As I indicated below, the Braves blew the game on defense in the second inning; the seven innings after that were mostly playing out the string, though they rallied a little. To recap: the Cards opened the second trailing 1-0 with two singles. On the second, the Braves made their first misplay, as they tried and failed to cut down the runner going to third, which allowed the batter to get to second.
With second and third, none out, the Cards hit a grounder to second, and Marcus tried to get the runner at home rather than take the out. It might have worked, but Estrada took the throw in front of the plate and the runner scored. Then the pitcher tried to sacrifice the runner to second; Thomson, apparently planned to throw to second, dropped the ball and everyone was safe to load the bases. Womack grounded to third, and Chipper got the force at home but Estrada tried to get the double play — which he had no chance at with Womack running — and threw the ball into right, allowing a run to score and the other runners to move up a base. Walker hit a chopper that Furcal should have at least knocked down, but which instead he let go over his head for a two-run single. Then Rolen homered, and it was 6-1.
It’s not the first time the Braves have gifted the other team with a big inning by not taking outs when they were given them. Let’s make it the last, okay?
Thomson, despite the bad defense giving him some excuse, wasn’t very good. Four of the eight runs he allowed were scored as earned, which seems about right. Juan Cruz pitched three innings in relief of him, during which the Braves whittled the lead to 8-4 and he struck out three. But Tom Martin came in to give up a two-run homer to eliminate any doubt.
Chipper homered in the fourth, and continues his hot hitting. So does Furcal, who was 2-3 with a walk… The Braves play the Padres in San Diego starting tonight.
Most major markets have a large Sunday edition of the local newspaper. There are some folks who subscribe to the Sunday editions, only. If MLB offered a satellite packages for Sunday Braves games, I’d buy it! Bobby always comes up with, er…unique Sunday lineups. But he has to get his bench players some at bats and who can argue with his results, viewed over the long term?
I’d just like to remind us all that the Braves started this current humongous winning string after a horrendous Sunday game where they had to wonder what kind of team they had. Let’s hope they get it out of their system.
Say what you will about Tony LaRussa and his strange player usage, but is there any doubt that he would figure out a better way to use a stud like Juan Cruz than as a mop up long reliever?
Also, I know baseball is unpredictable and anything can happen from pitch to pitch but was there anything more predictable than Pujols homering off of Tom Martin. I think if you redo that at bat 100 times, Pujols homers 90 times and kills Martin with a liner up the middle the other 10 times.
If I force myself to recall, (Oh the pain! The agony!) I think the pitch Pujols hit off of Martin was low and away; what else can you do?
You could begin with not sending a LOOGY out to pitch to Albert Freaking Pujols, for one thing.
By LOOGY, do you mean a spitwad, something hacked up from a lung, most generally good for nothing, or do you mean something else.
Otherwise, Mr. Martin has a new nickname.
I mean a Lefthanded One-Out Guy, but either will do.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Derosa hit into 2 double plays… give Green a chance to start a game in the outfeild.. Derosa sucks.
I think Cox is using the luxury of a big division lead to audition Martin in a larger role than he may end up inhabiting in the playoffs–it must be said that it’s not going well so far. I’m sure Bobby would like to see some success from Martin v. RH, so that he knows he can put him in the start of an inning v. LH-RH-LH, or something similar, the idea being that you can’t be just a LOOGY if you’re the only LHP in the bullpen. If only the Cubs would fall from contention, they’ve got a couple of familiar faces we could use….
“I’m sure Bobby would like to see some success from Martin v. RH, so that he knows he can put him in the start of an inning v. LH-RH-LH, or something similar, the idea being that you can’t be just a LOOGY if you’re the only LHP in the bullpen. If only the Cubs would fall from contention, they’ve got a couple of familiar faces we could use….”
If I recall correctly Martins numbers vs righties are better than his against lefties (as were McConnells I think).
And I miss Rem too.