ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Mets
What Horacio Ramirez can’t do is give up home runs. He allowed a pair of two-run shots in the sixth tonight, and that’s what beat him. He actually had two out in the inning when he allowed a ground rule double (scoring a game-tying run), then the first homer, then a single, then the next homer, and finally Gryboski came in to get the last out. Just a sudden collapse, which has been a problem for him in the past. Bernero and Colon each threw a perfect inning, Bernero with two strikeouts.
The Braves other than Furcal were completely stymied by Aaron Heilman. Furcal had the only two hits and scored the Braves’ lone run against the Mets’ starter. Then Willie Randolph foolishly put in Boom-Boom Bobby Hernandez (another good nickname for him would be El Puque) even though Heilman had thrown only 96 pitches and was cruising. Hernandez gave up a two-run homer to Pete Orr — Orr’s first career homer — to make it interesting but also struck out the side. Braden Looper allowed a run in the ninth but pitched around a David Wright error to get the save.
Chipper did not play; he’s still listed as day-to-day. I guess he couldn’t even pinch-hit, as Julio Franco was given that job with two out and two on in the ninth. Furcal wound up 3-4 but the rest of the Braves were limited to three hits; singles by Andruw and Estrada and Orr’s homer.
Smoltz-Pedro II tomorrow on Turner South, because God Forbid people should be able to watch it.
I don’t know what you guys think, but I like Pete Orr a lot. In fact, I like him so much that I actually want Orr to be our everyday leftfielder. Let him bat second, Giles third and Chipper fourth.
Can’t believe Cox batted Jordan third today…shows us how much he respects Jordan…
Bobby’s pre game interview with Chip Carey was informational.
First, he was flippant about Andruw’s struggles. He was actually poking a bit of fun at Andruw. I believe Bobby loves Andruw like a son.
Second, Bobby mentioned that Chipper suffers from chronic foot issues having something to do with calcium. I detected a desire on Bobby’s part to sit Chipper until Friday against the Cards. I also inferred the choice is Chipper’s to make.
I am developing a theory that Chipper’s genetic build is such that he will suffer the effects of age slightly early and develop an increasing tendancy to injure as he hits the 33-38 phase of his career. We’ll see. Hopefully he admires Eddie Murray who managed the effects of an advanced aging process.
Scary thought, Chipper may be an AL DH type guy. I hope I’m wrong.
Related thought.
Is there a large number of folks who read Mac’s blog who do not get the expanded coverage we enjoy here in Atlanta.
I would be willing to use Mac’s comment section to summarize the home town coverage on occasion. If there’s an interest out there.
Orr is great. He is so fast and he looks classy when he plays if that makes since.
Downtown, I really appreciate your comments. I also believe Bobby loves Andruw like a son. Otherwise, he wouldn’t spend that extra time himself with Andruw to work on Andruw’s swing last year. I have never heard of Cox doing that to anyone the past 14 years.
I am also concerned about Chipper’s long-term health as well. I believe he is still a great player when he is healthy, but the chance of him being healthy will be less and less as Chipper got older (we are already starting to see Chipper having all kinds of nagging injuries). Perhaps this is the reason why the Braves are reluctant to move Marte to leftfield so quickly. Marte is a great insurance at third base, and an often-injured Chipper can be a mean for Marte to ease into the Braves lineup. It may even come to a point which Chipper can’t even play third base anymore and has to play first base.
When do you tag someone as oft-injured? Before last year’s hamstring injury, Chipper never played less than 153 games in a season. He played in 137 despite the injury. His bruised foot is nothing more than the result of how he caught the bag rounding third. We could do worse stepping of a curb.
The guy is having a career year right now and some are talking as if he is on his last leg (or foot).
I think to call him oft-injured is incorrect. You could call Nomar, Frank Thomas, Kerry Wood, or JD Drew oft-injured, but not Chipper. Let’s give him some credit instead of writing his MLB obituary.
bwarrend:
Right on. Chipper still needs many injuries before I start thinking of him as fragile.
I think I would pin the two homers on Estrada. It was clear that the Mets were not touching any of the outside stuff. Coming in once and giving up a hard hit is understandable. The 2nd time, it was just stupid. That was his call, and Horacio did not shake him off. If you are going to call the inside pitch, it should be for effect and should land right on top of their shoes. Tommy G probably watched with a gleem in his eye as the Braves catcher is making the same early mistakes they made with Tommy.
In fairness, the pitch to Wright was on the outside corner of the plate. When he hit it, I thought it was just a flyball to medium, not even deep center. Can you imagine the look of disbelief on my face when the ball cleared the wall?
So, has Horacio become a five-inning pitcher? I know it’s been only a handful of starts, but the dropoff in his performance from the fifth inning on has been staggering. I don’t know what to make of it, but I sure hope Bobby has a quick hook for him if it continues.
Speaking of Turner South and aliens, the thing that is really killing me up here as a New York resident and a Time Warner Cable subscriber is that TWC is in a fight with both of the Mets stations, and the Mets games arent televised for the time being. I tell you it was painful to watch them show Giles hitting during a sportscenter promo about Monday night baseball, and then end up giving us the Nats-Phils game because we’re in the NYC region so ESPN assumes we’ll have the braves/mets contest on local TV. Not so, and frustrating.
Now, i think everyone would agree it’s about darn time that this team gives John Smoltz some Run Support!!! Like he hasnt done enough for this franchise to deserve a little.
Man I was ticked off when I was channel surfing last night and lo and behold the Braves on ESPN! I missed most of the dang game. Oh well aliens out there enjoy.
Blaming the homers on Estrada? If you’re going to assign credit or blame to catchers for pitching performance then Estrada is by far the Braves MVP of the year. Also, this was one of the best games Ramirez has ever pitched (I mean ever) until the the sixth. 3Ks and no walks is unheard of for Horacio. Then Johnny deserves some credit for getting for that part of the game. The pitcher and catcher make calls together, and with the advice of Bobby and Leo. Giving up a home to Cliff Floyd is bad. He’s not that good and a lefty. Now Floyd has two homers off two Braves lefties on the year (say hi Tom Martin!).
This was just a tough loss. I can at least take a loss like this.
I think Johhny has really grown as a game caller, I just think he has a tendency to call most pitchers the same way. Hudson and Smoltz shake him off quite a bit. I love Estrada and think he is a great player ( if he could run a bit, he would be a Jason Kendall clone ). I just think last night, the pitch series was what cost the game. After looking at the replay I taped, you are right the ball was outside to Wright, Johnny was set up on the inside. I wonder if it was a bad location or if the set up was for distraction and misinfo. The ball was high in the zone, so I think that is what hurt. Wright definitely has amazing power, thought I am betting he moves to first base at some point. Of the 3 games I have seen him, his fielding looks shaky.
On a side note, Betimit missed his dive by just a few inches. I think Chipper would have had it.
I thought Ramirez was dealing, but he kept giving up two-strike hits in the 6th. Matsui took a 2-strike pitch to right. Piazza just put the bathead down when Ramirez tried to go inside (Man, Piazza does that better than anyone). Wright hit a lollipop, but it was a pretty good change-up that stayed up. I was amazed Wright hit it out. It shows how strong he is.
So, he may or not be a five-inning pitcher. But I like to think he just had a bad inning.
By the way, MLB.com is having a special where you can get Gameday Audio free for the year by trying four free issues of Sports Illustrated. It’s useful for non-Atlanta residents like myself.
I’m from Chattanooga, where I would normally get FSS and TS on cable. Sadly, though, I go to college in Arkansas, where I get neither. Thanks for the heads-up on Gameday Audio, Bell Curve. I’ll definitely need that while I’m here at school.