The playoff run by the Winnipeg Jets has ripped the bandages off some old wounds in their former home.
Hockey fans in Atlanta – yes Dalton Schultz Jersey , they actually exist – are still bitter about the way they lost the Thrashers seven years ago , a move that deprived this city of a team for the second time and probably any chance of ever again being a member of the NHL club.
In the A-T-L, a popular refrain of the postseason seems to be A-B-T-J.
Anybody But The Jets.
”I won’t support the Jets,” former Thrashers fan Fred Johnson wrote in an email. ”In fact, I’d like to see their fans suffer for a lot longer like we did.”
Instead of suffering, the Jets and their fans are thriving . Winnipeg reached the Western Conference final against the Vegas Golden Knights – a sort of double-whammy for Atlantans, who have seen what their former team could have been while getting a tantalizing glimpse of what a well-run expansion franchise can do its very first season.
Founded in 1999, the Thrashers managed just 14 wins and 39 points in their debut year, which remains the worst full-schedule total in almost a quarter-century. The Golden Knights piled up 51 wins and 109 points, captured a division title and were just two wins away from playing for the Stanley Cup going into Game 4 of their series against the Jets on Friday night.
”It’s not hard to feel like just yesterday Atlanta was an expansion team,” said another Thrashers fan, Tiffany Burns. ”I couldn’t have imagined how surreal it would have been to be a part of something so successful so quick.”
In contrast to the Golden Knights, the Thrashers never really had a chance in Atlanta, doomed by a bickering group of owners who spent more time suing each other than caring about what was happening on the ice, clueless management and inept coaching, and a roster perennially low on talent.
The lone highlight came in 2007, when the team captured the Southeast Division title and finally made the playoffs for the first (and only) time.
The euphoria didn’t last long.
The Thrashers were swept in four straight games by the New York Rangers. Atlanta began the following season with six consecutive losses Seth DeValve Jersey , leading to the firing of coach Bob Hartley, and the dismantling of the franchise commenced a few months later.
In what became an all-too-familiar scenario, the frugal Thrashers dealt away Marian Hossa rather than lose him as a free agent – one of many horrible deals engineered by general manager Don Waddell, who somehow kept his job throughout the Thrashers’ entire existence without ever really demonstrating that he knew what he was doing.
Anyone remember Angelo Esposito, a supposed top prospect who was acquired in the Hossa deal?
Anyone?
Bueller? Bueller?
The Thrashers always seemed to operate under a dark cloud, most tragically exhibited in 2003 when star player Dany Heatley lost control of his Ferrari on a narrow Atlanta street, struck a wall at high speed and killed teammate Dan Snyder . Heatley recovered but was never the same, eventually requesting a trade so he could get a fresh start elsewhere.
The Thrashers soon followed Heatley’s lead. In 2011, after a proposed move of the bankrupt Phoenix franchise to Winnipeg fell apart, the NHL quickly engineered a deal to send Atlanta’s team north in place of the Coyotes , collecting a hefty relocation fee and ridding themselves of another troublesome franchise.
While it’s impossible to deny that the team has been more embraced by hockey-mad Winnipeg than it ever was in Atlanta, this city’s fans have long gotten a bum rap that goes all the way back to its first NHL team.
Yes, the Flames lasted only eight years in Atlanta before moving to Calgary in 1980. But they averaged more than 10,000 fans every season (not a sure thing in those days) and outdrew the NBA’s Hawks every year but their last. That franchise was largely doomed by the economics of the late 1970s.
For the Thrashers, it was a similar story.
They averaged more than 17,000 in their debut season despite putting one of the worst teams in modern NHL history on the ice. But the franchise was essentially doomed when it was sold to a group known as Atlanta Spirit (what a malicious example of false advertising that was).
The new owners wanted only the Hawks and Phillips Arena. Almost immediately, they began trying to pawn off the Thrashers. Not surprisingly Daryl Johnston Jersey , no one was interested in acquiring a team that would have to rent an arena from an increasingly dysfunctional group. As the losses mounted, reportedly in the range of $130 million, Atlanta Spirit began looking for another way out. When the Winnipeg offer came along, there was no real attempt to keep the team in Atlanta.
Through all the turmoil, the Thrashers never ranked at the bottom of the NHL in attendance. In fact, the average from their gloomy final year would have beaten out three teams this season.
Many Thrashers fans are still upset about being ridiculed for a perceived lack of support after the team moved. And unlike the Flames, who retained their name and some sense of their Atlanta history after moving to Calgary (and were largely cheered by their former fans for winning the Stanley Cup in 1989), the Jets made a clean break with their past.
Johnson, the former Thrashers fan, recalls the vitriol when the move was announced. He said some Jets fans who trolled the Thrashers’ message boards belittled Thrashers fans as ”worthless” and said the team would now win the Stanley Cup in Winnipeg because that’s where ”real fans” were.
”They had no idea about the dysfunctional management,” Gorkys Hernandez is hitting for power, grinding through long at-bats and moving baserunners with timely bunts – and his teammates are taking notice.
Hernandez drew a go-ahead, bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning after his earlier solo home run, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Tuesday night.
”We’re going to be talking about him for a while,” Giants starter Derek Holland said of Hernandez. ”He’s been doing outstanding this year, he’s been a huge part of this team.”
Tom Murphy doubled to start the ninth for the Rockies on a hit that sliding Hernandez couldn’t secure in center field, and the ball kicked back toward the infield. San Francisco left third base uncovered Keelan Cole Jersey , but despite base coach Stu Cole wildly gesturing, Murphy never looked up and stopped at second. DJ LeMahieu wound up grounding into a game-ending double play that was confirmed on replay.
”There’s a lot of chaos going on at that point. Rarely do you see that type of situation occur where you have three guys covering second base,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. ”Pitcher, third baseman, first baseman end up going over there.”
Tony Watson (2-2) recorded the final out of the eighth before Sam Dyson closed out Colorado for his third save.
The Giants loaded the bases in the eighth against Adam Ottavino (3-1), whose scoreless streak ended at 15 innings with his first run allowed since May 8 at home against the Angels.
Andrew McCutchen had a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning before the Rockies tied it at 2 on Ian Desmond’s two-out double in the eighth off Mark Melancon.
Austin Slater and pinch-hitter Hunter Pence had consecutive singles to start the seventh before advancing on a sacrifice bunt by Hernandez, who homered to tie it in the third. Rockies starter Chad Bettis intentionally walked Buster Posey to load the bases for McCutchen, and Ottavino relieved and gave up the go-ahead run. Slater just beat center fielder Gerardo Parra’s throw to the plate.
Bettis gave up two runs and six hits in a 6 1/3 innings, struck out four and walked four.
He had allowed five or more runs in his previous five starts but hadn’t lost, a streak that is tied for the longest in major league history with Rube Walberg from June 1-18, 1932. All of Bettis’ decisions have come away from Coors Field.
Desmond hit a one-out solo homer in the second to put Colorado ahead before Hernandez tied it.
Four of Hernandez’s 10 home runs have come against the Rockies. His previous career high was three, and he didn’t hit any last year.
”It feels great, last year having nothing (homers) to this year having 10,” he said.
Following the Giants’ first day off since June 7, Brandon Crawford had three hits and scored the deciding run on the walk by Hernandez after a one-out single and steal of second.
San Francisco improved to 6-2 on its current homestand.
”We’ve been playing better,” manager Bruce Bochy said. ”Hopefully we can build on this, and we’re going to have to.”
Holland matched his season high with eight strikeouts while pitching a season-long 6 2/3 innings. Looking to win back-to-back outings for the first time in 2018 Josh Lambo Jersey , the lefty settled for a no-decision. He allowed six hits, the one earned run and walked two.
Three intentional walks by Colorado pitchers were the team’s most since three on June 24, 2016, against Arizona.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: LHP Mike Dunn (upper back strain) and RHP Scott Oberg (back strain) each responded well from rehab outings with Class A Modesto – both pitchers struck out two with a walk in a scoreless inning – and were set to play catch Tuesday. ”They’re healthy,” Black said. ”I think they’ve checked off a couple boxes health-wise. We have some decisions to make.”
Giants: RHP Jeff Samardzija was tagged for five runs in the first inning and six in all of his rehab start for Triple-A Sacramento at Albuquerque as he works back from tightness in his pitching shoulder. Samardzija allowed seven hits in four innings with six strikeouts, two walks and a pair of home runs. … RHP Johnny Cueto (right elbow sprain) is set to pitch for Sacramento on Friday, throwing up to 70 pitches. … 3B Evan Longoria is underway with his initial rehab work following surgery for a fractured left hand. There is still no timeline change from the initial indication of six to eight weeks, Bochy said.
UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Kyle Freeland (7-6, 3.55 ERA) makes his 10th road start out of 16 2018 outings and is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two appearances against the Giants this year.
Giants: LHP Madison Bumgarner (1-2, 3.20) makes his fifth start of 2018 needing one strikeout for No. 1,500 of his career – and playing in his 239th career game would become the fourth-fastest lefty to accomplish the feat in the live-ball era, according to STATS.
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