Thank You Chipper

Finally emotion from an Atlanta Brave. This club has appeared to be dead to the world for much of the last two weeks. Not only have they been playing poorly, the losing seems to have no affect on them. I know these guys collect a paycheck whether they are ten games over .500 or ten games under, but it would certainly be nice to see these guys actually have one, single shred of pride.

This is the Atlanta Braves. America's team. The team whose fan base spread all over the nation when its owner, Ted Turner, put them on his little television network in the 90's. This is the team that won 14 consecutive division titles and one World Series in its glory days from 1991 until 2005. This club should have some freakin pride about them. They aren't the Chicago Cubs, who are more famous for how they always find a way to lose. They aren't the Washington Nationals, who are routinely mathematically eliminated from playoff contention in May. They are Chief Knockahoma and city of "The Chop." And it is about time someone acted like they care.

What ignited three Braves(Bobby Cox, Eric O'Flaherty, Chipper Jones) to the brink of eruption, was a poor ball-strike call by the home plate umpire. Let me preface the following scene by saying that this particular umpire had been terrible all day. His strike zone wasn't only inconsistant, it appeared to not exist. Pitches that were clearly out of the zone were called strikes several times, and pitches that caught quite a bit of the plate had been called a ball.

Chipper had been punched out on a bad call in the first inning which surely contributed to his mounting frustration. Later on in the seventh, O'Flaherty quickly got ahead of J.D. Drew 0-2. The next pitch, which was replayed dozens of times, nearly split the heart of the plate and was a little over knee high. When the pitch was located in the K-Zone, it proved to be almost directly in the middle of the box. It was called a ball. Predictably, the next pitch was hit off the wall and drove in the go ahead run from second. O'Flaherty began letting the umpire know what he thought about his call on the 0-2 pitch as Cox came out to remove him from the game. When Bobby saw this, he then changed directions and went to confront the umpire to defend his player. Improbably, Chipper Jones snapped.

He was right behind Cox, his head was leaning in over Bobby's shoulder. Screaming. Pointing his finger. Showing some fire. You have to understand the importance of seeing Chipper do this. He has always been an almost Tim Duncan-like figure. Always a great player, but never shows much emotion. He usually takes care of his business in a very professional way. Which is fine. Except that this team needs something to spark them. They have looked so lackadaisical it has been sickening. Braves fans have simply needed a reason to believe they actually care about wins and losses. Chipper provided that.

Even though Atlanta went on to lose that game on a walk off homerun, by of all people, Nick Green(a former Brave), there is hope in Atlanta. The culmination of the frustrations of the last three years seemed to have all been released on one rather pathetic, mustached umpire. It was absolutely glorious. I have never felt so wonderful about a loss in my life. Whether or not the Braves can turn that tirade into motivation and momentum is to be determined. At least there is hope. And for that, I must say: Thank you Chipper.