It took nearly 5 hours, but the Braves finally pulled out a victory Monday night, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-6 in 15 innings. To add salt to the Pirates wounds, Braves outfielder Nate McLouth had 3 hits in the game. McLouth was traded to the Braves by the Pirates last week in a move that was almost certainly financially motivated, despite the contentions of the Pirates GM and owner. McLouth was the best player on the Pirates team and the only remaining member of the best outfield in baseball from the beginning of last season that also included Jason Bay and Xavier Nady.
This was Bobby Cox’s 2000th victory as manager of the Braves. He said he couldn’t remember the first 9 innings of the game, or where he parked his car, or why he was wearing his underwear on his head (just kidding Bobby, we all love you). He’ll certainly enter the Hall of Fame one day as one of the greatest managers of the modern era and a guy who could seemingly pull together any bunch of misfits and make a playoff contender out of them. Congrats, Bobby!
