May 6, 2005
Braves 9, Astros 4
W: John Smoltz
L: Roy Oswalt
HR: Jason Lane (HOU), Johnny Estrada (ATL)
Attendance: 26,987
Time of Game: 2 hours, 9 minutes
Stadium Facts
Location: Atlanta, GA
First Game: April 4, 1997
Capacity: 50,091
Type: Open
Surface: Grass
I took off for my 2005 baseball trip pretty early in the season. The first Friday in May, I drove down south to Atlanta. Although I had driven through Atlanta on a few occasions prior to this, I had never really seen the city before. Turner Field is situated just south of downtown Atlanta. It is conveniently located just off the expressway. I parked in a lot next to the site where the old Fulton County Stadium used to be. Turner Field was easily the best stadium I saw on this three park tour of the Southeast.
Turner Field was built in the mid-90s in preparation for Atlanta hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics. Originally called Centennial Olympic Stadium, the venue seated over 85,000 people. After the Olympics, much of the north end of the stadium was removed and reconfigured as a baseball-only facility. In its current configuration, the stadium now seats around 50,000. The park doesn't look anything like an Olympic stadium, so the transformation was really quite impressive. Many artifacts from the Olympics remain, but this is very much a baseball stadium.
The brick exterior gives Turner Field a classic ballpark feel, but the interior is quite modern. There is a large pavilion/concourse just inside the center field gates, a feature copied by Washington and a few other parks built later. The lower level concourse provides a great view of the field most of the way around the park. There is a large restaurant/bar in right-centerfield near the huge centerfield scoreboard.
There are not many unique features of the seating area, however there don't appear to be any bad seats in the stadium. Interestingly, there are no bleacher seats in Turner Field, but there are plenty of lower level outfield seats. The foul territory seating area is a pretty standard three level configuration.
The Braves have pretty much always been known for their pitching in their Turner Field days. The park fits their team pretty well because it is certainly not "The Launching Pad" as Fulton County Stadium used to be called. The playing field has fairly normal outfield wall dimensions. The ball probably carries better in the hot summer air, but still nothing like their former park.
This game featured a great pitching matchup. Veteran John Smoltz got the start for the Braves and was opposed by Astros ace Roy Oswalt. The game was also Lance Berkman's first appearance of the season for the Astros following offseason surgery. Berkman got the start at first base, a position he had played very seldom prior to this. He wound up committing a throwing error that led to two unearned runs. It was just part of a shoddy performance by the Astros defense.
The Braves got to Oswalt early. In the bottom of the first, Johnny Estrada tagged a three run home right to right field, which was landed just a few rows directly behind me. The Braves added three more runs in the second inning, thanks to two misplayed fly balls by Astros outfielders. No errors were charged though, so all three runs were earned. The Braves had a quick 6-0 lead after two innings.
The Astros got on the board with an RBI double by Mike Lamb in the fourth. That was all Smoltz would allow though. He left the game after five solid innings due to a sore back. The Braves scored three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to assure Smoltz of a win. Berkman's error contributed to the third big inning of the game for the Braves. Jason Lane's two run home run in the ninth inning was much too little, too late for the Astros as they fell by a final score of 9-4.
With the win, the Braves maintained their first place lead with a record of 18-11. They went on to win their amazing 14th consecutive division championship. That streak was snapped the following season. Meanwhile, the Astros were off to their usual slow start, falling to 11-17 after this one. However, an amazing second half run propelled the Astros into the playoffs as the wild card. These two teams wound up meeting in the NLDS, where the Astros won three games to one. They went on to beat the Cardinals in the NLCS to capture their first pennant. The Astros were swept in the World Series by the White Sox.
Simply from a geographical standpoint, the Braves might have one of the widest stretching fan bases. Until the Florida franchises came along in the 90s, the Braves pretty much had the entire Southeast quadrant of the country to themselves. Therefore, fans from all over the South visit Atlanta to see their team play. They have a very nice park to do so. Also, the historic nature of the ballpark due to its debut as an Olympic stadium gives it a little something extra.
Photo Album
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Next stadium: Dolphin Stadium, Miami
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