Why can’t the Braves play some normal games once in a while? My nerves can’t take this.
Okay… Horacio Ramirez started and was shaky in the first, allowing two runs on a two-out rally which ended with Sean Casey going goofy at home plate when he was thrown out. Then the Braves came back with a run on a DeRosa single in the second and tied it with Adam LaRoche’s first career homer in the sixth. But then Casey hit a solo homer to give the Reds the lead in the bottom of the inning.
Then in the eighth, DeRosa drove in two more runs with a two-out single to give the Braves the lead, but Julio Franco got throw out at third when he mysteriously jogged into the base rather than sliding. And then Casey hit another homer, a two-run shot off of Chris Reitsma (supposedly his best friend) to give the Reds the lead. And then in the top of the ninth, Marcus Giles drove in Rafael Furcal with two out to tie the game. And then (deep breath) in the tenth, Andruw hit a solo homer to take the lead, and the Braves rallied with two out and Furcal hit a three-run homer. Smoltz restored normality by shutting the Reds out in the bottom of the inning.
Seven Braves starters got hits, everyone but Eddie Perez. DeRosa had a big game, as you see, and also walked twice and scored a run. So he gets a reprieve around here for another day or two, maybe… Jaret Wright faces Cory Lidle in the rubber match tomorrow in a day game.
LaRoche was impressive with the bat and (as always) the glove. I think he gets a reprieve as well.
And what about Dewayne Wise. OK, he went 1 for 6, but he had ANOTHER triple. That gives him 3 in like, what, 20 at-bats. He certainly has some legs.
You can’t possibly be defending that horsesh*t move Eddie Perez pulled, can you? Partisanship aside, can’t we agree that Perez was way out of line? Honestly, he should have been thrown out for that, or punched in the face by Casey at least. That kind of bush league garbage doesn’t belong in the Majors. A backup catcher has no business showing up a star player like that for no reason. Like they said on ESPN, that’s a technical foul in any of the lesser sports. This is baseball, for the love of God. Have some freaking respect (Eddie, not you Mac).
That said, great to see us winning some games with Chipper out and greater still to see pitchers miss with a fastball up to Andruw and him just absolutely murder it.
“I just kind of took offense to it,” Casey said. “He apologized to me in my next at-bat. He said he didn’t mean to do it, so it’s over.”
OK so I’m a hothead. He apologized, cool.
Apparently it lets you post without writing your name or anything (oops), but FYI that was me above too.
Perhaps Eddie felt Casey needlessly threw his big oaf of a self at him to try and knock the ball out. I think Eddie’s response was simply saying “Nice try, you lose”. Obviously, Casey took it as more than that, so he apologized. And there is absolutely no reason why the umpires should throw him out. They are big boys, they can police themselves. If the reds had a problem with Eddie, they knew where to stick the ball his next at-bat. Atleast, that’s the way it should work, but instead some pacifist panzee would then warn both benches and start ejecting any pitcher who threw the ball an inch off the plate inside.
I think this was as good a game as it gets – changing leads, clutch hits, emotions and a movie-like happy end. The Perez-Casey incident was just on the fringes of it and should not take the attention away from how great this game was.
The game wasn’t shown in my area. Darn it. I’ve written in the past that Adam LaRoche has looked overmatched. I sure hope that he breaks loose. He is so patient. Looks like a ‘zone’ hitter where if a pitch isn’t in a very small zone within the overall strike zone he takes. It seems like he has a lot of 0-2 counts on him. Glad to see he got 2 extra base hits. I’m really pulling for both him and DeRosa. I’d be thrilled with .360/.275/.405 lines from both of them.
I doubt Eddie Perez’s intention was to show him up. Like Grst said, it was more of a “you lose” type of things. However, I understand why Casey got so pissed. Nobody should have gotten ejected, no pitcher should have planted a ball in anyone’s ear-hole, and no umpire needed to warn both teams and start tossing relief pitchers. It’s that kind of crap that takes away the integrity of the game, not steroids or corked bats. Anyone agree… anyone?
I hate watching the games on Fox. Tom Paciorek is awful, and Rathman isn’t helping. I could barely stand to watch the game despite its high drama. Can’t Fox find a better ex-Brave to call the games.
Meanwhile, Horatio is sitting on a 2.25 ERA after three games (11th in NL) and has an 0-1 record.
It appeared to me that rather that crashing into Perez’ upper body to try to jar the ball loose, which is typically the way it works, Casey flung his lower body directly into Perez’ knees, then came up spikes high in his face. Not the dirtiest slide I’ve ever seen, but I think that’s what triggered Perez’ anger. Why this didn’t occur to two professional baseball announcers after several replays, I can’t tell you. But these are the same guys (like everyone else) who endlessly chide Furcal for not slapping the ball on the ground and running, then express no regret when he bashes one over the fence to win it.
It did look like Perez might have gotten kicked in the face/neck area as Casey tumbled. By the way, I wasn’t aware that Casey was a star, though our pitchers sure made him look like one.
Since when is a first baseman with slightly above-average defense and a .830 OPS a star? If so, why hasn’t Tino Martinez been accused of this too?
Tino was called a star at one time. Casey’s an average player, but he’s paid like a star.