The Unbearable Sadness of Being (a Braves Fan)

And so we close the book on another baseball season.

The Braves were eliminated last week. The final nail in the coffin (not mathematically, but essentially) came in a game on Tuesday, where Matt Diaz -- who would have been the tying run with the winning run behind him on second -- was picked off third to end the game. He hesitated and was thrown out. Never, ever, ever hesitate.

It was an absolutely brutal way to end the season. Picked off third for the last out. And what makes it worse is that this was Matt Diaz, an otherwise great player. Gritty and clutch for the old school scouts and with good numbers to back it up for those who prefer science to magic. Seriously, he's fun to watch play and one of my favorite players on the team. And then he goes and gets himself picked off third to end the season. Ugh.

You want to look past that. If not for Diaz, we'd have never been in a position to clinch. What he brought to the table every day far outweighed his (admittedly ghastly) mistake. You want to forgive and forget.

But now every time I see him, it brings back memories of that horrible, awful play. I can't get it out of my head, and neither can other Braves fans.

We may be at the point of no return. Yes, a terrific player, but to go out and do that. It might be a dealbreaker.

I mean, imagine you have a girlfriend and she's awesome and pretty and fun and good to talk to and she puts up with you. You can't ask for anything more, right?

But then she goes and runs over your dog. She runs over your damn dog. And yes, it was an accident and she feels terrible about it and you want like hell to forgive her. But every time you look at her, you have that flashback to when she backs up out of the driveway and something goes bump.

Sigh.

It's going to be a long winter.

What makes it worse is we had a great season, and a pretty good team. True, there were times when we couldn't hit our way out of a wet paper bag, but our lineup was starting to come together at the right time. Our bullpen was terrific.

And that rotation. It was spectacular. Javier Vazquez found himself after years of toiling in mediocrity and struck out 244 and walked only 40 in something like 220 innings and was phenomenal almost every single time out. With a little run support, he could have won 22 games. Jair Jurrjens, who is a full 2 years younger than me, continues to channel a poor man's Maddux -- which is still a pretty great pitcher by any other starter. Tommy Hanson was beyond terrific and could place anywhere from 1st to 4th in the crowded rookie of the year voting. Another pitcher victimized by the lack of run support, Hanson had a good shot to win at least 16 of his 22 starts. Even so he won 12 of them in 4 months. He's the future. And anytime Derek Lowe is your 4th or 5th best starter, you know you have some horses to tear this chariot through October.

What could have been is perhaps the most cruel of sentiments. But for a stroke of luck, a bad bounce, a stutter step, or literally half a second of indecision, your team could be in it, but it's not.

Now all I have to do -- all I have to root for -- is that the Yankees and Phillies don't meet each other in the World Series. And for some solid games.

There's infinite potential for next year. The rotation is outstanding, we have banished the black holes from our lineup, the Jason "Best Prospect in Baseball" Heyward era is a fan's dream, and all we need is a power bat. Next year will be a good year.

Oh, but what do I do this year?