Braves and Hawks Come Up Empty

Not a good night for Atlanta sports teams. I failed to stay awake for the entire Hawks game, but it does not look like I missed much. Atlanta got next to nothing from Mike Bibby in a blowout loss. Here is hoping the Atlanta crowd comes back full force for Game 6 to send the series back to Boston one more time.

I did watch the Braves fiasco in the afternoon/evening. Why did the game start at 4:30 p.m.? Weird. That must be what it is like to watch sporting events on the West Coast.

Bobby Cox is a Hall of Fame manager, but he pushed all the wrong buttons yesterday.

The Braves wasted another good start from Jair Jurrjens with zero clutch hitting and fell in 12 innings 3-2. The 12th inning has just pathetic. After taking the lead, Bobby Cox allowed Manny Acosta to hit for himself so he could finish the game. Big mistake. Acosta allowed a leadoff walk to start the 12th. He then gave up a lined drive that should have been caught to double off the runner at first, but Martin Prado was in the field instead of Mark Teixeira after Prado came into the game as a pinch-runner. Big mistake. Prado failed to catch the ball that hit squarely in his glove, meaning the Nats now had two on with nobody out instead of nobody on with two outs.

It kept getting worse. Acosta then failed to field an come-backer bunt that should have been a double-play. The ball Bucknered through his legs to load the bases with no outs.

Worse still? How about walking pitch-hitter Ronnie Belliard (hitting .214) with the bases loaded on four pitches to tie the game?

The Braves are now 0-9 in one run games this season. Let's hope May is kinder to Atlanta than April was - injuries, runners left on base and heart-breaking losses made for a frustrating opening month.

Pitching news - John Smoltz announced he will be coming out of the bullpen when he comes off the D.L. and, SHOCKER, Mike Hampton got hurt in his rehab start in Richmond.