As you can probably tell, I’m disgusted. Chris Reitsma, right now, is totally ineffective and should be replaced immediately. I don’t know what is wrong, and it’s not the first time he’s had a stretch like this, but he has to be shut down. Today, he was handed a 3-2 lead in the eighth and immediately walked the leadoff man, followed by a single. Martin came in to pitch to Thome, and got to a 3-2 count. You don’t want to walk the bases loaded, but at the same time you don’t want to give up a three-run homer, which is what happened.
The Braves got only four hits in the game, three of them in a three-run fifth inning, none of them afterwards. In fact, they got only one baserunner, Chipper on a walk, after the fifth. Meanwhile, the Phillies had 11 hits.
In the fifth, Andruw singled leading off, then LaRoche hit a two-run homer that at the time tied the game. After two outs, Furcal reached on an error by Burrell, who then somehow managed to allow Green to “triple to shallow right” — of course, I can’t see the game. At any event, the Braves led until Reitsma showed up.
Wright threw 111 pitches in six innings. Despite some control problems he actually walked only one, and struck out seven. Alfonseca, as I mentioned in the thread, had a good inning, Gryboski came in in the eighth after it was too late and got a double play, and Colon allowed one runner in the ninth.
Byrd is scheduled to go in game two against rookie righthander Gavin Floyd. Perez will certainly start behind the plate; beyond that, I don’t know yet. Green will probably play second, unless Giles’ elbow heals remarkably fast or Bobby gets a wild hair and plays Betemit or DeRosa there.
You realize that if the Braves don’t win this, and if the Marlins do win — which they should, since the Mets are completely inept at this point — the lead will be only seven games, five in the loss column? I’m never comfortable until it’s over, really.
LaRoche’s OPS is up over .810. He’s been absolutely raking since the last half of August. I know he’s not exactly the second coming of Mark McGwire, but he’s definitely a good left-handed bat to have on a bench at the very least.
Remember, Reitsma has not had a good outing against the Phillies in quite a while. He has an ERA of over 7.00 against them in 10 games. He’s only done worse against the Cardinals, not a good sign. On the other side, he hasn’t given up a run and only 3 hits (.120 BAA) vs. the Marlins in 7-2/3 innings.
I don’t believe this garbage. At least the Braves aren’t stranding lots of baserunners anymore — they can’t get any baserunners.
Even with the gap narrowing, I’m content to see Bobby trying to get Reitsma straightened out now. If Reitsma continues to suck, maybe it’ll reduce his postseason playing time.