ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Phillies at Braves
Stop me if you’ve heard this before — the Braves’ starter gave up a bunch of runs early and a furious comeback by the offense came up short. I blame Roger McDowell. Nothing else has changed, but suddenly the Braves’ starters can’t get through the first two innings without giving up four or more runs. Today it was Davies, five runs in the first. Roddy McDowall could do a better job as pitching coach, and he’s dead.
Davies gave up four homers, three in the first and one in the fifth, which chased him, six runs overall. Remlinger finished the fifth. Cormier pitched two innings and allowed one run. Villareal and Ray pitched scoreless innings to keep the team alive.
Jeff Francoeur finally escaped from whereever he was held and deposed the imposter, hitting two homers including a two-run shot in the eighth that cut the Phillie lead to a run. The Braves actually had two on and one out in the ninth but couldn’t get the tying run in. Langerhans had two hits — a double and a triple — and two walks, but made his only out to finish the game. Andruw had two sac-fly RBI.
The Padres come in for three starting tomorrow. Hudson will be in to give up six over four innings, and hopefully the Braves can come back against Chan Ho Park. Smoltz faces Jake Peavy in the second game.
isn’t it Tim Hudson vs Chan HO Park tommorow?
Mac,
Come on you can’t blame Roger McDowell for their problems. For god’s sake he can pitch for them. Everybody seems to forget that its only April. Things will turn around.
You’re right, I’ll fix it.
I imagine Roger is feeling the heat though. Did anyone else notice the F-Gonz was sitting in between him and Bobby near the end of the game? It looked to me like they’d had words or something and Freddy was being a peacemaker. I’m sure it’s tense on the pine right now.
Honestly, does anyone have Bruce Dal Canton’s number?
I highly doubt mcdowell and boby have had words. Bobby is always giving people plenty of time before he pulls them off the field. I doubt it’s much different with the coaches.
I’m with Justin. What do you think Roger said? “Hey Kyle, I know we need a big night from you, so go out there in the 1st inning and throw some meat and try to give up 3 or 4 taters.” Look, I know that swapping Leo for McDowell is really the only difference, but no pitching coach has this much affect on a staff, good OR bad.
I can understand blaming McDowell for the young guys’ problems (to a small degree), but there is no explanation for Smoltz and Hudson. I still think they will all turn it around and our starting rotation will be awesome in May.
One thing that is clear is something that Mac said a while back. Spring training means nothing! During the spring our starting pitching was looking really good at the end. Francoeur also looked great, but our hitting wasn’t much. Wow, times have changed.
I will probably be ridiculed for this, but I like Jordan so far. I think his veteran presence has helped and Cox has not overused him yet. Given the spring training indicators, Jurries would probably be 0-10 right now.
I’m not saying that Roger deserves to feel some heat, but he *is* the person responsible for the pitching staff and surely he has heard a snide remark or two. Or three. Ever been a middle manager?
Add to that the fact that every time they cut to a shot of him and Bobby on the bench Roger was sitting there with his head down writing something and Bobby just looked pissed. It’s been like that for five or six games now. And the camera shot at near the end looked damn tense to me. That’s all I’m sayin’.
Of course, Bobby always looks pissed off. But again, it must be tense on the pine right now.
Only ten games played and we’re already four behind the Mets and we’ve lost two out three series and two out of three against a struggling Phillies team.
Only good news is it’s only ten games and the Mets have only played Washington and Florida.
Does it really look like we will dominate the Nats and Marlins the same way the Mets have though?
You know, if Francoeur had been benched and LaRoche traded, we would have won tonight? right?
Bring on the Padres! Let’s see if we can’t improve our record against the West.
Not quite sure how it’s McDowell’s fault our pitchers can’t keep the ball down. I doubt his pregame notes consist of throwing nothing but meatballs in the first inning.
Guess we need a scapegoat. Whatever.
The bad news is that the Mets probably have a new confidence they have never had before and the fact that they are already 4 games up and only have 1 loss despite that pitching staff must tickle them.
To make matters worse, their “Trojan Horse” plan of having Roger McDowell infiltrate and undermine the Braves is working to perfection. The Mets now have us right where they want us.
Ok, I am obviously half kidding (though my McDowell theory would explain a lot) but still, we can’t panic yet…we have to believe pitchers like Hudson, Davies & Smoltz will come around and that James will replace Sosa.
The offense isn’t the problem and the bullpen has been decent enough to be better then 4-6 right now.
If God forbid the Mets sweep us next week, then we are in the crapper big time.
Let’s just hope the Padres games aren’t a re-run of last year.
I’m really looking forward to the Smoltz/Peavy matchup. That sounds like one for the ages.
NY METS: (stop) Have been discovered (stop) Damn Alex R. (stop) abort abort –end transmission–
AJC
attendance 22,911. very low isnt it?
Yea…that was pretty low. Lots of empty seats …I was wishing I was there! …I thought I was hearing things when they first said that, but I knew it didn’t look like a very large crowd.
The Padres gave us more trouble than any other team last year (we lost five out of six to them.) I hope there is not a repeat this season.
I personally can’t wait for the Braves to play the Mets so we can personally knock them down to Earth.
Bad day. Bad, bad day.
JC, I am not at all surprised by that. I wish they’d figured out the problem last year, though.
Good come back but not enough. Ya, your pitching sucks. you can’t give up 5 or more runs to teams like that. Give me my respect. I said you would lose and you did. And don’t any of you ever, ever bring up the mets wining because we are playing against bad teams. None of those teams were in dead last like the philly’s, and you couldn’t even beat them. I hope this was a wake up call for you guys to realize that the braves are simply not that great of a team. And believe you me this is not to disrespect the braves. I’m just saying the truth.
Ok, anytime Baby Met posts I propose that we post a drink recipe (or regular recipe) instead of replying to his juvenile drivel. I’ll go first:Yog SothothTequila1 eggTabascoPour tequila into glass. Seperate egg yolk from the egg white, being careful not to break yolk. Discard egg white. Add yolk to tequila, again being careful not to break yolk. Dot yolk with tabasco. Drink while contemplating the “ultimate animating essence of existence’s whole unbounded sweep ? the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike.”
NY METS – You honestly believe the Phillies are worse than the Marlins and Nationals? That alone makes debating and talking baseball with you an exercise in futility. If you don’t put more thought into your posts, I’m not going to be able to enjoy our little online battles.
It is true that the Mets have played two of baseball worst teams (teams that are actually very very bad). That doesnt take away the fact that you beat them, soundly. They did what they should have done, and for that, they should feel good, but they, and you, should not read too much into it. Its still April and you’ve played no one, though you have looked good.
To be fair to you though, I dont believe that the Braves (especially the way we are playing) would have dominated the Nats and Marlins to the same degree that the Mets have. Not yet anyway.
Dix: Im just messing with you guys, you should know that. Sometimes I say things just to get to you, as braves fans have rubbed it in our face long enough. Christ, chippers son is named Shea! Not to mention all the preseason crap braves fans were saying. Look through some of your old posts before the season started. Now put yourself in my shoes. Just showing some of you up that’s all. You would be doing the same thing to me if it was the Mets that looked like a steaming pile of you know what. Of course I think the philly’s are a better team then the marlins. But not much better than the Nats.I’m being honest. I really and truly don’t think you have what it takes to make it to the playoffs. You need pitching. And now it’s even worse then that. Now your pitchers have lost confidence, That’s a bad thing to have happen this early in the season.
One more thing, If you do end up losing this season don’t be upset. This will give you a chance to get hungry to win. Even if it happens for 2,3,4 years. It will make you somehow more of a fan then you ever dreamed. You will be so excited to see your team be better the next year, I just can’t explain it, so im sure I am coming across kinda strange to some of you. All I can say is that look how excited and happy I am for my team. I can’t even put it into words. Have you guys ever felt like that with only 10 games in the season? Maybe a long, long 15-16 years ago which im sure you don’t really remember.
Boiling Water
WaterFirePlace water in fire-safe container. Put container on fire (or other heat source). When water starts bubbling it is boiling.
one last thing. David wright is the chosen one. He will deliver the mets to the promise land. He will torment the braves as chipper did and name his first born son Turner wright (yeah it’s not as good of a name as shea but it will have to do) Next he will go kidnap Homer and dump him off at Queens, NY never to be seen again. Payback for stealing our damn mascot ass holes!
Beer Can Chicken
1 whole chicken
Can of beerOpen beer. Stuff beer in chicken without spilling beer. Grill with chicken upright until done. Enjoy.
Smoltz & Hudson must have some solid starts to get this turned around. If we’re gonna be any good at all, those 2 gotta deliver, and I suspect they will.
It’s a sub-par 10 game stretch; remember, we’ve seen this before.
Went to the Yankees-Royals game this afternoon. Saw a Met fan (hat & jersey, toting a Met beer coozie) egging on an entire section of very young, very drunk Yankee fans. Before he knew it, he was shirtless and given about 3 MGD tall-boys to wear instead. Then, he was tossed out of the stadium–I assume for general stupidity.
He might as well have been tap-dancing blindfolded on the Cross-Bronx Expressway.
As I’ve learned from years of going to Yankee Stadium: Unless you have a death wish, don’t feed the animals.
Anyone in the NYC area going to next week’s games at Shea? I’ll be there Monday & Tuesday nights. Looking forward to leaving a very quiet stadium those nights.
quick question. If I keep posting will this web site turn into the Martha Stewart cook book blog?
Well, I can honestly say that I would not be bothering Mets fans about it, nor did I. I derive no pleasure from gloating about the success of the teams I support over anyone other than my own friends. When it comes to them *looks at Latnam* they better hope my team doesn’t clinch a president’s trophy the same week his team’s starting goalie is diagnosed with a BLOOD CONDITION, rendering him, and his team utterly useless for the playoffs.
Seeing as how I could never be friends with a Mets fan, I will never derive any pleasure from gloating about the Braves to Mets fans (how’s that for a dig)
I’m not to worried about the mets having a jump on us. 9 of the next like 20 games are against the mets (6 in ny 3 in atl). We can quickly turn this around if we can get our SP going.
Just read an article on ESPN that says the record for most letters in a last name for a major leage player is 13. I found it funny that the Braves have had the two most recent members of that club, Todd Hollandsworth, and Tim Spooneybarger, and are set to someday (assuming no Willis deal) have the undisputed unified champion, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who will weigh in at a whopping 14 letters.
My last name has 3 letters, no wonder I didnt make the big leagues.
Here is a news that I don’t know if it means anything: Jurries played third base last night.
At the meantime, Devine is still struggling…
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2006_04_13_dubaaa_ricaaa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
…and McBride had another successful rehab appearance last night…
Oh come on, Dix. Three letters were good enough for Ed and Mel Ott.
Ugh, what a miserable stretch. An earlier poster had it right, you cant really blame McDowell for Hudson’s and Smoltz struggles, they are big boys and should figure this one out. I think the magic dust finally wore off for Sosa…wasnt he an infielder before? Davies will be ok, I was impressed with how he settled down after the 1st. Nice to see Frenchy get off the snide. I’m betting a quality start from Hudson (6IP, 3ER)
Just think, after the first inning last night, we outscored those Phitin’ Phils 5-2, so take away the first, and you get what you expect from the Braves. Last night, just for one time, can we have a mulligan, and not count the first inning. Call it a 5-2 win in 8 innings?
this is a bit late, but how the heck was Jordan safe Wednesday night when he went to 2nd on the throwing error. I was in centerfield and he looked like dead meat. Was the ball dropped? tag missed? was bobby umping 2nd that inning?
Ball beat him but the tag was late.
Jurries was a 3B at Tulane, so it shouldn’t be that big a switch for him. Wonder if that would only be in a backup role until CJ gets back (I assume WB will continue starting). Hey, as long as it gets Tony Pena off the roster, it’s fine with me.
if you can handle 3b with aluminum batted balls, the majors will look like slow-mo.
Mac, we have heard you say it before, and maybe we can blame McDowell. Our starters in all 10 games have given up big innings, so at least McDowell is not (yet) helping them make adjustments. But the biggest issue seems to be that our guys generally don’t start the game well. Six out of 10 games the starter has given up 3 or more runs in the first or second inning, with an average of 4.5 runs. Any idea what might be going on? Does McDowell have the starter warm up differently than in past years under Mazzone?
The weirdest thing is Hudson and Smoltz contribution to this crap. I highly doubt McDowell is going to get a guy like Smoltz to do much differently. Whatever is the problem there is strictly Smoltz and Hudson’s problems. I for one think Smoltz’s big problem is that he is trying to pitch like Maddux or Glavine and not like Smoltz. He is a power pitcher for better or worse. I don’t see how you can give up your two best pitches (fastball and splitter) and expect to be as successful.
Wouldn’t you think these guys have their own warm-up. Meaning Smoltz probably does the same thing that he’s done for the last 5-10 years, I dont think someone could change that or would want to try and change how someone warms up for a game.
Also, I dont think this is a McDowell problem because or bull-pen has done a pretty good job. How can we explain that only the starters are really struggling, other than Devine. I guess maybe McDowell only works w/ the starters! (being sarcastic) Devine on the other hand looks like a lost cause. Did anyone see his wild pitch the other day. I believe he missed his mark by about 6 feet. I also think he had 10 or 11 straight balls.
I personally think our starters were under-used in Spring Training and by the time the season started they are still searching for their feel and rythm. We have to remember that Smoltz and Hudson both have only pitched in terrible weather! We might get better starts out of them today and tomorrow since its suppose to be a little warmer and not very windy. We’ll see….
It is weird, but part of McDowell’s job is to know when to go visit even a veteran on the mound just to change up the pace or to remind the pitcher of the hitter’s game plan. He’s still getting to know this staff, but he’d better work on making the learning curve a bit steeper.
The extra day throwing in the “Sain-Mazzone” pithcing system allwos a 5 day rotation to be better than a 4 day rotation. In the old days, the thought was that going to 5 days saved wear on the pitcher which was good in the long run, but the pitcher was frequently more wild on the fifth day. The extra day of throwing causes the pitcher to be sharper for his start while still getting most of the good of the extra day of rest (no tension in the throwing session, not like a game for wear and tear).
Does anybody know how many of the Braves starters are off of the extra day of throwing?
Good question, I don’t know the answer. Our guys are being a little wild in the strike zone, except for Devine who is being wild in and out of the strike zone. The problem are the fat taters being thrown too often.
Since I work at home, I’m often not paying strict attention to the game, although I always have it on. So maybe I’m missing something, but it doesn’t seem as though McDowell takes many trips to the mound in the midst of these early-inning beatdowns. Is that an impression that anyone else has?
Urlhix, that is a great recipe (Yog Sothoth). I am now a better man for knowing it. Soon I will be a better (though maybe temporarily worse-off) man for trying it. Only problem is (besides I’m at work right now) that it’s gonna be awfully hard to top.
We need a “stopper” performance by our number #1 starter tonight. With the exception of Thomson’s outing last Monday, the starting pitching has been awful. Spring training is over. The cold West Coast weather is over. Hudson needs to be the pitcher to whom they’re paying 47 million. We’re not going to continue to hit at this pace so the starting pitching better be there to pick us up.
Time to turn a corner…
I’d love to see the missing elements of a complete ballgame for a change: good start, solid relief, no goofy defensive plays. Let’s pick up a series win vs. the McPadres & roll into Shea playing well.
I keep saying it and it’s obvious as hell, but it’s all about the pitching & we’re not getting much right now. Can’t try to win slugfests every night. You know what happens to those teams.
Need some leadership from Hudson & Smoltz this weekend. Next week, Smoltz will miss the Mets series, but Hudson is slated to face Glavine Wednesday afternoon. Otherwise, it’s Davies & Zambrano on Tuesday night (a lotta runs?) and Sosa vs. Pedro (the series opener, a great game to turn things around).
My gut tells me that Smoltz & Hudson will be fine–their history is too good not to believe in them. I have strange confidence in Thomson, but Davies & Sosa just give up too many baserunners for my taste.
Long season, y’all, but we gotta get some good starts, beginning tonight.
I don’t know if any of you have stopped whining long enough to notice, but offense is on the up all around baseball. Please stop with all this McDowell bashing and questioning, Braves fans of all people should know that the first two weeks of April are like extended spring training, nothing to get excited about, or to get to down about. So how bout we quit expecting everyone to be in mid-season form, and just let at least ONE month of the season play out before you start declaring the season, or any particular player, as a failure.
This public announcement has been brought to you by reasonable fans everywhere.
Justin,
Don’t forget: Unlike Spring Training, these games count.
It looked to me like Kyle davies had not warmed up enough or was over thorwing in the first inning. Any thoughts?
Justin, the last time I checked April games count toward the 182 season total. I don’t think it is unreasonable, much less whining, to discuss here what fixes might be needed to ensure that our pitching does, in fact, get into mid-season form by mid-season. I certainly hope Cox, McDowell, and the players are thinking the same way, or else they’re not doing their jobs.
Smitty, I didn’t see Davies in the first, but I agree generally that it seems he and the other guys aren’t quite ready in the first inning. Although, it could be like cliffharpe pointed out and maybe a reduced off day throwing schedule has them too rested by the fifth day.
Jeff K, we play 162 games
Yeah, sorry, I saw the typo when I posted but figured a third consecutive post to correct it was too much even for me. Here’s wishing for at least 182 games for the Braves this year.
Tho I guess it would be 182 only if there were a tie-breaker plus full 5-game NLDS, 7-game NLCS, and 7-game WS.
I did want to ask, urlhix, what does “Yog Sothoth” mean?
I regret that I know this, but ol’ Yog is a particularly nasty beastie from HP Lovecraft mythology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yog-Sothoth
I do still drink tequila even if I don’t read Lovecraft any more – is the drink any good?
That’s absolutely fascinating.
By the way, if Tim Hudson does what Mac predicts and gives up 6 runs in 4 innings, can we get together a raiding party and go steal his horses, kill his cattle and burn his tents?
Hudson will turn it around. Just once, we gotta root for the Auburn guy.
Why can’t we feed the trolls?
Spike, I haven’t had one in years. I don’t remember it being totally disgusting though. We drank them as shooters so it went by pretty quick. The guy who introduced me to it in college LOVED them. But he may have been more in love with the idea of it than the taste itself.
I think the troll may be NY*&!S.
you don’t have to “feed” me anything.But here, let me feed you all something. The Mets are in first place with a 7-1 record. You on the other hand support a 4-6 team . We also have this years Nl MVP on our team. You have no one on your team that can rival David Wright. I just can’t wait untill we face each other this year. I’ll be bringing my broom to shea.
Sorry, that was “UNTIL” I know how much more important spelling is to all of you instead of your team actually wining.
Hudson has to have a good outing tonight. He is way too good of a pitcher for this not to be the case. I really hope he is not just trying to fight through some kind of injury. To me an injury is the only thing that could explain what we’ve seen so far.
You know, it’s odd how some people can’t tell where they’re not welcome. Or, if they do, they just stay around to be assholes.
I don’t mind the banter somwhat. I’ve found much of it pretty humourous. The only problem is that there is no hope of actual baseball conversation. It’s all this, my team is somehow now WS champs 2 weeks into the season crap. I know that he will leave, but unfortunately it won’t be until the season really heats up and he can no longer brag about his stranglehold over Bowden’s Nats and the Flippin’ Fish.
So, not only is the Division title decided in the first ten games, but so is the NL MVP.
Truly amazin’.
In my world, Mets fans & assholes have been synonymous for a long time.
What’s really happnening is a generic lack of self-respect. Because they’ve been down so long, they hate who they are & what they represent (especially to themselves), so they don’t know how to handle relative prosperity with even a scintilla of class.
Translation: In both times of trouble or modest success, they tend to be morons of epic proportions.
In both times of trouble or modest success, they tend to be morons of epic proportions.
Translation: they are always morons.
i didn’t want to let the great drink idea slip away, and, since ny mets refuses to take a hint, you will all be treated to a great bourbon recipe:
Louisville Cooler:
1.5 parts bourbon
1 part orange juice
1 tbsl lime juice
1 tsp sugar
mixing bourbon and oj sounds gross, but actually tastes great. enjoy…