A Night to Remember: Martin Prado Steals the Show

Remember back to that one game in Little League where everything just clicked for you. The ball appeared to you like a big beach ball when you took a swing and drove it to the outfield gap. On the mound you were throwing ungodly breaking balls and nobody could catch up to your fastball.

After winning, the feeling you felt was pure nirvana and elation. Teammates dog-piled you and your crush in the stands looked upon you with shimmering eyes and an easy smile. 

You could do no wrong, you were on top of the world.

Last night Braves second baseman and utility player Martin Prado played such a game, magnified a million times.

The Braves opened up a three-game series against the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday night in Atlanta. Coming into the game Atlanta was five games below .500 and 5 games behind division-leading Philadelphia.

If the Braves want to truly get back into the thick of things, they have to win this series, and a sweep would be best.

With one game in the stat bin Atlanta is 1-0 mostly due to one man. That one man is Martin Prado.

Prado played a career game Tuesday. Throughout the year Prado has mostly been under the radar because of his utility status but due to the all-too-frequent injuries in the infield he has played more than two-thirds of the season.

Manager Bobby Cox decided to shake things up and start Prado over a struggling Kelly Johnson. Johnson is batting .216 on the year with 50 hits and a .288 OBP. Comparatively, Prado is batting .299 with 41 hits, a .360 OBP, and has four HRs, which is one less than Johnson.

Prado made the most out of his opportunity. Out of the five total runs scored by the Braves, Prado drove in four of them and scored the other.

Prado went 4-for-5, including a home run which tied the game in the fifth, a double which again tied the game in the eighth, and a walkoff single that scored Matt Diaz for the winning run.

Due to Prado's play tonight, Bobby Cox now has no choice but to start Prado at second while his bat is hot.

The opener against the Phillies played out like dozens of other games the Braves have played this season. Atlanta would score runs but then give them up due to faulty pitching or defense and their offense would stumble when needed most. But Prado didn't allow the game to end in tragedy.

Last night Prado was clutch being able to score runners on two outs. He was even more clutch after falling to 0-2 in his last at-bat against Chan Ho Park. It was that at-bat when Prado hit his walkoff single.

Even more impressive Tuesday night was Atlanta's ability to battle back and go toe-to-toe with the world champions, who last year went 9-0 at Turner Field.

Every inning that Atlanta went down, the team would respond with runs.

Prado tied the game 1-1 in the third inning and tied it again in the fifth with his solo shot. The Braves also took the lead later in the inning when Chipper Jones scored off a ground ball by Jeff Francoeur.

The game was in check until Mike Gonzalez gave up back-to-back home runs in the eighth giving Philadelphia a 4-3 lead. Things appeared to be going their way, but Prado was able to tie it up again in the eighth and then won the game in the 10th.

Atlanta's play is an encouraging sight for Braves fans. Tuesday, the Braves played like the Atlanta Braves of old: quality pitching and answering every run with a run of their own. Players seemed to be encouraged after the game and that's a good sign.

Momentum is everything in baseball and this could be the spark to the powder keg for an explosive July the Braves desperately need.