ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Mets at Braves
Let the Willie Randolph Death Watch begin! Brian Jordan was the big hero of the night, hitting a second-inning grand slam on his way to going 2-3 with a walk and two runs scored. If Adam LaRoche wasn’t so slow, Jordan would have picked up another RBI; LaRoche was thrown out at home in the sixth trying to score from second on a Jordan single. The same thing happened to Chipper on Andruw’s single in the first, both times challenging Cliff Floyd’s arm. I hate it when they lose runners like that, but with two out it’s probably worth the risk.
Chipper did later homer to make up for it. Every Braves starting position player (Orr played for Giles tonight) got a hit, Furcal adding an RBI in the eighth which broke a long hitless streak. Mondesi’s only hit was a questionable infield single, and he looks totally lost out there.
Horacio Ramirez started okay but lost his command in the fifth, allowing a homer and then two singles and a walk to cut the lead to 4-2. Gryboski got the last out of that inning. Adam Bernero picked up his second relief win, allowing but one single and striking out two in two innings, and Sosa had one walk in one inning. Reitsma, being Reitsma, allowed a run in the ninth.
Ugly Shirt Day will be tomorrow, as the Braves wear the pizza delivery uniforms that will be their “alternate home jerseys”. I hate alternate home jerseys. It’s stupid, and most of them are ugly, and this one is no exception. Smoltz will face Pedro Martinez, and they’ll be modeling this offense to fashion and tradition.
My thoughts exactly on Rudolph. Looking at him sitting in the dugout, he looks lost or not even paying attention to the game. You can’t blame him that they don’t have 5 quality starters though.
Both Chipper and LaRoche looked safe on my high-def replays (not the scoreboard, local TBS in Atl shows Braves games in high-def). Great sounds of the game from Braves xtra and Gant sounds more in tune with the game than Chip. Chip sounds like the latter years of Harry reincarnated when he starts wandering away from the subject of baseball.
Sosa is making Leo look great once again and shutting up all of the naysayers who were whining about giving up the hometown hero Green for him. Green is a great guy, but Sosa is impressive. It’s like having a closer in the 6-7th inning. I think he’s better than Mota when he was setting up for Gagne with the Dodgers. Another GREAT outing by the bullpen.
Did anyone know that the Braves led the majors in quality starts last year? With the staff they have now, it should happen again.
Bernero gets the win thanks to the “most effective pitcher” rule.. a rule that gets very little play in MLB.
Adam now has more wins (2) in a week than he had in the previous 10 months (covering two seasons) of MLB pitching.
Just want to add a few things to Mac comments…Ramirez looked very good to me. His fastball was good and his breaking balls were working well. He definitely hit the wall in the fifth and I think Cox made the right move to avoid further damage. While he did have three walks, I think walking Piazza twice to pitch to Floyd was a wise decision.
Just like what Bobby said, Bernero does remind me of McMichael. Bernero throws harder than McMichael though as his heaters reach 90 mph. Let’s hope he will have the same success as McMichael.
Sosa, to me, is a great potential. If Reitsma will be a free agent by the end of this season, I have no problem letting Reitsma go and Sosa to be our set-up man for the next few years. His machanic looks quite smooth to me and is less violent than Cruz?s. I think it?s easier to fix Sosa?s control problem and he will be more consistent than Cruz.
Reitsma, despite giving up a run, looks much better than he was late last season. The hitters are swinging and missing at his changeups, and I definitely think working with Leo the second season will really help him.
On Mondesi, I wouldn?t say he looked totally lost (at least he didn?t strike out three times). If Jordan can still contribute, I am sure Mondesi will do even better than Jordan! I know Hidalgo?s fast start in Texas wouldn?t make Mac feel good, but Hidalgo usually starts fast and slow down a lot in summer. I am betting that Mondesi and Hidalgo will have similar years in terms of offensive output. Also, I think Hidalgo signed a two-year deal with the Rangers? I don?t think the Braves would have offered him that. Looking at the brighter side, Mr Drew is still searching for his first hit as a Dodger!
Like most of you guys, I’m not a big fan of Reitsma’s, but I do like the way he went after Beltran to get a game-ending strikeout. I mean, Reitsma knew what he had, and he used it. He didn’t back down. However, as Mac pointed out, it would have been nice if Reitsma hadn’t stayed true to form and given up a run.
Hidalgo signed a one-year contract, for $5 million.
I don’t mean to alarm anyone here, but in Andy Marte’s first 12 AAA plate appearances, he has 3 home runs, a double, two singles, and a walk. That’s a .545/.583/1.454 line. Do you think he can play right field?
Marte’s giving us a problem we’d love to have at this point.
Maybe instead of “We Want Langerhans” we should go with “We Want Marte”?
I was following the game on my phone at work, so this might be wrong; it said the scoring in the 2nd went like this : Estrada singled; Laroche doubled, Estrada to third; Modesi singled, Estrada scored, Laroche to third, Jordan homered. Or was it a Grand Slam?
kc,
I must agree with your assessment of Sosa. From behind the plate his motion looked smooth, deceptive and powerful, but not violent at all. Totally different from how I perceived him the other day when I saw him on the tube. I don’t know how accurate the Turner Field gun is but they had one fastball clocked at 99 mph on the scoreboard. Give that guy a little bit more control and he will do just fine. If Reitsma can pitch like he pitched to Beltran to end innings, I’ll forgive him the one run per outing. He just can’t go out there if we have less than a three run lead. That said, what a beautiful night for a ballgame. Go Smoltz!
p.s. Skip and Pete’s BBQ ain’t bad at all, very respectable, which is surprising. Not quite enough meat on the sandwiches, of course, but tasty nonetheless. And at $8 a plate (incl. slaw and beans), I’ve paid the same for a lot worse. They do need to do some work on their sauces, though. Carolina-style BBQ sauce has no place at Turner Field, IMHO.
We Want Marte
Well I don’t want Marte. No need to start his arbitration clock at this point. Let the good folks in Richmond enjoy the show. As soon as he’s called up it’s basically a countdown until he becomes a Yankee or Red Sock.
The Mets started Heilman, the Fish went with Scuffy Moelher. This is supposed to be our competition?
His free agency clock would start, but he wouldn’t be eligible until he played six full seasons. So you’d get 6 9/10 seasons, or whatever.
I saw that 99 up on the gun too, but I think it was a fluke misread. the camera showed Leo after that pitch and he was looking at cox shaking his head. My impression was that he was disagreeing with the speed. The next pitch looked faster at 96. Either way, I like his arm.
Marte in right field is starting to look pretty good to me.
His free agency clock would start, but he wouldn’t be eligible until he played six full seasons. So you’d get 6 9/10 seasons, or whatever.
True of course. Though calling him up this early would almost certainly make him a super two arbitration wise, and cost the team some money. Personally I hope they don’t call him up until September. I think we are good enough to win without him this year, and that would keep him here for an extra year of his prime.
Grst,
I’m with you, I think it was more like a 96 or 93 that got “read wrong” by the a/v guy. It sure didn’t sound like a 99mph pitch when it hit the glove.
And nyb, you are probably right on the money, with the way things are going at this very early juncture of the season, we can afford to be patient. And when patience, skill and luck coincide, look tha f*** out.
One little thing a think Bobby does very well is rest players. I’ll bet Marcus could have played and wanted to play last night. But rather than have a nagging injury he rested him. He also let him play in the home opener which is, I understand, a big deal for players.
the past couple of nights I’ve been watching Mondesi closely.. and I figured out that his swing is weak and off.. and he isn’t as fast as he used to be.. I wonder how long the braves will wait around for him. he can’t keep striking out 3 times a game.
and another thing, Jordan would have had another RBI if Laroach was running like normal.. did that look normal mac?. he was like walking fast all the way to home.
I like Jordan a lot, I like to see him pumping his fist and stuff.. we need somebody to fire up turner feild, all those fat drunks just want more beer.
hahahah.
“all those fat drunks just want more beer”
I’m not sure you were at Turner Field. For all our flaws as a sports town Atlanta can never be accused of being a bunch of fat drunks. Lets leave the slurs for the visiting teams’ fans.
ASG –
Estrada singled. LaRoche doubled, Estrada to third. Mondesi with an “infield hit” that Wright flubbed around a little. No runners advance, bases loaded. Jordan homers, geand slam.
Drewdat-
Thanks. My little cell phone browser had it wrong.
I dont know, if Marte continues to hit like that (not that he’s expected to), I dont see how you could avoid calling him up. Who cares about his contract status six years from now, if he’s ready to come up and start helping the major league team win games?
The guy i really feel for is Langerhans, because I could see him being the odd man out. I think Mondesi’s rope should be really short right now, and we need to get on the fast track to get Ryan in there starting, see what he can do and think about bringing up Marte as his backup/super utility pinch hit guy.
Give the kids some freaking plate appearances, that’s what I say. And maybe that’ll stop the silly BP guys from dissing the team for its “age”.
I saw where Gamecast or something screwed it up as well.