Thursday, May 05, 2005

Here's another good one

My brother Dan and I drove up to Atlanta to see a Braves/Pirates double-header during the magical second half of the '91 season, as the Braves were starting to put a lot of pressure on the Dodgers. The Braves took the first half of the double header 7-5, but the memorable game was the nightcap.

Because of the double-header, the Braves had to use the late Rick Mahler, a mainstay from the terrible teams of the 80s, as an emergency starter. Mahler got his 96th and final win of his career that night, which was endlessly shocking because he was completely out of gas by that point in his career. Not only did Mahler get the win on guile and an 85-mph fastball, but he beat John Smiley, who would win 20 games and finish third in the NL Cy Young voting in 1991.

Also of note in the game, the Braves broke open a 3-2 game with two solo shots in the 8th inning. Those solo shots by themselves weren't that memorable, but the fact that one of them was hit by back-up catcher Francisco Cabrera off of Stan Belinda would become more memorable in retrospect.

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