saturday night’s braves-nationals matchup was the best baseball game i’ve ever seen. ever.

it began rough. starting pitcher jorge sosa just didn’t have it, and in six innings put the nationals two runs ahead of the braves. closer chris reitsma held the nationals at the top of the ninth, but fans already were filing out of the stadium, certain the braves would lose.

catcher brian mccann started the bottom of the ninth, hitting the ball deep into right field for a home run. left fielder ryan langerhans and second baseman marcus giles each singled, and short stop edgar renteria flew out. third baseman chipper jones got on base, loading them up, and center fielder andruw jones struck out.

that brought up right fielder jeff francoeur with two outs and the bases loaded. i thought the game was over. francouer’s been so streaky this season, i didn’t know if he could handle the pressure. the stadium was reverbrated with the braves’ theme music as all the fans — on their feet — did the tomahawk chop.

pitch one: strike

pitch two: francouer connected hard with the ball. as we watched it flying out in center field, we noticed the fielder wasn’t turning around. he kept running after the ball. that’s when we knew it was gone.

walk off grand slam. unbelieveable. the stadium erupted. i haven’t heard it that loud since the braves clinched the division championship last season. that’s definitely the last time joe and i have screamed so loud. francouer rounded the bases, flipped his helmet as he approached home and dove into his teammates, apparantly smacking chipper in the forehead.

man. what an amazing game. joe says the people who left should be banned from attending games for life. i have to agree. 🙂