if this were 2006...

if this were the 2006 atlanta braves, they would have undoubtedly lost the game to the washington nationals tonight. hell, if it were the 4/10/2007 atlanta braves, they would have undoubtedly lost the game to the washington nationals tongiht. macay mcbride would have surely been called in for god knows why to get out of the seventh with the baserunners that belonged to smoltz, and he would as sure as i am breathing air, blown the lead, and no doubt given the nationals the lead in the process.

but these are the braves of late april 2007, and they have a bullpen that can actually pull through. for reasons completely unknown to me, smoltz took the mound in the bottom of the 7th with 98 pitches already thrown. two batters, two hits, one earned run. bobby cox, who should've sat him, and had no reason to keep him going, quickly came out to prevent a repeat of thursday night occur. villerreal pitched brilliantly, and if it were not for the errors by chipper and renteria, he would have gotten out of the inning quickly. thankfully, he whiffed the most talented batter on the team (zimmerman) and cox pulled him for some heat. soriano had a hell of a battle with mr. shaves with scissors (dmitri young) but managed to get out of the remainder of the inning with smoltz's lead intact.

i love john smoltz. i would even venture to say that he is my favorite player on the atlanta braves. but regardless of it were his call or bobby's call, he should not have come out in the 6th inning, as he had a lead, and 98 pitches already thrown. he earned the win in six innings, but he single-handedly put it back in jeopardy in the seventh. as i stated prior, if this were last year's braves, or last week's braves, that lead would have been as good as gone.

villerreal holds it together to get a crucial out, and soriano pitches a magnificent 8th. chipper redeems his error with an insurance homer off rauch, and wickman gets the job done to earn the save.

on a different note, i am a native washingtonian/virginian, so i am a fan of the nationals as well. given my current home situation, i do pull for the braves, even against the nats, but i will defend tooth and nail against all of the illogical rhetoric being spouted about the nationals' organization.

130 losses? not going to happen.
100 losses? more realistic, but i have faith that it will not happen.
70 wins? lofty to the sheep who follow sports illustrated and espn like the word of the lord, but what i feel is an attainable goal.

the marlins have endured such onslaughts of discouragement for the last four years, and yet they keep putting out teams that come within a superstar/a few years of maturity away from being real contenders. the media has decided to shut up, and come to the realization that hey, dontrelle willis is pretty fucking good. miguel cabrera is a year or two from being close to a pujols competitor. hanley ramirez is arguably a year or two from being just like jose reyes.

bottom line, i believe that stan kasten takes the criticism his organization is receiving as seriously as i do. imagine trying to tell him that his team will suck? he'd invite you into his office, where 14 division banners are probably hanging, ask you to take a look around, and then say "what?"

the nationals lost tonight, but it was a hard fought game, that they could have taken. and if anyone wants to get granular, they're boasting more wins than "the team to beat," philadelphia phillies. if the nationals lose 130 games, i'll shave my damn head.