Chipper’s still hurting, so Bragg is in the lineup against Barry Zito. .100, here he comes! Interestingly, Bragg has been better against lefties than righties this year, though “better” is still .158/.238/.211. That includes his only extra base hit. DeRosa could play left instead of Bragg, but he’s at shortstop. Furcal has a “sore right wrist and forearm”. Returning to bad old habits, Bobby just inserted DeRosa into Furcal’s spot in the order rather than Giles moving up.
Another infield hit for Vinny. What’s the record for infield hits by a guy who can’t run?
I can’t watch or listen to the game, but from looking on the net it appears that Boom-Boom Bobby is still on the roster. Darn.
UPDATE: Stupid Bragg can’t even bunt. He’s 0-2. The Braves should play Ortiz in left.
Braves are winning, but I’m not optimistic. They’ve got Reynolds, a fine-line pitcher at the best of times, going. The bullpen’s been used pretty heavily the last couple of nights. And they’re playing about four players short (Furcal, Chipper, Hampton, Boom-Boom), and that’s if you call Bragg a player. Disable somebody.
Is Chipper going to sit indefinitely against lefties? (The wrist apparently bothers him mainly when he swings and misses right-handed). If so, it’s imperative Atlanta go out and sign someone like Ron Gant or Jeffrey Hammonds to caddy for Chipper.
Gant was only making $350 K with Oakland, so I’m sure the Braves could get him for less than half that for the rest of the year. I know Atlanta have made similar ill-advised recidivist moves with Pendleton and Otis Nixon in the past, but Gant can still mash lefties and is still a capable base-runner and defender (at least compared to Chipper), so I don’t see why they wouldn’t try to bring him back.
7th inning starting, and it looks like reynolds is still out there. tempting fate…
Colin
Agreed on gant, he’s still useful against lefties. And it’d be kind of a nice story, too.
Colin
Honestly, how do you let Reynolds face Byrnes there? Did anyone not know what was going to happen? Is Bobby really trying to maximize Smoltz’ save attempts?