While everyone was busy Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium running around like chickens with their heads cut off, I was hundreds of miles away watching America’s favorite pastime.
 
I took a little trip to Atlanta to go see the Braves’ and manager Bobby Cox’s last two regular season games.
 
So I missed an LSU football game, a Saints game, the Ryder Cup and Gretna Fest all for some Braves’ baseball.
 
Worth it? Hell yes. It was an amazing trip.
 
Sure, I drove a total of 16 hours there and back (with lots of traffic both ways), spent a paycheck on tickets and missed the biggest debacle in LSU football history (actually, I’m happy I wasn’t there for that). But what I saw I will remember for a long time.
 
The Braves lost Saturday. By a lot. It wasn’t pretty, and I don’t want to talk about it.
 
Before the game, though, was the big ceremony to honor good ole Mr. Cox. There was a giant “6” (Cox’s uniform number) carved into the centerfield grass and Braves legends in the infield. From Hank Aaron to David Justice to Fred McGriff and the Big 3 (Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine), past Braves showed up in full force to celebrate one of the greatest managers in MLB history.
 
The thing about it was that it wasn’t just a ceremony for Bobby. It was a celebration of the Braves.
 
Why? Because for the past 20 years, basically, Robert Joseph “Bobby” Cox has been the face of a Braves team that at one point won 14-straight division titles (and it should have been 15 if it wasn’t for the strike in 1994).
 
He took the Braves from a bunch of nobodies when he arrived to becoming a contender every year.
 
Oh, and along the way, he’s become the fourth-winningest manager in MLB history. Not too shabby.
 
Anyway, let me get back on topic.
 
Sunday was nearly a capacity crowd.
 
The radio guys said it was the loudest they had ever heard the stadium, and I don’t doubt them for one minute.
 
The tomahawk chop was happening every amazing play or hit, the crowd chanted “Bobby” at every chance it got to try and get the skipper to argue a bad call, and my National League Rookie of the Year, Jason Heyward, had an amazing offensive and defensive game.
 
It was just a fun game to watch and attend. The atmosphere rivaled Tiger Stadium, and that’s not a lie or an exaggeration.
 
The Braves won, 8-7, and a Giants victory later that evening gave the Braves their first playoff birth since 2005.
 
It’s been a long time for us Braves fans. So now we go from loving the Giants to being their worst enemies.
 
And with that comes my MLB postseason predictions.
 
One of my fellow sports writers told me, “You’ve got to take the Braves out of blind homerism.”
 
Let’s see.
 
NL
Tampa Bay beats the Texas Rangers in five games in possibly the best divisional series while the Yankees beat a Justin Morneau-less Twins squad in four.
 
Either of those series I could see going either way. The championship series isn’t any easier to pick.
 
Give me the Rays in seven over division rival New York. I don’t know why, though. I just like the Rays.
 
AL
I’m picking the Phillies to take down the Reds in four (that’s being nice).
 
And those Braves, I’m picking them to take care of the Giants in five. And no homerism involved. That’s just pure who I think matches up better. The Braves did take three of four from the Giants earlier this season.
 
But the Braves fall to the damn Phillies in five. Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels are just too good on the mound.
 
World Series
Rays beat the Phillies in six.
Because I hate the Phillies. Good logic? I think so.
 
 
__
Contact Andy Schwehm at
[email protected]