2010 Atlanta Braves season

The 2010 Atlanta Braves season was the franchise's 45th season in Atlanta along with the 135th season in the National League and 140th overall. It featured the Braves' attempt to reclaim a postseason berth for the first time since 2005. The Braves once again were skippered by Bobby Cox, in his 25th and final overall season managing the team. It was their 45th season in Atlanta, and the 135th of the franchise. Finishing the season with a 91–71 record, the Braves won the NL Wild Card, only to be eliminated in the NLDS by the San Francisco Giants in four games.

Offseason

Offseason additions and subtractions

:*Player was non-roster invitee to Spring training (not on 40-man Roster)

Timeline

Names highlighted in bold appear in the table above.

Frank Wren began the offseason for the Atlanta Braves with the acquisition of relief pitcher Scott Proctor to a split contract. The contract assured Proctor would earn the minor league minimum while playing in the minors and earn the pro-rated portion of $750,000 plus a possible $250,000 in the major leagues.

November 12, 2009: Veteran starting pitcher Tim Hudson agreed to a three-year/$27 million contract extension with a club option for 2013 at $9 million.

November 24, 2009: The Braves signed minor league free agent Juan Abreu, a right-handed relief pitcher, to a one-year minor league contract.

December 2, 2009: Veteran closer Billy Wagner and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a one-year contract. The six-time All-Star received $6.75 million in 2010, and his deal included a $6.5 million club option for 2011 with a $250,000 buyout.

December 3, 2009: The Braves signed closer Takashi Saito to a one-year/$3.2 million deal, with an additional $2.3 million to be earned through incentives. He served as the set-up man to Billy Wagner during the 2010 season.

December 9, 2009: The Braves traded closer Rafael Soriano to the Tampa Bay Rays for relief pitcher Jesse Chavez.

December 18, 2009: The Braves signed outfielder Mitch Jones and infielder Joe Thurston to minor league contracts.

December 22, 2009: The Braves traded starting pitcher Javier Vázquez and relief pitcher Boone Logan to the New York Yankees for outfielder Melky Cabrera, relief pitcher Mike Dunn, and relief pitcher Arodys Vizcaíno.

January 5, 2010: Infielder Troy Glaus and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a one-year/$1.75 million deal, with an additional $2.5 million to be earned through incentives. He served the Braves in 2010 at 1st base and 3rd base.

January 5, 2010: Utility man Eric Hinske and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a one-year/$1.5 million deal.

Regular season

Season standings

Opening Day starters

Notables

April 5, 2010: During the first inning of a 16–5 Braves walloping of the Chicago Cubs on Opening Day, rookie Jason Heyward launched a three-run home run during his first Major League at-bat. Heyward became the eleventh Braves player to homer in his Major League debut, and just the fifth to go deep in his first at-bat.

May 20, 2010: Going into the bottom of the ninth down 9–3 against the Cincinnati Reds, the Braves scored seven runs to beat the Reds by a final score of 10–9. The late rally was capped by a Brooks Conrad pinch-hit grand slam that scored the final four runs to win the game by one. Conrad's walk-off grand slam to overcome a three-run deficit was the 23rd in Major League history, and just the second time it has been done by a pinch-hitter. The last pinch-hitter to do so was Jack Phillips of the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8, 1950.

May 31, 2010: The Atlanta Braves defeated the then-first-place Philadelphia Phillies at Turner Field to take sole possession of first place in the National League East standings, a position they had maintained for exactly one hundred days until losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 7, 2010, to relinquish the lead back to the Phillies. The last time the Atlanta Braves had led the NL East on September 1 was in 2005.

June 3, 2010: Winning the first game of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Braves extended their winning streak to nine games. It was the longest winning streak for the Braves since they won sixteen in a row in 2000.

July 13, 2010: At the 2010 MLB All-Star Game in Anaheim, Braves catcher Brian McCann was awarded the All-Star Game MVP Award for his clutch two-out, three-run double in the seventh inning to give the National League its first win in the All-Star Game since 1996. He became the first Brave to win the MVP Award since Fred McGriff did so in 1994.

August 22, 2010: Facing the Chicago Cubs, Mike Minor struck out twelve batters through six innings, setting an Atlanta Braves single-game rookie strikeout record. The previous record holder, Tommy Hanson, struck out eleven against the San Francisco Giants on July 20, 2009. This was also the last game for Lou Piniella as the Chicago Cubs manager before his retirement.

August 27, 2010: In the ninth inning of a 1–7 loss to the Florida Marlins, Braves veteran closer Billy Wagner recorded his 1,170th career strikeout, getting Mike Stanton. The strikeout set a new left-handed reliever strikeout record as Wagner passed Jesse Orosco in career strikeouts. After the game, Wagner declined to speak to the media, simply stating, "We lost".

September 25, 2010: Upon defeating the Washington Nationals by a 5–0 score in Washington, D.C., Braves skipper Bobby Cox won his 2,500th career game as a manager. Cox became just the fourth manager in MLB history to win 2,500 games.

October 3, 2010: Entering the final scheduled regular-season game of the year tied for the NL Wild Card lead, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Phillies in an 8–7 victory in front of a sold-out crowd at Turner Field. Approximately two and a half hours later, the San Francisco Giants defeated the San Diego Padres to give the Braves the Wild Card and their first postseason appearance since 2005.

October 8, 2010: In the tenth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS, Braves closer Billy Wagner injured himself while fielding a bunted ball by Giants center-fielder Andrés Torres. This was the last Major League appearance for the veteran left-handed reliever.

October 10, 2010: In Game 3 of the NLDS, Braves second-baseman Brooks Conrad committed three errors, pushing his error total in the NLDS to four. His four errors set a new Divisional Series record for errors by a single fielder. The errors allowed the Giants two unearned runs, which were the deciding factor in the Braves' pivotal Game 3 loss. Conrad was benched the following day, after committing eight errors in his final seven games.

October 11, 2010: Losing Game 4 of the NLDS by a score of 2–3, the Giants eliminated the Braves from the postseason, winning the series three games to one. This game was the last Major League game ever managed by long-time Braves manager Bobby Cox.

Game log

, - style="text-align:center; background:#bfb;"

1
, , April 5 , , Cubs , , 16–5 , , Lowe (1–0) , , Zambrano (0–1) , , , , 53,081 , , 2:45 , , 1–0
, - style="text-align:center; background:#bfb;"

2
, , April 7 , , Cubs , , 3–2 , , Moylan (1–0) , , Grabow (0–1) , , Wagner (1) , , 36,170 , , 2:41 , , 2–0
, - style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"

3
, , April 8 , , Cubs , , 0–2 , , Wells (1–0) , , Hanson (0–1) , , Mármol (1) , , 27,443 , , 2:45 , , 2–1
, - style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"

4
, , April 9 , , @ Giants , , 4–5(13) , , Affeldt (2–0) , , Medlen (0–1) , , , , 42,940 , , 4:01 , , 2–2
, - style="text-align:center; background:#bfb;"

5
, , April 10 , , @ Giants , , 7–2 , , Lowe (2–0) , , Wellemeyer (0–1) , , , , 42,985 , , 3:06 , , 3–2
, - style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"

6
, , April 11 , , @ Giants , , 3–6 , , Lincecum (2–0) , , Kawakami (0–1) , , Affeldt (1) , , 38,062 , , 2:20 , , 3–3
, - style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"

7
, , April 12 , , @ Padres , , 2–17 , , Correia (1–1) , , Jurrjens (0–1) , , , , 42,843 , , 3:06 , , 3–4
, - style="text-align:center; background:#bfb;"

8
, , April 14 , , @ Padres , , 6–1 , , Hanson (1–1) , , Richard (0–2) , , , , 24,969 , , 2:59 , , 4–4
, - style="text-align:center; background:#bfb;"

9
, , April 15 , , @ Padres , , 6–2 , , Hudson (1–0) , , Latos (0–1) , , , , 16,356 , , 3:01 , , 5–4
, - style="text-align:center; background:#bfb;"

10
, , April 16 , , Rockies , , 9–5 , , Lowe (3–0) , , Hammel

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