ESPN.com – MLB – Recap – Braves at Mets
Mike Hampton’s return didn’t go so well. He gave up a run in the first, was beaten about the head and neck for four in the second, and left the game after the inning for Roman Colon. In those two innings, he allowed seven hits, including two doubles and a two-run homer. Colon wound up pitching three, allowing one run on three hits, walking three, striking out three. He really fills up those stat lines. If Hampton gets put back on the DL, Colon would presumably take his spot, because Kyle Davies was sent down.
The Braves didn’t get a run until the eighth inning, which was way too late. They were held to six hits, two by Andruw, who also had their only extra-base hit, a double. They weren’t even able to make Pedro work; he left after six innings having thrown 61 pitches. Betemit drove in Estrada for their only run.
Jay Powell made his Braves debut, walking one in an inning of work. Gryboski gave up two runs on three hits in the seventh. Boyer pitched a perfect eighth, getting a strikeout. Yet, Gryboski is safe, while Boyer or Colon is going down tomorrow to make room for Chipper, unless they decide Hampton is still hurt.
The Braves now travel across the country to play the Giants for three. I’m telling you right now that I can’t stay up past midnight, so recaps are going to be next morning for the first two games. Sosa will start against Kevin Correia in the opener… The Natspos are down 5-1 in the middle innings in Pittsburgh Milwaukee.
Ha, so, if I read your sentence correctly above, Colon had:
3 IP
3 H
3 K
3 BB
3.00 ERA
The Natspos actually lost to MILWAUKEE, but who can ever tell the Pirates & Brewers, apart REALLY? I mean, is there even a difference?
Colon got ROCKED in relief again. Hey creynolds, I REALLY wish we had made a “wager”. 🙂
And I went to a sports bar today and won’t get those 2 1/2 hours back I wasted on this Braves game.
My reaction: Mike Hampton is a lying S.O.B. He HAS to be, the only explanation. Going out there and pitching the way he did shows he’s obviously not back to full health. And what pisses me off, is if he’s honest with Bobby Cox, Colon starts and probably pitches a whole better then he did in relief…BIG SHOCKER THERE.
Further thing to be scared about: Andruw has cooled off (another big shocker, I know) & the Braves scored 9 runs in the 1st four road games. It’s time to panic a little and at least admit that while we are out getting a closer, we should be out getting a middle of the order bat in the outfield or at 1st.
Well, they’re both somewhere in the midwest. I’ll fix it.
As for that middle of the order bat: Chipper. Tomorrow.
It’s ok, Alex. I don’t pay up anyway 🙂
Hampton really should have done a rehab assignment. I know it’s 20/20 and all, but with what we’ve been getting out of Colon and Davies somebody else could’ve pitched today. I think Bobby got a little too excited about the idea of setting his lineup. Of course, I suppose the same could’ve been said about Hudson, and he did just fine. It’s just frustrating.
Is Chipper going to be that much of an improvement. He’s essentially replacing Betemit, who still has a .838 OPS. 100 points of OPS is a lot, but I don’t think Chipper is going to carry the offense much more than Betemit could. I think we still need to make a trade for someone, but what do you find? LaRoche/Franco have about an .820 OPS between them, so 1B isn’t raping us too bad. Our best bet is to get a RF with power. We have enough guys who don’t hit for power (Johnson, Langerhans, Furcal, Betemit, LaRoche/Franco, Giles to an extent), and we need somebody who can come up with an extra-base hit. Andruw and Chipper aren’t going to hack it.
I tell you who would be perfect: Mike Cameron. The Mets could use some youth, and I’d say Kyle Davies and Some Stiff would get the job done.
Yeah, but where will Cameron’s seven million dollar salary come from? I don’t think Scheurholtz is at liberty to add payroll.
Betemit .358 .491 .298 in 161 AB OPS = .849
Chipper .411 .513 .282 in 156 AB OPS = .924
Betemit hits doubles Chipper hits homers. He will be that much more of an improvement.
You hit the nail on the head when you said that ‘what do you find’. The Braves won’t take on an onerous contract and really there isn’t an impact bat on the market even if they would.
The Mets still think they have a chance to contend in this very competitive division. They won’t trade Mike Cameron.
As for going out and getting a middle of the order hitter and a closer. Just what do you expect to trade and how do you expect to pay for it? Last time I looked those are two pretty valuable commodities.
Andruw carried the team in June. Y’all didn’t expect him to continue that hot streak all summer did you? He is way over due for one of those sustained funks of his. Chipper coming back will help out a lot.
If the Braves are on the market I would think that they are looking for a right fielder and an arm any arm that is better than Adam Benero.
Sorry for the double post. But if they are in the market they are looking in the bargain basement. A rf that gives them more confidence than throwing Jeff Francouer out there. He doesn’t have to be a star just have a more proven resume than Jeff. As for arms the Braves are in the Brower world of the market.
I really don’t think that the team moves any of their 1st class minor league talent to get an impact bat or a ‘proven closer’.
If Chipper starts to hit In San Fran, we will be ok. Our ben is looking good, save Gryboski. A few years ago Bobby call on Gryboski when I was at a Braves game and I yelled that Gryboski sucked. This Ga. Tech kid got in my face about it. Security came and asked this guy sitting behind me what was going on. The guy said, “This guy here (me) yelled at a player. The Tech guy just doesn’t know anything about baseball.” The Tech kid had to leave the area.
I’ll take Kold over Gryboski.
Kolb not Kold, but you never know…
“I’ll take Kolb over Gryboski.” Pardon me while I regain consciousness. I never thought I’d see the day. Sadly, I agree with you (funny anecdote, by the way).
What a total downer of a game. Hampton closely resembled a pile of suckitude last seen jumping out the window of Adam Bernero’s 1987 Volvo station wagon as it travelled up I-95 on the way to Richmond. The pile of suckitude’s whereabouts were unknown, but it apparently hitched a ride to Shea and contaminated Hampton, because he was awful. If he’s still injured, why didn’t he say something beforehand, like in warm-ups, so he could avoid giving up 5 runs and costing us the game?
I hope Chipper’s return does what we want it to. Our expectations may be too high. He hasn’t played much since early June and it sounded like his foot was still bothering him a bit. But I will be optimistic!!
I like yours too Jenny.
Is it me or do the Royals get in a fight every season? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=250717106
Cameron doesn’t hit well enough to be worth the money as a right fielder. The only way Cameron has any value is as a center fielder, and I can’t imagine the Braves would move Andruw to right (even though Cameron’s probably better with the glove at this stage).
The Royals, I think, are reacting to being at the bottom of the dung heap, because it’s the only way they can get on ESPN 🙂 I saw the web footage. That was a pansy body slam by Farnsworth!
The sad thing is, Smitty, the pile of suckitude does indeed seem to be on the move. Bernero had a good 5-inning start today and didn’t give up runs. Last I heard, it was travelling in a 1998 Nissan Sentra that looks remarkably like the one parked in my driveway.
Boy, am I tired.
The Braves are far from panic time right now. And considering how far we’ve come with the kids in the lineup, we couldn’t be any further from panic mode. Hampton probably should’ve done a rehab start in the minors, but as crenyolds said that’s a hindsight call. The Braves pitching was stellar in two games this series. And the other two games we’re only broken open on innings that kind of snowballed.
We’re in position to have a decent roadtrip, the team is being lifted by the returns of our veterans, and we have a series coming up against Washington at home. The Braves are certainly not in panic mode, and to say that they are is merely sore lamentation. The Braves
(sorry, I accidentally hit post)
The Braves are in position to step up and take the division lead. To panic now is to give in to fear, which teams in a position to win they’re division should certainly not have. Plus, the bullpen is slowly tightening up. The Braves are in a position to put all we have together into a, albeit not elite, but contending package. No one panics when they’re in position to make their move. Go Braves! Give ’em hell in the West!
Creg? What?
“The only way Cameron has any value is as a center fielder, and I can’t imagine the Braves would move Andruw to right (even though Cameron’s probably better with the glove at this stage).”
I’m so dumbfounded by this comment I can only show some statistical proof:
Cameron this year, 113 total chances, 4 errors.
Andruw, 223 total chances, 1 error.
There’s more to fielding than errors. I don’t think that Cameron has more range than Andruw now, but the argument could be made. They are both very good. The main point being that adding a good-for-center bat, wherever he actually plays, won’t help the team a lot.
Yeah a good hitter would be nice to have right now. We could get a guy to come in and play maybe 3B, with the WB in a mini-slide. I don’t think Marte is the answer now. Maybe we should call someone up from AA. I don’t know, I would like to get a guy who is a Mets killer and a former MVP. Maybe someone who is a better hitter than Cameron, but can play third. I wonder who we could get? Hey I did hear about this guy named CHIPPER JONES!!!!!!!!!!!!! We don’t need any cast offs from the Mets (unless they want to give us Pedro) This is going to be the week we pass the Natspos. Teams are going to have to start pitching to Andrew again (they finally stopped doing that this week and that’s why he didn’t hit 7 homers last week) I’m pumped, can we play Washington tonight?
I think we need to do nothing. This is a good team. Our success or failure rides on getting then keeping Chipper and the Starters healthy. And Leo and Bobby finally taking the parts of the pitching staff and piecing them together in a way that works for us.
I really like this team, I don’t see anyway we can get a player who’s marginal improvement over the current brave he replaces can justify the marginal cost (in terms of $$$ contract and mortgaging the future by giving up young talent) of that player.
If we don’t win this year, we will be in great shape next year.
They would’ve lost the game either way, the way Pedro was pitching yesterday. He never threw anything over 85mph. Curveballs and changeups, and we couldn’t touch him.
I say they should pick up Moises while in San Fran. They’ll get a good look at him, and it won’t be the first time they made a trade with a team they were playing (ie Lombard to the Tigers during a series at Turner). I know a lot of people don’t like him, but he is productive. He’s batting .322 with a .409 OPB. We could get them to give us some cash and we got prospects to spare like Betimet. Gotta get tird of him, his slugging % is lower than his OPB in July, and they’re both under .300.
Although Andruw’s hitting has tailed off in July, it’s because he’s getting walked more. He has 10 walks to 8 SO. His OPB is .355 for July. How about Furcal! His July numbers are off the charts!
As much as I like the current team, a quality OF is going to be a necessity to go far in the playoffs. Langerhans has done well enough, but is really no more than a 4th OF.
Isn’t it nice to see that the Franco/LaRoche combo at first is outproducing pretty much every NL 1B except for Pujols and Lee. The Marlins went for the big money bat with Delgado and the braves get more HR’s and RBI’s for 10% of the cost.
I dont see the Braves adding any big names. Looking forward, I bet Brian Giles would love to leave Petco and has indicated that playing with Marcus is a desire of his. He has at least a few good seasons left and his age migh discount him for a Time Warner payroll.
I wouldn’t mind picking up Alou, depending the contract and what it takes to get him. I can’t see the Padres trading Giles, since they are leading their division and he’s the only guy they have who can hit. Bullpen would still be my priority though.
If Brian Giles wants to play with Marcus so much, he might take a pay cut, especially given that he’s…27+7=…uh, 34. He’s having a good year this year, though, which might increase his value, but if he wants to come to Atlanta he would probably take less. That would be a nice addition, not to mention very entertaining.
Brian for 3/21? I don’t know if he’d go that low, but I wouldn’t want to pay too much more than that.
Marte hit a bomb and walked twice in his first game back in Richmond. He certainly hasn’t forgotten how to hit International League pitching.
We won’t get Giles the Elder this year, but he’s an FA after this season, so that would be the time to make a move. I don’t want to go through all of next year with this outfield. I’m not even sure it’s okay this year, but the bullpen is the more immediate concern.
Brian Giles in RF, Chipper to first, Marte to 3rd, Betemit to SS… I like this team.
1. K Johnson LF
2. B Giles RF
3. C Jones 1B
4. A Jones RF
5. M Giles 2B
6. A Marte 3B
7. B McCann C
8. W Betemit SS
9. Pitcher
That lineup could do some damage, assuming Kelly starts walking again and stops striking out every other at-bat. I know that Marcus is thought of as a “classic #2” guy, but his brother’s insane batting eye needs as many PA as possible; Chipper could have 150 RBI hitting behind those two guys.
Andruw should be a CF, obviously. Oops.