Now there are twenty-some games left, my favorite team, Atlanta, is leading the Phillies by 3 games.
Now Atlanta hasn’t had the best season, I’ll be the first to say that. But what the hell is wrong with the Phillies, their awful. I watched Atlanta all year, just recently did I tune in for a Phillies game. It was really amusing, I laughed, and laughed. They looked like a AAA Team, or something.
How many Atlanta fans do we have vs. Phillies fan’s.
Yup, the Phils are self-destructing, all right, but I should remind the author of the OP that they have cleaned the Braves’ clocks throughout most of the season (and led the division during much of that time). Compare home won-lost records, for one thing.
Anyhow, may the best team take the division (and gain the chance to lose to the Astros, or maybe the D’backs).
::shakes head::
Nicklz, my pet, I’m a diehard Cubs fan and therefore do not notice what happens outside the NL Central.
BTW, oh Crunchy Frog, Chicago is ahead of St Louis, and the Cards have a series with Houston…
Here’s my take on this as an avid Atlanta fan:
The NL east is fucking miserable this year, and NO team in it deserves to go to the playoffs. The Braves are in a nasty skid, and they are not much better than .500, and if they were in any other division they would have been out of first place a long time ago. Check that, they wouldn’t have even been in first place to begin with. It’s only because the Phillies are even worse that we still have first place.
That said, yes, I am still going to pull for the Bravos, and I hope they do will (if?) when they make it to the postseason.
It’s just been a crappy year all around. I’m awfully glad football starts on Sunday.
As seen here, the Phils have astounded us all year.
Their expected dive never occured. I’ll give you that it could be beginning though.
At a minimum, they’ve provided Philly die-hards a season of entertaining and competitive ball.
And Nickrz? It’s “they’re awful.”
I posted in my good friend Chief Scott’s excellent thread, back in April, on the first page, that I’d be happy to see the Phils hit .500. They’re currently nine wins shy of that, so that at least seems do-able.
But, I conceded the race for the NL East after the debacle I witnessed on ESPN2 on Monday against the Mets. Disgusting baseball. I wouldn’t call it AAA, it was more like little league (without the cheating parents and aluminum bats).
It’s been a fun year, and next year should be even better (bye-bye Scotty! Hello Jason Giambi? [sub]A Phan can dream…[/sub]).
If the Phillies do manage to pull this out, I’ll gladly eat my words. But, right now, I’ll be happy to see them win game #82.
And, the Eagles start on Sunday…
The Phils are Pholding. The other day, they gave up the winning run when the pithcer failed to catch the return throw from the catcher. Runner left second, SS threw toward third, went wild, run scored. 5 run 9th for Mets.
Been a Braves fan, even when they sucked…
I’m in agreement with Mouthbreather, the 2001 Braves are in first only by the grace of God and sub-par play of the Phils and Mets.
Weak hitting, less-than-stelllar performance of starters (except for Maddux and Burkett), questionable set-up, and spotty relief. Smoltz is the only bright spot-- and he should be starting. Still, half a loaf is better than none. Having Smoltzie in the bullpen beats having him on the DL. Key injuries, especially to Furcal, didn’t help much either.
Still rooting hard for the Braves, but they had better step up their play and intensity because the D’backs, Giants, Cards and Cubbies aren’t going to let up this year. Plus, the Mets are starting to wake up. There’s around 21-22 games left and they’re only 7 out.
That’s when I conceded. Mind you, that was after Jose Mesa blew his first save since May (remember May, Phils Phans…?). We were winning that game 7-5 going into the 9th.
Sad. 
when you say “bye bye scotty”, I assume you mean Scott Rolen?
Is that a definate? You should get someone worthwhile for him.
They’ll get a lot less for Rolen than they would’ve last year. He hasn’t hit as well the last couple of years since he got hurt, and they have to move him before he turned FA after next year. He and Bowa don’t exactly get along. Their hand is forced.
HARDYGRRL-- Any real baseball fan would love to see the cubbies take it all.
I’ll root for the braves until they’re retired for the season. I’m really just a baseball fan in general. If a game is on I’ll watch no matter who it is.
But my favorite memories are back when I watched the braves games, staying up past my bedtime doing the tomahawchop along with the sea of fans in the stands. Man I had ever single baseball card, of every player. Remember Neon Deion?
Thats been awhile ago, huh. Memories
I still think the Braves are a formitable foe in the playoffs. We do have alot of players who can step up when needed, we just need to get them all playing good at the same time, and I think we could take it all the way.
Well I can dream can’t I?
CAN, yes. Will? I hope so, but I’m not holding my breath.
Yes, you can dream. 
I’d like to see them win it as much as anyone, but sheesh … well, truthfully, it would be some sort of poetic justice for them to win it all this crappy year after all the years of being the best team during the regular season just to see them spank it away in the playoffs / World Series.
Amen to that. Instead of the high-priced power lineup and overpowering pitchers the Braves have fielded over the past decade (that self-destructed in the NLCS and Series), I would like to see the Braves lurch into the LCS and win the World Series on a wing and a prayer.
I’d really like to see guys like Paul Bako, Julio Franco, Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis take the Braves all the way. Shades of the '92 team that had Sid Bream and Francisco Cabrera in the playoffs against the Pirates. The Pirates were one strike away from going to the Series that year, IIRC. Man, that’s the way I like baseball played.
Not me. I’d like for once to have a dominating Braves team in the shades of the Yankees or this years Mariners.
That stuff in the early 90’s was gut-wrenching. I remember feeling like I was gonna throw up from tension in that Bream/Cabrera game. Oh sure, it was great when it was over, but that felt like the longest 9th inning ever when it was on.
'Nother Braves fan checking in. I’ll be at next Wednesday’s game vs. the Phillies, and on the company’s dime - how cool is that? I told my boss that if the company really wanted to be nice they should send us to an away game so the Braves have a chance of winning.
This year the NL East is not so much a pennant race as an ICU watch. Who’s gonna go belly up worse? I’m not so concerned about the Phils, they seem to be in a permanent fade. My rearview mirror is focused solely on the Mets.
The Braves lead the Phillies by 2.5 games, after Robert “Stopper” Person’s gem last night.
Go Phils!