Forget the Infield Fly

Next time a sports pundit thinks anyone cares about his "prediction" for the playoffs, let the record reflect that:

The Braves had won Kris Medlen's previous 23 starts and were one of the best defensive teams in the Majors. Then, with Medlen on the hill, the homefield edge and the emotion of Chipper's last playoffs, they gakked up three infield gaffes and lost 6-3.

Joe Saunders was 0-6 lifetime at The Ballpark in Arlington with a 9.38 ERA before hurling nearly six innings of one-run ball en route to 5-1 Baltimore win over Texas.

In other words, anyone who offers a prediction about any of the playoff series should stop talking. Before they start. 

On a related note, Atlanta should soon be a much kinder community, because everyone at the playoff game last night should be sentenced to community service for their distasteful littering outburst following the umpires' unfortunate infield fly call. 

Irrespective of your opinion on the call, it wasn't the reason the Braves lost. Three errors and 12 runners left on base -- most of them on second and third -- were the culprits. It's easy to minimize those mistakes, but consider this: the Cardinals got an extra inning's worth of outs from Braves infielders, even more if you account for the error that came on what appeared to be a double-play ball. The largesse also added three base runners and seven total bases. That's an awful lot to overcome, especially when your team strands three runners on second and four runners on third.

The machine retains most of its parts next season, with the obvious exception of Chipper Jones, leaving Atlanta fans with hope.

It's a different vibe in Dallas, where the local nine coughed up a five game lead with nine to play, fell into the Wild Card, and then suffered a power outage at the plate in their play-in loss. And just like that, the Rangers magically converted the AL's best record into the shortest stay in baseball playoff history. 

The Texas partisans gave their Atlanta brethren a run for their money by booing Josh Hamilton after he whiffed again to end an 0-for-4 evening. Because Hamilton only delivered 43 homers and 128 RBIs for the Metroplex this year, and hasn't brought more to the table over the last five years than .306/.362/.548, 142 home runs, four All Star appearances, a couple of Gold Gloves and the franchise's only two World Series appearances, the fair denizens made sure to communicate their annoyance with him.

The Rangers' front office knows better than to sign Hamilton to a mega-millions free agent contract and the fans know that the team knows that. As noted here before, Hamilton is physically and psychologically fragile, unlikely to play many full seasons and probably now entering his baseball dotage. Unless his commitment to charity includes the billionaire owners of baseball teams, he's going to have to search beyond the Rangers for a GM dumb enough to give him the money his numbers alone suggest he's worth.

That's the only major cog coming loose from this wheel, but it's a big one. Nolan Ryan will need to replace that production, and any attempt to do so will probably come from outside the organization. At least he'll have more time to consider the possibilities than he expected.