Atlanta Braves: the last team to exploit the Phillies like the Mets just did
We come not to bury the Phillies, but to pile on instead. In 1994, it was the Atlanta Braves who did exactly that.
Tuesday, May 10, 1994. This was a season that had lots of awkward moments impacting this promising Atlanta Braves club — not least of all the strike that abruptly ended the season in August. But this night was indeed one for the books.
Last night’s huge comeback for the Mets — scoring seven times in the 9th to stun Philadelphia — did have a precedent. It was this Spring game in Atlanta from almost exactly 26 years ago.
Several of the names involved are familiar: Lenny Dykstra led off for the Phillies that night. Catcher Darren Daulton was a pinch hitter. Pete Incaviglia and Milt Thompson both played in left field. John Kruk was at 1st for a while. I can still recall broadcaster Harry Kalas and how he enunciated the name of second baseman “Mickey Morandini“.
On the Braves side, Deion Sanders led off, followed by Terry Pendleton and Ryan Klesko. Fred McGriff was at 1st base, of course, with David Justice in right field, the ‘Lemmer’ at second, Rafael Belliard at short, and Charlie O’Brien caught the whole game.
Even the umpires from that night are recognizable: Jerry Layne had the plate, with Jeff Kellogg, Paul Runge, and Dana DeMuth formed the rest of the crew… all well-known names to this day.
But let’s get real here: virtually everyone on both rosters got to play on this night… the game went fifteen innings. Heck… even Tom Glavine was used as a pinch hitter late in the contest.
If you’re a real glutton for punishment, the entire game is available to watch on youtube in 1 hour chunks:
Kent Mercker started the game, opposite Shawn Boskie, but Mercker only lasted 5+ innings, giving up the first 3 Phillie runs.
Mark Wohlers followed, but fared worse… he yielded the next 4. By the end of 7th inning, Steve Bedrosian gave up another tally, and Skip Carey was likely mulling the use of that line “if you promise to patronize our sponsors, you have our permission to go walk your dog.”
It was 8-1 Philadelphia at that point, as Boskie was cruising. Only an O’Brien homer has really bothered him for most of the night… one of just 2 hits and 2 walks through 8 innings.
“Cruising”, that is, until the bottom of the 9th, when Don Sutton used the “let’s give’em a finish” line.
The Fateful Braves 9th
Boskie started this frame, facing 3 more Braves hitters. Philly’s “win expectancy” score was pegged at 100% — and had been since the 8th. I guess statistics are still something of an inexact science.
Klesko led off the home 9th with a single… a liner to right on the second pitch he saw. McGriff got himself on the board with a bloop to left in front a an oddly raucous crowd of … maybe 8,000 well-lubricated fans remaining?
After a Justice infield hit loaded the bases, Boskie was excused from further participation in his quest for a complete-game win.
The Phils had a couple of closer-worthy relievers. Both were used in this inning. The first was Doug Jones, but his role turned into that of “fire stoker” on this night.
3 hits in a row for the Braves weren’t enough, so Lemke and O’Brien both singled as well … scoring all three of the runners already on base. Now it’s 8-4 and things are getting quite a bit interesting as Atlanta had 5 consecutive singles… and still nobody out.
Then Mike Mordecai stepped in and stopped the single streak… by crushing a 3-run homer to left.
Think he looks fresh-faced in the video? Yeah – this was his first major league hit after debuting just 2 days before this game…and what a hit it was!
Okay… that made the score 8-7, but now the rally has to start all over… there’s still nobody out, but also no one on base. Still, the remaining fans are definitely paying attention.
Bill Pecota (speaking of stats as we were) then finally made the first out — a comebacker to Jones. But then Neon-Deion dumped a ball into short left-center.
At that point, manager Jim Fregosi had seen enough and brought in Heathcliff Slocumb to try and finish this game. Or maybe that should have been the plan.
Slocumb induced a groundout from Dave Gallagher, but the speedy Sanders still made it to second base, as he was running on the play. That became a key play shortly afterward. Fregosi then turned to David West to get the final out.
Sorry, Philadelphia Phans, but that didn’t happen immediately: Javy Lopez singled to right field. That brought in Sanders and the game was tied. McGriff then popped out to end the 7-run inning… and now we’re suddenly going to extra innings.
The Braves had brought 11 to the plate, seeing only 26 pitches total in the inning. Despite all the pitching changes, this happened quick… just like it did with the Mets game on Thursday.
As Don Sutton noted during the inning (he was on fire himself this night) “It’s a good thing they checked the pulse of the corpse, because it still had one.”
Free Baseball?
All of the prior maneuverings left both benches with personnel shortages, and that became apparent as the game continued.
David West had to continue for the Phillies, throwing one more inning. Greg McMichael threw both the 10th and 11th for the Braves. McMichael gave up only a single, striking out 2 and getting a lot of groundouts with his stint.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the 11th that the Braves manufactured another scoring chance. After a walk (Mordecai), sacrifice (Pecota), an intentional walk (Sanders) and a strikeout (Gallagher), Bobby Cox gave Tom Glavine a chance to win the game… alas Mike Williams struck him out, too.
But Williams had to stick around a while on the mound. His new counterpart became Mike Stanton… the Braves’ 7th pitcher on the night.
Stanton gave up a single and walk with 1 out in the 12th, but then induced a foul popout and a flyout to left to hold the Phils at bay.
The Braves continued to chip away at Mike Williams from the 12th to 14th innings, but to no great harm as things like double plays (2) and a caught stealing allowed him to escape each time.
So now we’re all the way to the 15th inning and the 4th hour of this game that — by all rights — should have ended roughly 90 minutes prior.
The Phillies, for their part, were probably just happy to still be in the contest at this point, so they mounted one last assault to try and salvage the game.
With Stanton starting his 4th innings, they alternate outs with runners: a bunt comebacker for an out, a single, a strikeout, and a walk.
But with 2 on and 2 out, the visitors could not get the “big hit” either, as PH Kim Batiste flew out to left field to end their half of the 15th.
Then it was the Braves’ turn as the game clock rolled close to 4-1/2 hours. Andy Carter is now pitching for the Phillies. This frame started innocently, with two flyouts to center field.
Then Deion Sanders dumped a liner down the third base line for a hustle double… but of course he did. At this point, though, the Braves bench is completely empty of position players, so the Phillies did the logical thing and walked Gallagher so that they could face… Mike Stanton.
In Stanton’s entire career — 19 seasons from 1989-2007 with the Braves, Yankees, Mets, Nats, Giants, and Reds — he managed 26 plate appearances. Total. But he was also not completely inept, having garnered 8 hits and a lifetime .333 average with a walk and a sacrifice thrown in. He also managed to drive in 3 runs overall.
Tonight… he filled in more than one of those columns.
The Finale in the 15th
By the 14th inning, Stanton had already made a plate appearance, singled, and was actually in scoring position (on 3rd base) when that inning concluded. Now here he is up again in the 15th… albeit with two outs and runners on 1st and second.
Sanders then did what Sanders does… he stole third (uncontested) on the third pitch. Now there’s at least the chance of a ball in the dirt scoring him without making Stanton wield his weapon.
Now I have no idea how this next play was then orchestrated, but with a 2-1 count, Stanton did something… very odd.
Batting left-handed, with the crowd making a lot of noise, Stanton looked like he might have tried to drag a bunt down the first baseline in an attempt to beat it out. Except that isn’t what happened.
He made contact, but the ball was popped up into the air toward the SS-3rd base hole.
Tom Quinlan was playing 3rd for the Phillies at that point, and he was drawn in a bit… more or less even with third base. His initial instinct on contact was to charge in, yet he still had to range at least 15 feet to his left.
It was that initial move that was his fatal error. Stanton had hit the ball just hard enough to get over Quinlan’s reach. Once the ball found dirt (barely), it was all over as shortstop Mariano Duncan was inexplicably positioned too far toward second base to be able to help at all.
Don Sutton put the cap on this, saying (after his recovery from laughing uncontrollably) “That’s like a Shar-Pei puppy – it was so ugly it’s beautiful.”
Sanders scored, winning the game. Stanton was 2-2 on the night with an RBI and a pitching win after being pressed into service for 4 innings. He struck out 3 and gave up 3 hits while walking 2. Not the greatest line of all time, but probably the greatest game he will remember for the rest of his life.
Most importantly, though: that 9th inning comeback was validated as the Braves punished the Phillies for not being able to finish off the game… just like the Mets did to them last night.
Next. Beating a Dead Baseball. dark
But this was one huge 9-8 win back in 1994… a heckuva highlight for an otherwise dark season that was never actually finished. Then again, we love beating up on the Phillies… with every possible chance we get.