ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Mariners – 06/15/2003
See, this is what I was talking about. The Mariners are a great team, especially at home. And their ballpark is a hard place to hit homers. The Braves didn’t hit one in the entire series, and thus didn’t score many runs.
The good outcome of this is that I feel more confident in Greg Maddux than I have yet this season. He struck out eleven, allowed only five hits, and didn’t walk anyone in seven innings. You can’t actually pitch much better, but the Mariners got some infield hits and picked up a couple of early runs. Just luck, and Ichiro’s speed, really.
The Braves’ only run came in the sixth, Sheffield driving in Furcal with two out. They had a chance to tie it in the ninth, but Sheffield was stranded at second. Hey, you can’t win them all, but Maddux deserved better than the “loser” tag this story hangs on him.
Travel day tomorrow, then the beginning of a three-game series against the Phillies. The Braves have a chance to all but knock out the Phils, the smart-money pick to win the division in the preseason. (The stupid-money pick was as always the Mets.) I’ll settle for two out of three, and a winning road trip. Kevin Millwood might pitch Thursday.
Maddux made a good lineup look silly, with the exception of Boone’s double in the first. I don’t think he’s been that masterful in a single game since the time he set down the last 23 Cardinals in order September 6, 1999. Maybe the one-hitter against the Mets in April of ’01 when he threw first pitch strikes to like 21 of 22 hitters while wearing the clown shoe.
These were some really good games by some really good teams.
I know this is not that relevant but do u guys mind rating my teams below and telling me how to improve them? I come to this site everyday to read up on the Braves. I know there is a lot of talent in the readership of this site. Why am I in last place in division? What do u think of my teams? Can u rate them all and tell me who needs to go and who I should get? I play at Sporting News. Thanks. Mac – keep up the good work. Your site rocks! I have it as my homepage
TEAM 1
Wade Miller (4.53)
Kaz Ishii (3.78)
Jose Contreras (injured) (2.17)
Jae Weong Seo (0.69)
Aaron Harang (0.56)
Posada (4.33)
Giambi (6.67)
M. Giles (2.34)
R. Ventura (3.26)
A Rod (7.21)
A Pujols (7.02)
B Giles (5.54)
Juan Rivera (0.5)
Justin Morneau (0.51)
TEAM 2
Roy Oswalt (6.21)
Carlos Zambrano (2.48)
Brett Myers (2.08)
Dontrelle Willis (1.07)
Andrew Good (0.50)
Javy Lopez (2.55)
Todd Helton (6.58)
Soriano (6.76)
Rolen (5.2)
Jeter (4.44)
Patterson (3.65)
Doug Glanville (0.68)
Juan Rivera (0.5)
Richie Sexson (4.71)
TEAM 3
Kerry Wood (5.83)
Byung-Hyun Kim (4.12)
Jason Isringhausen (2.86)
Jeff D’Amico (1.1)
Darrell May (0.5)
Jorge Posada (4.33)
Adam Dunn (5.24)
Roberto Alomar (3.77)
Aramis Ramirez (2.68)
Derek Jeter (4.44)
Jim Edmonds (5.07)
Hideki Matsui (4.57)
Juan Rivera (0.5)
Bobby Abreu (4.86)
TEAM 4
Barry Zito (7.55)
Jacob Peavy (2.62)
Dontrelle Willis (1.07)
Jae Weong Seo (0.69)
Gary Knotts (0.50)
Jorge Posada (4.33)
Edgar Martinez (4.5)
Marcus Giles (2.34)
Mark Teixeira (2.43)
Rafael Furcal (4.12)
Adam Dunn (5.24)
Austin Kearns (5.03)
Juan Gonzalez (5.00)
Jeromy Burnitz (2.45)
TEAM 5
Pedro Martinez (7.61)
John Thomson (1.59)
Shawn Estes (1.45)
Jesse Foppert (0.73)
Jerome Williams (0.50)
Jorge Posada (4.33)
Jim Thome (6.39)
Bill Mueller (1.8)
Robin Ventura (3.26)
Miguel Tejada (5.54)
Lance Berkman (6.04)
Vernon Wells (4.7)
Johnny Damon (4.22)
Joh Flaherty (0.5)
I know this is not that relevant but do u guys mind rating my teams below and telling me how to improve them? I come to this site everyday to read up on the Braves. I know there is a lot of talent in the readership of this site. Why am I in last place in division? What do u think of my teams? Can u rate them all and tell me who needs to go and who I should get? I play at Sporting News. Thanks. Mac – keep up the good work. Your site rocks! I have it as my homepage
TEAM 1
Wade Miller (4.53)
Kaz Ishii (3.78)
Jose Contreras (injured) (2.17)
Jae Weong Seo (0.69)
Aaron Harang (0.56)
Posada (4.33)
Giambi (6.67)
M. Giles (2.34)
R. Ventura (3.26)
A Rod (7.21)
A Pujols (7.02)
B Giles (5.54)
Juan Rivera (0.5)
Justin Morneau (0.51)
TEAM 2
Roy Oswalt (6.21)
Carlos Zambrano (2.48)
Brett Myers (2.08)
Dontrelle Willis (1.07)
Andrew Good (0.50)
Javy Lopez (2.55)
Todd Helton (6.58)
Soriano (6.76)
Rolen (5.2)
Jeter (4.44)
Patterson (3.65)
Doug Glanville (0.68)
Juan Rivera (0.5)
Richie Sexson (4.71)
TEAM 3
Kerry Wood (5.83)
Byung-Hyun Kim (4.12)
Jason Isringhausen (2.86)
Jeff D’Amico (1.1)
Darrell May (0.5)
Jorge Posada (4.33)
Adam Dunn (5.24)
Roberto Alomar (3.77)
Aramis Ramirez (2.68)
Derek Jeter (4.44)
Jim Edmonds (5.07)
Hideki Matsui (4.57)
Juan Rivera (0.5)
Bobby Abreu (4.86)
TEAM 4
Barry Zito (7.55)
Jacob Peavy (2.62)
Dontrelle Willis (1.07)
Jae Weong Seo (0.69)
Gary Knotts (0.50)
Jorge Posada (4.33)
Edgar Martinez (4.5)
Marcus Giles (2.34)
Mark Teixeira (2.43)
Rafael Furcal (4.12)
Adam Dunn (5.24)
Austin Kearns (5.03)
Juan Gonzalez (5.00)
Jeromy Burnitz (2.45)
TEAM 5
Pedro Martinez (7.61)
John Thomson (1.59)
Shawn Estes (1.45)
Jesse Foppert (0.73)
Jerome Williams (0.50)
Jorge Posada (4.33)
Jim Thome (6.39)
Bill Mueller (1.8)
Robin Ventura (3.26)
Miguel Tejada (5.54)
Lance Berkman (6.04)
Vernon Wells (4.7)
Johnny Damon (4.22)
Joh Flaherty (0.5)
As a masterful as Maddux was, noboby seems to mention Gil Meche. As great as Maddux was Sunday, Meche was better. He has been that way all year. We knew this kid had talent, but outdueling two future hall of famers (Clemens being the other), this kid needs some recognition.
It’s nice to feel confident in Maddux I guess but let’s remember some key points:
– Every starting pitcher in this series looked like an All-Star. Some of it is the Safeco effect.
– Maddux (and Meche) had the additional advantage of a twilight game. The hitting background at Safeco is terrible under normal circumstances, worse during day games, and almost unplayable during twilight games.
– The Braves still lost. Partly because Greg can’t be bothered to learn how to properly hold runners on, and not helped by Matt Franco being on the bench to start the game so the personal catcher could be in there.
Let’s just say I’m not convinced. Not that anyone is surprised.
I wasn’t too happy with Bobby’s decision to pinch hit Franco for Fick in the ninth. Granted, Franco almost pulled off a hit, but Nelson had looked unhittable in his last appearance (and had made Franco look foolish), while Rhodes had almost walked Chipper like he had done in his previous outing. I just feel that a Fick/Rhodes matchup would have been better than the Franco/Nelson matchup. Fick is more disciplined and has shown more “clutch” hitting lately. Bah.
I felt the same way at the time, Snellville. But then I looked up the numbers. Fick is hitting .097 against lefties this year (although he does have two homers), whereas Franco is at .217 against righties.
Rhodes eats up lefties the same way Nelson eliminates righties, and given that Rhodes had just blown away Andruw, Cox probably made the right decision. Credit the Mariners for putting together a top-notch bullpen, with guys who actually display massive platoon advantages.
I’m with Creg on this one; Fick has looked just horrible against lefties this season. Since it’s not like we’re trying to develop him as a prospect, I’d have to go strict platoon on him. Nelson is tough on righties, but Franco is the kind of hitter who has good plate coverage and might actually have a shot at reading and hitting that nasty slider.
Of course, Fick almost never gets to hit against lefties except in blowouts. I was against the platoon from the beginning; he’s always hit them in the past, but now he’s rusty. So you have to platoon him. It took Klesko, what, five years to remember how to hit lefties after Bobby platooned him for no reason?
Thanks for the numbers, guys. My current slow-mo modem keeps me from spending time looking up stats. I should have known before I even typed it up that Bobby would know best.
Still, I can’t say I can even remember what Fick looked like against a lefty. 🙂