Jump to content

2002 Atlanta Braves season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


2002 Atlanta Braves
National League East Champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkTurner Field
CityAtlanta
Record101–59 (.631)
Divisional place1st
OwnersAOL Time Warner
General managersJohn Schuerholz
ManagersBobby Cox
TelevisionTBS Superstation
Turner South
(Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson)
Fox Sports South
(Tom Paciorek, Bob Rathbun)
RadioWSB (AM)
(Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson)
WWWE
(Marcelo Godoy, Jose Manuel Flores)
← 2001 Seasons 2003 →

The 2002 Atlanta Braves season marked the franchise's 37th season in Atlanta and 132nd overall. The Braves won their eighth consecutive division title, finishing 19 games ahead of the second-place Montreal Expos. The Braves lost the 2002 Divisional Series to the eventual NL Champion San Francisco Giants, 3 games to 2. This would be the first of four consecutive NLDS losses in as many years, and the first of three consecutive years to do so by losing the deciding Game 5 at Turner Field.

2002 marked the final year that pitchers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz played on the same team ending the reign of what has been considered by many the greatest pitching trio of all-time. All three would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame a decade later. Smoltz set the Braves' single season record for saves (55). Chipper Jones moved to the outfield in left field to allow for Vinny Castilla to be signed and added to the lineup at third base. Julio Franco became a regular player in the second stint of his Major League career and Gary Sheffield was acquired to the Braves in 2002, playing at right field.

Offseason

[edit]
  • October 26, 2001: Aaron Small was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.[1]
  • December 4, 2001: John Smoltz was re-signed from free agency back to the Atlanta Braves.[2]
  • December 11, 2001: Vinny Castilla signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.[3]
  • December 17, 2001: Julio Franco was re-signed from free agency back to the Atlanta Braves.[4]
  • January 15, 2002: Gary Sheffield was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Atlanta Braves for Andrew Brown, Brian Jordan and Odalis Pérez.[5]
  • January 16, 2002: Doug Linton was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.[6]
  • March 20, 2002: Henry Blanco was traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Atlanta Braves for Paul Bako and Jose Cabrera.[7]

Regular season

[edit]

Opening Day starters

[edit]

Season standings

[edit]

National League East

[edit]
NL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 101 59 .631 52‍–‍28 49‍–‍31
Montreal Expos 83 79 .512 19 49‍–‍32 34‍–‍47
Philadelphia Phillies 80 81 .497 21½ 40‍–‍40 40‍–‍41
Florida Marlins 79 83 .488 23 46‍–‍35 33‍–‍48
New York Mets 75 86 .466 26½ 38‍–‍43 37‍–‍43


Record vs. opponents

[edit]

Source: [1]
Team AZ ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LA MIL MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona 3–3 4–2 6–0 14–5 5–1 3–3 9–10 4–2 4–2 5–2 4–3 4–2 12–7 8–11 2–4 11–7
Atlanta 3–3 4–2 4–2 4–3 11–8 3–3 2–4 5–1 13–6 12–7 11–7 3–3 3–3 3–3 5–1 15–3
Chicago 2–4 2–4 5–12 4–2 4–2 8–11 2–4 7–10 3–3 1–5 2–4 10–9 2–4 3–3 6–12 6–6
Cincinnati 0–6 2–4 12–5 3–3 5–1 6–11 4–2 13–6 1–5 2–4 2–4 11–7 5–1 2–4 8–11 2–10
Colorado 5–14 3–4 2–4 3–3 5–2 3–3 7–12 3–3 4–2 3–3 3–3 4–2 11–8 8–12 2–4 7–11
Florida 1–5 8–11 2–4 1–5 2–5 3–3 3–3 4–2 10–9 8–11 10–9 4–2 5–1 4–3 4–2 10–8
Houston 3–3 3–3 11–8 11–6 3–3 3–3 3–3 10–8 3–3 4–2 3–3 11–6 4–2 1–5 6–13 5–7
Los Angeles 10–9 4–2 4–2 2–4 12–7 3–3 3–3 5–1 5–2 4–2 4–3 4–2 10–9 8–11 2–4 12–6
Milwaukee 2–4 1–5 10–7 6–13 3–3 2–4 8–10 1–5 2–4 1–5 1–5 4–15 5–1 1–5 7–10 2–10
Montreal 2–4 6–13 3–3 5–1 2–4 9–10 3–3 2–5 4–2 11–8 11–8 3–3 3–4 4–2 3–3 12–6
New York 2–5 7–12 5–1 4–2 3–3 11–8 2–4 2–4 5–1 8–11 9–10 1–4 3–4 0–6 3–3 10–8
Philadelphia 3–4 7–11 4–2 4–2 3–3 9–10 3–3 3–4 5–1 8–11 10–9 2–4 2–4 3–3 4–2 10–8
Pittsburgh 2–4 3–3 9–10 7–11 2–4 2–4 6–11 2–4 15–4 3–3 4–1 4–2 2–4 2–4 6–11 3–9
San Diego 7–12 3–3 4–2 1–5 8–11 1–5 2–4 9–10 1–5 4–3 4–3 4–2 4–2 5–14 1–5 8–10
San Francisco 11–8 3–3 3–3 4–2 11–8 3–4 5–1 11–8 5–1 2–4 6–0 3–3 4–2 14–5 2–4 8–10
St. Louis 4–2 1–5 12–6 11–8 4–2 2–4 13–6 4–2 10–7 3–3 3–3 2–4 11–6 5–1 4–2 8–4


Transactions

[edit]
  • June 4, 2002: Jeff Francoeur was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 1st round (23rd pick) of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed July 8, 2002.[9]
  • September 30, 2002: Aaron Small was released by the Atlanta Braves.[1]

Roster

[edit]
2002 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

[edit]

Batting

[edit]

Starters by position

[edit]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Javy López 109 347 81 .233 11 52
1B Julio Franco 125 338 96 .284 6 30
2B Keith Lockhart 128 296 64 .216 5 32
SS Rafael Furcal 154 636 175 .275 8 47
3B Vinny Castilla 143 543 126 .232 12 61
LF Chipper Jones 158 548 179 .327 26 100
CF Andruw Jones 154 560 148 .264 35 94
RF Gary Sheffield 135 492 151 .307 25 84

Other batters

[edit]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Henry Blanco 81 221 45 .204 6 22
Marcus Giles 68 213 49 .230 8 23
Darren Bragg 109 212 57 .269 3 15
Mark DeRosa 72 212 63 .297 5 23
Wes Helms 85 210 51 .243 6 22
Matt Franco 81 205 65 .317 6 30
B.J. Surhoff 25 75 22 .293 0 9
Jesse Garcia 39 61 12 .197 0 5
Steve Torrealba 13 17 1 .059 0 1
Ryan Langerhans 1 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

[edit]

Starting pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tom Glavine 36 224.2 18 11 2.96 127
Kevin Millwood 35 217.0 18 8 3.24 178
Greg Maddux 34 199.1 16 6 2.62 118
Damian Moss 33 179.0 12 6 3.42 111
Jason Marquis 22 114.1 8 9 5.04 84
Jung Bong 1 6.0 0 1 7.50 4
John Ennis 1 4.0 0 0 4.50 1

Other pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Albie Lopez 30 55.2 1 4 4.37 39

Relief pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
John Smoltz 75 3 2 55 3.25 85
Mike Remlinger 73 7 3 0 1.99 69
Chris Hammond 63 7 2 0 0.95 63
Kevin Gryboski 57 2 1 0 3.48 33
Darren Holmes 55 2 2 1 1.81 47
Kerry Ligtenberg 52 3 4 0 2.97 51
Tim Spooneybarger 51 1 0 1 2.63 33
John Foster 5 1 0 0 10.80 6
Trey Hodges 4 2 0 0 5.40 6
Andy Pratt 1 0 0 0 6.75 1
Joey Dawley 1 0 0 0 0.00 1
Aaron Small 1 0 0 0 27.00 1

San Francisco Giants vs. Atlanta Braves

[edit]

San Francisco (eventual NL Champion) wins the series, 3-2

Game Home Score Visitor Score Date Stadium Series
1 Atlanta 5 San Francisco 8 October 2 Turner Field 1-0 (SFO)
2 Atlanta 7 San Francisco 3 October 3 Turner Field 1-1
3 San Francisco 2 Atlanta 10 October 5 Pacific Bell Park 2-1 (ATL)
4 San Francisco 8 Atlanta 3 October 6 Pacific Bell Park 2-2
5 Atlanta 1 San Francisco 3 October 7 Turner Field 3-2 (SFO)

Award winners

[edit]

2002 Major League Baseball season Braves' team pitching led the league with a 3.13 ERA. John Smoltz was National League Relief Man of the Year, as he led the league with 55 saves, which was a National League record at the time (since broken by Éric Gagné in 2003). Greg Maddux and Andruw Jones were chosen for Gold Glove awards.

2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Representing the Braves on the 2002 National League All-Star team were pitchers Tom Glavine, Mike Remlinger and John Smoltz. Andruw Jones was elected to receive the final roster spot on the 2002 National League All-Star team.

Farm system

[edit]
Level Team League Manager
AAA Richmond Braves International League Fredi González
AA Greenville Braves Southern League Brian Snitker
A Myrtle Beach Pelicans Carolina League Randy Ingle
A Macon Braves South Atlantic League Lynn Jones
Rookie Danville Braves Appalachian League Ralph Henriquez
Rookie GCL Braves Gulf Coast League Jim Saul

[10][11]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Aaron Small Stats".
  2. ^ "John Smoltz Stats".
  3. ^ "Vinny Castilla Stats".
  4. ^ Julio Franco Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  5. ^ "Gary Sheffield Stats".
  6. ^ "Doug Linton Stats".
  7. ^ "Henry Blanco Stats".
  8. ^ "2002 Atlanta Braves Roster by Baseball Almanac".
  9. ^ Jeff Francoeur Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  10. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  11. ^ Baseball America 2003 Annual Directory