I am currently heavily medicated (I hate summer colds) so no recap until the morning. Looks good so far, though. Enjoy.
I am currently heavily medicated (I hate summer colds) so no recap until the morning. Looks good so far, though. Enjoy.
Looks good is an understatement. I’m stuck at work so cannot see the game- is the strike zone just really tight tonight or does Millwood not have a clue where the ball is going?
I was a little scared after the first 2 innings leaving the bases loaded in both of them and only getting 2 runs had me on edge, and I was scared they were about to leave them loaded a third time, but Andruw’s Grand Slam eased all my cares.
As long as Wright doesn’t lose the strikezone or something.
Sutton sounded so depressed that Andruw hit the grand slam, I thought he was still in “MLB on TBS” mode from last year….
Is Telemaco really batting for himself here? I guess a six run lead, maybe you do not overwork your bullpen, but still…
The strike zone hasn’t been partcularly tiny, but as Sutton noted earlier, it’s more lateral than top-to-bottom. Millwood was pitching up and down, so couldn’t exploit the strike zone.
Mark DeRosa’s season in a nutshell – reaches on error, stretches, gets thrown out at second…
here’s hoping Wright can continue to avoid his dreded big inning.
Colin
Oh, for the love of god. Rafael, if you call for it, take it.
I guess we chalk that one up as a paranoid aftereffect of the Andruw-Giles collision.
Chipper is horrible, horrible outfielder. Cost Wright the shutout and got him pulled from the game. How could someone who was once a passable major league shortstop let himself go to such a degree that he can’t even play a passable leftfield?
Not sure why you’re blaming Chipper. Furcal was calling for the ball. One can argue that the LF should probably make that play, and he could have, but once Furcal waved him off, I don’t see why one would blame Chipper.
Colin, you’re right. Furcal clearly called the ball but heard the footsteps of a 6’4″ 220 pounder bearing down on him. Sometimes you can’t overcome the self preservation instinct.
Great win. I too was concerned that we’d do the leave everyone on base thing we have been doing but Andruw solved that with one funky swing. Wright pitched a heck of a game.
Is it asking too much for Don Sutton to get a little excited about a grand slam? I remember a game last year, I think it was when DeRosa homered off of Wagner to win the game, when Sutton might as well have been in a coma with his call.
Anyway, allowing one run in that park is a pretty nice accomplishment, especially out of the fifth starter. Great outing for Wright. I watched him a lot out here in San Diego last year and he was pathetic. So far, it seems Mazzone has been able to work some magic on him.
Memo to J.D. Drew: a sac fly to score a run is ok every now and then.
It’s always a good sign to see folks slamming the announcers!!
It’s obvious that our team’s struggles are caused by the announcers’ lack of excitement for a mediocre team. Those scalliwags…
I don’t think Sutton’s lack of excitement has anything to do w/ the team’s mediocrity. He probably just expends too much energy getting the perm to take.
The real question should be, why do they let Sutton do play-by-play? That should be Pete Van Wieren’s job.
They should replace Sutton with Ron Gant. He seemed to a good job in the games I’ve heard him used. He’s a little green, sure, but he’s got some things none of those other guys have. Namely youth and enthusiasm. Plus it might help the TBS broadcasts if the announcers were able to appeal to a more diverse audience than just the easy-listening, over-the-hill, beer-bellied suburbanite fraternity that the current crew belongs to. Not that there’s anything wrong with that set, mind-you. I’ll probably end up in that category myself one of these days. And I certainly wouldn’t trade Skip or Pete for all the gold in Texas. Well obviously I exaggerate, but Joe and Don are enough to put me to sleep sometimes. I hope that when the time comes to renegotiate contracts, the Braves and TBS have enough sense to go with some new blood.
Oh yeah…um…GO BRAVES!
Hey now..Joe Simpson isn’t bad. He has mastered playing the straight man to Skip Caray. But, I agree on last night. As Andruw rounded the bases, I was thinking more about Sutton’s lack of reaction than the actual grand slam itself.
BTW, Citizens Bank Park is hands down, the nicest park in baseball.
Two related things:
I was at citizens bank last sunday. Millwood was actually throwing for his side session in the pen. I was about to get some pictures when he threw his last ball, stormed off the mound and threw his glove at the bench. So, from this anecdotal evidence plus his bad performance the last three times out, he looks rather rough.
As for citizens bank being the nicest park in baseball. I disagree completely. Two come to mind quickly; wrigley and camden yards. I loved that you could walk the entire concourse and still see the game in citizens bank. But besides that, it’s a pretty boring park. It really didn’t do anything for me, especially since I go to Camden four or five times a year.
It’s all relative. I mean, next to the Vet anything looks nice.
I’ve only been to a handful of the new parks: the Ted, Camden, the Jake, Skydome – if it still counts. I was at Petco walking around during construction and am hoping to get back soon. Last year I was at Hiram Bithorn which is new to the NL, but not new new. All in all, I don’t long for a return to Fulton Co, the Vet or the Mistake by the Lake … but I don’t see the new parks are a huge improvement. Great skyboxes for the well heeled. Nice wide concourses, more (and much more expensive) refreshment choices. But the affordable seats are in the next time zone and the nooks and cranies feel forced rather than flowing from the neighborhood like in Fenway, Ebbets or the like. Maybe I’m turning into an old fogie, but none of the newbies were one iota better than Chavez Ravine or Kaufman Stadium.
Petco is nice, but in some ways, I wonder if a lot of that niceness is because it is new. It’s also a case of “it beats the old one.” I think once they finish building up the neighborhood surrounding the park, it will make for an even better overall venue.
PacBell, er SBC, is still the nicest of the new parks I’ve been to. Can’t beat the upper deck view from the third base side.
The BOB blows. It’s part of the next wave of cookie cutters, IMO.
I’m still a huge fan of Dodger Stadium.
Indeed, it is nice next to the vet. That big pile of rubble made me laugh. As for the forced nature of the “quirks”, Camden does it well. It fits in right next to the office buildings and the warehouse makes the stadium feel warm (whereas the petco building just looks odd to me). Being an east coaster, I cannot go to pac bell (whatever) but that’s one I lust after. Hopefully planning a fenway trip this summer as well. I love Camden Yards. They have seats in center field that run about 15 or 18 bucks a pop. For me, that’s a fair price to pay for a game (both the braves and giants next month, already caught the red sox, angels, and blue jays). One of the nicest perks of Camden is buying two 24 oz cokes for two bucks and taking them into the stadium with you. Not to mention the choice of peanuts or pistachios before the gate as well. There were NO vendors outside Citizens Bank. Of course.
Not sure why you’re blaming Chipper. Furcal was calling for the ball. One can argue that the LF should probably make that play, and he could have, but once Furcal waved him off, I don’t see why one would blame Chipper.
Really late reply on this but that has to be the LFer’s play. Infielders get jumpy when they get out that far because they can’t see both the ball and the outfielder bearing down on them. Plus, the play is about 10 times easier for the outfielder.
I was listening to the radio feed while watching the game, so I was also probably influenced by Joe Simpson ripping Chipper for not taking the ball.