ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Marlins – 09/13/2003
I think we can put a lid on the Russ Ortiz Cy Young talk. Ortiz allowed six runs in the first inning, capped by a three run homer. That was more than enough for Dontrelle Willis. Ortiz wound up pitching only three innings and giving up seven runs. Marquis, Mercker, and the returning Darren Holmes all pitched scoreless ball from there (Boom-Boom came in to give up a meaningless run in the eighth) but it was too late.
Javy Lopez tried to get the Braves back in it, hitting a homer (number 40) in the second and doubling in Andruw in the third, but they didn’t produce anything else until the seventh. Actually, the Braves had a chance to get back into it in the second, when they loaded the bases with two out, but DeRosa (playing again for Giles) grounded out. The parade of stranded runners: one, three, one, one, none (double play), two, one, one, none. Let’s just say that the Braves should have scored more than three runs.
Just what we need with a three-game losing streak: Shane Reynolds pitches tomorrow. The game’s on TBS; the Braves won’t be back on the network again until next Sunday. The Phillies lost again. You realize that the Braves’ lead in the division is down to 8 1/2? That they’re even with the Giants in the loss column?
Allison: boy the Braves lose a lot.
Me: They’re the best team in baseball.
A: They lose a lot.
To much more of this and I won’t be able to say that anymore.
I hope Javy gets at least a smattering of support for MVP; I know he doesn’t really deserve it over Bonds or Pujols, but it would be nice for him to get some recognition for the way he’s turned it around. Perhaps a top 5 or 10 finish.
They just look worse and worse…I don’t count on them going all the way this, hopefully they’ll get out of the first round this year.
I have a feeling this could be a ’97 do over: we beat Houston, the Marlins beat San Fran, and we fall to Florida again. Or Philly. Hopefully, they’re doing the slump now before the postseason, just to get it out of the way.
Mac wrote:
>Just what we need with a three-game losing >streak: Shane Reynolds pitches.
I know that the Braves have not been playing well, and that Reynolds has not been pitching well. But one of the reasons I love baseball as much as I do is that unexpected outcomes occur. Yes, Beckett is pitching superbly of late, but the Braves just may win this game. We’re certainly hoping that Reynolds pitches well, aren’t we?
Wes wrote:
>They’re the best team in baseball.
For the record, Wes, they no longer have the best winning percentage in the bigs. Those damn Yankees now have that honor.
Rob J. wrote:
>They just look worse and worse. I don’t count >on them going all the way.
As the Braves struggle their way to a division championship (we hope), let’s take the long view for a minute. How many of us thought the Braves would win the division before the season started? If someone had told me then that the Braves would have an 8 1/2 game lead on September 14, I would have been surprised and delighted. Finally, there have been past seasons when the Braves were playing very well at the end of the season, and still were eliminated early in the playoffs. Let’s root for the guys to clinch the division first, and then let’s see what happens.
Wow, Ortiz now has a 4.08 ERA. Maddux is at 4.16. At 3.69, Hampton really has been the Braves’ best starter.
Call it sabermetric heresy, but I think Javy isn’t as far behind Bonds as the ultimate voting will reflect. Bonds does have 50 more PA and over course 200 points of OPS. But that gap between catcher and LF is pretty huge in my eyes. Bonds is otherworldly, no doubt, and that OBP difference isn’t something I ignore. I stll rank Bonds over Javy, but Javy is closer than many people think.
Pujols has them both beat, I think. Bonds has 140 points of OPS on Pujols, but Pujols has 20% more playing time than Bonds, 30% more than Javy, and that’s hard to overlook.
The voters will pick Pujols overwhelmingly because of the RBI gap over Bonds. Javy also has more RBI than Bonds, but I think a lot of people outside Atlanta have just not really appreciated the year he’s having.
Good points, Kirby. Granted, there were many who expected the Braves to be dethroned in the division by Philly or New York. They are still doing alot better than some forsaw. Maybe, like I said earlier, they are getting their slump over with before the playoffs. Who knows? Maybe they’ll get hot in the final week of the season.
Philly, sure. Only dumb people picked the Mets.
It’s funny how so many dumb people actually did pick the Mets, and had absolutely no idea they would do this horrible. They also didn’t predict that a third of their opening day lineup would be hitting under .200, or that Tom Glavine’s ERA would be more than a full run higher than his career ERA. They really just suck, the way fat people or old people suck at baseball, which the Mets proudly sport…
I don’t know if anyone predicted how much Glavine’s ERA would go up, but a lot of people did point out that with the Mets’ defense he’d be facing an uphill battle. (Of course, is overall performance minus his games vs. ATL hasn’t been so bad)
Throw in some of the suckitude in their lineup, and they were sporting a lot of ifs. Now, the Braves sported a lot of ifs too, and to some extent got lucky, but at least their ifs had higher upside. The Mets’ big if, though, was how so many old guys would perform. They got unlucky when they lost pIazza, but hey, they also got damned lucky to hand off Mo Vaughn’s contract to the insurance company.
That is true. The ifs that the Braves had were whether certain people with a lot higher upside than the Met’s ifs would perform. Nobody knew Ramirez, Hampton and Ortiz(until September) would do so well, but they had more of a chance at putting up these numbers than Roger Cedeno and Mo Vaughn not making Chipper Jones and Robert Fick look like Gold Glovers…