This was a very close series, as five out of the six games were decided by one run.  Tom Glavine was selected to start game six and he did not disappoint, as he pitched eight incredible innings of one-hit, shutout baseball.  The Braves entered the ninth inning with a slim 1-0 lead and turned to closer Mark Wohlers to close out the game.  He would go on to shut the door on the Indians to give the Braves the title.  Tom Glavine was named as World Series M.V.P., as he also got the win in Game Two. Although the Braves made 14 straight postseason appearances from 1991-2005, this was the only year that they won it all.

Here is a tribute to the 1995 Atlanta Braves.

Notable Birthdays

Terrell Davis, NFL – Born October 28th 1972 (age 39) in San Diego, California

Jeremy Bonderman, NBA – Born October 28th 1982 (age 29) in Kennewick, Washington

Jarrett Jack, NBA – Born October 28th 1983 (age 28) in Fort Washington, Maryland

Deion Sanders’ wild weekend began on Saturday night when he played in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Pittsburgh Pirates where he pinch-hit in a 6-4 Braves win.  After the game, Sanders took a flight to Florida where his Atlanta Falcons took on the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon.  Deion played all but one snap on defense as well as returning both punts and kick-offs, and he even chipped in on offense with a nine yard catch.  Following the game, Sanders traveled by limousine, helicopter, plane and limousine again to arrive back at Three Rivers Stadium just in time for Game 5.  Although he dressed for the game, Sanders did not see any playing time in the Pirates’ 7-1 victory.

When you think of two sport athletes, the name Deion Sanders, along with Bo Jackson, immediately come to mind.  What these two men accomplished on the gridiron and on the diamond is something we may never see again.

Here is a tribute to “Prime Time” Deion Sanders.

Notable Birthdays

Steve Young, NFL – Born October 11th 1961 (age 50) in Salt Lake City, Utah

Desmond Mason, NBA – Born October 11th 1977 (age 34) in Waxahachie, Texas

Jason Arnott, NHL – Born October 11th 1974 (age 37) in Collingwood, Ontario

If you’re a baseball fan, then you are probably aware that the Boston Red Sox are hanging on for dear life in the American League Wild Card standings. On September 1, Boston was 8 ½ games ahead of Tampa Bay. Today, their lead over the Rays is just 1 lousy game. But Boston is not the only team on the verge of an epic late-season collapse. The Atlanta Braves also had an 8 ½ game lead in the National League Wild Card standings on September 1, and they too have choked big time to allow the St. Louis Cardinals to get within a single game.

Needless to say, the last three games of the 2011 regular season are going to be pretty intense. The Rays and Cardinals will be trying their damnedest to complete historic (and valiant) comebacks. Unfortunately, if they do succeed, no one outside Tampa Bay or St. Louis will be talking about their “achievements.” Instead, the headlines will be all about the failures of Boston and Atlanta.

In honor of these potentially historic 12 games to be played over the next three days (Boston at Baltimore, Tampa hosting New York, Atlanta hosting Philadelphia, and St. Louis at Houston), here’s a list of the 9 most epic late-season collapses in the history of Major League Baseball. Sadly for fans of Boston and Atlanta, if either one of them ends up out of the playoff picture come Wednesday night, this list will have to be adjusted.

9. 1978 Red Sox

In July of 1978, Boston had a 12 game lead over their most hated rivals, the New York Yankees. However, the Yankees chipped away at this lead and were only 4 games back at the start of play on September 7. That still gave the Red Sox pretty good odds of winning the division. But then the Yankees swept a four game series at Fenway from September 7-10, outscoring the Sox 42-9 in what would become known to Red Sox Nation as “the Boston Massacre.” Boston managed to hang on to this tie for the rest of the season, but lost a one-game tie-breaker to New York. (The Yankees then went on to win their second World Series in a row.)

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8. 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates

The 1938 Pirates led the Chicago Cubs by 7 games on September 4. Their odds of making the playoffs at that point (with only 25 games left) were ridiculously high. Then they won only 12 of those last 25 games. Meanwhile, the Cubs won 20 of their last 26 games and their last 10 in a row (which included a three game sweep of the Pirates, of course) to win the pennant by 2 games. As you know, the Pirates haven’t been to the playoffs since.

Okay, just kidding. But it feels like it, right Pirates fans?

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7. 1934 New York Giants

The 1934 New York Giants were the first ever team to miss the playoffs* after taking a 7 game lead into September. Of course, like so many “choke artists” on this list, the Giants didn’t play that poorly, going .500 for September. Instead, the bigger problem was that the “Gas House Gang” St. Louis Cardinals (led by Dizzy Dean, Pepper Martin and Leo Durocher) finished the season 33-12.

*Back then there were no League Championship Series. If you finished first, you won the pennant and proceeded directly to the World Series.

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6. 1969 Chicago Cubs

The Cubs led the Mets by 9 ½ games in the National League East division on August 14. That’s a sizeable lead, for sure, but making the playoffs was no sure thing. If the Cubs had merely lost the division to the Mets that year by a game or two, they probably wouldn’t be on this list. So what, then, makes the Cubs’ collapse in 1969 so epic?

They lost the division by 8 games! That’s a 17 ½ game swing in under two months.

Legend has it the Cubs downfall was brought about by a black cat. Said feline found his way onto the field at Shea Stadium during a pivotal series between the Cubs and Met and crossed paths Cubs legend Ron Santo.

Only the Cubs, right?

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5. 2009 Detroit Tigers

The 2009 Detroit Tigers held a 7 game lead over the Minnesota Twins on September 6.

But wait, it gets so much worse!

They had a 3 game lead over the Twinkies with only 4 games left to play. All they had to do was win 2 of 4 to guarantee the division title regardless of what Minnesota did. Meanwhile, if they won only 1 of the remaining 4 games, Minnesota would still have had to win their last 4 in a row. Ridiculous odds.

So what happened? The Tigers went 1-3 while the Twins went 4-0, leaving the two tied for first place. The Tigers completed their epic collapse by losing a heartbreaking one-game tie-breaker to the Twins 6-5 in 12 innings.

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4. 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers

You’ve heard of the “shot heard ’round the world,” right? You know, the home run with the famous call, “the Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant!”?

Well, that 1951 home was the exclamation point on an insane comeback by the New York Giants and a horrible collapse by the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers held a lead of 13 ½ games on August 11, but the Giants went an improbable 37-7 (including 16 wins in a row) down the stretch to pull into a tie with the Dodgers. Then they won a three-game playoff against Brooklyn on Bobby Thompson’s “shot heard ’round the world”—pure ecstasy for New York, loathsome agony for Brooklyn.

Oh, look, here’s the video:

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3. 2007 New York Mets

On September 1, 2007, the Mets only led the Phillies by 3 games. But in the 11 days that followed, New York began to pull away, increasing their lead to 7 games by September 12.

Done deal, right?

Well no, obviously. The Mets went 5-12 in their final 17 games, including a 1-6 homestand against the Nationals, Cardinals, and Marlins to finish the season. If they had won just one more of those last 7 games against bad teams, they would have at least finished in a tie with Philadelphia. Instead they finished 1 game back.

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2. 1964 Philadelphia Phillies

Speaking of Philadelphia, the 1964 Phillies choked so bad that it’s a miracle they aren’t #1 on this list. They led the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds by 6 ½ games with only 12 to play. With those odds, even the Kansas City Royals could make the playoffs. But you know what ruins good odds? Losing 10 games in a row. Which is precisely what the Phillies did. The Cardinals, meanwhile, went 9-3 to steal the NL East crown.

Interesting Trivia: if the Cardinals had lost on the final day of the season, there would have been an unprecedented 3-way tie for first between Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Figuring out how to break that tie would have been a pretty big headache.

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1. 1995 California Angels

On August 9, the Angels had an 11 game lead over the Texas Rangers. At the start of the day on August 21, they still led the Rangers in the AL West by 9 ½ games, and they led the Yankees in the Wild Card standings by 12. From there, “down hill” doesn’t even begin to describe the Angels. “Off a cliff” is more apt.

California went 12-26 to close out the season. The Mariners, however, went on a 26-13 tear to win the AL West.

But that’s okay, they still had the AL Wild Card, right? Wrong. The Yankees also went 26-13 down the stretch to snatch the wild card from the hapless Halos.

The odds these three things happening—the Angels going 12-16, and both the M’s and the Yanks going 26-13—were 8,332-1.

Biggest. Collapse. Ever.

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That was the case for a couple of fans in attendance at Turner Field on Tuesday night.  When the clock struck 12, the crazies came out, beginning with one young female fan who appeared to be hopped up on sugar as she continuously screamed at the top of her lungs in an attempt to motivate her Pirates.  And then there was the two young men, who found the time during those 15 straight scoreless innings to stack every empty beer cup they could find in the outfield bleachers.

One could only imagine how crazy things could have gotten had Jerry Meals not ended the game in the nineteenth inning on a terrible call at the plate.

Hat Tip – [MLB.com]

Lugo was standing on third base with one out when Scott Proctor hit a ground ball to Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez.  He delivered a perfect throw to catcher Michael McKenry, who appeared to apply a sweeping tag to the leg of Lugo well before the Braves’ shortstop could reach home plate.  Even Lugo believed he was out, until Meals emphatically signaled safe with his arms.

As the Braves celebrated the victory 6 hours and 39 minutes after the opening pitch, the Pirates players and coaching staff were infuriated, and reasonably so.  Replays showed that Lugo was clearly tagged well before reaching home plate, although, most people didn’t even need a replay to assure themselves of such.

One look at the replay below should make two things clear; (1) Lugo was out and (2) Meals just wanted to go home.

Hudson pitched eight solid innings of shutout baseball, allowing only two hits and one walk against while striking out eight, but going into the bottom of the eighth he had yet to receive any run support from his teammates.  So he took matters into his own hands and belted a two-run homer, giving the Braves the 2-0 lead.

Hudson allowed the first two Blue Jay batters to get on base in the top of the ninth inning, forcing manager Fredi Gonzalez to give him the hook.  However, closer Craig Kimbrel would step in at that point and strike out the following three batters, preserving both the win and the shutout for Hudson, who earns our “Stat Line of the Night” for Monday, June 20, 2011.

Pence extended his career-best hitting streak to 23 games with a two-run homer in the third inning, which broke the scoreless tie.  He would add two more singles for good measure, finishing the night with three hits, four RBIs and a walk in five appearances at the plate.  That was good enough for half of the Astros’ offensive production, as they would go on to record the 8-3 victory.

Pence’s 23-game hitting streak is the longest current hitting streak in baseball and the second longest this season.  Earlier in the season the Dodgers’ Andre Ethier strung together 30 straight games with a hit.  Pence sat out Sunday’s game with back-stiffness, but the day off seemed to resolve that issue.  He is now only seven games away from tying the longest streak of the season, but he has a long way to go if he wants to surpass Joe DiMaggio’s MLB record 56-game hitting streak.  For now, Pence earns our “Stat Line of the Night” for Monday, June 13, 2011.

Reports indicate that McDowell asked the group of male Giants fans if they were “a homo couple or a threesome?”  Moments later he used a bat and his hand to simulate gay sex.  When asked to stop by a father in attendance with his two nine-year-old daughters, McDowell said, “Kids don’t f**king belong at the baseball park,” before threatening to use the bat to knock the father’s teeth out.

High-profile lawyer Gloria Allred has since taken on the case, holding a news conference yesterday where she and the father, Justin Quinn, reenacted McDowell’s sexual gesture together. Yes, it really is as weird as it sounds, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Quinn’s two nine-year-old daughters were seated just a few feet away throughout this entire display.

McDowell has since issued an apology for his actions.  The Atlanta Braves and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig are currently looking into the matter.

Here is a look at what may very well be the greatest new conference ever.

Hat Tip – [TMZ]

Talk about deviating from your typical gender roles!

We showed you the men kissing earlier in the day.  Here is footage of the females brawling during the Brewers’ 1-0 victory over the Braves on Tuesday. It is quite amazing how much “Braun” and how little brains can be present in one area at the same time.

Hat Tip – [Bro Bible]

After giving up only two runs in six innings and earning a no-decision during a loss against the Reds on opening day, Yovani Gallardo knew he would have to come up with an impressive performance if his team was going to finally get in the win column.  He was up to the task, pitching nine scoreless innings of two-hit ball, while striking out two and walking two.  And if that wasn’t enough, he also scored the only run for the Brewers on the night, leading them to their first win of the season – a 1-0 victory over the Braves.

After finishing last season with a 14-7 record and a 3.84 ERA, Gallardo has been anointed as the ace of what appears to be a strong and deep starting rotation for the Brewers.  He couldn’t quite get the job done on opening day, but the win against the Braves does give him a 1-0 record, a 1.20 ERA, and “The Stat Line of the Night” for Tuesday, April 5, 2011.