Thanks, Frank! With two out in the seventh, the score tied, and a runner on third, Frank Robinson had Rafael Furcal intentionally walked. Then Nick Green hit his first career homer to give the Braves a 5-2 lead. The Braves added three more runs in the inning to give themselves a comfortable cushion and are at .500. Again.
The Braves led 2-0 headed into the top of the inning when Russ Ortiz allowed a two-run homer to Brian Schneider, which should never happen. Ortiz still got the win, allowing only five hits and one walk, striking out six. CJ Nitkowski pitched the eighth. And we finally know what it takes to get Juan Cruz into the game — a six-run lead in the ninth, at home, against the worst-hitting team in the league. He was perfect.
All the Braves’ regulars got hits except Chipper (who did walk twice) and Hessman (who did strike out twice and is now hitting .114). Drew hit a solo homer in the fourth, Estrada had three hits and two RBI, and Andruw drove in two with a double to cap the six-run seventh.
Another nice strike-to-ball for Russ. Tuned in when it was 2-2, so most of what I saw was the good.
Green is surprising me, given he had somewhat fallen off the prospect radar and his minor league numbers aren’t the kind that put chills in the opposition. If he’s doing it with mirrors, which it doesn’t appear that he is doing, I hope he keeps those mirrors in a nice, padded box.
Frank Robinson is proof, once again, that great players are often suspect when managing.
The good part is, it doesn’t terribly matter if Green is a flash in the pan who overperforms for a while in the majors – all the Braves need for him to do is overperform for a while until marcus is back.
Florida loses! Philly losing with Boom-Boom in the game! Yes!
I hope Green is for real. When Marcus comes back, maybe the Braves will stick him at third. I’m sure he couldn’t be that much worse than DeRosa defensively, and even though he would be become a below-average third baseman… he’s still better than DeRosa. But really though, give me bat and a Ivy League degree, he’ll be shining my cleats…
Well, today went about as well as could have been expected for the Braves, with Marlins, Phillies, and Expos losses. I was in Arizona all last week, so I didn’t catch any baseball, but apparently the Braves and DeRo are doing better. Hopefully we’ll keep winning series, and before too long, we’ll be back at the top. If this post seems a little thin, it’s because I missed the game and am only posting to make sure Typekey remembers me.
Just thought of something… can anyone describe Furcal’s web gem? I saw a pretty good DP the Pirates turned against Jason Marquis (I think), but it was definitely helped by the fact that it was Jason Marquis running.