Braves: 1982 Atlanta Braves Retrospective

[selmaborntidefan]

September 20, 1982
Houston Astros 4 (W: Smith, 4-4)
Atlanta Braves 3 (L: Garber, 7-9)
82-68
2nd place
3 games behind

 

[selmaborntidefan]

September 21, 1982
Houston Astros 5 (W: Ruhle, 8-13; SV: Knepper, 1)
Atlanta Braves 3 (L: Camp, 11-10)
82-69
2nd place
3 games behind

BRAVES LOSE TO HOUSTON AGAIN;
DOWN 3 WITH 11 TO PLAY;
CARLTON MAKES CARDS PAY - AGAIN

The Houston Astros have been a bona fide contender the last three seasons and while this year has seen them have a less-than-stellar season that require some retooling, they can still have a major say in which team wins the NL West division flag. Tonight, the Astros beat the second-place Atlanta Braves for the fifth straight time, 5-3, and put Atlanta's pennant hopes in serious jeopardy. After falling behind early, 1-0, thanks to an RBI triple by Claudell Washington, Houston battered Atlanta starter Rick Camp for 3 runs and reliever Bob Walk for two more to take a 5-1 lead after five innings. The Braves did not give up, closing the gap to 5-3 and bringing the tying run to the plate in both the seventh and ninth innings, but neither Washington, Dale Murphy, nor Rafael Ramirez, who made his 36th error of the season, could come through when they Braves needed it. Ramirez's error led to two Houston runs and the Astros got two more on Danny Heep's double.

The gap in the NL West remained at three games because the Los Angeles Dodgers were shut out by John "The Count" Montefusco and reliever Luis DeLeon, 3-0, in San Diego and gave up the game-winning run on a suicide squeeze by Montefusco himself. The Dodgers only gave up four hits to the Padres, but two of those followed a walk in front of the squeeze and led to two of San Diego's three runs. Ron Gardenhire led off the 10th inning with a solo game-winning home run to give the Mets a 2-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader against the Expos. Montreal returned the favor by taking the nightcap, 5-1, when a Chris Speier homer ignited a four-run inning. A two-out RBI single by Jody Davis in the 7th scored the game's only run and Fergie Jenkins and two relievers scattered six hits as the Cubs beat the Pirates, 1-0, to give Fergie his 276th career win. Gary Redus had two runs and two RBIs to lead the Reds to a 6-5 win over the Giants.

Ten years ago, the St. Louis Cardinals let Steve Carlton go in a dispute over a measly $10,000, and the lefty legend has made them pay dearly. Since his departure for Philadelphia, the Phillies have four first-place finishes to the Cardinals' zero, have won a World Series, and tonight Carlton beat St. Louis for the 35th time as he scattered 9 hits and struck out 14 in Philadelphia's must-win 5-2 triumph over the Redbirds. The Phillies are 4 1/2 behind with 11 to play, and they don't face the Cardinals again. Carlton's record against his old mates is an impressive 35-10 over the last 11 seasons.

Jim Rice's 10th inning RBI single scored Glen Hoffman with the game's winning run and ended Milwaukee's six-game winning streak as the Red Sox kept their fading division title hopes alive with a 4-3 win over the Brewers. Julio Cruz singled home pinch-runner Paul Serna in the bottom of the 9th and Serna's slide at home jarred the ball loose from Carlton Fisk to score the winning run in Seattle's
5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox. Leading the division by one game and with the score tied at one in the 9th, three straight one-out singles by the California Angels scored pinch-runner Gary Pettis and downed the Kansas City Royals, 2-1, and lifted their lead in the AL West to two games. The ejection of Lou Whitaker for throwing his helmet after he was caught attempting to steal home in the first apparently angered the Detroit Tigers severely. His replacement, Mike Laga, went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs, part of a 16-hit barrage the Tigers unleashed on four Orioles pitchers en route to an 11-1 blowout win in Baltimore. The Yankees and Indians split a meaningless doubleheader. Tim Conroy got his first major league win by going the distance and scattering five hits in Oakland's 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers. Dave Stieb pitched his league-leading 17th complete game and won his 15th of 29 decisions in front of just over 5,000 Minnesota fans as the Toronto Blue Jays down the Twins, 5-1, thanks largely to two RBIs each by Willie Upshaw and Garth Iorg.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

September 22, 1982
Houston Astros 3 (W: Smith, 54; SV: LaCorte, 6)
Atlanta Braves 2 (L: Garber, 7-10)
82-70
2nd place
3 games behind

 

[selmaborntidefan]

September 23, 1982
TRAVEL DAY
82-70
2nd place
3 games behind

TIME TICKS DOWN FOR ATLANTA

The Atlanta Braves have ten games to go. So do the Los Angeles Dodgers, who as everyone is quick to point out, are the defending World Series champions. And the Dodgers are in the catbird's seat with a three-game lead and seven straight home games, including two against the Braves. Atlanta hosts San Diego for their final homestand of the year and then head to the West Coast for seven straight games against the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants, who by the way are only one game behind Atlanta and with a hot streak could launch themselves past both teams into the NLCS. San Diego is technically not eliminated yet, but the problem is that even if they won out, the fact the Giants and Dodgers and Braves all play each other is likely to keep them from being able to move into first. Then again, with the right combination, we could have a three-way or even a four-way tie in the NL West.

Let's get it right out here: the Atlanta Braves, whatever happens, have had a successful season. The problem is that because of how they got here, it will be remembered more as a choke job than a successful season unless by some chance they sneak in and win the division title. That 13-0 start that seems ancient history now was the catalyst, but the Braves undid that by that 2-19 streak that included 11 straight losses in August. Indeed, had the Braves merely gone 7-14 in that span, they'd probably already have clinched the West and begun to set their rotation for the NLCS. What appears to be interesting in the evaluation is how the two teams have gotten to this point.

The Braves have almost obliterated the NL East with the conspicuous exception of the Pirates. The Braves are 35-25 against the other teams in the Eastern division (39-33 as a whole) while the Dodgers have had their problems, going 37-35 against the division, a six-game advantage for Atlanta. The Braves pick up another two games in the matchups against Houston and Cincinnati in the West. So the Braves enjoy an 8-game lead over Los Angeles until you take into account the teams on the West Coast, who have beaten Atlanta so badly to this point that that 8-game margin in the Braves' favor turns into a 3-game deficit in the standings. And those facts are why it simply does not seem possible that the Braves can win the division when down 3 with ten to play. The Dodgers have a much better pitching staff (it's not even close) and a much better offense, and they're playing at home.

It will take nothing short of a miracle for the Braves to win. The same is true only much more seriously where it concerns the Phillies, who are 4 1/2 behind with 11 to play (the Cardinals have ten games left). With no more games against the Cardinals, let's just say the Phillies are done, we're just awaiting the official notice. But the other two divisions offer potential races that will draw attention.

The AL West has been the almost exclusive domain of the Kansas City Royals since 1976. Just four days ago, it still was as they were tied atop the division with the California Angels. But an all-important sweep - and a pending three-game series to determine the winner IN Kansas City later this week - provides an interesting backdrop. This one is far from settled, and the spoiler role may well be played by either the Texas Rangers or Oakland Athletics. Which does beg a question...would Billy Martin, who is about to be given the heave-ho in Oakland, would he lay down for his old buddy, Royals Manager Dick Howser? And then there's a wild one in the AL East.

Earl Weaver is leaving after this season. Harvey Kuenn has just begun and boy have the returns been fantastic. And wouldn't you know it, the two teams play no less than SEVEN of their last TEN games against each other.

I don't know how that one will turn out, but it may well be fun watching it.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

September 24, 1982
Atlanta Braves 11 (W: Dayley, 5-6; SV: Bedrosian, 11)
San Diego Padres 6 (L: Griffin, 0-1)
83-70
2nd place
2 games behind

BRAVES RALLY ON TWO RAMIREZ HOMERS TO BEAT PADRES;
44TH COMEBACK WIN FOR BRAVES

The Braves absolutely had to win tonight. They did.
The Giants absolutely had to win tonight. They did.
The Dodgers did not have to win tonight, not yet anyway. Which is good because they didn't.

Trailing the San Diego Padres, 6-2, after three innings, the outlook was bleak for the Atlanta Braves' chances of a division title. But with just two swings of the bat, Rafael Ramirez, who entered tonight's game with only 11 career home runs in over 1,000 career at bats, launched two home runs into the night and went 3-for-3 with 5 RBIs to lift Atlanta to an 11-6 triumph over the Padres that saw the Braves score 9 runs in the middle innings while battering six Padre pitchers for 16 hits. Claudell Washington went 3-for-5 and Ken Dayley, who lost his starter's spot and spent six weeks in the minors, got his fifth win with two innings of shutout relief.

The night did not begin well for Atlanta as starter Pascual Perez gave up a leadoff single to speedster Alan Wiggins and then a double to Juan Bonilla. Back-to-back sacrifice flies scored both runners, and the Padres took the field for the first time leading, 2-0. Ramirez began his stellar evening with a one-out walk in the bottom of the first, moved to second on a single by Dale Murphy, and then moved up one base each on a sacrifice fly and passed ball by catcher Terry Kennedy that plated the shortstop and cut the Padres lead to 2-1. But the Padres extended their lead in the top of the second when rookie Tony Gwynn singled with one out, stole second, and scored on a single by Tim Flannery. An error by Jerry Royster on Dave Dravecky's bunt put two runners aboard for Wiggins, whose bunt plated Flannery and gave San Diego a 4-1 lead. Three straight two out singles by the Braves loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second when Kennedy committed a second passed ball, allowing Mahler to score and cut the deficit to 4-2.

If you think the bottom of the second for the Braves sounded eerily similar to the bottom of the first, you won't be shocked to hear that the Padre third mimicked the Padre second, either. Gene Richards singled with one out and moved to third on Tony Gwynn's two-out single that saw the rookie advance to second on the throw to third. The Braves walked Flannery intentionally, loading the bases for Dravecky, whose batted ball to Ramirez resulted in a two-run error that gave San Diego a 6-2 lead. Mahler retired Wiggins to end the inning. And the game settled into a normal rhythm until the fifth. That's when Ramirez led off the inning with a solo shot that cut the lead to three runs, and when Dravecky walked Murphy and gave up a single to Bob Watson that put runners at the corners with nobody out, Dravecky got the hook in favor of Mike Griffin, who was just called up at the start of the month. Griffin was largely successful as he got Terry Harper to hit into a double play that scored Murphy and cut the San Diego lead to 6-4 and then Griffin retired Glenn Hubbard on a pop out after giving up a base hit to Royster. But the bottom of the sixth would prove his undoing.

Matt Sinatro walked to lead off the sixth and pinch-hitter Ken Smith, batting for Dayley, singled to put two on with nobody out. Washington then singled Sinatro home to narrow the gap to 6-5, and Luis DeLeon came on to put out the fire. He got Ramirez to fly out to right field, but Smith scored on the play to tie the game at six. A single by Murphy moved Washington to third, and the tall, thin outfielder raced home on a fielder's choice ground out by Chris Chambliss to give the Braves their first lead of the game. DeLeon retired Harper on a grounder, but the Braves now had the lead and momentum as Steve Bedrosian took the hill. The rookie righty retired the Padres in order, and in the bottom of the inning, the Braves put the game away.

Royster singled and moved to third on a single by Hubbard, bringing on Floyd Chiffer to pitch. Sinatro's bunt scored Royster and moved Hubbard to second and gave the Braves an 8-6 lead. Bedrosian's productive ground out moved Hubbard to third with two outs and then Washington plated Hubbard with a single. With the score 9-6, Washington stole second and moments later, Ramirez ended the night's scoring with his second shot of the night, a two-run homer that put the Braves ahead by the final margin of 11-6. Bedrosian got to the 9th before giving up two singles, but the outcome was never in doubt as he got Richards out on a fielder's choice grounder to end the game.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, hosted the Giants and took a 2-0 lead into the fifth before Jeffrey Leonard's single and steal, a walk, and a double by Chili Davis tied the contest. Then in the 8th, Davis scored the winner when he singled, moved to second on a walk to Jack Clark and scored on an RBI single by former Brave Darrell Evans. Greg Minton got his 29th save, and the Giants moved to within 3 games of first.