ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Braves at Brewers
Why can’t the Braves get over .500? It’s frustrating. Marcus was back in the lineup, tripling and walking, and Kyle Davies gave the team another good start, but it wasn’t enough.
I normally don’t pick on Bobby here, but his behavior in the eighth was really inexplicable. With the bases loaded and nobody out, trailing by two and facing a righthanded reliever, he let Matt Diaz hit rather than use one of the three lefthanded regulars — Langerhans, LaRoche, and McCann — he had on his bench to pinch-hit. Diaz hit into a DP to cut it to one, and Andruw grounded out, which basically (with Derrick Turnbow in wait) ended the game. LaRoche and McCann got in pinch-hitting appearances in the ninth, and Langerhans might as well have stayed at home.
The Braves had only four hits all night, Marcus’ triple the only extra-base hit. Francoeur is now something like 0-14 and down to .187. Andruw broke a slide with an early single but didn’t look good the rest of the way.
Davies allowed only one run through six, that being on a double-steal where Betemit botched the cut-off and the runner should have been dead at the plate. But in the seventh, after the dreaded 100-pitch mark, he allowed a two-run homer to lose the game. Villareal looked awful in the eighth but managed to allow only one hit. He does it with mirrors and this will not last.
Hudson faces Tomo Ohka tomorrow. Chipper is widely expected to be activated and Renteria is apparently agitating to play as well.
No Kolb sightings tonight, darn. I also don’t see why with Diaz up Cox didn’t put in Langerhans since they play the same position.
It feels like we can’t get over .500 for nothing. We need to win tomorrow (and hope the Mets lose tonight) because we will not win a Jorge Sosa going against Ben Sheets duel.
Bobby’s logic…sigh…
Maybe Bobby forgot about the Koskie homerun and still thought the score was 1-1 tie, haha.
Seriously, I do realize Diaz needs some more at-bat desperately to get his season going. I understand that. However, shouldn’t winning come first? Bobby can start Diaz in place of Frenchy once a while against righty to get Diaz some at-bat as well. There is no reason not to use Langy in that situation. No reason at all.
At worst, they come back with a lefty; Langerhans (a lefty who runs well) is unlikely to hit into a DP. Then they either have to let the lefty face Andruw, bring in Turnbow early… or bring in Danny.
I wonder if Francoeur would be better served by spending a few months in Richmond. I know we’ll miss his defense, but he has been one of the worst hitters in the NL this year.
Kyle, I can’t remember when did JS dump Mondesi last season? That would probably be the amount of time Frenchy has to turn his season around…
Some good news: Giants leading Mets 3-0 in the sixth inning. Hope it keeps up.
It seems like he dumped Mondesi in late May.
Off the Power Rankings on cnnsi.com by John Donovan. I thought this was pretty funny:
When the hitting’s not going, the pitching is holding up the Braves. When the pitching is rotten — and it has been — the hitting comes around. “Apparently the rule right now is one or the other has to [stink],” first baseman Adam LaRoche told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That’s how we’re going to stay fresh for the stretch drive.” It’s a theory.
Believe it or not, Mondesi’s hitting numbers last year when he was dumped were much better than Jeff’s are right now. Jeff is obviously a much superior defensive player, but his OPS is 100 points below where Mondi’s was!
Small sample, etc., yadda yadda. Maybe Jeff’ll snap out of it. I’m not optimistic, because he swings at literally anything thrown to him. He has the 5th fewest pitches per PA in the bigs, and one of the 10 lowest GPAs.
Wait, his GPA is lower than LaRoche’s? He must have gone to a better school.
Wow, I wonder who are the four guys who have even less patience at the plate than Frenchy…
…and Adam’s mouth is as big as the hole in his swing.
Just back from the Meadowlands where I saw the Devils win their 13th in a row, defeating the Rangers 4-1. Now they’re up 2-0 & boy was that fun.
On the way home, it was also fun to listen to the Mets disintigrate a little bit out in SF. Right now they’re down to their last out, losing 6-2. Big night for Moises Alou.
Sounds like a tough night. Hate to waste a good effort from Davies, but this lineup isn’t going to scare anyone. Until we get our guns back, we gotta win the 3-2 games now, not lose them.
Met game over now…
McBride just pitched a scoreless inning tonight with the Richmond Braves. Hope he will be back with Atlanta very soon!
Francouer needs to sit down–even if we have to miss his glove for awhile. Since he hits much better in Atlanta, I think it would be a good idea to limit his road at bats. Maybe he can get his confidence back in Atlanta.
Otherwise, I would agree: he needs to go to Richmond. When you recall the way he hit in September, it appears that he is currently overmatched at the plate.
KC–I was also encouraged by the work by Matthew Harrison and Ryan Basner. The latter might still help us in the pen this year.
Stephen, I have not paid much attention to Basner (maybe I should now), but Harrison’s performance so far this year has catched my eyes indeed. Salty is red hot right now after a slow start. Everybody at Richmond has a poor start including Lerew. Andrus, Campbell, and Ramirez are only barely holding their own at Rome, but I am sure they will be fine within a month or so.
Lerew’s numbers are scary–he has yet to have a single solid outing. If memory serves me right, this happened to him during the second half of 2004, when somehow discovered additional velocity.
Richmond also let go of Damien Moss–maybe he will wind up on Leo’s door yet.
Even if we have some disappointing performances at AAA and AA, Rome will be fun to watch because they are loaded.
I am surprised to hear they let go of Moss. Not that I believe he will make any contribution to the Atlanta team, but I did not realize there are so much pitching depth at Richmond to let go of both Obermuller and Moss in such a short period of time.
I am not sure that they worried too much about losing either Obermuller or Moss.
Buddy Hernandez’s appearance on the Richmond roster reminds me that the Braves may not take their AAA pitchers all that seriously.
It would not surprise me to see the Braves bypass many of their AAA arms for some at AA; Startup, Tucker, Basner, White, Bueno and even Bush come to mind.
The exceptions maybe the arms from Downunder: Stockman and Moylan.
Time will tell….
Francoeur is about halfway to the Mondesi point, and about a third of the way to the Brogna/Jordan point. I’d say Jeff’s leash is a little longer than all of those guys. He’ll get to the All-Star break, unless Billy McCarthy just starts tearing it up in Richmond. The Braves don’t have anyone to replace him, like they did with Mondesi. What might help him is to get a platoon partner, Kelly Johnson. I think there is little to be gained by sending him down, except embarrassing him, unless there is a superior replacement on hand.
I think the only possible explanation for not pinch-hitting Langerhans for Diaz in the 8th is this: that foul ball early in the game that bounced off Langy’s cap in the dugout somehow gave him a concussion.
I think Francoeur does need to go to Richmond, and start working on a change to his approach to the plate. The lack of walks caused by flailing away at pitches a foot outside the strike zone is really hurting him; these MLB guys are smart and scout players, and he will forever be subject to the diet of crap outside the strike zone, until he learns to lay off of it.
Where the heck is Terry Pendleton in all of this? Isn’t it his job to address this?
Boy are we going to miss Marte, who is the anti-frenchy (OBP of about .400 at Buffalo).
What’s the word on Horam? Also, I was wondering can someone that is on the DL play in a minor league game. For example, could Chipper have being playing in Richmond while serving time on the DL.
After writing out the question the answer looks obvious, but I haven’t ever thought of it until now.
you can play so-called rehab games in the minors while on the DL
Frenchy was tearing it up before those two games in DC. He made the adjustments to get hot, I am sure he will make some more.
The thing that concerns me most with Francoeur is his lack of walks. I’d like to see a swings-at-first-pitch percentage, because I think it’s about 90%. And the attempts at plate discipline—I’m guessing that’s what he’s doing—have looked like he’s guessing to swing or not before the pitch is made. I’m not saying it’s easy, but plenty of other major league players have figured it out. But, even beyond that is that is showing no power with only 4 extra-base hits for an isolated power of .132. That’s down from .250 last year. Compared to Andruw’s slump last year (link), the average and power dips are nearly identical, but the difference is that AJ had 7 walks through almost the same number of PAs. If you don’t hit for power, and you don’t walk, well that’s not good. There are bad-luck slumps and bad-approach slumps. He’s in one of the latter right now.
Changing his approach at the plate entirely would probably ruin him. I agree, he has to be more selective, but sending him down so he starts working counts just isn’t gonna happen. He’s just an agressive hitter, and that’s the way it is. There are ways to harness it a little bit better, than he is currently doing, sure, and I guess we could send him down to get him som confidence or something, but I don’t think completely changing the hitting approach he has used his entire life would be nearly as easy as some of you seem to think.
he has no walks in 76 AB’s. He isn’t making adjustments; with his great bat speed, he is going to hit some HR’s.
In fact, in looking at him this year, i think he has worse strike-zone judgment than last year-he swings at terrible pitches.
I do agree that at this stage of his development, you cannot make him into a Chipper in strike zone judgment. However, they had better do some tinkering at the margin, because he will not last as a MLB player with that walk ratio. No one ever has (at least in modern times). I think the closest is Vlad, and frenchie aint no Vlad. The pitchers are going to continue to eat him alive with pitches 12 inches off of the plate. He will hit some mistakes that get in the strike zone, but you cannot have a RF with a .190 OB percentage.
I agree with you, Nick. I don’t know how to help him. All I know is that his presence in the lineup with the approach he has now is a burden to the rest of the team.
JC, I think we are saying the same things, but the lack of walks is to me a symptom of his trouble rather than the cause of it. I agree that oftentimes when he takes a pitch, it looks as if it’s beause he decided before the pitch was thrown. How does one teach pitch recognition? I was always a crummy hitter, so I’ll defer to someone with more baseball-playing experience.
FWIW, I don’t think Vlad Guerrero is comparable to Jeff at all. Despite Vlad’s tendency to swing at lots of pitches, he still draws his share of walks and strikes out with relative infrequency. For his career, he has averaged 5 walks for every 6 strikeouts, and roughly 1 walk per 10.5 plate appearances. At age 22 (Jeff’s current age), Vlad walked 42 times in 600 ABs and hit .324/.371/.589.
I think Jeff is more of a Juan Gonzalez type (BB/K of 450/1270 for his career).
Hate to say it, but Frenchy is at the gates of KomminskLand.
They could have a pitcher throw to him over and over and give him a small electric shock whenever he swings at a ball or takes a strike. He’d learn.
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VLad also has incredible plate coverage, he can actually make solid contact with balls of the plate. Francouers swing looks like if the ball isnt middle of the plate in for him to pull then he cant even touch it, he doesnt seem to have any concept of waiting on the pitch and taking the ball the other way on outside pitches.
Brutality personified.
Let’s hope we see the Kolbb this week.
I agree that the lack of walks is a symptom of a bigger issue. In one sense, I think Francoeur is a victim of his own success last year. Teams didn’t scout him, and he saw a lot of meatballs. If this was his rookie year, and I think that was the original plan, then this would be a lot easier to deal with. Sending him to AAA would be part of the growing pains. With Mondesi, Jordan, and McCarthy all not being capable to play last year, he was forced into action. He did well, to his credit, and now I think sending him down would do more harm than good. Even being platooned, benched, or “injured” would be better than the AAA purgatory he would enter. His mind needs to be focused on improving his hitting, not wanting to be in Atlanta.
Francoeur said a couple of things in spring training that made me think he was ready to take the next step, but obviously, application is a problem.
He has to learn to “give up” his off-the-plate coverage either inside or outside. No hitter–not even Vlad–can effectively ward off pitcher’s pitches for any length of time. All season, Francoeur seems to be either lunging or sawing himself off.
It didn’t help that Francoeur got punched-out on that borderline high strike Sunday night. I imagine he was walking back to the dugout saying “this is what I get for being patient.”
Le the kid swing away. If he can lay off the curve in the dirt, he will be fine.
The trouble is that he just as frequently ISN’T swinging at the meatballs and hangers this year. He’s swinging at slop and then compensating by helplessly watching potential gopherballs go straight by him.
By the way, I found it really, really funny that we were talking about pinch hitting for Matt Diaz with Adam LaRoche in the 8th inning last night, as if LaRoche wouldn’t have bounced into the exact same double play.
I think it’s time for a special “Matt Diaz sucks” thread–any time someone makes us wish we had Adam LaRoche at the plate, I think he deserves a little focused bile.
last year as a too free swinger, he had 11 walks in 257 at-bats. I think it is safe to say that at this point, with almost a certainty that MLB pitchers would have noticed this tendency and thrown him a lot of balls outside the strike zone, having no walks in 76 at-bats is a big step backwards.
Again, where is Terry Pendleton in all this? Isn’t it his job to address this?
You think he’s not trying? It’s not as easy as it looks; you can’t go out and bat for the guy. It’s easy to learn something and a lot harder to apply it. Think of all the times you’ve practiced for something (memorizing something for school, improving your technique, etc.) and you think you have it down and then you get out there and try to do it and you just freak out and go back to your old instincts. And in Frenchy’s case, I’m sure he’s scared that last year was all just smoke and mirrors and this is all he is(and maybe it was) so he’s freaking out even more and pressing, which is just making everything worse.
I think we need to give him more time to see if that hot streak he was on can come back, because he got out of it once (or maybe that was a fluke). We’re all used to Andruw’s hot and ice-cold streaks, although this would be one of the more extreme versions I’ve ever seen. If this keeps up, though, he needs to be sent down to work it out where there’s less pressure. He’s not helping himself and he’s not helping the team. We can’t afford all these black holes in the lineup just because he’s a great defender, and if we use him as a defensive substitute, which is all he’s good for at this moment, we’re wasting his talents.
I also wish Bobby would hit McCann higher in the lineup.
Relax..don’t do it….
Mets are already cooling off. Our schedule will lighten up and our starters will get healthy. We will be 3 in front in two weeks. The real threat I believe is the Phils, so the more ground we gain on them early, the better.
jh
Met fans are targeting Zambrano with their newfound misery, but they should really be looking at Wright & Reyes who are both in horrible slumps.
any news on a normal lineup tonight with chipper and renteria at the 2,3 spots?
I can see targeting Zambrano, but Wright is the golden boy and there is no way they’ll jump him this quick. He is still batting .313.
As for Francouer, I just do not think we have other options right now. He is going to get every chance to figure things out before any kind of move is made. If a move proves necessary, I think we’ll see someone else brought in to platoon with him. I just don’t think he is going anywhere. Look at LaRoche, he does not have near the upside as Frenchy but still is considered an everyday player.
I’m just as impatient as the rest of you, but let’s keep all this in perspective.
First of all this is the month of April. We’ve played 13 road games to a total of six home games. This team has been through a horrid season opening West Coast road trip along with the worst stretch of weather I can remember in recent years. Most teams would be happy to be near the .500 mark without considering that the 1,2,3 hitters have been out for much of this stretch. In retrospect it almost seems that the schedule was engineered to provoke failure.
As for Frenchy, let’s lay off him for a while. Can you imagine what kind of psychological damage we can inflict if he reads boards like this one? Give him some time and there’s a good chance that he can turn it around.
By the way is anyone else really concerned about the Liberty Media purchase of the Braves? To be honest it really scares me.
I read an article on the Braves site… it said Chipper would be in the lineup tonight.
…I believe Jeff will be fine after a while… I get concerned but then I just have to rethink… it’s baseball! It’s a long season and you’re gonna go up and you’re gonna go down… what goes down must go back up sooner or later and I’ll be watching when he starts that turn back up again.
Scott… I agree with your comments about Jeff also!