Braves Play Sloppily, Umpires Botch Play as Cardinals Advance to NLDS

The Atlanta Braves played rather sloppily tonightagainst the St. Louis Cardinals  as their season ended abruptly in a 6-3 loss.  The Braves committed three errors – way too many for an elimination playoff game.  The new Wild Card format certainly showed that there is NO room for error with only one game that will make or break a season.  But what fans will remember is a controversial call from the umpiring crew.

Here was a fly ball – or pop up? – to left field… or is it the infield?

This ball that fell between left fielder Matt Holliday and shortstop Daniel Descalso invoked the infield fly rule from the umpire Sam Holbrook – and late.   TBS showed just how far it was from the outfield:

Does that look like the infield to you?   Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez did not.  He came out to argue and ended up playing the game under protest:

Understandably, Braves fans were upset.  But what followed will surely be a black eye on Braves fans for many years to come:

In the end, the Braves lost 6-3.  Errors by Dan Uggla, Chipper Jones, and Andrelton Simmons were simply too damaging to the Braves to overcome such a deficit.    Of the six runs the Braves gave up tonight, just two were earned.  Those four unearned runs would prove to be the difference.

Chipper Jones' career is done, as are the Braves in the 2012 playoffs.