But only a 0.11 era difference in the playoffs man. Maddux was unlucky. Smoltz was too, but not to the same extent, he faced off against worse opposing pitchers more and got more run support. The braves bullpen was bleh in the 90s, the teams they lost to had better bullpens! I don’t blame Cox. He’d simply have to leave his pitchers in a little longer due to lack of depth. Never had a good bench in the 90s either.

I think the 1997 was the braves offense struggling, and the marlins being the better overall team. Game 3 featured John Smoltz for the braves and Saunders for the marlins lol. The braves led 2-1 going into the 7th, and then gave up 4 runs. 5-2 loss. Cox may have left Smoltz in a little too long, but the bullpen was nothing to write home about. Looking at the rosters, the marlins had more depth, just the braves had the best starting pitching. How the Braves didn’t score more runs is another story. Game 5 was legit cheating by Umpire Eric Gregg, no question. Marlins escaped. Game 7 would have been Smoltz and Saunders again I believe, can’t imagine the marlins win that match up again, but oh well.

The 8th inning turn of events of Lonnie Smith losing track of Terry Pendleton’s rope to the left center field gap has been woulda-shoulda-coulda’d to death, however Pendleton not often discussed is he had actually struck out swinging the pitch previous to his hit, as home plate umpire – post season punchline Don Denkinger – reversed his initial call of a strikeout because Pendleton pretty-pleased him into believing him that he had tipped the ball. Denkinger then appealed to the third base umpire, who inexplicably agreed with Pendleton that the ball was tipped. Just six years removed from handing the Royals a World Series game 6 victory (Google it), Denkinger was saddled with plate duties by MLB for a Series Game 7, and despite Denkinger’s best efforts to further cement his legacy as baseballs best known umpire – er, worst – it was only Denkinger’s mile wide strike zone that’s remembered in this game. To Denkinger’s credit, though, it was a consistent zone for each team, and as long as either catcher could actually catch the pitch, odds were better than not that a strike would be called.

I wasn’t surprised when Bobby Cox pulled Smoltz in favor of lefty Mike Stanton with two outs in the Twins side of the 8th. Smoltz had given up a lead off hit to Randy Bush, and after retiring Dan Gladden for the innings first out he surrendered a base hit to Chuck Knoblach. With runners at the corners and one out, the prospect of Smoltz retiring Puckett & Hrbek as the next two batters seemed like a dubious endeavor, considering it would now be the 4th time through the lineup for both hitters, and both had proven themselves as clutch hitters in post season play – albeit Hrbek’s was more for his Game 6 slam in the ’87 Series against St. Louis. Even with hindsight I believe it’s clear Cox made the right call to lift Smoltz when he did. Mike Stanton did his job – intentionally walking Puckett and getting Hrbek to soft-line into an inning ending Mark Lempke unassisted DP, and the Braves came to bat at the top of the 9th with renewed confidence after getting to Morris with a genuine threat in the 8th inning.

In the final analysis, the Twins got some bounces and Tom Kelly outmanaged Bobby Cox. As Tom Kelly walked to the mound in the 8th inning to – seemingly – lift Morris for a reliever, a strategy was discussed as to how best to contend with the task at hand. There was one out and runners at the corner, with lefty Dave Justice at the dish. Justice had homered twice in the series and had legs good enough to be tough to double off, so Kelly opted to walk Justice to load the bases and have Morris face Sid Bream instead. Bream, he of no less than five previous knee surgeries, was well known to anyone and everyone to be the slowest man in baseball, despite the optical illusion of his circus trick the previous series against the Pirates, when Bream managed to score from second base; a series walk off hit by Rafael Belliard was charged on and fielded by Pirates left fielder, Barry Bonds, who’s throw from deep short couldn’t nail Bream at the plate, as Bream and his piano slid gleefully into the club’s first World Series since the team moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta. With one out and the bases now full, Bream grounded to Hrbek, who turned a textbook 2-3-2 double play to end the inning.

The Minnesota Twins are currently riding a 18-game postseason losing streak, which is the longest stretch of postseason futility in American Sports history. Consequently, I lean on memories of Game 7 1991 whenever I need them. Good thing there’s plenty to be had.

90s/2000s Postseason run:

Starter on 2 days rest: 0-3

Starter on 3 days rest: 10-14 4.37 runs/9 innings

Starter on 4 days rest or more: 53-45 3.64 runs/9 innings

However, I place the blame squarely on Bobby Cox. While a terrific manager during a 162 game season, he just couldn’t manage well in the postseason. I remember him starting guys like Charlie Liebrandt rather than Avery, Smoltz or Glavine. I remember him leaving pitchers in after a bad first inning or second inning (I’m talking about Glavine in particular) and yes, the pitcher would “settle down” but by then it was too late – the two runs he’d given up in the 1st or 2nd inning was enough to beat the Braves.

Lewis,

Thank you for your comment! I think Cox deserves some culpability, as you say, but I can’t get past the idea that Schuerholz pulled the strings and didn’t do more to get the one or two players the Braves needed to win more Series. I am very hopeful for the Braves’ future and very much respect Coppolella. We will see.

Thank you again for writing!

Take care.

Jim

I no longer live in Georgia, but I still follow the Braves when I can and I hope that 1995 will someday repeat itself in the near future.