ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Marlins at Braves – 09/21/2003
Greg Maddux got his fifteenth win of the season on his second try, beating Cy Young’s somewhat arbitrary record with sixteen years in a row of 15 or more wins. It’s still pretty impressive, if arbitrary: that’s 240 wins right there. Maddux was hit with a line drive on the ankle in the third and went only five innings, but they were impressive, allowing only one hit — and throwing just 43 pitches! There were a few atom balls, mostly handled by Furcal. Maddux might have stayed in if the game had been closer, but they broke it open in the bottom of the fifth with four runs. King, Holmes, Hernandez, and Mercker each pitched an inning to finish it off. It was Maddux’s 288th career win.
Chipper was 2-2 with a homer, four RBI, two runs scored, and a walk before sitting out the late innings. Javy had two hits, including a double, and Furcal walked twice and doubled, scoring twice. Team effort all around.
Vinny left the game after hurting himself on a sixth inning grounder. He’s day to day. Jesse Garcia wound up at third base because DeRosa had pinch-hit for Maddux the previous inning.
The Phillies lost and the Cubs won. Currently Florida is a half game up on Philly, 1 1/2 on Chicago, three up on the Dodgers who are about done. The Cubs are only a half game back in the Central behind the Astros; the Braves will play one of the two latter teams, of course.
Posts for the last two days are now up. There was a problem with the server, then with my computer which refused to recognize that site was back up. Unfortunately the brief post on the clinching seems to have disappeared. I may be able to rescue it tomorrow.
I didn’t see the game, but did see that Javy was 2-5. I assume then that he got the start? If so, this is two TERRIFIC starts in a row by Maddux with Javy catching. I’ve gotta say that I am feeling much more confidence in they way the rotation is shaping up for the playoffs. Seems like Maddux, Ortiz and Hampton are all pitching their best ball of the year (at least, if Russ’s last game is more of an indication than the few starts he had before that).
12 innings, one run so far for Maddux with Javy behind the plate. Now if Bobby will only leave Blanco off the postseason roster altogether and take Estrada as backup catcher.
The clinching removes some tension, but still a big week ahead, as:
–the team vies to clinch home field advantage
–Javy goes to break the catcher HR record
–Marcus aims to tie and break the all-time franchise doubles record
Welcome back, Mac!
I was at the Ted and it was truly exciting to watch Maddux pitch so masterfully and make such quick work of the Marlins. The whole team played so well. You could just tell that they all wanted Maddux to win this one in the way that the were legging out singles into doubles.
DFM
My guess is that Duffy’s 51 is out of reach for this year.
Why so, karl? Marcus is only two doubles away at this point. He could pull that off in one game. Yeah, he won’t get as much playing time this week as would be optimal. But i certainly wouldn’t rule it out.
Another Javy note – his season has been so impressive, that his career OPS has now risen above Andruw’s (838 to 836).
Colin
Daniel inadvertantly brings up a major weakness in Florida’s defense: the godawful throwing arm of Juan Pierre in center. The Braves, including such speedsters as Fick and Castilla, have been blatantly taking extra bases all weekend on any ball handled by Pierre. The “doubles” by Sheffield and Fick were routine singles hit just to the left or right of Pierre, who compounds his own problems by playing at Chipper-like depth against everyone. Later, on a medium depth fly five steps to the right of dead center with a man on 3rd and less than two, Encarnacion came crashing into Pierre in an attempt to have someone with an arm make the play, thus allowing the run to score with no throw at all.
And I know they’ve played great ball for 3 months, but a lineup starting with two singles-hitting flyers who couldn’t hit the ball over the fence from 2nd base is at best a mixed blessing, especially when contrasted with Furcal and Giles.
I had been leaning toward Philly, who I consider a deeply flawed team, as the favored potential NLCS matchup. But after watching the Marlins for 3 days, I’m not so sure.
I was actually posting, I just couldn’t do it here. I cross-posted over in the bullpen (http://warliberal.com/Bullpen), which is what I’ll do if the server gets funky again.
Normally I’d prefer the Phillies, but in a seven-game series we might see Wolf and Padilla twice each, even one of them three times, and those guys usually handle the Braves pretty well. Honestly, I’m more worried about the Astros and Cubs than anyone else right now.
Yeah, I’m betting neither the Phillies nor Marlins make the playoffs. Well, i’m not betting. But I’m hoping after this week plays out that things will be set for the Braves to play a wild-card Astros team in the first round, and the central-winning Cubs to face off against their manager’s former team. I tink that would be ideal from a Braves’ perspective, given our historic success against Houston and the chance that the Cubs could take out the defending NL champs.
Hey Mac I think it was Maddux’s 3rd try for the record. I still believe that is an incredible record because 1.Maddux didn’t get nearly as many chances as Cy and 2.how he satyed healthy all of those years to compile at least 15 wins in 16 seasons.
You guys gotta stop worrying about the Cubs. There are atleast 3 reasons
1) We won 3 out of the 4 this year. Doesn’t mean much but it’s true. I hope Vinny is okay cos he was a real Cubs-killer in that series. It’s funny cos I actually saw Vinny and Furcal after the game. Furcal was walking outta the Water Tower Place with shopping bags while 10 minutes later I saw Vinny with some gal walking outta Bloomingdales. I wanted to say “Way to go Vin, you almost hit the cycle” but decided not to attempt any conversation after Rafael gave me no face when I kept yelling “Raff, Rafael”
2) They were all at Wrigley which means they haven’t even seen our park (Turner Field) in ages.
3) They’re gonna be hella tired (on 3 day’s rest and falling asleep on the mound) if they make it through cos this is what the original pitching rotation schedule looked like this
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Zambrano
9/25 @CIN Clement
9/26 PIT Prior
9/27 PIT Estes or Cruz
9/28 PIT Wood
Now, it looks like this after Dusty tweeked with it:
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Estes or Cruz
9/25 @CIN Zambrano
9/26 PIT Clement
9/27 PIT Prior
9/28 PIT Wood
4) Curses are hard to break. The Cubs can’t hit at all. Trust me – cos I live 3 stops from Wrigley I get the honor of watching their games when the braves are not on TBS. The Cubs really are not that good. They haven’t won anywhere near as many games as we have.
5) Houston is a lot tougher to play. I’d wanna play the Cubs over them anyday. Especially now that Oswalt is back
On that note – I hope Maddux, Ortiz and Hampton are not gonna pitch that close.
You guys gotta stop worrying about the Cubs. There are atleast 3 reasons
1) We won 3 out of the 4 this year. Doesn’t mean much but it’s true. I hope Vinny is okay cos he was a real Cubs-killer in that series. It’s funny cos I actually saw Vinny and Furcal after the game. Furcal was walking outta the Water Tower Place with shopping bags while 10 minutes later I saw Vinny with some gal walking outta Bloomingdales. I wanted to say “Way to go Vin, you almost hit the cycle” but decided not to attempt any conversation after Rafael gave me no face when I kept yelling “Raff, Rafael”
2) They were all at Wrigley which means they haven’t even seen our park (Turner Field) in ages.
3) They’re gonna be hella tired (on 3 day’s rest and falling asleep on the mound) if they make it through cos this is what the original pitching rotation schedule looked like this
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Zambrano
9/25 @CIN Clement
9/26 PIT Prior
9/27 PIT Estes or Cruz
9/28 PIT Wood
Now, it looks like this after Dusty tweeked with it:
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Estes or Cruz
9/25 @CIN Zambrano
9/26 PIT Clement
9/27 PIT Prior
9/28 PIT Wood
4) Curses are hard to break. The Cubs can’t hit at all. Trust me – cos I live 3 stops from Wrigley I get the honor of watching their games when the braves are not on TBS. The Cubs really are not that good. They haven’t won anywhere near as many games as we have.
5) Houston is a lot tougher to play. I’d wanna play the Cubs over them anyday. Especially now that Oswalt is back
On that note – I hope Maddux, Ortiz and Hampton are not gonna pitch that close.
You guys gotta stop worrying about the Cubs. There are atleast 3 reasons
1) We won 3 out of the 4 this year. Doesn’t mean much but it’s true. I hope Vinny is okay cos he was a real Cubs-killer in that series. It’s funny cos I actually saw Vinny and Furcal after the game. Furcal was walking outta the Water Tower Place with shopping bags while 10 minutes later I saw Vinny with some gal walking outta Bloomingdales. I wanted to say “Way to go Vin, you almost hit the cycle” but decided not to attempt any conversation after Rafael gave me no face when I kept yelling “Raff, Rafael”
2) They were all at Wrigley which means they haven’t even seen our park (Turner Field) in ages.
3) They’re gonna be hella tired (on 3 day’s rest and falling asleep on the mound) if they make it through cos this is what the original pitching rotation schedule looked like this
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Zambrano
9/25 @CIN Clement
9/26 PIT Prior
9/27 PIT Estes or Cruz
9/28 PIT Wood
Now, it looks like this after Dusty tweeked with it:
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Estes or Cruz
9/25 @CIN Zambrano
9/26 PIT Clement
9/27 PIT Prior
9/28 PIT Wood
4) Curses are hard to break. The Cubs can’t hit at all. Trust me – cos I live 3 stops from Wrigley I get the honor of watching their games when the braves are not on TBS. The Cubs really are not that good. They haven’t won anywhere near as many games as we have.
5) Houston is a lot tougher to play. I’d wanna play the Cubs over them anyday. Especially now that Oswalt is back
On that note – I hope Maddux, Ortiz and Hampton are not gonna pitch that close.
You guys gotta stop worrying about the Cubs. There are atleast 3 reasons
1) We won 3 out of the 4 this year. Doesn’t mean much but it’s true. I hope Vinny is okay cos he was a real Cubs-killer in that series. It’s funny cos I actually saw Vinny and Furcal after the game. Furcal was walking outta the Water Tower Place with shopping bags while 10 minutes later I saw Vinny with some gal walking outta Bloomingdales. I wanted to say “Way to go Vin, you almost hit the cycle” but decided not to attempt any conversation after Rafael gave me no face when I kept yelling “Raff, Rafael”
2) They were all at Wrigley which means they haven’t even seen our park (Turner Field) in ages.
3) They’re gonna be hella tired (on 3 day’s rest and falling asleep on the mound) if they make it through cos this is what the original pitching rotation schedule looked like this
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Zambrano
9/25 @CIN Clement
9/26 PIT Prior
9/27 PIT Estes or Cruz
9/28 PIT Wood
Now, it looks like this after Dusty tweeked with it:
9/23 @CIN Wood
9/24 @CIN Estes or Cruz
9/25 @CIN Zambrano
9/26 PIT Clement
9/27 PIT Prior
9/28 PIT Wood
4) Curses are hard to break. The Cubs can’t hit at all. Trust me – cos I live 3 stops from Wrigley I get the honor of watching their games when the braves are not on TBS. The Cubs really are not that good. They haven’t won anywhere near as many games as we have.
5) Houston is a lot tougher to play. I’d wanna play the Cubs over them anyday. Especially now that Oswalt is back
On that note – I hope Maddux, Ortiz and Hampton are not gonna pitch that close.
Is nobody else worried about the Giants???
Great job by maddog! He’s my favorite pitcher, and I’m glad he’s gotten this record.
As for the postseason: I’m not too worried about San Fran. I seriously believe that they’ll fall to the wild card, whether it’s Philly or Florida or possibly even Chicago. Of course we must all take it one game at a time.
I have a five-inch taint.