The Ted Turner Memoirs Part V. - Ghosts of Atlanta's Past

[lilbiggio]

The year is now 1992...



Note, I don't expect anybody to watch this full game, unless they like the Atlanta Braves like that. With that said, it IS a good *** game none the less worth a channel visit at the very least to find other memorable games. This one in particular the 1992 NLCS game 7 vs. the Pirates had a memorable cast of characters like:

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** We had, Prime Deion Sanders The baseball version yukking it up on the sidelines about a still memorable weekend playing football for the Falcons, and then teleporting to Pittsburgh's horrendous looking Three Rivers Stadium in time to dress for Game 5 of the F'n National League Championship Series. ** We also meet and greet a young, John Smoltz pitching to preserve the pride of Atlanta after nearly blowing what should have been a NLCS that went 4 maybe... 5 games at most. ** Bean Pole Early 90s stirrups wearing versions of everybody else littered the field including a very young Barry Bonds in left.

With that said, no Braves fan should not already know what this clip is all about. However for the sake of time and the younger cats that may poke their head in on this, I have already pre-embedded to the meaningful part of the clip. And yes, as important to our story, people still know what they were doing on this historic night....

***

Tonight the Atlanta Braves head back to the World Series. Around him people ordered more and more shots of dirty tequila and the party that had at one time been silent with anticipation, on edge with each pitch, with each swing and miss, and with every ball and strike was now picking up.

People would talk of this night for many years. David Justice rounding third base, Sid Bream sneaking a foot in to win the series. A game 7! Oh Damn! What a time to be in Atlanta, Georgia. We should have lost this ****ing game and we won it!


... and yet, even on what should have been a crowning night for our young 22 year old friend, it was marred with guilt. With the same dark thoughts that came to him off and on for the past 10 years.

She had been gone for 10 years. The family was starting to give up hope. There had been no leads. No sign of a clue to the whereabouts of his sister. Had he just said something, did anything at that point.. she'd.. she'd be able to...

his thoughts left him, he was lost without words.

10 years, not a damn clue... nothing to go off of. But tonight?


His prayers had been answered.


Ignoring the drunken stupor of those around him, he continued to focus in on one tiny graphic that caught his eye on that tiny *** TV in the corner of the bar. He recognized the face. It had to be him. Celebrating in the Atlanta lockeroom being interviewed by CBS sports he was right there. But what does that name say..? At any moment they would switch to another player, or coach, or owner.. HE had to see what that name was before it was too late!

He struggled his eyes with all his might to make out what it said before the network switched to a different interviewee.. Yes! He could make it out...



His name read Walily-Casillas Thomas.

[lilbiggio]

Back to action, and we have been graced with a rare opportunity to play the Detroit Tigers. Not only are the Tigers a team we have never before played. But we take them on at their ballpark where they feature this year's Triple Crown hopeful Prince Fielder.

It also doesn't hurt to get a chance to play a team that you have a very reasonable chance of seeing in the 2014 World Series. I won't lie, there was some magic in the Detroit air tonight.



However as big of a matchup two teams going in identical directions was going to be. We are running on fumes brehs. Everybody in our lineup is below 60% in energy. There are plenty of snowflakes to go around, and with this being an interleague showdown, we have to do what's best for the team and start our JV up in Detroit. that means Hinske, Yuniesky, and Justin Turner seeing significant playing time tonight.



Well whaddya know, Hinske comes in off the bench, hits a homerun in his first at bat. his second? He hits a leadoff triple. Just like that The boys from Cobb County are up 5 - zip with the B-team against the big badd Detroit Tigers.



And Brandon Beachy is looking good out there as well against the dangerous bats of Cabrera, Fielder, and Martinez. Through 8 Innings Brandon racked up 10 strikeouts including a notable of striking out Miggy 4 times, and Fielder twice.

Just as bad as the position players were on fumes, our bullpen was as well, and so we asked Beachy to bring it home for the full 9 which he did.



It does bring a concern to mind that this team doesn't really have a good bench when you think about it. The starting 9? Spectacular. The rotation? Awesome... but 16 through 40 leave a lot to be desired, and with September call ups rolling around, we are running not walking to the expanded roster school bus.

[lilbiggio]

The Phillies are 3 games out of first place.


HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!


Had things like this not happen from time to time in the great game of baseball, I would cry foul. But hell, we saw the Athletics catch the Texas Rangers who most certainly had a lead as large as ours, and win the AL West on the last game of the season.


Here we have the Phillies doing the same thing. The fun in this is that for the most part this has been a relatively quiet season in terms of Standings drama. Right here at the end though, we have limped, and Philly has ate well off of that stringing together a few win streaks including going 20 - 7 during the month of August while we went cold putting together a 15 - 12 record for August.



No Bueno dude. three Games is nothing... nothing in the month of September. That's one bad series away from a wild card appearance or a spot on the couch this October.

That bean ball from Ricky Nolasco up in Philly a few weeks back, has in effect catapulted the Phillies organization exactly into the place they wanted to be in all along going into the final month of the season.

We definitely need a strong finish. Hopefully the AAA callups will give us the push we need to hold off Philadelphia.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Quote: Originally Posted by lilbiggio

The year is now 1992... [i]Note, I don't expect anybody to watch this full game, unless they like the Atlanta Braves like that. With that said, it IS a good *** game none the less worth a channel visit at the very least to find other memorable games. This one in particular the 1992 NLCS game 7 vs. the Pirates had a memorable cast of characters like:

imo, this is one of the greatest "what if" games in MLB history. What if the Pirates won? Does Barry Bonds stay in Pittsburgh? Does he never find out about BALCO? Does he stay clean and not even come close to Hank Aaron's record (or McGwire's)? Or does he break it anyway?

What about Atlanta? What if they lost? Do they then still go and pilfer away 1992 Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux from the Cubs?

What happens in Chicago if Maddux stayed? Do they actually win a World Series with a prime Greg Maddux, a prime Sosa, a prime Grace, an older Sandberg, and a young Kerry Wood?

And of course, what if the Pirates also went on to beat the Jays in the Series? How does baseball in Toronto (and Canada) do as a whole if they never won? Do they get phased out like Montreal? The Jays were drawing some massive crowds back in the late 80s early 90s, but even after winning 2 titles, they had sunk to 10th in the AL in attendance by 2000.

And maybe the biggest one of all...if Bonds stays in "small-market" Pittsburgh, do the owners still go for the salary cap that led to the 1994 strike? What would've happened that year? Does Gwynn hit .400? Does Matt Williams break Maris' record *legitimately*? Do the Expos win it all and become the preeminent baseball team in Canada? Are the Jays the team to be contracted instead?

So many questions...if only this game had played out juuuuust a bit differently.

[lilbiggio]

imo, this is one of the greatest "what if" games in MLB history.

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What if the Pirates won? Does Barry Bonds stay in Pittsburgh? Does he never find out about BALCO? Does he stay clean and not even come close to Hank Aaron's record (or McGwire's)?

These are all good and interesting questions, people get wrapped up in Bonds wrong doings that they forget that this man may have been the greatest player of his era. IMO I don't think a world series appearance would have changed the fact that Bonds was about to get a dump truck full of money from somebody. Pittsburgh was all in at this point, that team wasn't going to be any better than it was constructed and they sure as hell wasn't keeping Drabek AND Bonds, so 92 was going to be their year win or lose...

A clean Bonds doesn't catch Henry Aaron in my eyes.

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What about Atlanta? What if they lost? Do they then still go and pilfer away 1992 Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux from the Cubs?

This is REALLL interesting... at that point in time, the Cubs were in the same situation as the Pirates in terms of losing a very good talent to someone else. Going to the World Series definitely helped the Atlanta brain trust pitch an offer to Maddux that titled the scale into our favor. Remember this man took less money to come to Georgia so maybe he comes here anyway. One thing is for sure, the Braves aren't the team of the 90s without Maddux.

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What happens in Chicago if Maddux stayed? Do they actually win a World Series with a prime Greg Maddux, a prime Sosa, a prime Grace, an older Sandberg, and a young Kerry Wood?

This is Chicago we're talking about.. they'd have found away to screw this up. I'd put money on it. C'mon now... let's not play with ourselves lol!

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And of course, what if the Pirates also went on to beat the Jays in the Series? How does baseball in Toronto (and Canada) do as a whole if they never won? Do they get phased out like Montreal? The Jays were drawing some massive crowds back in the late 80s early 90s, but even after winning 2 titles, they had sunk to 10th in the AL in attendance by 2000.

We got a lot of Jay fans here so I'm going to leave this one up for debate concerning the whole baseball in Canada thing. Let me just stay tho... the Pirates don't blow a 3 run lead? It wouldn't be 20 years later and we're still waiting for a good postseason run from the Buccos. That ish broke that team.


And maybe the biggest one of all...if Bonds stays in "small-market" Pittsburgh, do the owners still go for the salary cap that led to the 1994 strike? What would've happened that year? Does Gwynn hit .400? Does Matt Williams break Maris' record *legitimately*? Do the Expos win it all and become the preeminent baseball team in Canada? Are the Jays the team to be contracted instead?

1994, the greatest, and at the same time worst season in all of baseball history.

[lilbiggio]

the lead is now 3 games my friends.. 3 f'n games.

Now anyone reading and following alone can see above that Miami rolled over like a mangy dog. Philly and St. Louis not so much. Yet even after losing 5 of 6 games against bitter rivals we're still sitting pretty. How?



Well... let's look back at the past week and a half...



First of all Philadelphia is doing a horrible job winning the games that are gift wrapped for them. If you were to tell Charlie Manuel that he'd get back to back series vs. New York Mets in Philly, and then Miami wherever at their park, at the YMCA, doesn't matter.. you're taking however many games the schedule would give you. Well it didn't work out like that for them as they got swept by the Mets, and stole a game vs. the Marlins.



Down in Georgia, we started off with a damn good walk off from Heyward as he took a 3-0 count yard, for a two run shot. THIS **** was dramatic my friends. Oh man, it was a great bomb that as it turned out saved us from losing 3 games at home to the Diamondbacks.

Again keep in mind the Phils are losing games while we struggle so no ground is being lost.



We meet up head to head with these bums and they do work on us. Mike Minor pitched as good of a game as he could. Made two bad pitches tonight. One was a changeup that didn't change. One was a fastball that was supposed to be high and outside to make the hitter cheat... well the fastball drifted back into the zone and Ruiz hit it out for a 3 run shot ruining what was a great game and giving us ZERO time to come back.

[lilbiggio]

Tut...tut... tis looks like rain.



It's no secret that the Cardinals are one the most hated teams in our league to play. They robbed us of the 2011 NL Pennant. And they annoyingly seemed to get better not worse with the loss of Albert Pujols.

This game vs. them another first place team was a playoff preview, and unlike prior years, they seem to not be as invincible. Stats wise, they do work... but the loss of an instant HR from King Albert makes them beatable.

This afternoon with rain in the forecast and after a 3 hour delay, the game sloppily got underway, and we had guys dropping balls, slipping on the grass, making "weak contact on well timed, perfect swing" swings. You get the point it was an annoying *** game.



Freddie Freeman hit the pinch hit 2 run homer in the top of the ninth. That should have been the main image for this game. yet, here we are showcasing the Cardinals because once again, a Braves pitcher gets no run support, as our offense led by the highly unclutch to be referred to as a "former Rookie of the year" every SINGLE game by Vasgergian, Eric Hinske, hit into a double play stranding a runner on 3rd with 1 out.





It would be as simple as going into the bottom of the 12th and watching the Cardinals swing the bat twice hitting the ball deep into the corner in back to back at bats. it seemed the CPU was ready to get out of the rain, and this game ended quickly after being a back and forth pitching duel for 98% of the contest.

Oh well... stupid things like this happen. Getting swept cost us a game on the Philies.



So looking back at the schedule one more time, that Philly 4 game set at Ted Turner's field is huge... that pretty much decides the East. We got a sim game scheduled vs. Miami before it, so hopefully the team handles business leading into that.

Following the critical 4 games vs. the Phillies, we play 10 games in a row on the road. By the time we fly down to Miami International on the 25th, we should definitely be on fumes stamina wise on the ratings.

This won't be easy to hold them off. 10 games in a row on the road to end the season?!

Really?

[lilbiggio]

The Braves vs. Phillies series is finally here! There is still 2 to 3 weeks of baseball remaining so it's not safe to say that the winner of these 4 games will be the NL East Champ just yet... but it will most certainly put the series winner in the driver's seat going down the stretch.

Now what was shameful is that a 2 time World Series bound team, would get flipped under the rug so quickly. EVERYBODY is doubting us now. All the talking heads are loving Philadelphia's "bad boy" influence on the league. BSPN has jumped ship and think they are the most dangerous team out there right now. It's pretty damn demoralizing for our boys from Cobb County


Only one guy has his head on straight though friends, and as usual, it's the insightful Harold Reynolds.. what would we do without him to keep the baseball media from being a cluster**** on a nightly basis?

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MLB.com - Amazing Happens Tonight - Philles at Braves