10.07.05
McCann the Man
Well the Braves came into game two against Houston with one thought in mind, this is a must win. They would be going back to play in Houston and being two games down just wasn’t going to cut it. Oh yeah, they also have to win this game facing one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Roger Clemens.
And what’s the best way to combat “The Rocket”? Bring back good ol’ John Smoltz and put him on the mound for one of the best post-season pitching match ups ever.
I went into this game knowing it would be something special and would make or break the rest of the post-season for the Braves. They needed good playing all around and that’s what they brought.
After Smoltz’s battle in the first inning the Braves took over and showed why they have won 14 consecutive division titles. They proved why they play in the postseason every year.
It wasn’t just the work of the veterans either. A lot of the great plays came from rookies and younger guys…a lot of the game breaking plays. By far the best of the night was Brian McCann’s 3 run HR off of Clemens in the 2nd. We were sitting third row in the upper deck on the 1st base side and we watched him launch that ball off “The Rocket” and round the bases like a champ.
“That won’t sink in for a while,” McCann said. “[Clemens] is one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He just got a pitch over the plate and I connected. It was neat.”
Ok so he’s not the most eloquent yet, but give him some time…he’s only 21.
After getting to the dugout he came out to do his curtain call and you could tell he was on top of the world. I thought it was great that Francouer’s first major league hit was a HR, but now his roommate hit one in his first at bat of the postseason…and against one of the best pitchers in the game. It has to be a great feeling to do something like that when you’ve started off the season not even expecting to be playing in the majors at the beginning of the season.
Now that we’ve got this momentum we need to be able to take it away from Houston, if we keep playing like we did last night we just might be able to take this team all the way.