Well, I guess it’s a good thing that wasn’t on TV. (Well, it was on Turner South, but I don’t really consider that television. Television includes the word “vision”, from the the Latin word for “to see”, which means that someone actually has to see it.)
Anyway, the game was close for seven innings. The Phillies led 2-1 after the first, and it stayed that way to the top of the seventh, when the Phillies hit their second homer of the night off of Travis Smith to make it 3-1. Smith seems to have gopheritis and first inning jitters, but other than that he’s pitched very well so far.
But then we got the pleasure of the Kevin Gryboski experience. By the time Gryboski was done, he’d walked two and gave up two hits, retiring only one. Three runs had scored when he left, and three more would score and be charged to him (as unearned) when Juan “I Only Pitch In Blowouts” Cruz gave up a double. It was 9-1.
The Braves put out a patchwork lineup, if by “patchwork” you include things that have enormous holes in the middle. Drew had the game off for some reason, apparently normal rest, and Estrada was off because this is Ramirez’s spot. I mention the 5-6-7 hitters (Perez, Marrero, and the Immortal Hessman) below. Perez was the Braves’ best player tonight, getting two hits and a walk, but the other two were hitless. Nick Green had two hits and scored the Braves’ only run on Perez’s first inning single.
Day game tomorrow. I sure hope McCarver has another assignment.
What kind of ratings do the Braves get on Turner South?
I doubt they’re reliably measurable.
For some reason, I didn’t feel as if this was an important game for the Braves (yes, they are all important, blah, blah.) We had Travis pitching so a loss was anticipated if not expected. Maybe the lineup reflected that.
Tomorrow is a big game.
The Braves have to tighten up their defense. They have been horrible. I saw on sportscenter that they are the worst fielding team in the majors. Hopefully they will get it together.
for those of us who did watch the game on TS, the highlight of the evening was Skip commenting as Grybo was relieved, “Well, Kevin just didn’t have it tonight.”
I watched the netcast of last night’s game – through the cable modem, into the computer, then back out the video out, transmitted to the TV upstairs – all that just to see a lineup that barely even qualifies as AAA.
Anyway, almost every commercial break Turner South was running some annoying “My Braves” song promo. It’s a fairly long promo, which leads me to believe that they’re not exactly having people line up to buy their advertising spots.
I understand regulars need rest, but must they all get their rest when playing a main divisional rival? I guess it was the night-game-before-a-day-game thing. But hell, I’d have rather they fielded the real lineup last night and subjected Tim McCarver to the Hessman/Garcia/Eddie/Marrero experience today.
This strikes me as really great news if it’s true – from David O’Brien in today’s AJC, writing about Chipper:
“His days in left field could be over. When first baseman Adam LaRoche recovers from a separated shoulder in six to eight weeks, Jones could move to his old position at third base or remain at first.”