You gotta love Julio. After the Braves had blown a 4-1 lead in the middle innings to trail 6-4, Drew and Julio saved the day. First they hit back-to-back singles in the seventh, Drew scoring later on a sac fly. The real heroics, though, were in the ninth. Drew led off with a single, then reached second on a passed ball. Julio then tripled him in. Hampton ran for him, and after a walk Andruw singled him home. (Andruw’s bashers no doubt will criticize him for getting a hit when all he needed was a sac fly.) Game over.
Thomson looked really good for five innings, then fell apart in the sixth, allowing two runs in four hits to make it 4-3. The team of Gryboski and Martin came in for the seventh to give up three runs, their brief flirtation with usefulness now over. Michael Tucker, who was in a deep slump, had a huge day, driving in four, including a bases-loaded walk from Martin. Only another baserunner thrown out at the plate saved the Braves from giving up more runs. (The pitchers actually only recorded one out in the seventh — out two was on a caught-stealing.) Reitsma and Colon finished the game, the latter picking up his first career win.
Drew finished with three hits, including a three-run homer in the third, and three runs scored. Andruw was 2-4 with a walk, two RBI. Chipper, Marcus, and Estrada all wound up pinch-hitting and staying in the game; Estrada was the only one to get a hit.
The Braves now travel to Philadelphia for two games that no longer mean much of anything. The Phillies are playing a makeup interleague game with the White Sox now, and losing 7-6.
The Braves seem to have serious problems with their middle relief. How often can they blow leads and then come back and win? Maybe we will be seeing Colon more often, although given the fact that Gryboski apparently has blackmail material over Bobby Cox, I doubt that is too likely.
I was listening to the Giants play-by-play on MLB radio and they were really crestfallen by the loss.
As for Andruw bashers, come on Mac. I mean, I think it’s legitimate to complain about a guy making $12 mm to be hitting seventh. He’s a good player but you have to admit he is extremely inconsistent and, really, for what he is getting paid, not a terribly good value.
How often do you see a guy hit a triple and then have someone pinch-run for him?
My only beef with Andruw that he seems so inconsistent AB-to-AB. He looks terrible in the 7th and then recomposes in the 9th. And he did get a big hit early.
But he should kill a guy like Walker, but Ks. I’m starting to worry about his ability to get around on slightly plus fastballs, because he’s always been a sucker on the breaking stuff.
I think he should watch tapes of Frank Thomas this winter.
How often do you see a guy hit a triple and then have someone pinch-run for him?
A pitcher to boot! I bet that is a lot rarer than a cycle.
Or, to get stupid for a moment, a 46 yr old hitting an RBI game tying triple in the ninth and then being pinch run for by a starting pitcher who comes in to score the winning run.
I would guess that it was probably a first.
Andruw is no more overpaid than Chipper, A-Rod, or Manny. Andruw signed at a time when the value for the services he provides — rather consistantly — was high. That was his good fortune. If AJ started putting up JD Drew numbers he would still be overpaid in terms of what his skills sell for in the open market today. Don’t knock Andruw for not being better than Bonds, which is about what he would have to to not to be overpaid.
I agree. Andruw gets a lot of strikeouts and doesn’t always approach the plate with a gameplan, but he is still better than almost every other center fielder out there in terms of production and defense. He’s hitting 7th now and may still get to 100 rbis. How many #7 hitters can make that claim?
The thing I like best about the Braves right now is their ability to come back. We haven’t seen that much of it for a couple of years. That’s gonna make a difference in the playoffs. No reliever is automatic against them.
This may be obvious to everybody else, but is Colon being groomed for a closer job?