The Atlanta Braves Lost the 2011 Wild Card Back in 1988

The Atlanta Braves weren't eliminated from the 2011 playoffs on the last day of this season—they were eliminated in 1988 by Tony LaRussa, who, ironically, manages the St. Louis Cardinals.

This brings us to Tim Hudson, who started the Braves' final game of the 2011 season. Hudson is the only Braves pitcher to pitch a complete game this season. The entire National League had only 80 complete games, 18 of them by the Philadelphia Phillies. Roy Halladay led with eight, followed by teammate Cliff Lee, who had six complete games.

Tim Hudson is, and has been—despite undergoing Tommy John surgery—a top starting pitcher for a long time. In the game the Braves needed to win, he pitched six-and-one-third innings before giving way to the bullpen.

Hudson had limited the Phillies to a pair of runs and six hits. He gave up a two-out walk and Ryan Howard’s RBI double during a 26-pitch first inning, but allowed only one runner to get as far as third from the second through the sixth innings.

If Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez had eschewed the modern formula for managing pitchers, Hudson would have pitched deeper into games all season—along with the Braves' other starters who remained healthy.

Certainly, going to the bullpen (which was a strength until recently), had worked most of the season, but Gonzalez abused a good thing. Johnny Venters was used 85 times, Eric O'Flaherty made 78 appearances and closer Craig Kimbrel was in 79 games.

Mariano Rivera made 64 appearances this season. Only once has he pitched in as many as 71 games in a year, and in that season, he blew the save in Game 7 of the World Series. Mariano has averaged about 67 appearances a season.

Scott Proctor, who Joe Torre used 83 times in 2006, could tell you that being used so often affects effectiveness later in the season.

Rookie Craig Kimbrel had an outstanding season, but he was ineffective in his last few outings. He blew two of his last three save opportunities and three of his last six. Despite his protestations to the contrary, Kimbrel appeared fatigued.

"Everybody on this team showed up to play today and gave everything they could to win this game, except myself," Kimbrel said.

"I didn’t go out there and pitch to my ability. Part of being a closer is being able to bottle up your emotions and harness them, and I didn’t do that today, and I let the team down.”

There is no question that injuries to Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens cost the Braves some games, but they were still in great shape to make the playoffs. Only Gonzalez knows why he continued to send Derek Lowe to the mound every five days, but he was one of the league's least effective starters. Lowe lost 17 games with a 75 ERA-plus. 

Many starting pitchers can work into the eighth or the ninth inning, but the formula is to have the starter go six or, at the most, seven innings—then bring in a "seventh inning" man, an "eighth inning" man and, finally, the closer.

We all saw how well that worked out.