ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Phillies at Braves
John Smoltz gave up four runs before he ever got an out, and the Braves never got close to catching up. The worst part is that the big blow was a three-run homer by Jim Thome. Thome had only one homer coming into the game, and so either a sleeping giant has awoken or Smoltz gave up a homer to a guy who’s done. Either way, bad news.
Smoltz had some of the same problems he had in the Red Sox game, an inability to work efficiently that limited him to six innings, 110 pitches. He walked four men, which isn’t good, though he allowed just two hits after the first.
Furcal had three hits, but after Marcus doubled him home in the first the Braves’ 2-5 hitters were silent save for a two-out single in the eighth by LaRoche. Andruw’s in one of his slumps again; though he’s hitting the ball, he’s not hitting it hard. Estrada had a couple of hits.
Colon, still, amazingly, on the roster, pitched the seventh allowing a walk. Gryboski, who was activated several days ago only to sit in the bullpen while Dan Kolb kept pitching, gave up two hits leading off the eighth but got out of it. Colon allowed two hits and two walks in the ninth and a single run that probably killed any dim comeback hope.
The Marlins lost to the Mets. We can’t count on that happening again; Pedro was pitching. The Braves stay one out. Tomorrow sees Jon Lieber face Ramirez in a Fox day game.
Not to steal anyone’s thunder but Mark Prior broke his arm. Should be out an extended period of time.
The Cubs are cursed.
One out in the loss column. Tied overall.
Damn I hate Fox day games. West coasters get the shaft on those.
I’d say it’s not as big of a shaft as east coasters having to watch ANY night game on the west coast.
I hate the west coast games, too. I like my baseball over by 8pm.
Hey, this is (very) off-topic, but I thought I’d post it here anyway. I was just looking over at the ESPN “Expected” records page (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings?type=exp&br=3&year=2005&column=gamesBehind&order=false&st=2) and the Braves have the best ‘expected’ record in baseball. 30-17. That’s gotta be a good sign for the future, right?
this from Baseball Prospectus:
Rafael Furcal
Current EqA: .215 (200 PA)
Preseason Weighted Mean EqA Projection: .270
Collapse Rate: 38.3%
“True” EqA: .249 (-21)
Revised 2005 EqA projection: .240
Aaron Schatz asked me about Furcal when I talked to him last night; to be honest, I hadn’t realized quite how poor a season Raffy was having. Furcal has always profiled oddly, sometimes taking walks and sometimes not, sometimes appearing to be on the verge of a power spike and at other times regressing. The stolen bases have been there this year and his defense has rated well, so I don’t think this is a case of a player’s body suddenly giving out on him completely, as can sometimes happen with speed-oriented middle infielders (it’s this phenomenon that was mostly accountable for the high collapse rate that PECOTA assigned to Furcal). I’m drawing a connection here that might or might not be fair, but I see the erratic performances, the pair of DUI arrests, and I wonder if everything is okay with this player.