Garret Anderson and the rest of the Braves lineup, including Nate McLouth, Yunel Escobar, and Ryan Church, saved Eric Cooper from having his blown call (among the worst I have seen, and we have seen some bad ones) decide the game.
With no outs and a man on first, Jurrjens threw a strike on the outside corner. With Rafael Furcal attempting to steal second on the pitch, home plate umpire Eric Cooper signaled a called strike two, witch second base umpire Chuck Meriwether observed before turning to see the play at second, on which he called the would be base stealer out. One out, two strikes, nobody on base. Except that Ethier was awarded first base on a mystery walk, making Furcal safe at second. After striking out Manny Ramirez, Jurrjens mist his target by a foot and a half to Casey Blake who sent a three run homer to left. That mystery walk cost the Braves one run for sure, and possibly two or three, as well as their starting pitcher in the game.
Since the boys from the A-T-L managed to come back and win in the 12th, all Cooper's botched call cost was some extra work by the 'pen, which did an excellent job (7 2/3 socreless innings). However, I went to sleep thinking we had lost this one and wondering how serious the no doubt ensuing appeal would be taken by Major League Baseball.
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