ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Astros – 04/30/2003
We own the Astros. Fulton County or the Ted, the Astrodome or that bandbox they’re pretending is a major league ballpark, the Braves have no problems. Mike Hampton was perfect for 3 1/3 before giving up a home run, and combined with Holmes and Hodges to shut them out the rest of the way. Perhaps more importantly, he only walked one.
Gary Sheffield was the offensive star, going 4-4 with a walk, driving in three and scoring four, and homering in the eighth when the game was well out of reach. Chipper had three hits, including two doubles, and four RBI. The Braves got their runs in the middle innings for the most part — three in the fourth, two in the fifth, and five in the sixth to put it away.
Vinnywatch: 0-5, including a double play, but scored two runs. Down to .255 for the season, still in the lineup every day. The Braves have six productive hitters in the lineup, plus Javy who isn’t any worse than most catchers, and Vinny. Hampton, legitimately a better hitter, should have hit seventh.
Shane Reynolds starts against his old team tonight. We’ll see which version shows up. If he pitches poorly, the Braves may have to start thinking about giving Hodges a shot.
I really believe we should platoon M. Franco with Vinny (or better DeRosa) at third and J. Franco and Fick at first…thoughts???
It’s a good idea in theory, but I’m not sure how Franco’s defense would be at third. As I remember, he wasn’t much of a second baseman. Franco’s cursed in this matter in that he’s left-handed, since in a platoon, he would get the majority of the at-bats.
And there’s no way Cox goes with a subpar glove for that many at-bats. Remember how long it took for him to give Giles a fulltime job?
I think that DeRo should play on days that end in “y”. Vinny all other days.
Seriously, it certainly appears that Vinny is headed toward the same sort of underachieving season we witnessed last year. Oh well, Giles is really fun to watch play the game.
M. Franco has played just about every position on the field servicibly at some point in time. Vinnsters defense is overated in any event. He has committed quite a few errors this year.
I really wish Bobby would at least try a few different lineups. Of course you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, especially when that dog is on a hot streak…
How about M.Franco/Vinny platooning, and play Vinny when the Braves start a lefty? There would be more grounders to third with a lefty. That combination would probably still give Vinny 55-60% of the at-bats, but that beats 100%.