Game Thread: June 23, Marlins at Braves

There once was a pitcher called Dontrelle
Upon whom the Marlins’ hopes fell.
But in two games before,
They had failed to score,
And things looked grim, truth to tell.

62 thoughts on “Game Thread: June 23, Marlins at Braves”

  1. Not sure where this should go, but check out Furcal’s DT card at Baseball Prospectus:

    http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/furcara01.shtml

    This year, he’s already 3 wins above replacement, which is at or near the lead for NL shortstops. Funny thing is that he’s actually one run below replacement hitting. His fielding has been so outstanding this year as to be worth 3 wins over a AAAA type guy, according to them.

    Of course, I am usually the guy pointing out how Bpro’s fielding statistics don’t make sense, so I don’t know how much stock I put into this… but it does match with our observations that his defense has been good.

    Food for thought.

  2. 1B LaRoche
    2B Giles
    SS Furcal
    3B Betemit
    RF Langerhans
    CF Andruw
    LF Johnson

    What pitcher wouldn’t enjoy having a defense like that behind him? If we are to stay in the hunt, team defense will be a big part of it.

    There once was a shortstop — Furcal,
    Couldn’t hit, but could reach every ball
    Does his OBP stink
    To the point that we think
    Any chance of acquiring Bill Hall?

  3. David and I are crashing this party :-).

    Marlins:
    Pierre
    Castillo
    Cabrera
    Delgado
    Lowell
    LoDuca
    Encarnacion
    Gonzalez
    Willis (11-2, 1.92)

    Braves:
    Furcal
    Johnson
    Giles
    Andruw
    Franco
    Jordan
    Estrada
    Marte
    Sosa (3-0, 2.70)

  5. There goes the scoreless streak!

    Encarnacion was spouting shit today about not being played enough, and said “Braves and Gnats” had asked about him.

    Sent shivers down my spine

  6. If you only shivered when you read that, I’m impressed. I was changing the liner in my trash can a few minutes after.

  9. Yep yep, I’m here. :-)

    Jorge seems to be getting hit hard. He’s still getting outs, though. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and he should do fine.

    And yes, I’m a Jorge fanatic. :-)

  17. Sosa is awesome. I can’t believe the performances we’ve gotten from Sosa and Davies in the absence of our rotation. Absolutely stellar stuff.

  20. If the weed joke surprised you, wait ’til you catch Skip having a flash back. Man, that’s scary.

  21. Mazzone never ceases to amaze me. I remember feeling a little icky about the Sosa trade before the season. I mean, this guy sucked balls before he got to Atlanta. Now he looks really, really great every time he goes out.

    How’s Nick Green doing? The Braves front office people are geniuses.

    As is Leo.

  22. We don’t miss Green, but he’s doing okay. He’s won the 2B job at Tampa Bay, and is hitting .275/.369/.400. One error in 40 games at second.

  23. Green’s at .275/.369/.400 in a hitter’s park. He hit a home run to beat the Yankees the other day, his third of the season. But we have Marcus and Petey. Getting *anything* for Green was good work; getting Jorge Sosa was… well, I guess it was the Devil Rays, but still, good for JS.

  25. Funny, I thought Green did an awesome job filling in for Marcus last year…better than Orr this year. I guess he was more valuable in trade than Orr was… anyone know how Chucky T is doing? I think he went to Oakland in the Hudson deal.

  27. Green and Orr are pretty much equivalent players; Green draws walks and has a little more raw power but Orr hits for a higher average and runs better and has more range (I think). Yes, the guy with ML experience had more trade value.

    Chucky T stank to high heaven: .109/.255/.109 = .363 in 46 AB. He was demoted earlier this month. :_-(.

  30. I’d rather have Petey than Green. Petey’s speed is a hundred times better than Nick’s. Petey can hit for a higher average and always seems to be on base.

  31. Agreed David. Petey also has more confidence than Green, he seems much more dangerous at the plate.

  32. I’d rather have Sosa than Green. That’s good enough for me. And it is nice to have a new over-achieving position player to root for anyway.

  34. Nick filled a great need for them last year…I was really bummed when they sent him to Tampa the last day of Spring Training. I think he was valuable in an effort/energy/inspiration aspect that I have not seen at all from Petey.

  35. What a catch by Brian. Am I the only Brian Jordan fan around here? It appears so…

  37. You haven’t seen any effort or energy from Petey? Are we talking about the same Petey here?

  39. That said… Sosa has been a godsend this year filling in the rotation and out of the pen. Probably more valuable than Nick.

  40. Well, Green’s OBP is higher and always will be, because Pete isn’t really a .325 hitter. But getting the crowd going is a useful intangible, and if you’re a representative crowd-member, Pete’s better at that :-).

  43. I’d say Brian is very good on defense. His arm isn’t the best, but he can cover ground and is one of the best at going back on a ball.

  44. how much more do we gotta watch of Bernero… I am not talking for this game but out of an Atlanta Brave uniform.

  45. It’s official… Bernero’s amnesia has worn off. Hey, it was nice while it lasted. Which I guess was, what, about 3 weeks?

  46. Green’s probably better than Orr, but Sosa has been way more important to this team so far this year than either. We already have an infield glut, and it was great to get a player of value where we’re weakest, the bullpen, for a okay, but expendable, player where we’re strongest.

  47. I agree with Andy and David. Petey does much better in the energy/inspiration department than Green did last year.

  48. Nick Green is a backup infielder whose only above-replacement skill is drawing walks. That’s not useless, but everyone except the Devil Rays already has at least one backup infielder who’s good at something: Pete Orr, for example. They’re not worthless; they just grow on trees, so they have no value on the open market. So when someone offers to pay you for one, you say “sure” and pick another one off the tree.

    Sosa has been more valuable than Green this year the way John Schuerholz is more valuable than I am. I, too, grow on trees :-).

  49. Not saying Pete doesn’t do a great job. I just remember being wowed by Nick many times last year, and he came out of nowhere when we needed him most (Marcus and Andruw’s collision) and he won quite a few games for us… enough so that when Marcus returned there was some debate as to wether he would get his job back full time. Anyway… Sosa has been much more valuable to us this year than Nick would have, and I certainly do not think we would have gotten him in trade for Orr.

  50. Marte should have let D-Trains bunt roll foul. Anybody know why the Spurs/Pistons are starting at 9!?!?

  51. Leaving aside that we got Sosa for Green, remember that Green’s role last year wasn’t pinch-hitter/pinch-runner/late-inning defensive replacement, as Orr is. He was the primary backup infielder and frequent starter due to injury. That role is now being filled by Betemit. We don’t miss Green.

  52. I don’t think the bunt would have rolled foul; it was safely on the grass.

    Bernero does seem to have turned back into a pumpkin.

    Orr would do about as well playing every day as Green did last year. Green’s overall numbers weren’t that good. He got off to a terrific start but was thoroughly replacement-level for the rest of the year.

  53. Orr isn’t quite as pretty though. I don’t know how Skip gets along without Green and DeRosa to drool over. Must be a tough year for him… probably why he’s turned to drugs.

    :)

  54. I’ve been away for awhile. Didn’t miss much, I see. The game’s pretty much what I expected. Willis dominating, Sosa pitching well but not quite well enough, and Bernero letting it get out of hand. I’m not too upset, because I figured this one for a loss entering into the series and yesterday’s game was the most important one.

  55. One distinct advantage Orr has over Green is that he’s a lefty hitter. Middle infielders who hit lefty are relatively rare and good spare parts off the bench. Otherwise, the comparison is probably a wash.

  56. Nice roll we have been on, winning 5 of the last 6. It was something we needed after the drought we had. Bodes well for the second half…when we begin to get some of our walking wounded back, esp 3/5 of the rotation. Add that to our Richmondites getting comfortable at the plate, and our second half looks to have good potential.

  57. If I needed one to start, I would prefer Green because of the walks and power (not that he’s Barry Bonds or something, but he has some walks and some power and Orr doesn’t have any) and because I think he’s better defensively. As a reserve, though, I think Orr is the more valuable player because of the tactical value of his speed and his ability to get the ball in play. An Orr/Green platoon wouldn’t be the worst combination in the world, by the way.

    I’d trade either one of them for a servicable starter/reliever like Sosa, though. Anyone would.

  59. Speaking of minor league pitching…the Braves’ website reports that our old friend Roman Colon will be called up on Saturday. Not to fill out the bullpen — to start versus the Orioles.

    Is it me, or can that only end badly?

  60. I may turn this into a post later, but does anyone think that teams like the Braves and Marlins who have thin bullpens are likely to have distorted Pythagorean records? I mean, if you only have three good relievers and the score’s 7-0 in the ninth, you aren’t going to use one of them. You send out Dan Kolb. It seems like there are several games a year when Bobby gives up and sends out his most worthless pitcher to take a beating.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *