SAN FRANCISCO — The Atlanta Braves will seek more late-game magic when they face the free-falling San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night in the middle meeting of a three-game series.The Braves (80-64) scored once in the seventh inning and twice in the ninth to break from a 1-1 tie en route to a 4-1 victory in the series opener on Monday night.The win was Atlanta’s fourth in five tries on a seven-game Western swing and pushed the Braves a season-best five games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies (74-68) in the National League East.Article continues below ...Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson continue a run of productive late-game plate appearances with a pair of sacrifice flies that accounted for Atlanta’s seventh-inning run and one of its ninth-inning tallies in the win.The two RBIs ran the 24-year-old’s season total to a career-best 57 Melky Cabrera Jersey , 26 of which have come in the seventh through ninth innings. He’s hitting .323 in those innings.Both sacrifice flies scored Ozzie Albies, who had doubled and tripled to put himself in scoring position. He now has 19 extra-base hits — 12 doubles, two triples and five home runs — in the seventh through ninth innings.The three late runs raised the Braves’ season total in the seventh through ninth to 232, just one fewer than the NL-leading Chicago Cubs.The Braves will look to pad their total against Giants rookie left-hander Andrew Suarez (6-10, 4.33) and/or a San Francisco bullpen that’s been leaking oil of late.Suarez recorded his first major-league win in Atlanta on May 6, limiting the Braves to one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings.He left with a three-run lead, then almost saw his win evaporate into thin air when Atlanta got rolling offensively late in the game, scoring twice off Giants closer Hunter Strickland in the ninth before stranding the potential tying run at third base.The outing was the only time Suarez has faced the Braves.Strickland has been a part of a Giants bullpen that has contributed big-time to the team’s current nine-game losing streak.The bullpen has allowed 15 runs in 24 2/3 innings (5.47 ERA) in those games, registering two blown saves and four losses.Strickland has allowed at least one run in six of his last nine appearances, including the two in the ninth inning Monday against the Braves.Atlanta will counter Tuesday with right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (10-9, 2.75), who has a 2-3 lifetime record and a 5.35 ERA in six starts against the Giants.Those numbers got worse when he pitched in a 9-4 loss home to San Francisco in May and got hammered for a six-run second inning.The Giants swept that three-game series in Atlanta.The late start on the West Coast on Tuesday night will give the Braves an opportunity to do some serious scoreboard-watching as their chief rival in the East http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-jeff-keppinger-jersey , the Phillies, play a double-header against the Washington Nationals that starts at 12:05 p.m. Pacific time.The double-header was the result of a postponement Monday due to a soggy field. In 2004, the Cardinals finished 105-57 and met Boston in the World Series.The Red Sox were a wild-card team that had been down 3-0 to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series before it staged a historic comeback.The shadow of the Bambino loomed large, yet suddenly it seemed destiny was on Boston's side.The Sox curse-burying sweep of the Cards in the World Series may have seemed like a foregone conclusion, but it's easy to forget St. Louis won seven more regular-season games than Boston and employed an emerging 24-year-old star named Albert Pujols.1953 Brooklyn Dodgers: 105-49, Lost World Series3 of 10Harry Harris/Associated PressJackie Robinson hit .329 with a .927 OPS and 17 steals for the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers.He had broken the color barrier in 1947 and won the NL MVP in 1949, and Brooklyn had reached the World Series in each of those seasons and 1952鈥攂ut had never won it.In 1953, the Dodgers went down 2-0 to the Yankees (who finished 99-52) in the Fall Classic.Brooklyn won the next two contests, but New York finished with a pair of victories to take the Big Apple-centric World Series.1943 St. Louis Cardinals: 105-49, Lost World Series4 of 10Edward Kitch/Associated PressStan "The Man" Musial paced baseball with a .357 average and .988 OPS in 1943.He also led the game with 220 hits, 48 doubles and 20 triples.Concurrently, the Red Birds flew ahead of the pack with 105 wins.Musial won rings with St. Louis in 1942 Joe Crede Jersey , 1944 and 1946, so this isn't some Ernie Banks-esque tale. And like the Dodgers, the Cardinals enjoyed enough previous and subsequent postseason success to take the sting out.Then again, the Cardinals' 4-1 loss to the 98-win Yanks was a noteworthy letdown.1969 Baltimore Orioles: 109-53, Lost World Series5 of 10Focus On Sport/Getty ImagesBaltimore Orioles fans can be forgiven for weeping this season as the O's limped to a 47-115 finish and traded key assets such as infielder Manny Machado and reliever Zach Britton.In 1969, however, Baltimore endured an arguably more painful fate.The Birds soared to a 109-53 finish behind Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson but lost in five games to the New York Mets in the World Series.This series is remembered for the "Miracle Mets," who'd been a laughingstock prior to '69, but the O's deserve their portion of blame for falling short.1931 Philadelphia Athletics: 107-45, Lost World Series6 of 10Transcendental Graphics/Getty ImagesIn 1930, the Athletics defeated the Cardinals in the World Series, 4-2. In 1929 http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-james-shields-jersey , they won it all in five games over the Cubs.In 1931, Philadelphia won 107 games behind legendary manager Connie Mack and again faced the Cards in the Fall Classic. Continued dominance seemed inevitable.Al Simmons had hit .390. Lefty Grove had gone 31-4 with a 2.06 ERA. The stage was set for a three-peat.Instead, the Cardinals flipped the script and won the series in seven games.1998 Atlanta Braves: 106-56, Lost NLCS7 of 10JEFF HAYNES/Getty ImagesSubtracting the 1994 strike-annulled season, the Braves made the playoffs ever year from 1991 to 2005.They won the World Series only once during that span, in 1995 against the Cleveland Indians.We mentioned the 104-win 1993 season. But the Braves' biggest "what if" was 1998, when they won 106 games and the National League East by 18 games behind the trio of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.Rather than rolling to another title, Atlanta lost to the San Diego Padres in six games in the National League Championship Series.If we're dinging this dynasty, getting dumped by the Friars was not a good look.1954 Cleveland Indians: 111-43, Lost World Series8 of 10Uncredited/Associated PressWhat's the most memorable moment of the 1954 World Series?If you answered anything other than "The Catch," aka Willie Mays' indelible over-the-shoulder grab Ron Santo Jersey , you're incorrect.Then again, the Indians won 111 games that year. The Giants won 97.Yet the Giants swept the series. Mays got his catch. The Orange and Black won three more even-year crowns long after a cross-country move to San Francisco.The Tribe fell flat, on the other hand, and haven't snagged a championship since 1948, the longest active drought in the game.1906 Chicago Cubs: 116-36, Lost World Series9 of 10JEFF ROBERSON/Associated PressIn 1906, the Cubs finished 116-36, the best regular-season winning percentage of all time. This was the team of Tinker to Evers to Chance, a myth even in their time.The Cubbies cruised to the best record ever and seemed destined for greatness.To the contrary, they lost in six games to the crosstown rival Chicago White Sox, who had finished last in the AL with a .230 batting average.The Cubs would win the World Series in 1907 and 1908 before the Curse of the Billy Goat kicked in, but this was among their darkest chapters.2001 Seattle Mariners: 116-46 http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-yolmer-sanchez-jersey , Lost ALCS10 of 10JOHN FROSCHAUER/Associated PressThe Seattle Mariners have never won a title. They "boast" the game's longest active playoff-free streak of 17 seasons.Let's hop in a time machine and go back to 2001, when the M's were the toast of both leagues.Seattle finished that season with 116 wins, mere winning-percentage points behind the '06 Cubs. That said, Seattle's choke was and is more painful, both because of their ongoing futility and the early nature of their playoff exit.A 27-year-old Ichiro Suzuki hit .350 with 56 steals. Second baseman Bret Boone hit .331 with 37 home runs. The M's had future Hall of Famers on the rise and dudes in the midst of ludicrous career years. This was their moment.Or not.Seattle's playoff foray ended ignobly with a 4-1 series loss to the Yankees in the ALCS. The M's didn't even taste the World Series, let alone sip champagne.The Yanks, in turn, lost to the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks in a seven-game World Series, but if the Mariners took any comfort in that outcome, it was the coldest kind. All statistics courtesy ofBaseball-Reference.
