A reflection on the last decade of Atlanta Braves baseball
Given where this Atlanta Braves franchise was heading as we began the 2010 season, no one could have predicted the tortured twists and turns that have happened since.
It’s not hard to see the 2010’s as a decade of transition for the Atlanta Braves. We had recently seen the retirement of three (now) Hall of Fame pitchers; a HOF manager and third baseman would follow shortly thereafter.
But transitions don’t always follow the script that we might have hoped for, and thus as 2020 dawns, this team looks altogether different from what it probably should have looked like by now.
Entering 2010, Atlanta not only had the long streak of 14 division titles broken – that came in 2006 – but the Braves had not even reached the playoffs for 4 years… finishing 3rd or 4th in the division each time and struggling to breach the .500 mark.
But things would be different to begin this decade.
Beginning with a Bang
2010 itself began in a big way with a game that pretty much gave fans hope that things would turn on a dime… though it was a crazy-memorable first inning that did so.
Rarely can you point to a single game or single event as setting a tone for what was to come, but this is one of those times.
April 5th, 2010. 1st game of the year and the home opener for Atlanta against the Cubs at Turner Field. The starter for the Braves was Derek Lowe and he wasn’t fooling anyone.
Flyout that nearly left the yard. Liner single. A walk. Another deep flyout gave hope that he could get out of the jam. A second pitch home run that proved he couldn’t. Finally, a groundout to end it.
3-0 Cubs on just 18 pitches.
But then the Braves got a shot at Carlos Zambrano… walk to Melky Cabrera (yeah, he was on the team that year). Single by Martin Prado. Single by Chipper Jones. Single by Brian McCann. 4 batters in, 1 run scored and nobody’s out.
Troy Glaus made that first out via a 3 pitch K. Yunel Escobar then singled home Prado and Jones. The game is tied.
That brought up the most anticipated rookie hitter since Chipper Jones himself over a decade and a half earlier: newly-minted right fielder Jason Heyward.
He spit on 2 pitches for a 2-0 count. The third pitch was near the bottom of the zone, but over the middle of the plate. He didn’t miss it and the ball landed in the back of the Braves bullpen in right-center, capping a 6-run response by the home team.
That homer still ranks as one of the longest – and almost certainly the longest – that Heyward has ever hit in the majors. Depending on whose measurement you believe, it traveled somewhere between 446 and 471 feet. The reactions in the stands were incredible. It was like a bomb of pure glee had gone off.
The Braves went on to smother the Cubs 16-5 that day and launched off of this start to surge to a 91-71 record.
Heyward himself had a great season; the pitching staff – led by Lowe, Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, and collection of others (Mike Minor, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy among them) had a so-so year – with Hanson and Hudson leading the way.
All the while, there were some issues here and there. Melky’s attitude. Kenshin Kawakami‘s poor performance. Yunel Escobar’s bad bat, which led to his replacement.
Still, you could look at that clubs and project what might have been greatness coming:
- Freddie Freeman and Andrelton Simmons were both on the way.
- This was Billy Wagner‘s last season while he gave tutelage to Craig Kimbrel
- Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty were to be the set-up men.
- Medlen, Beachy, Minor, Hanson, and Jurrjens looked like a promising and rising rotation
- Jones and Brian McCann were soon to depart, but it appeared that enough offense to replace them was there – or coming.
Atlanta lost in the division series to the eventual World Series champion Giants… the game where Buster Posey was clearly out (1:11:11 into this video… see 1:11:38 in particular)… before later scoring the lone run of the game in a Giants Game 1 win.
That series ended the career of manager Bobby Cox and started the changes to follow in earnest.