ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Red Sox
Hudson was shaky early, falling behind 4-0 after two, and the Braves couldn’t do much of anything on offense until the ninth inning, have lost four in a row, and will probably fall out of first, barring an unlikely Tampa Bay rally. Hudson settled down after allowing two homers in the second, but picked up the loss, going six and walking a Kolbesque five men. John Foster continued to excel, pitching a perfect seventh, and Adam Bernero a shutout eighth, striking out two, while walking one just to keep the memory of Kolb alive.
The Braves managed but one run on three hits against Wade Miller, Jordan doubling and scoring (on a Mondesi groundout) in the fifth. In the ninth, Keith Foulke wasn’t fooling anyone and the Braves got two runs highlighted by Andruw’s triple off that goofy railing on the goofy porch in right-center. But Julio wound up hitting into a double play to end the game when a rocket bounced off the mound.
The middle infielders were both 0-4, Marcus getting ejected after his last at-bat when he went after the first base umpire (who earlier in the count had called a clear no-swing a strike) and Hubbard had to restrain him; fines are no doubt forthcoming.
I don’t know why Julio was in the lineup as the DH. I mean, I think he’s great, but you have a righthander on the mound, and Wilson Betemit has had two super games in a row while Chipper is recovering from an injury. DHing Chipper and having Betemit play third would seem the way to go. Alternatively, Orr could play third and leadoff, moving Furcal to the nine spot (as Joe was openly lobbying for after Rafael’s fourth out of the game).
Oh, joy, Tim Wakefield tomorrow. Even if you hit him he can mess you up for a week.
I agree with you Mac.
I was so surprised to see Chipper playing defensively. There was a short roller in the game that made Chipper looked so silly. Betemit made the same play the other night in SAN, no problem. AGREE – Chipper DH in Boston.
I would DH Chipper, play Betemit 3B. It makes no sense to have a Right hand DH when the starter is right-handed. Why not have a lefty (orr or langerhans) dh?
Orr should replace Furcal for the balance of the weekend. As Joe Simpson noted, Furcal should take a game off.
My biggest PEEVE of the night. I was so pissed to see Estrada not pinch run for in the 9th. Last year, Charles Thomas would come into the game and they would put things in motion. Does Bobby not realize JE is the slowest person in Atlanta behind Peerless Price ????? Joe Simpson is so on point – it is agonizing.
Bottom line – bobby has done some stupid bone head moves this entire road trip and it is pissing me off.
I wish Pat Corales would come back so bobby could focus on managing and not multi-tasking by also setting up the defense.
At some point, you have to ask, why is bobby not even playing by the perverbial book?
Okay, all you rednecks can calm down now. There is at least one pitcher in the major leagues worse than me. Meet the Foulker. He has a 7.29 ERA, and gave up a triple tonight to none other than Andruw Jones. I mean, a walk is much better than a triple, even if the triple doesn’t count since it was Andruw hitting it. If you want me to throw strikes, that’s the result you’ll get, so be thankful I only give up my runs one base at a time.
Don’t look now, but Mesa’s not such a good choice anymore. He’s got an ERA of almost 8.00 in May with 3 losses and 7 walks in 8 innings.
TRADE FURCAL!!!
Johnny seems to be getting on track. He’s hit well in the past couple of games. Andruw and Chipper continue to supply the damage. Bernero and Foster looked good out of the pen. All the positives I could think of right now.
Agreed with the odd choice of letting Chipper play third…
But at what point do you let go of Mondesi, aside from his little groundout RBI? You have a streaking youngster in Langerhans and, as was mentioned, in Betemit as well–how about letting them get some more AB’s?
I just can’t see The Mondesi Project lasting much longer.
My apologies for the unnecessary spacing.
I blame Mondesi–not Kolb.
Definitely not as bad as it could have been. Hudson managed to stop the bleeding before it got out of control, and the offense tried to make a resurgence, but too late. I am not, however, as enamored with Tim Hudson as I expected. The guy makes me nervous, and he definitely doesn’t look like the same pitcher we supposedly got from Oakland. His numbers are off from last year, and I have a lot less confidence in him than I wanted. Anyone agree? And did it seem like everyone was swinging at pitches four feet outside and letting stuff go right down the middle? Man, did I want to kill Julio Franco when he GIDP to end it.
Echoing other comments, why was Estrada not pinch-run for? I doubt it would ultimately have made a difference, but someone faster would have at least been halfway to second and stood a chance of at least intimidating Bellhorn. And if there hadn’t been a double play? What then? I was totally baffled by this. Bobby has a fantastic record as a manager, but when I see some of his decisions, I really wonder. Something has definitely got to change. The team is looking pretty flat right now, and if you watched the way Marcus completely snapped tonight, it’s obvious it’s not much fun. I wonder how long they had to hold him in a cold shower before he stopped being homicidal. Maybe it’ll spark the team into doing something, because he went absolutely raving berserk. If I were the ump, I would have been fleeing down the right field line.
Agree on Chipper as DH. He looked massively uncomfortable in the field. And Julio is not getting it done right now. He kind of killed us tonight. A DH is supposed to be a designated HITTER, not a guy hitting .240 and striking out all the time. And I know Julio is a good hitter, but not right now, and we have to stop playing based on normative assumptions!
I’m crossing my fingers for Davies tomorrow, but I have a bad feeling.
The only reason I can figure Chipper started tonight is ego. He wanted to be in the field tonight, told Bobby he did, and so he was. Bobby did the appropriate managerial thing and gave his franchise player what he asked for. Sure didn’t help, for whatever reason he was in there fielding.
I hear ya about that bad feeling jenny, the weather in Boston tomorrow is looking very good for a certain knuckleballer. I guess we’ll have to see, huh?
I think the biggest understatement of the season….These boys want to sleep in their own bed for a night.
At some point, I have to give all of them some slack (RM, DK, RF, MG, BD). As someone who travels all the time for my job, I can empathize with being ornery & depressed when you are away from home that long. This 4-series away stand was cruel and unsual punishment.
Braves record at home is very good. If we win one of the next two games, i will be relieved.
Jenny – I totally disagree with you about Hudson. You are so off base with that comment. As an Auburn hater, it pains me to say that this – #15 is a WARRIOR. The game in Houston when he pitched shut out ball for 9 innings was AMAZING. Hudson’s run support has been terrible when he pitches. he has also been the victim of a few bullpen/KolBB meltdowns.
Rip, I must respectfully disagree. As someone who has had a full-time travelling gig, they have only been “on the road” for about a week and a half. With days off in LA and Boston, staying in *very* nice hotels. That is NOT their problem, IMHO.
I agree with Jenny about Hudson: he has not been the great pitcher I was expecting. 57 IP, 62 H, 5 HR, 21 BB, 38 K, .278 BAA, 1.46 WHIP. He’s always pitched better than his peripherals–just like Hampton and Horacio–but those are bad ratios even for him.
On the other hand, the bad Tim Hudson has and will continue to have an ERA around 3.5, and that will hardly kill us. As Rip says, he’s a warrior: even when he’s bad he’ll keep us in the game. Plus there’s always the possibility of Good Hudson showing up and pitching a scoreless month (in October, let’s hope). So I think it would be overstatement to call him a disappointment. But the PR we all heard was about Good Hudson, and except for that day in Round Rock^H^H Houston, he hasn’t shown up yet.
That 1.46 WHIP is not looking so good. That is, unless you say the names Thomas, Cruz and Meyer. We definitely got the better end of that deal. And I like ol’ Chuckie T.
BTW, dkolb, you are one funny guy. But I gotta say, it was very sad to see you pouting on the bench. I felt real bad for the guy who was designated to be your “bullpen buddy” so you wouldn’t seem *so* alone on the T.V. At least there wasn’t a chance for a save, you can still keep the dream alive. You’ve gotta believe./sarcasm most definitely off
I completely disagree with Jenny and urlhix about Huddy. I am not at all worried about Tim Hudson. He’s had THREE rough starts this season. One against St. Louis and Pujols made the difference, can’t blame him there. Another against Colorado at Coors Field, hard to get on him for that. The last came against the Red Sox at Fenway, a great offense in their unsurpassed baseball environment. In every other start, Hudson has been absolutely spectacular. He hasn’t given up more than one run in any other start. These three challenging starts are throwing off his stats now, but wait until he has a bunch of division games under his belt. The two starts against A.J. Burnett demonstrated to me that Hudson is going to own this division soon. I can see why some are worried, but after thinking about it, I still expect stellar pitching from Hudson in the future. He just moves the ball too well.
I agree with Raoul. His numbers are skewed by the Colorado outing and the “nervous” outing against his buddy Mulder.
I believe some good home cooking will cure what ails the Braves. My comp. rented a suite for Tues. night, so they better win.
I agree with Rip and Roul Duke. Even when he has an off day, Hudson is tough as nails and keeps us in it. If giving up four runs to a great offense in thier own park is his version of a meltdown, I’ll take it.
I admit that I’ve been disappointed with Hudson’s performance thus far–he’s proved he’s human–but, picking up on Raoul and bwarrend’s comments, it’s important to remember that Hudson is still learning how to pitch to a new league, and that includes ballparks as well as hitters. (Interleague play will carry you only so far.) A little run support would do wonders for Hudson’s confidence. He’ll do fine. He’s proved that he can pitch well even though he may not have his best stuff, and, as we all know, that’s one of the hallmarks of a good pitcher.
My thoughts and observations on the game last night.
-Not enough beer because the game was quick for AL standards.
-Not enough fights for the same reason
-Saw Rob and Amber making out behind the bullpen…not with each other though.
-Wish I could’ve got into the game. I’ve always wanted to give up a HR over the Green Monster and onto Waveland Avenue.
-Love the Hotdogs and cannolis.
-Did I mention there wasn’t enough beer?
I think this will be our toughest road trip all season. It’s the longest and furthest from home this year. Good teams like Padres and Red Sox. Coors Field. 2 of 3 at Dodger Stadium. Could’ve been worse and we still have a chance to take a couple in Beantown. Chins up Braves fans. Let’s not sack Huddy and Ramirez yet.
It will all be worth it when we get NL West 12-game homestand in August.
speaking of that, who do we play in late September at Home? None other but the Colorado Rockies. Not bad payback, but that’s some screwed up scheduling.
Clarification: I didn’t mean that Tim Hudson isn’t going to be a good pitcher this year, only that right now, he makes me nervous! That’s all. He’s been getting in jams lately and getting out of them, fortunately, but my fingernails are paying the price. But he’s Tim Hudson. It’ll be fine.
And the umpiring last night was beyond bad. Not that that’s any excuse, because a hit’s a hit, but the strike zone seemed different for each team and I’m sorry, but Marcus definitely did not swing. It wouldn’t have made a difference that he was out (I hope), but I think the umpire wasn’t even looking. If you’ve watched a lot of other teams’ games this year, I think the umpiring in general has gone downhill, especially on strike zone sizes and consistency and close plays at bases where it seems like the umpires just assume what’ll happen before it does. Of course, maybe I just feel like everybody has it in for us right now.
That umpire-measuring device the league installed a couple of years ago–what’s its name?–has changed the strike zone dramatically. For instance, Glavine now has to pitch inside more often than he did when he was a Brave; the outside corner doesn’t expand for him like it did in the past. I agree that a hit is a hit, but who knows? Maybe La Russa’s comments have caused something of a backlash?
I’m not “worried” about Hudson either. Like I said, we got the good end of that deal. I’m concerned that his WHIP and to a lesser extent, ERA, are going to cause us to have to score more runs than we have been scoring to win.
And David, I think that ump thing is called QuesTec.
Here’s someone who thinks Cox was right about not pinch running:
I guess I see it, especially now knowing the situation with Perez. And Pete Orr had to come in before that after Marcus got tossed, so who would have caught?
I can’t believe LaRussa’s comments would have an effect like that. And it’s not just the Braves, everyone’s been getting bad calls. I’m dreading tomorrow when Balkin’ Bob Davidson has home plate, King of the Phantom Balk (i.e. Steve Kline, nobody has yet figured out what he did and it cost the O’s the game). QuesTec seems like a waste of time.