M's Prove They Can Play With the Big Boys

June 15, 2003

"Consider this. Maddux has 278 career wins. Roger Clemens of the Yankees earned his 300th win the other day.  They are baseball's two winningest active pitchers. Clemens has six Cy Young Awards; Maddux four. Both are headed to the Hall of Fame.  What they have in common, besides that, is that Meche has beaten both this season." - John Hickey, sportswriter

So this nail-biting event began with me watching some stupid cartoon called Arnold or something with The Nephews since it was Father's Day and we were all together celebrating with Homer and Grampy, plus I thought the game started at 7 anyway, and Gil Meche retired Atlanta in order about the time that Casey was covering me in spaghetti sauce and then Ichiro reached on an infield single and then he stole second and then an out later and Bret ripped a big nasty double and I bet Greg Maddux dropped an f-bomb because he does that a lot and Ichiro scored and we lead it 1-0 as we head to the second inning where Chipper led off with a walk and then went to second on a wild pitch and then Andruw Jones grounded him over to third but Robert Fick fouled out to Dan Wilson and Javy Lopez went down swinging, bless his stunningly beautiful heart.

So bottom of the second, and with 1 strikeout from Greg, Randy Winn singled and stole second, but 2 strikeouts after that, and it really didn't do us any good, so let's just keep moving right along to the third inning and I change the channel to ESPN and I am aghast to learn I missed the first two innings already and drop a big f-bomb Greg Maddux style and Gil nicely recorded 2 strikeouts and a grounder to retire the Braves 1-2-3 and then Ichiro led off with an infield single and stole second again and an out later, he stole third and then Bret grounded out to Greg but Ichiro scored on it and we take a 2-0 lead to the fourth.

So with 1 out, Gary Sheffield stepped to the plate and I can't help but notice his enormous elbow armor and I'm not sure how he can even move his arm with this thing on and he flies out and Chipper K'd much to Shel's annoyance I'm sure, and then we're down in order as well as Vintage Maddux seems to have taken over.

Fifth inning and Andruw Jones was caught looking and is not at all pleased about this and then Ben Davis, who is mic'd, is broadcasting a bit from the dugout which is cracking me up and it appears he got a haircut which I'm very happy about since it was getting kind of wild and then Robert Fick singled, but Javy grounded into a double play and I could just look at him all day long but anyway, Mr. Maddux retires us in order and off we go to the sixth.

So with 2 quick outs, Gil Meche decides to make things really exciting and gave up a hit to Rafael Furcal and then walked Marcus Giles and then Gary Sheffield & His Enormous Elbow Of Armor royally pissed me off by knocking one just out of Bret's reach and scoring Furcal but they thankgodfully settle for the 1 run and then Greg Maddux struck out the side and I have to mention that Bret was caught looking and knew it and was headed to the dugout before the ump even called strike 3 and any time Maddux wanted to knock that wickedness off I would really appreciate it and somewhere in the middle of all this, they showed Ben Davis in the dugout telling Bret "go get a hit you little midget!" which made me laugh outloud.

So still 2-1 M's, top of the seventh, and Gil "Maddux Junior" Meche retires the Braves in order and we don't fair any better wasting John Olerud's lead off single although it would appear that Marcus Giles levitated to turn the inning-ending double play as you will see below and I'm pretty sure that flying is not allowed during the game and I really wish Chipper Jones would keep his pixie dust to himself.

So let's just move along to the eighth inning where with 1 out, Matt Franco hitting for Henry Blanco, singled and then Darren Bragg came in to run for him and Shiggy came in to pitch for Gil who left to a very nice ovation and Furcal flew out and then you can see this hilljack sitting in the stands waving his tomahawk around and unfortunately, nobody took it away from him and hit him with it and then they show Ichiro not wanting to talk to Ben since he was mic'd and Ichiro said something in Spanish which threw me for a loop but anyway, Giles grounded out and we head to the bottom half with our lead still intact and sit down in order.

So ninth inning Gary Sheffield singled and I developed a severe stomach ache from the nerves of this and I'm not sure I will be able to stand a World Series between us because quite frankly these three games were enough to give me an ulcer but anyway, Arthur came in to pitch for Shiggy and after going 3-0 on Chipper and giving me severe apoplexy, he got Chipper to fly out and then Sheffield went to second which upset me a bit and then Andruw struck out and I started breathing again and Jeff Nelson came in and got Julio Franco to fly out to end the game and we win it 2-1 and we take the series 2-1 and I'm not just saying this because Shel loves them:  this was one of our biggest wins this year, and one we can really be proud of - not everybody can hang in against the Braves, just ask the other four teams in the National League Eastern Division that haven't come close in the past 11 years.

"Both times when Ichiro was at first base, they brought the infield in. That's a sign of big-league respect for the opposing pitcher. It was Atlanta manager Bobby Cox's way of saying, 'We have to keep the game close because I don't think we're going to score a lot of runs off this guy'.  Cox is a smart fellow. He's been around just shy of forever, longer by far than Maddux or Clemens.  Long enough to know top-grade pitching when he sees it.  He saw it from Meche, obviously an All-Star in the making.  His hitters just couldn't do anything with it." - John Hickey

"[Gil Meche] pitched real good.  He had a great breaking ball, a good fastball and a good mound presence. I was outpitched." - Greg Maddux

"[Greg Maddux] one of the greatest pitchers of all time.  It was great for Gil to beat him." - Bret Boone

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