Brooks Conrad Unlikely Hero In Comeback Win

For the second day in a row the Atlanta Braves won the game in comeback fashion, but no one expected what happened today.

Down 9-3 in the 9th inning and the game all but looking lost, the improbable and rare Atlanta Braves comeback happened. It was a comeback fans haven’t seen since the glory days of David Justice, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Mark Lemke (OK, Lemke is a stretch but he was my favorite player).

This afternoon Brooks Conrad was the hero. His grand slam gave the Braves a dramatic 10-9 win over the Cincinnati Reds, a team that is no slack this year. The improbable win once again showed what I wrote just a few hours ago: This team has heart.

Braves fans have waited to long for the days of dramatic wins days in a row, watching a team that looked invincible on some days and vulnerable–yet still in the game–on other days. The Braves were perennial winners. But these past five years the Braves have been a perennial loser. All the charm from the 1990s was gone and the new decade has been cruel on Bobby Cox’s kids.

When you see a kid like Brooks Conrad smack a game-winning grand slam after the Braves were down by eight runs, you can’t help but feel that special charm that existed a decade more than a decade ago.

The Atlanta Braves are 21-20 and are about to sweep the Cincinnati Reds, a team leading its own division of good teams. Even when the Braves were struggling to win games at home, fans kept in the back of their heads the big win against the Philadelphia Phillies early in the season.

The Braves are winning close games and they are coming out in the win column in those crucial 1-run games.

Keep watching this team. Something special is on the rise.