"I feel terrible. It's a whole lot to swallow, but I'll try to do my best to get over it. I feel absolutely terrible right now. I wish I could just dig a hole and go sleep in there."
-Braves 2nd baseman Brooks Conrad after yesterday's game
As a Giants fan I watched the climax of yesterday's comeback with full-throated hysterical pleasure; but as a former baseball bench warmer I observed the third and final, through-the-legs error of Brooks (never to be confused with Robinson) Conrad with empathic horror.
Conrad came up with Oakland as a 27-year-old rookie in 2008 and has only 229 regular-season lifetime at bats. A third baseman by trade, he was inserted as the Braves' second baseman a couple of weeks ago after regular second sacker Martin Prado went down with an injury. Conrad's three errors, which included that most embarrassing of fumbles -- a dropped pop-up -- gave the Giants the game and a 2-1 edge in the NL Division Series.
Read all about it below. And remember, along with the exorbitant financial and social benefits of playing major league baseball comes the omnipresent possibility that in the blink of an eye your name might forever become associated with failure and humiliation.
Today's news stories:
- Conrad's errors help S.F. to Game 3 win over Atlanta (SF Chronicle)
- Sanchez adds to mastery of rotation in post-season (SF Chronicle)
- Aubrey Huff finally has a defining hit (SF Chronicle)
- Giants, Braves: Who Can Torture Fans More? (The Snitch)
- Giants Erase Memories Of NLDS Past, Win Game 3 (Golden Giants)
- Mark Purdy: Like the man said, Giants baseball is torture (San Jose Mercury News)
- Gary Peterson: A remarkable turn of events for Giants (San Jose Mercury News)
- Sergio Romo isn't goat after all (San Jose Mercury News)
- Here's why Cox can't start Conrad in Game 4 (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Conrad out of lineup, Glaus at third base (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Rough time to be Brooks Conrad, a good dude (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)