The Mighty Have Fallen

The year was 1993...the final year of only 2 divisions in each league. The San Francisco Giants had been saved in late 1992 from a move to what is now Tropicana Field by an ownership group led by Peter Magowan, CEO of Safeway. That same group also signed a 28 year old outfielder to a record $42 million, 7 year contract - they had brought Barry Bonds home to San Francisco. Dusty Baker, who had never managed, and had been a hitting instructor under outgoing manager Roger Craig, was named the new manager.

With a lineup that included Will Clark batting 3rd, Matt Williams batting 4th, and Bonds batting 5th, the team turned around quickly from a bottom-feeding-almost Tampa Bay Giants to a division leading club that battled for the division title against the mighty Atlanta Braves, with a rotation of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery and John Smoltz. The Giants held a several game lead over the Braves in late July; however, a deadline deal with San Diego netted the Braves outfielder Fred McGriff, who proved to be the offensive catalyst in the final 2 months for Atlanta.

Philadelphia's Phillies secured a sizable lead in the NL East in September, and had comfortably won the divison by the 3rd week of the month, leaving the Giants and Braves to battle it out for the final playoff spot, both teams on track to exceed 95 wins that season. The prognosticators from the talking heads on sportstalk radio and ESPN expected that the NL West winner would need to exceed 100 wins to win the division.

That is precisely what happened. Going into the final week of the season, the Giants faced the Rockies at home while the Braves faced the Astros. It was a see-saw battle down to the final weekend, with the Giants facing a 4 game set at Chavez Ravine and the Braves facing a 4 game set against the Rockies...at home.

The Giants did well - taking 3 of 4 from the Dodgers, losing the critical final game of the season behind rookie pitcher Salomon Torres.

The Braves did VERY well - finishing with a SEASON sweep, going 10-0, against the Rockies.

The Giants won 103 games...the Braves won 104 games.

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Now, 13 years later, the run of the Braves appears to have come to an end. They have lost 10 straight games, 13 games under .500, and are in last place in the NL East, 15.5 games behind the Mets. There aren't many reasons for the Tomahawk chop (stolen from the Florida Seminoles) to exist in Atlanta these days.

It's been a remarkable run. It's amazing that for all their success, they only have 1 World Series title, in 1995, in the strike shortened season against the Cleveland Indians.

Personally, I've never liked the Braves (especially after the emotional 1993 pennant chase). I like their announcers (Skip Caray and Don Sutton) even less - worse homers than Mike Krukow of the Giants announcing team. I've always respected the talent, but so much of their success was driven on the backs of their pitching staff - and more to the point, Leo Mazzone, their longtime pitching coach, who has resurrected many a pitching castaway's career (Russ Ortiz and John Burkett come to mind). Now it's Roger McDowell handling the staff...ouch.

So RIP to the Braves.