be burnt in effigy.

Yet another inning for Bobby Cox to regret

Back in 2007, I wrote about the post season innings that Bobby Cox must grumble and grind his teeth over.

Whether it was Lonnie Smith not scoring on Terry Pendleton's double or Leyritz's homer or the Astros come back in 2005... there have been many innings where if the breaks went slightly differently, Bobby Cox might have more than one World Series ring.

Well throw tonight's top of the 9th on the pile.
If the Braves get that last out, they have the Giants on the ropes and the NLCS would be in their sites.

Now?
They are staring at elimination and a bittersweet ending for Bobby Cox's career.

Read those inning recaps.

I'm not even a Braves fan and it breaks my heart.
Should give Brooks Conrad some relief to know he is in good company.

Best Text I Got Today

My friend and Giants fanatic Greg Lee sent me a text today.

"There are nights I am really happy I am NOT Brooks Conrad. This is one of them."

Poor bastard.
But at least his defense is distracting people from his .100 series average.

Um maybe it was best that this WASN'T shown in Cincinnati!

Earlier today, I griped about the Reds game not being shown on TV in Cincinnati.
Now I realize it was merciful that it wasn't!

This is why baseball is the greatest game of them all.
In football if a team was down by a lot with a minute to go, you can take a knee.
In basketball you can run out the clock.
In hockey you can trap until time runs out.

In baseball, you need to get 27 outs.

The Braves down 9-3 in the 9th and dead from the neck up? They just got hit after hit... the Reds made a few errors... next thing you know some guy named Brooks Conrad hit a ball off of Laynce Nix's glove and over the wall for a walk off grand slam.

Of course Conrad thought Nix had caught it and started walking back to the dugout... before he put 2 and 2 together and realized that everyone was rushing the field... and they wouldn't do that for a sacrifice fly that made the score 9-7, Reds.

The really unfair thing...

If Laynce Nix is remembered at all for this game, it will be because the walk off grand slam went in and out of his glove.

He went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI, a homer and missed the cycle by a triple.

Joey Votto hit a grand slam as well... nobody will remember that.

It's a cruel game and a sure fire win turned into a gut wrenching loss... and with the Cardinals win, the Reds have fallen out of first place.

Man, it's a good things Reds fans didn't see this!