The radio guys said that because Estrada has caught so many pitches in the last three days (because of all the runs allowed), Bobby was giving him the night off. Sounds to me like they want to see if Estrada’s pitching calling is not so good.
The first three games averaged 3 hours 15 minutes, with Braves pitchers throwing an average of 174 pitches per game. If that doesn’t earn Estrada a day off, what’s he gotta do?
It will be interesting to see how Cox employs his catchers this year. He’s so attuned to the personal catcher rotation that I believe he’ll stick with it (once Cox gets an idea about catchers in his head, he’s hard to dissuade–witness the 3-catchers-in-the-playoffs “strategy”), in which case you might be right about the Horacio idea.
The other option would be to start Perez against selected southpaws. I like the personal catcher idea better, though.
I meant to mention this earlier, but I thought it was a classy move by Dusty Baker to show up a day early for the Hank Aaron commemoration. I’m sure a lot of Hank’s ex-teammates made lame excuses why they couldn’t be there. I’m no fan of Dusty — mostly because he says dumb things a lot — but I’ve got to give credit where credit’s due.
The radio guys said that because Estrada has caught so many pitches in the last three days (because of all the runs allowed), Bobby was giving him the night off. Sounds to me like they want to see if Estrada’s pitching calling is not so good.
The first three games averaged 3 hours 15 minutes, with Braves pitchers throwing an average of 174 pitches per game. If that doesn’t earn Estrada a day off, what’s he gotta do?
It will be interesting to see how Cox employs his catchers this year. He’s so attuned to the personal catcher rotation that I believe he’ll stick with it (once Cox gets an idea about catchers in his head, he’s hard to dissuade–witness the 3-catchers-in-the-playoffs “strategy”), in which case you might be right about the Horacio idea.
The other option would be to start Perez against selected southpaws. I like the personal catcher idea better, though.
Todd Freakin’ Hollandsworth …
I meant to mention this earlier, but I thought it was a classy move by Dusty Baker to show up a day early for the Hank Aaron commemoration. I’m sure a lot of Hank’s ex-teammates made lame excuses why they couldn’t be there. I’m no fan of Dusty — mostly because he says dumb things a lot — but I’ve got to give credit where credit’s due.
Seemed like most of the more important ones were there, at least from the Atlanta years. Not all of them, though.