All Things Bubba

Well, in my book, anyway. :-)

The headline on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's sports page is Unlikely Hero. With the above photo of Paul Janish.

Crazy roller coaster of a game last night. It looked like a complete blowout. The Braves were down 0-9 after five innings. But they somehow managed to come back. (Poor Stephen Strasburg did not have a happy birthday.) Janish scored the go-ahead run in the ninth, when Tyler Clippard plunked him. He scored on a Michael Bourn triple, sliding in head first around the tag.






Alas, Craig Kimbrel could not hold the one-run lead. He gave up a solo home run, and the game went to extras. Janish stepped up again, getting the winning run in with a bloop hit over the draw-in infield. Braves won it in 11 innings.

Janish's night didn't start off very well. He made some very nice plays on defense, but kept coming to the plate in key situations and falling short. Really, he was more unlucky than anything. He missed a RBI double down the line by a hair when it was ruled foul. He smoked a liner to left center that the left fielder managed to chase down. The Braves announcers felt the need to defend him, saying he was brought in to provide defense, and he was doing just that. And that it was tough coming to a new organization knowing that they traded for you and have certain expectations.

But in the end, Janish was the hero. Attaboy, Soft-J.

This morning, someone posted this comment on Talking Chop:

Janish
Impressed by this guy. Like the way he plays. Good baserunner, too. Got a great read on the Bourn triple and needed every step.

To which someone replied:

yup
He’s everything Jack Wilson should have been for this club.

Kinda funny, since earlier in the game, fans were complaining that they wanted Wilson back. All is forgiven if you win. :-)

The Braves have a doubleheader today. Dunno if Janish will play both games, but he's starting the first one.

It's the MLB.TV free game of the day. If it's not blacked out, anyway. (Die, Fox.)

Labels: Paul Janish