The Braves’ game plan for the Phillies was mystifying to say the least: swing for the fences, and show Ryan Howard we aren’t afraid to let him do the same.
They should have been afraid. Very afraid.
Over the landscape of three days, Ryan Howard, quite ceremoniously, launched anything close to the strike zone into the Atlanta night sky. Even he looked taken aback when, late in a tied pivitol game three, Javier Vazquez and Brian McCann started tantalizing him yet again with high inside fast balls. As his go ahead three run bomb soared over the right field wall (his third home run of the series) he took a moment to revel in it’s trajectory, a la Barry Bonds. If Howard’s brief display of preening ruffled a few feathers in the Braves’ dugout, it shouldn’t have: they got exactly what they deserved. Perhaps the Braves forgot they were playing at their own pitcher friendly ball park, where 370 foot shots fall harmlessly into outfielder’s gloves instead of fan’s. Perhaps Bobby Cox didn’t know that Ryan Howard feasts on right handed pitching like a lion on a gazelle. Perhaps, after an impressive stretch of winning that got even John Kruk’s attention, they had gotten too confident. Whatever the reason, the all important strategy for chiseling away at the Phillies’ lead in the division seemed, at best, premature; at worst, flung together in a huddle before a game of stick ball.
While Howard licks his paws and the Braves lick their wounds, they can find some solace in the fact that they still have a spate of games to play against teams within the division, and are only 3 games back in the wild card standings. When they travel to Philadelphia next week, though, the Braves would do well to keep in mind that talent and determination alone may be good enough to win games against the also rans of the NL like the Pirates and Nationals, but World Series flags hanging above you indicate you are in a lion’s den, and that you should be careful with every move you make.