Atlanta Braves 10th anniversary of Brooks Conrad game

An Atlanta Braves game with a terrible start finished with something to be remembered on this date 10 years ago.

It was an Atlanta Braves event that was unusual for lots of reasons.  A Thursday game with a 1pm start.  A second inning that never seemed to end.  A good team (the Reds) that came totally unglued.

In retrospect, you would not have imagined that this ending could have happened back in 2010.  The Cincinnati Reds won the NL Central title by 5 games over the Cardinals with a 91-71 record.

Oddly enough, the Braves also managed a 91-71 finish, but that was only good enough for a 2nd place finish behind the Phillies (who won by 6 games).  The NL East just wasn’t that good in 2010 – nobody else broke .500.

This was Bobby Cox‘s last season in the dugout.  The season that ended with the World Series Champion Giants ousting the Braves (in part) when Buster Posey was ruled safe.

But back on May 20, the Braves were only a .500 team… 20-20. They had been fighting since the end of April to recover from a 9-game losing streak that had put them 8-14.

After that skid, though, Atlanta found themselves in the midst of a run that would take them 24-8 through June 3rd, which eventually propelled them to the playoffs.

For quite a while on this day, May 20, it was looking like “one of those days” against the 23-17 Reds.

Tommy Hanson simply couldn’t get out of the second inning.  Things just kept happening.

A Cincy single opened the frame, but after a strikeout and a lazy popout to second base, the Reds still had that runner on first with 2 outs.  No problem, right?

Well… that’s when somebody flipped a switch in the visitors dugout.

• Single
• Walk (bases loaded)
• Single.  1 run scores.
• Homer.  Grand slam.
• Clean bases didn’t kill the rally… Single
• Walk
• Single, scoring Brandon Phillips
• Double, scoring 2 more

Cox finally had to get Hanson out of the game even though he’d been 1 pitch away from an inning-ender… for 32 straight pitches (42 total in the inning).

Jesse Chavez entered, threw a single pitch, and got a popout in foul ground to put out the fire.  Figures.

But the damage was done – 8 runs and an 8-zip lead for the Reds.