That was huge. The Braves trailed 4-0 after two (homers off Wright by Thome and Lieberthal) and it was that way heading to the bottom of the fifth, when Andruw (quiescent through the series) stepped up with a single off of Millwood.
Wise tried either to bunt him over or bunt for a hit; whichever it was, the Phillies committed two errors on the play, and by the end Andruw had scored and Wise was at second. But after a walk Chipper (pinch-hitting again) and Furcal popped up, and it looked like another missed opportunity. Then Nick Green (trying to reassert his folk-hero status) singled Wise in, and Drew hit a three-run opposite field job. Andruw singled in another run to make it 6-4, and the bullpen crew of Alfonseca (who was good), Gryboski (who was bad), Reitsma (who bailed out Gryboski but got into a little trouble) and Smoltz (awesome) finished it.
The Mets held off the Marlins and everything is now as it was four days ago. The Braves have a day off before traveling to Detroit. As always, you can throw out the record books when the Braves and Tigers get together. Thank God and Bud for interleague play allowing us such storied matchups with our natural rivals.
I think the Braves have to be commended for hanging in with all the injuries. This is obviously not a great team even at full strength and without Giles and Chipper is even less so. It’s a team in transition and I like some of the things going on even if they are not likely to go far this year (although Drew is probably playing his way out of Atlanta–AOL will never be able to keep him.)
They might be able to re-sign Drew. As long as they don’t renew Smoltz’s contract, they won’t be on the hook for $12M and that would leave them plenty of money to re-sign Drew.
As always, you can throw out the record books when the Braves and Tigers get together.
That made me laugh. Like the rest of you, I’ll be on the edge of my seat for tonight’s first ever Rangers-Pirates game.
All of the sudden, Drew missing 8 games earlier this season doesn’t look so bad.
Does anyone here think the Braves might make a run at Jeffrey Hammond or is his time in the bigs up?
Does anyone over here think that kerry wood is the best pitcher of all time. Why don’t we trade for him??? How about Hampton+Ortiz for Wood???
There is no way that Kerry Wood is the best pitcher of all time. And there is no way that the Cubs would make that trade.
1) Kerry Wood is not even in the top 100 all-time, maybe not even in the top 200.
2) The Cubs would rather trade Wood for Ortiz than Wood for Ortiz+Hampton.
3) Let’s stop talking about nonsense here.
I agree with MWS that, despite the injuries and the league-leading errors, the Braves are doing some things right this year. For one, I like the way they’re willing to shoot the ball to the opposite field. Even Andruw is beginning to come around, that’s how good an influence Terry Pendleton has been. I think we’re scoring enough runs even though we don’t have the big bats we had last year and in years past. I would much rather see us hit singles and move everyone around the bases than sit and wait for a long ball late in the game.
I like what Dewayne Wise adds to the team. He hasn’t had that many bats, but he’s gotten quite a few extra bases. And he has good fundamentals in the field; his arm may not be the strongest, but he’s accurate; good instincts. As for Nick Green, well, he’s done everything you could ask of someone filling in at such short notice. Our pitching, both the starters and the bullpen, has been shaky at times, but it’s beginning to gel.
To sum up, it may be a rebuilding year, but our prospects look good.
I love the way people think this is a rebuilding year. For a team to be only 3 1/2 out in June with the team that the Phillies have and the pitching the Marlins have is nothing short of spectacular. Either of those teams should have run away by now. Atlanta is 16-10 vs their division, while Phil. is 10-15. It should be the other way around if the Braves were rebuilding. It looks as if the Phillies will be “rebuilding” next year, if not by the All-Star Break.
Watch out for the Bengals. I was listening to a few innings up here in Minny over the weekend and if the Twins hadn’t have had the air conditioning fans blowing in yesterday, they would have lost the series.
Seriously, Tigers are improved. But when you lose 119 games the previous year, that doesn’t mean much.
I would be okay with Wise if they had better options ahead of him; Wise is fine as a 5th outfielder/pinch runner/late-innings defensive replacement, but not as the 4th outfielder and primary left-handed bat off the bench, which is how the Braves are using him. He’s just not a good enough hitter for that.