What a game last night. The Braves came from behind twice in the game to beat the Miami Marlins and clinch a postseason berth for the first time since 2010. After the bitter defeat of last year's disappointing loss to the Phillies to end the season, the difference is night and day. It seems fitting that Freeman would be the one to win the game after grounding into a double play to end the game last year. This time around, the champagne was flying high and the team celebrated sending Chipper Jones to the playoffs for one last shot at another World Series Title.

Kris Medlen struck out 8 and gave up three in another solid effort on the mound and kept the streak of consecutive victories going at 22, tying the MLB record set by Whitey Ford from 1950-53. Being at the game made it all the more special as I was able to see the Braves make history. Sitting there, I felt that we had to win the game that way. With Chipper leading off in the 9th, you had to like our chances to walk off with a victory or at least tie the game.

I'm glad I got to witness one of Chipper's last regular season home games and I'm glad we're back in the playoffs once again. It seems that the magic is alive and well in Atlanta and the baseball gods are smiling down on our great city. Hopefully scenes like this one will show its face in October.

Braves celebrate win

Champagne celebration

Video of the Braves celebrating in the clubhouse from csnwashington.com
What a victory.

Medlen pitching tonight

I'll also be heading to the game tonight to witness one of Chipper's last home games. Kris Medlen is pitching so I'm expecting win number 22 for the Braves in his starts, tying him with Whitey Ford and the Yankees dating back to the 50's. Fall is here and although we are playing the Marlins, this game should have a great fall playoff feel to it.

Here's a link to the Braves.com preview of the game.

Braves Preview

Wow. Great article on ESPN on how much bets shifted over the replacement refs MNF call.
I'll have something a bit later on how awful that call and others were.

Betting shifts

Medlen has been scary good. Definitely a huge reason for the Braves success this go around. He makes Atlanta a totally different team. Just some statistics from Elias/ESPN.
From Elias Sports Bureau: Kris Medlen threw eight shutout innings in his latest masterpiece, a 3-0 Braves win. Atlanta has now won its last 21 games started by Kris Medlen. It's the longest such streak since the Yankees won 22 consecutive games started by Whitey Ford from 1950 to 1953. The last player prior to Ford to have a streak that long was Carl Hubbell, whose Giants won 22 straight games in his starts from 1936 to 1937. Medlen is 8-0 with a 0.76 earned-run average in 10 starts since he was inserted into the Braves' rotation on July 31. Only one other pitcher in Braves history won at least eight games with an ERA below 1.00 over any 10-start span. Warren Spahn went 10-0 with a 0.99 ERA over a 10-start span in 1961 (July 30-September 10).

Zero motivation today...

Motivation = 0. Football from here on out through Monday. Will be posting a few things about the games tonight, fantasy, as well a few of the games Saturday including Georgia and others.

5 games back

Only 5 games back! Off to Philly. Let's do this guys, the division is still in sight....