WHY????

The call of a Braves fan in October.

WHY? Why did we not lay down against Philly so they could win the wild card, letting us face the Padres instead of the Astros? You know St. Louis did that very thing (Astros swept their third stringers in the second-to-last series of the year), but we should've beaten them to the punch.

WHY? Why in God's name did we intentionally walk Berkman in the 7th inning??? Two outs, Pettite on third with Berkman up, Braves down only one. Hudson's still in the game, and on deck is Morgan Ensburg. Now, normally Ensburg doesn't strike fear in the hearts of men, but he'd already had the only two RBI singles recorded by Houston on the day. You've got a 3-10 shot of getting Berkman out, while we've seen that Hudson hadn't been able to handle Ensburg at all this game. Even still, I don't care if Barry F'ing Bonds is at bat, YOU DON'T INTENTIONALLY WALK A BATTER WHEN THE HOT BAT IS ON DECK! Ensburg singles, of course, Hudson get pulled, and the bullpen implodes in the eighth.

WHY? Why is it that every season Atlanta gets the Wednesday afternoon game as their game 1? This never has seemed fair to me -- we've always been the team that clinches with time to spare, while we're up against the team that had to fight hard to make it in, making that extra day of rest critical. Conspiracy theory, sure, but a valid point.

WHY? Why is John Franco the color man for ESPN Radio? Good Lord, it took him five pitches to get one point across. As heard:

"Well, John, how do you pitch this guy?"
"Throw hard and hope he hits a soft liner. Ha. ha. No, really, you have to --"
"There's a curveball for ball one."
"Exactly, he likes to bite on the curveballs. Now, when I faced him last year with the Mets, he was --"
"Takes a fastball for strike one."
"Yep, that's a good pitch there. So, as I was saying, when I was with the Mets last year, I faced this guy and he lined --"
"There's a line shot foul down the right side."
"That's a great cut he showed. When I was with the Mets, he hit a line shot to the shortstop and --"
"There's a pop foul back into the booth. Pity he didn't hit you in the mouth, John."
"What? I don't understand that. Anyway, he hit a soft liner to the shortstop, who was a Met because I used to play for them. I don't think many people know that, so I'll be sure and make sure I let the listeners hear it EVERY PITCH OF EVERY AT-BAT IN THIS GAME."
"And he strikes out looking. It's stretch time at Turner, and I'm getting some earplugs."
"What?"

Good Lord, he was AWFUL! How did he get that job? Everyone at ESPN is so BoSox happy I can't imagine they'd let anyone from NY in the booth that isn't Mike Piazza. I doubt he could've taken the Hollywood route and slept with someone to get the part (see: Ashley Judd), cause I doubt anyone's that nearsighted. It just bugs me that someone has one of my dream jobs and is doing it so damn poorly. Don't get me started about Nick Lachey on College Gameday; then again, I know who HE'S sleeping with -- no amount of camera time is worth that.

WHY? Why did I get so off-track? Yikes.

I just have to remember -- this game only counts once. Smoltz is in tomorrow in the role he pitched all season for. He can get the ship righted and we'll be right back in the series.

As long as we know when to walk people.