Monday afternoon at Turner Field was why baseball is America's most unpredictable team sport.
The homestanding Atlanta Braves entered this one with the worst record in all of baseball, a brutal 21 games under .500 at 14-35. Their opponent was San Francisco, which had won 15 of its last 17 to notch the second best mark in the National League behind the otherworldly (at least until the playoffs) Chicago Cubs.
So what happened?
The Braves won, of course, their 5-3 victory over the Giants the kind that can make Braves Nation believe there are far brighter days to come.
Then interim manager Brian Snitker solidified that idea by delivering the kind of positive postgame assessment that's almost become a daily recording after each of the six wins in 13 games he's presided over since replacing Fredi Gonzalez: "The record's not great, but it's not for lack of trying. These guys still show up early every day, work hard, cut up with each other. It's nice to see them rewarded with a win."
Were the next 112 games to pile up wins at the same pace as the first 50, the Braves would finish 48-114. Put in perspective, the worst Braves record since the team left Milwaukee for Atlanta in 1966 was the 54-106 catastrophe of 1988. If that's not bad enough for you, the 1935 Boston Braves were a stunningly bad 38-115.
But Atlanta's latest run of young guns in the starting rotation - everyone from Monday winner Mike Foltynewicz to Julio Teheran to tonight's starter, Matt Wisler - at least hints of a better ending than beginning to this wretched season.
Especially if Mallex Smith can keep batting .407 with runners in scoring position. Arriving at the plate with three aboard in Monday's second inning, Smith ripped a triple to bring them all home. Coupled with RBIs from Nick Markakis and Kelly Johnson in the following inning, the Braves had all the runs they'd need to win for the third time in the last four games.
This doesn't mean everyone should be saving their money for playoff tickets a year from now, when the shiny new SunTrust Park opens. Especially since one report surfaced Monday that the Braves would be willing to move Teheran for an A-list hitter.
One hitter, unless someone has cloned Babe Ruth, isn't going to cure all that's wrong with Atlanta's somewhat major league team. Two or three All-Star hitters might not fix the Braves.
But to look at Foltynewicz alone is to see the steady improvement of a pitcher who could win 16 to 20 games a season a couple of years from now.
Merely listen to Snitker, who managed Folty in the minors, after Monday's win in which 61 of his 89 pitches were strikes: "Best total package I've seen out of him. When things got tough, he didn't go harder, he went softer."
Said the 24-year-old pitcher after improving to 2-2 on the season: "It's nice to know I don't have to throw 97 (mph) all the time. I was able to mix in my slider, changeup and curveball today. The thing for me is taking my time out there."
Everyone from president John Hart to general manager John Coppolella to the ousted Gonzalez has preached patience since the start of spring training. No one may have expected the Braves to be tied with the Minnesota Twins right now for baseball's worst record, but no one was predicting so much as a break-even season, either.
A single stat to show how tough the season's been: When Gordon Beckham made his first start at shortstop since he played for the Chicago White Sox last season, he became the Braves' fourth shortstop in the last four games.
Said Beckham, who starred at short during his University of Georgia playing days: "I always like going back over there. It's fun being the captain of the defense for a day."
It's especially fun when you win for the third time in four games after winning so seldom for so much of the season.
Maybe it will continue and maybe it won't. After this four-game series with the Giants ends, the Braves fly to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers. The Cubs come calling the next weekend, which means the Braves will become visitors in their own home. But there are also series against the woeful Cincinnati Reds and the Marlins, against whom the Braves have won five of six thus far.
Finally, there's this: Monday was the first time Atlanta has won on Memorial Day in six years. When you're 15-35 after 50 games, you take your good omens where you find them.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.