Atlanta Braves' Martin Prado scores as Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero tries to make a tag during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)The top of Sunday's ninth inning possibly down to one pitch, Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel did what he may wind up doing better than any rookie closer ever. He struck out the final Arizona Diamondback the Braves will face this regular season.
Thus did the Braves win, 1-0, their fourth straight triumph and sixth in seventh games. Thus can the Braves Nation look at the current 76-52 record and begin to shout with much certainty, "October, here we come!"
It's not officially over, of course. Beginning with tonight's game at Chicago, some 34 regular-season games remain, a noteworthy 19 of those on the road. Throw in the fact that six of those final 34 come against the fabulous Phillies, including the final three games of the year on Sept. 26-28 inside Turner Field, and there remains much work to do.
But do nothing more than play .500 baseball the rest of the way and Atlanta will stand 93-69. The Braves were two games worse than that last season and grabbed the wildcard.
Pitch and hit as they have the past month and they'll have 93 wins with a week to play.
Or as Chipper Jones told the Atlanta Journal Constitution: "We can shorten games. It's a race to the end of the sixth inning against us. If we're winning then, we've got a 95 to 100 percent chance. If we're tied or losing by a run, it's a toss-up."
Especially when the Braves lead the majors in final at-bat wins with 22. They're tougher to kill than rumors, cockroaches and "I Love Lucy" re-runs (not that you'd want to kill those).
That's not new, of course. Under former manager Bobby Cox, no franchise may have rallied more in the regular-season than the Bravos, which is at least one reason they won 14 straight divisional pennants.
Atlanta's prior problems have always come in the postseason, where the bats and bullpen both seem to disappear. Just consider last season's first-round loss to the eventual world champion Giants.
Losing the best-of-five series in four games, the Braves scored but four total runs in their three defeats. And this team has its offensive challenges, as witness the fact that two of its six victories this past week were by 1-0 scores and four were won by a single run.
But this doesn't feel like last year. Or so many of Cox's divisional crowns, when Atlanta often seemed either overmatched or under-motivated come the postseason.
Instead, these guys are on a roll, growing more confident daily.
Said Sunday's winning pitcher Tim Hudson, "I think our pitching is one of the best in the league and our offense is pretty dynamic and pretty dangerous. We've got some different looks ... that a lot of teams probably aren't used to seeing from us."
All of which brings us to Fredi Gonzalez.
It's not easy replacing a coaching legend. Just ask Gene Bartow, who followed John Wooden. Or Ray Perkins, who succeeded Bear Bryant. As the late, great basketball coach and commentator Al McGuire once mused, "You want to be the coach who follows the coach who follows a legend."
Yet Gonzalez talks to Cox almost daily and eats breakfast with him every Sunday morning during homestands. And in perhaps the single best coaching move of the season in major league baseball, he pulled second baseman Dan Uggla aside on July 5th and told him the season started that night.
Understand that Uggla was batting under .173 at the time. Understand that nearly every single Braves follower outside the team's clubhouse thought he should be demoted or traded, especially since he'd just signed a $62 million contract.
But Gonzalez had managed Uggla in Florida, where he regularly hit 30 homers a season. He pulled Uggla aside after 0-3 night on the Fourth of July and said, "The season starts today."
The next time Uggla failed to get at least one hit was 34 games later.
If Uggla ultimately wins team MVP honors -- he currently has 29 homers and leads the team in game-winning hits -- Gonzalez's brief pep talk may prove the most important of the season.
But here's the best reason to like the Braves' chances. Much as no one gave the run-challenged, pitch-happy Giants a chance to knock off Philly in the NLCS last season, most believe the Braves' run will end in the NLCS, as well.
But good as the Phillies are, the Braves have a better bullpen and have split with Philly thus far in 2011, winning six and losing six. Moreover, just as the late-season addition of Cody Ross sparked the Giants to their first World Series crown since 1954 last season, the Braves' late insert of Jose Constanza has seemingly made them twice as dangerous.
Or as Hudson noted Sunday, "This is probably one of my favorite clubs I've ever played on as far as having a chance to go out and get in the playoffs and do some damage in some series."
Playing as they did this past week against the Giants and Diamondbacks, that damage could come in the World Series.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6273.