Tuesday, August 01, 2006

How did Sid do it?

I just watched a replay of the Atlanta Braves beating the Pittsburg Pirates in the 1992 NLCS...and I'm getting chills.

The scene: the Braves are down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 7, the bases are loaded, there are two outs and little-used Francisco Cabrera is up at the plate with the weight of an entire season on his shoulders. This isn't the Yankees or the Red Sox we're talking about. These are the Braves, the perennially laughing stock of baseball on the cusp of making back-to-back World Series. And this isn't Hank Aaron or Dale Murphy or even Deion Sanders at the plate. This is Cabrera, the permed-mullet latino catcher that probably never played again that season or ever again.

The action: Cabrera slaps a line-drive single into left field so hard that the left fielder, maybe Barry Bonds (I can't remember), gloves the ball before the Braves' slow-footed first baseman Sid Bream, running from second base, rounds third base on his way home. Somehow, Bream scores, slipping inches past the throw home, which was off target a few feet toward first base. Bream looks up at the home plate umpire, who is signaling Bream safe, with a look that says "You've got to be kidding me." David Justice jumps on top of Bream, and pandimonium ensues. Two things strike me in watching this moment, now 14 years later.

1. Why the heck did Bream run home? Obviously the third-base coach sent him around third base, but it doesn't really make much sense. Bream was arguably the slowest runner on the team. The guy basically had a wooden leg, as one of his knees was surgically repaired just enough for him to trot home. It pained anyone to watch Bream run.

2. How the heck did Bream score? As said before, Bream was the slowest guy on the team. The Braves' 70-year-plus manager Bobby Cox may even be able to beat the Bream of 14 years ago today and it takes Cox at least 45 seconds to make his way from the dugout to the mound. That's how slow Bream was. Even a decent runner would have been gunned down at the plate by the throw that Bream beat, so the only explanation I can offer is that there was a supernatural intervention of incredible proportions. I distinctly remember my eyes bugging out of my head as I watched the scene live in 1992 and I still can't figure it out. I've watched the clip over and over again, and it just doesn't make sense. It's beautiful.

The Braves are currently 49-56, in fourth place in the NL East division and a full 14 games behind the hated Mets. Braves fans, we must cling to these sort of memories in times like these.