Bleah. Talk about bad memories. The Braves couldn’t do much of anything with Kerry Wood, while the Cubs could do some things with Russ Ortiz and a lot with Will Cunnane. Ortiz was okay, seven innings, four runs — if nothing else, a big improvement on his first start. But Cunnane gave up six runs in two innings of work to let the Cubs put the game away. I wonder if Trey Hodges was paying attention.
Kerry Wood struck out eleven Braves, including seven in a row at one point. With the Cubs scoring single runs in each of the first three innings, he wasn’t pressed very hard. The Braves did have runners on second and third with nobody out in the third, but that’s when the strikeout streak began, and they didn’t wind up scoring until the seventh.
Furcal didn’t play and LaRoche was limited to pinch-hitting duty. (He failed; Julio was 2-4. Uh-oh.) And Chipper left the game with a “mild hamstring pull”. Just terrible all around… The Braves now face the Mets again for three in Shea for one of the most stupidly scheduled series you’ll see; a day game tomorrow, then an off day, then two night games.
I know the series in NY is stupidly scheduled, but when I fantasize about what life would be like as the 12th guy on a pitching staff of a MLB team, it often includes a free day and a half in cool cities on road trips. And I’m a lefty, so I build in a $3M salray with which to play. I know, I’m pathetic.
But if you were on the Braves, then you’d be C.J. Nitkowski and would spend the whole time in your hotel room reading the Bible.
I didn’t understand the “uh-oh” bit. Are you saying that Julio doing well and LaRoche struggling will curtail his development? Less playing time?
More a generalized “uh-oh”. I like Julio, but he shouldn’t play every day.
LaRoche has looked completely lost at the plate the last few games; he hasn’t come within a foot of hitting those inside curveballs pitchers have been throwing him. He’s gonna have to be able to shorten up his swing when necessary, or he’s going to have real problems.
I’m hoping that the competition is good for LaRoche’s development, but who knows how he will respond.
Not only does LaRoche look overmatched but so does DeRosa. I know that DeRosa can hit better but Adam is a totally unknown quantity.
I sure hope that MLB comes to its senses and kills the unbalanced schedule. It seems that every darn game I watch is Braves vs. Mets. I live in OH and it kills me that the Braves will only be in Cincy 3 times this year. Hey Bud! please kill the unbalanced schedule!