Let's Watch: Braves @ Brewers, 5/25/99
Greg Maddux takes the ball as the ace looks to shake off early season struggles
I figured I’d give this a try. I randomly had a Braves game show up on my YouTube feed and figured, what the hell, let’s watch an old game. If you would like to watch along, here is the URL for the game originally broadcast on TBS.
With that in mind, let's dive right into the 1999 Braves visiting the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Braves enter the game with a 26-18 record, good for a 1.5-game lead on the Mets and the second-best winning percentage in the National League behind the Astros. Yes, kids, the Astros were an NL team. The Brewers, on the other hand, are off to a 21-22 start. Not bad, but it's last in the six-team NL Central right now with the other four teams above .500 as they chase the Astros.
This is the second of four games at County Stadium. The previous evening, in front of just shy of 15,000 fans on a Monday, the Brewers smacked Tom Glavine around in a 10-7 win. They scored four off Glavine in the first, another run in the second, and four more in the third before the Hall-of-Famer's night was mercifully over. The Braves made a game of it, out-scoring the Brewers 6-1 the rest of the way, but the hole was too great to dig out of.
The old TBS intro plays and, holy crap, that's nice. Ozzie Guillen is actually in the intro which surprised me. Ryan Klesko, I get, but Guillen? Pete Van Wieren welcomes us, along with Don Sutton, and he mentions this is County Stadium's final year. You can see Miller Park (now called American Family Field) being built beyond the outfield wall. However, this wouldn't be County Stadium's final year because nearly two months after this game, three construction workers were sadly killed when a crane collapsed. Because of the investigation and the repairs needed, the move to Miller Park was put off for a year.
Pete tells us about the struggles of not only Glavine, but also Greg Maddux, to open the 1999 season. The title reads, "'Sigh' Youngs" and I chuckled.
Speaking of the Professor, he has the ball tonight. Sutton thinks they're having M&M problems. Not candy, but mechanical and misfortune.
This is a pretty fun matchup to watch, by the way. Maddux is always a joy to see pitch, but the Brewers have Jim Abbott on the mound. Hell yes.
Let's look at the Braves' lineup to start things. Walt Weiss and Bret Boone are at the top of the lineup, followed by Chipper Jones, Brian Jordan, and Andruw Jones. That's where things taper off quickly as Brian Hunter, Eddie Perez, and Gerald Williams hit in front of Maddux to finish off the lineup. With the southpaw Abbott on the mound, Ryan Klesko takes a seat. This was the year that, because of Andres Galarraga's cancer diagnosis, Klesko played mostly first base. That forced Williams into the lineup fairly regularly. It also prompted the Braves to bring back Hunter, who, to be honest, wasn't too bad in ‘99. Williams would eventually move to the top of the lineup and used this season to land a decent contract in free agency. Of course, Perez is playing because Maddux is on the mound.
This is, by the way, Jordan's first year with the Braves and he's off to a great start.
Meanwhile, the Brewers outfield is Geoff Jenkins, Marquis Grissom, and Jeromy Burnitz from left-to-right. Jeff Cirillo, Mark Loretta, Ronnie Belliard, and Brian Banks (?) are the infield from third-to-first. Banks is a 28-year-old utility player and, funny story, but Loretta would ultimately be the primary first baseman for the Brewers in 1999. Behind the plate is one-time Brave Dave Nilsson. This is Nilsson's final year in the majors. He chose to not sign a major league deal for 2000 to instead focus on the Olympics, playing in the Sydney Games for his native Australia. He would play a little In Japan and Italy moving forward but primarily played down under. In 2004, he signed with the Braves and tried to make the team following the defection of Javy Lopez. But after failing and playing just over a dozen games with Richmond, he headed back to Australia. He became a successful manager of the Brisbane Bandits before leaving the job last fall. He's now the Head of Athletics for Briarwood Christian High School, a private school in Birmingham, Alabama. Kind of an odd decision for such a major Aussie figure, but maybe he just loves Birmingham.
But enough about Nilsson. Like the Braves' aces, Abbott is off to a terrible start to 1999 with a 9.11 ERA and losses in all five games he started. An even 16 BB/16 K ratio and 7 homers in 27.2 innings will do that to ya. This is Abbott's first taste of the NL and he won't enjoy it. In a few months, he'll get released and will see his career come to a close. Still, it's an amazing career considering his handicap.
So, two pitchers off to terrible starts? Are you smelling a pitcher's duel, too?
Wait, wait, wait…
JOE WEST IS BEHIND THE PLATE?
ANGEL HERNANDEZ IS AT FIRST BASE?
Why do I torture myself with this? Oh, but we must go on. I'm almost four minutes into the broadcast. Too far to go back now.
Similar crowd here for the second of a four-game set. 15,286 is the announced attendance. The next two games would have some better attendance with 22,252 in attendance for the matinee finale.
Weiss has an eleven-game hit streak that he's looking to extend. He won't do it in the first inning. Pete and Don are crazy for Jeff Cirillo, by the way. Boone's up next. A lot of Braves fans didn't like him, but I loved him and disliked that the Braves sent him to the Padres. Boone smacks it the other way and legs out a two-bagger. Give him eleven doubles on the year. He'd pick up 27 more before the season was over. Chipper is ten homers into his MVP season. His tenth was a 458-foot monster the previous evening, the fourth-longest in County Stadium history. If Statcast was around, that would have been fun to see. Boone advances to third on a flyout to right. That brings up Jordan, who is playing despite a bothersome ankle/Achilles injury that nags him when he runs. Abbott is hitting the outside corner, or at least West thinks so. A fan makes a catch on a foul ball and looks like it's the most amazing thing he's ever done. No hate. Catching a foul ball is pretty cool. Jordan flies out to Grissom to end the threat.
Brewers batting order looks like Loretta, Banks, and Burnitz followed by Cirillo, Nilsson, and Grissom. Jenkins is in the seven-spot, Belliard is next, and then Abbott. By the way, Abbott is 0-for-8 on the year. And his career. He would pick up two singles in 1999, though, so maybe his first is coming today? Against Maddux? Sutton mentions the Brewers are the hottest-hitting team of the last two weeks which is bad for a struggling Maddux.
Loretta is in his fifth year, though it’s his first season as a full-time starter. He would start 70 games at short, 54 games at first, nine over at second, and seven at the hot corner. Loretta slaps a single up the middle and Boone dives for it, but can't get it out of his glove for an infield single. Up next is Brian Banks. He's a 28-year-old switch-hitter who has played in 56 games over the previous three seasons for Milwaukee, but most of that came as a backup. He's kind of an odd duck in that, in addition to playing the infield and outfield corners, he can also catch. Banks is in his biggest run in the majors and is off to a sizzling .339 start at the plate. He'd finish with a .242 average over 249 PA, which is nearly half of his major league total. That said, he'd win a ring with the 2003 Marlins. Pete mentions that the Brewers like to draft college players more than prep guys and they spent a second-round pick on Banks in 1993 out of BYU. Banks, by the way, hit a tailor-made double-play ball, but Weiss's throw is garbage. To be fair, Hunter's throw to Weiss sailed to the right. Still, Loretta is forced at second and Banks advanced when the throw went into the Milwaukee dugout. Burnitz steps in and he has 10 homers. 1999 will be Burnitz's only All-Star appearance. He smacked 33 dongs on the year. Burnitz does Maddux a favor by swinging over a 3-0 pitch that was probably a tad inside. But Maddux eventually does walk him, ending a streak of 14 innings without a free pass for the righty. Cirillo hit .326 in 1999. Eddie's glove is having issues, which pauses the action for a moment as he retrieves a new one. Maddux goes 3-0 on Cirillo with everything missing away. Cirillo smacks a base hit to the right of second base, but Andruw Jones quickly gets to it to hold Banks at third. Bases loaded, one out, and Maddux is trying to avoid a Glavine-like meltdown. This time, Maddux gets ahead of Nilsson and strikes him out looking. Two cutters inside and then a heater that fools Nilsson.
Aww, Marquis Grissom. Second year in Milwaukee after his one season in Cleveland. It always feels like Grissom spent more than two years with the Braves. Grissom falls behind before getting caught looking at the outside corner. Maddux avoids a disaster in the first.
Andruw opens the second. He's in a 1-for-16 slump and swings at a terrible pitch, but it sneaks through the middle of the infield for a base hit. Here's Hunter. After three seasons with the Braves, Hunter's bounced around between the Pirates, Reds, Mariners, Cardinals, and White Sox. The Braves brought him in on a minor league deal that led to him getting a spot on the roster after Galarraga's cancer diagnosis. Hunter, by the way, smacks a homer to left field to make it 2-0. Fourth dinger on the year and it was a knee-high hanger that Abbott knew was a goner. Hunter would only bat .249 in 1999, but did finish with a .792 OPS and six homers. Perez, Williams, and Maddux go in order to follow, but it's 2-0. Pete and Don are throwing shade at Maddux, who hit a triple recently. They mention how the radio producer for the Braves said that, "Greg Maddux hitting a triple has now surpassed the Kentucky Derby as the most exciting two minutes in sports." Ouch.
As we come back from break, footage of John Smoltz throwing a bullpen session is thrown. Smoltz is on the (injured) list and can be activated in a week. He'd make 29 starts in '99 and toss 186.1 innings. But he'd miss 2000 before moving to the pen to close off 2001.
Jenkins grounds out to Maddux to open the second before Ronnie Belliard steps in. And yes, Pete mentions that Ronnie is Rafael Belliard's younger cousin. The plan was for Belliard to spend much of the year in the minors, but due to Fernando Vina's different injuries, Belliard would pick up 531 PA. And no, if you're curious, this was not the year Albert Belle ran over Vina. That happened in 1996. Belliard singles passed Boone, by the way. Here comes Abbott, who puts down a perfect bunt to advance the runner. Always good to see. Loretta flies out to right to end the second.
By the way, I figured I should mention this - the 1999 Brewers rotation is a collection of strange names. Of course, you have the Brewers duo of Scott Karl and Cal Eldred that, if you collected baseball cards in the 90s, you probably have about 20 of each. Scott Woodard is their young gun and he won the previous game against Glavine. But in addition to Abbott, two other names that picked up at least 15 starts are Bill Pulsipher and Hideo Nomo. I completely blocked out the fact that either played for Milwaukee.
Don reads a promo for logging into CNNSI. It's "The Ultimate Address for Sports." Yeah, okay. Weiss bloops a single to open the third. That doesn't last long as he gets caught stealing. It might have been a missed hit-and-run by Boone, though. That hurts immediately because Boone singles up the middle. He's shaking his head at first which, and Pete agrees, seems to indicate that he did miss the hit-and-run sign. And then a Chipper double play ends the inning. Takes effort to get two hits in an inning and the pitcher still faces the minimum, but by God, the Braves did it so effortlessly.
Okay, Brian Banks just crushed a double off Maddux. The ball was located pretty much down the middle and you're just not used to Maddux throwing a ball over the middle of the plate. Or getting hit hard by guys named Brian Banks. And then Maddux walks Burnitz on four straight. Maybe he didn't want to throw a good strike, but also, maybe Maddux is mortal right now and it's just weird to watch. Banks swipes third and I just saw one of his eight career steals. The Brewers of '99 wouldn't steal many bases as they finished 13th with 81 steals. But they were caught a league-low 33 times so when they go, they usually make it. Grissom was their only real base stealer as he swiped 24-of-30. Cirillo lines a ball toward first, but because Burnitz didn't try to steal second when Banks advanced, Hunter is holding the runner, catches the line drive, and steps on first to double off Burnitz. Nilsson just tried a safety squeeze. I can't imagine Phil Garner, the Brewers' manager, liked to see one of his best power hitters try to put down a bunt. He K's swinging and Maddux navigates through a worrisome third.
Aflac Trivia question - Who has hit the most career homers at County Stadium? Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews quickly come to mind, but maybe Rob Deer?
Jordan flies out to Grissom to open the fourth. Andruw flies one to Burnitz. Will Hunter send one to Jenkins next? The guys promote a new offering at Turner Field - Turner Beach. By the way, Hunter does send one toward Jenkins, but is a grounder that hugs the line before heading toward the foul ball wall. A fan picks it up and it's a ground-rule double for Hunter. But the threat ends quickly because Eddie Perez grounds out.
The answer to the Aflac Trivia question was Mathews. That was my first thought.
It's an even-numbered inning so Maddux breezes through the fourth. And thankfully because this game needs to hurry up. About to ask for a pitch clock.
After Gerald Williams lines out to right, Maddux crushes one to right field, too. It lands maybe less than a foot to the right side of the foul pole. It would have been at least a double and it very nearly had home-run distance. Maddux follows with a groundout to Abbott and we get to watch how routine and easy Abbott fields his position despite missing most of his hand. That brings up Weiss. He works it full before walking to keep Abbott from having a perfect inning. Boone nearly takes Abbott's head off with a liner up the middle and the Braves again are threatening, but Chipper grounds out to end another threat.
Skip Carey and Joe Simpson change places with Pete and Don. Skip praises Abbott, who leads off the bottom of the fifth with a swinging K. Maddux is up to 65 pitches with 28 of them coming in the first. After a groundout, Skip mentions that the County Stadium crowd is really quiet. Still probably louder than the Olympic Stadium crowd, though. And then, Maddux walks Banks, who is the best player to ever play the game. Okay, Burnitz gets a shot after Maddux walked him twice in his first two at-bats. But he pops it up. Easy play...except Weiss, who calls off Boone, drops the damn ball.
That's two errors for Weiss, who is having one eventful evening. He kept drifting because of the wind and it just popped out. Every odd-numbered inning has been an adventure for Maddux. That brings up Cirillo. A pair of foul balls begin the at-bat. Cirillo lines one to left field and that's trouble. Until Gerald Williams picks both Weiss and Maddux up with a diving catch at the last second to end the threat. Cirillo should have at least two RBI in the game, but his two liners have been caught.
Onto the sixth. It starts quickly with a groundout and a flyout in just three pitches. That brings up Hunter and he works a five-pitch walk. Not sure if Abbott didn't want to play with Hunter or if he just couldn't find a strike. He is nearing 90 pitches after all. No worries - after a six-pitch at-bat, Eddie Perez hits a comebacker to Abbott to end the frame.
Joe informs us that Nilsson, who's hitting to open the bottom of the sixth, has missed time throughout his career because of injuries. That includes 1995, when he opened the year on the IL due to Ross River virus disease. It's a disease spread by mosquitos in Australia. The most common symptom is arthritis or joint pain. It can also lead to Ross River fever. It's not lethal but can be tough to get over. Anyway, Nilsson flies out to center. Grissom with a seeing-eye single up the middle as the guys talk about how he might be on the block because of his expensive contract. Jenkins cracks one to right-center and Maddux is fortunate enough that Jordan caught up to it. Belliard also sends one to right field, but this play is a little easier for Jordan.
It’s still 2-0 as we head to the seventh. Skip and Joe talk about the Sausage race and Skip cracks a joke. "Ever heard about the butcher that backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work?" Williams, Maddux, and Weiss due up against Abbott, who is having his best outing so far. Williams sends a lazy fly ball to center for the first out. Skip suggests that if Grissom, as he catches the first out, is really on the block, he wouldn't mind having him back. Grissom would not only play out the year with Milwaukee, but spent 2000 as a Brewer, too. Milwaukee would send Grissom to the Dodgers for the 2001 season, though. Maddux pops up for the second out before Weiss works a walk. That's the end of the day for Abbott, who gets replaced by Eric Plunk with Rich Becker replacing Jenkins as part of a double switch. It wasn't a great start in terms of his career, but with 6.2 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, and no strikeouts, this is Abbott's third-best outing of 1999. He'd be a little better, according to game score, his next time out and tossed six scoreless innings on July 5 for his best start of the year. That would also be his second-to-last start and he'd only make three more appearances total after that July 5th game to end his career. Anyway, Plunk checks on Weiss twice, which is a real problem in today's game. It was a problem here as well as Weiss makes up for his caught stealing earlier by swiping second. He picked a nice breaking ball to go on. But Boone pops up to end the inning.
Someone has a sign that reads "Transplanted Braves Supporter" for TBS. And that's how we come out of the stretch. Maddux with a five-hitter so far. Subscribe to Choptalk for June features on Rudy Seanez, Eddie Perez, and John Smoltz. Apparently, Skip lost a buck to Joe on a bet over who would win the sausage race. It was the hot dog. Maddux just cruises through the seventh with a pair of grounders and a strikeout against the always-dangerous Brian Banks. 99 pitches for Maddux and a more Maddux-like start for him. Maddux wouldn't yet find his consistency moving forward, allowing at least four runs in his next three starts. But after that, he excelled with a 2.37 ERA over his next 16 starts.
Mike Piazza homered to lead the Mets to a victory. Montreal and Philadelphia are in a 2-2 tie in the ninth. Ken Griffey Jr. just hit 18th homer, by the way. We head to the 8th with Plunk on the mound. Chipper gets robbed by Banks (he's everywhere!) which keeps him from an extra-base hit down the line. Plunk cruises through Jordan and Andruw to end the 8th.
Braves make a switch with Maddux a pitch short of a hundred. The aforementioned Seanez gets the ball to start the 8th. He's been great to begin the year with a 1.86 ERA in 20 games. Eww, John Rocker is warming up. Burnitz lines a base hit to right-center field to open the inning. The pitch before, he crushed a ball that went foul. Seanez struggles with his command, falling behind Cirillo 3-1, before he gets super lucky that Cirillo gets under a high fastball that should have been ball four. Nilsson is glad to see anyone other than Maddux on the mound. Skip mentions that there are reports that Charlotte, North Carolina has moved ahead of Northern Virginia for the next home of the Montreal Expos. Of course, it ultimately would be DC that landed the team from Canada. Skip worries a team in Charlotte might hurt the support for the Braves that the team currently experiences from the Carolinas. But Baltimore is threatening a lawsuit because of a team right in their backyard. Anyway, Nilsson unloads on a center-cut fastball.
Absolutely demolished. Grissom pops up on the next pitch. Kevin McGlinchy and Mike Remlinger are now warming up as Alex Ochoa pinch-hits and beats out a weak grounder. But Seanez gets out of it before the inning can get any worse as Belliard pops out.
Well, we're all tied up, and here comes Bob Wickman as the ninth starts. Wickman is several years away from joining the Braves and would close 37 games this year. Bobby Cox goes with Keith Lockhart to pinch-hit for Brian Hunter to open the inning. Over Klesko? Okay. But hey, it works out as Lockhart crushes Wickman's 2-1 delivery to homer to right-center field! Good call, Cox! Javy Lopez hits for Perez and he ambushes the first pitch he sees! That's gone! Back-to-back pinch-hit homers have to be a rarity. Unfortunately, I am struggling to find a way to look it up. Williams goes after the first pitch he sees, too. It's a grounder that should be an easy out but the Brewers are falling apart as Cirillo boots it. Now, it's time for Klesko. Wickman throws over to first once and then gets replaced and, wow, the Brewers fans boo the living hell out of him. Southpaw Mike Myers (not the serial killer) gets the call to face Klesko. Myers is a relic that wouldn't exist in today's game with the new rules. 883 career games, 541.2 innings. He's near the middle of his career here and playing for his third team so far. He'd wear six more jerseys before the end of his career. Williams gets picked off and after a brief rundown, the Brewers finally have an out. Klesko has no answer for Myers, striking out. Myers stays in to face Weiss, who switches around to hit righty. He works it full before capping off an eventful night with a homer of his own. That, too, was crushed. Three solo bombs in the inning. Jim Pittsley replaces Myers as the Brewers' nightmare inning continues. Pittsley is a recent pickup from KC, where he played parts of four seasons and a 6.13 ERA in 207 innings. He'd make 15 appearances with the Brewers and that was the end of his major league career. Pittsley gives up a pair of singles to Boone and Chipper before walking Jordan. The ninth batter of the inning is Andruw and he grounds out weakly to the pitcher to finally end the frame.
Alright. Here comes Rocker. If you stay with TBS, Two Mules for Sister Sara will be on next. Neither Lockhart nor Klesko stay in as Randall Simon will play first base. Of course, Lopez stays in to catch. Rocker needs just eight pitches to have an easy ninth with a strikeout of Rich Becker to open the inning. Braves win 5-2.
It was Rudy Seanez's first blown save of the year, but he improved to 2-0. John Rocker picks up his seventh save. Bob Wickman falls to 2-2 on the year.
Hope you enjoyed this look back at the Braves of '99. I might do this again as we wait for the spring training and the 2024 season to come around.