ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Red Sox
Kyle Davies was superb in his first Major League start. The Braves’ bullpen? Not so much. Davies went five (needing 95 pitches, 57 of them strikes — not unusual against this lineup) struck out six, walked three and allowed four hits, all singles, no runs. You can’t ask for much more from a rookie, especially one who was in A-ball this time last year.
The bullpen needed to make it interesting, though. Jorge Sosa came up first and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. Then Roman Colon, who is actually still on the team, allowed one run on a pair of hits. Adam Bernero was good, allowing one hit that really should have been an out except that Furcal tried to play the hop off of his groin. Then Reitsma, who is officially in a slump, no excuses, allowed two runs on two hits and a walk. He was getting slammed, none of this nibbling singles thing. Right now, the only relievers I have any confidence in are Foster and Bernero, and I’m not sure why Foster wasn’t getting ready in the ninth.
The weather was pretty nasty and neither team was too good in the field. Furcal was 0-4 with a walk, but reached three times on errors. (I never did get a convincing answer either way on if fast guys reach on errors more often.) And Marcus went 3-5 with a pair of doubles, scoring twice. Chipper had two hits and a walk, drove one in and scored one. Andruw was the only Brave in the lineup not to reach base, going 0-5 with four strikeouts, which serves as final proof that he’s totally useless and should be taken out and shot. Even Mondesi had a hit.
The Marlins won again, but at least the Devil Rays are trying. (I’m looking at you, Houston.) Tomorrow’s game, the final of this road trip that seemingly started during the Clinton Administration, sees Smoltz against Matt Clement.
If striking out four times (as Andruw did) is known as the “golden sombrero”, what is five strikeouts called? I’m pretty sure someone has come up with a name for it, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is.
Platinum, I suspect. Or maybe diamond. (Three is silver.)
I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s only a sombrero if it’s looking, and hence I nominated Andruw for the Golden Flyswatter. But that seems unlikely to catch on.
Mac, I do think it’s established that fast batters are somewhat more likely to reach on errors.
Logically it makes sense that faster runners would reach more on errors. If the runner is slower, the fielder has more time to recover and still make the play. Whether there is any statistical support for this theory, I don’t know.
Google gave me this:
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/btf/scholars/levitt/articles/speedscores.htm
TRADE FURCAL!!
Hate to tell you this, but Furcal’s OPB is actually lower than Raul Mondesi’s.
I could’ve swore that Boston had about 12 errors in that game. I’ve never seen such poor fielder (other than the one-man wrecking crew that is DeRosion).
I understand Kolb walked 3 in the bullpen last night.
Life in the bullpen is great. I get paid a lot of money to spit sunflower and pumpkin seeds all over my teammates and into a bucket (I hit that much more often than the strike zone).
I have a little trick for getting free beer also. I put a really big cup (I think it’s Julio Franco’s) in front of me, then start insulting the fans. When they throw their beers at me, I catch the suds and have a great evening. If I’m lucky, I get a hot dog every once in a while.
Leo says I don’t have to go back on the mound if I don’t want to. I told him I was “scared” of the big mean men with the wooden sticks (he actually buys that load of Kolb).
Mac,
In the Hampton post you mention sending K. Davies down b/c we may not need five in the rotation. Am I missing something. Isn’r K.D. out fourth starter now?
Hudson
Smoltz
Ramirez
Davies
DL: Hampton, Thomson
“I understand Kolb walked 3 in the bullpen last night.” !!!!!
LOL
Murry Chass’s article in the times this morning RE: Kolb:
He pretty much says what most of of have been saying all along. Though I don’t go in for all this “Kolb as Homo” stuff, I had to laugh at the Judy Garland reference.
Well, if even Murray Chass and the Productive Out Gang are calling you out, chances are you really do suck. I guess there wasn’t much JS could say other than cliche’s, but the notion that “this was a team built with good intent, eventually it will work” makes me queasy. The general tone of the article that it’s somehow harder to throw strikes for a contenderis total BS too.
Yeah, its hard to imagine JS taking the “We didn’t know he was a total head case who made his stats a web of deceit” position.
BTW, what a night for Davies. His first Major League K is Big Popi. He will be telling his grandchildren about last night.
Quick thoughts before the washing machine finishes the rinse cycle:
We needed every one of those BoSox errors last night. We shouldn’t have, but somehow, our bullpen manages to blow everything. Part of me thought Dank Lob was going to pitch, in which case I would have gone to bed, but I guess after Suckin’ Sosa cut the lead to 4 runs Bobby figured it wasn’t big enough. And giving up walks to this lineup is the last thing you can do.
Encouraging offensive performance, except for Andruw, who seems to be allergic to knuckleballs. Marcus really showed life, which made me happy, since it meant Hubby wouldn’t have to play middle linebacker anymore. I wish they’d given Furcal that first hit instead of an error, he could really use it.
Davies looked pretty darned good, but I don’t know about running him out on 3 days rest, as Bobby seems to be planning to do. Most guys, forget rookies, don’t fare well with that. But it’ll be against the Mets, not the BoSox, and they may not have Carlos Beltran for that time, since he got injured yesterday (quad, I think). Phillies and Nats got trashed by the O’s and Blue Jays, respectively, both 7-0.
I accidentally wore one of my BoSox shirts the whole way through last night’s game, so I’m sure that’s why we won.
Pkwaldrop, if we’d made a callup that guy could have stayed up as the fourth starter. It turns out now that they’re going to go with a four-man rotation for awhile.
Anyone know why Chipper’s not playing?
I was at the Saturday game in Fenway. Davies was a consistent 91 on his fastballs for the most part, dialled it up to 92 a few times, breaking ball 80-84 that he had a little trouble getting over for strikes and other times you could read the difference in armspeed, but ultimately it didn’t hurt him. You could see him struggling in the last half inning or so, but Estrada and Chipper made a trip to the mound, Giles stepped over and shouted something real quick, the kid put his head down and threw a hard 92 by Manny to become the pitcher of record. Was nice to see. He never seemed rattled, and if he made a rushed or trying-too-hard throw, I missed it.
(aside: after watching Tim “Bad Chicken”– cause he’ll mess you up– Wakefield throw 68 for half an inning, Davies’ 91 looked like 95)