ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Braves at Phillies
Bob Wickman will be happy to know that he doesn’t have to worry about the Closer Curse for a couple of months, because it’s attached to Ken Ray, whose ninth-inning mindlock — in tandem with his poor pitching — lost the game.
The game was a shutout to the bottom of the fourth when Smoltz allowed a two-run homer. But the Braves tied it in the fifth on a two-run homer by Thorman, and took the lead on a solo shot by Renteria. But Smoltz gave it back on a homer in the seventh, and the Braves pinch-hit for him in the eighth.
Ray got the first man, then allowed a walk and consecutive singles to give up the lead. Then he got a flyout, and after that could have gotten out of it with a groundball, but didn’t cover first for some reason and loaded the bases, then allowed another single to make it 6-3.
And, of course, Francoeur hit a two-run homer to make it 6-5. Inevitable. McCann’s home run streak came to an end, but he kept his hit streak going with a single in front of the homer. Chipper kept his streak going too.
Whoop dee doo. Looks like we need more bullpen help.
Unless Smoltz was gassed and could not go on, I blame this loss on Bobby. The bullpen is horrible and he should not have pinch hit for Smoltz. I don’t care if the score was tied and Smoltz was leading off. The bullpen was going to give up runs (plural). No doubt about it!
Let Smoltz pitch at least the 8th and maybe the 9th or let Wickman pitch the 9th.
If there is a choice about leaving the starter in or going to the bullpen, the answer should be more than obvious.
KEEP THE STARTER IN!!!! Let’s not ever use anyone else, except maybe Wickman, in our bullpen again.(I wish) They really are horrible and the offense can’t always score 15 runs to save them.
How frustrating.
You said it. Granted, it wasn’t a set-up situation, but Ray didn’t do his job either way.
Just for the fun of it, Max Ramirez, the guy we traded for Wickman, hit a home run in his Lake County debut. I’m just saying.
Smoltz did his job without his best stuff, I thought. He’s old, it’s hot, and we’ll need him down the stretch. Since he wasn’t exactly mowing them down, it makes sense to go to the bullpen. Ray just didn’t do the job — eh, it happens. Let’s get em tomorrow.
I didn’t read the game thread, so apologies if it’s been mentioned, but I thought Bobby should’ve brought McBride in a lot earlier. He knows Dellucci & Victorino are the best bats on their bench. But that’s fine. He could’ve brought him in to turn Rollins around. Whatever. He most certainly, without a doubt, should’ve brought him in to face Utley with the bases loaded. I realize Utely has hit lefties well this year but I would’ve played the percentages there. Well, I would’ve played them much earlier. Ray clearly didn’t have it; when he’s leaving his changeup up in the zone and not locating his fastball, he’s got no chance.
You just knew that home run was coming by Francoeur. Had Ray covered first or gotten the next guy out, the Braves would have had a one run lead. And why is it everyone but the Braves can knock Lidle around?
And is anyone worried about a flyball pitcher like Chuck James in the Phillies’ ballpark?
Not pulling Smoltz after he has made 117 pitches? I don’t want to kill Smoltz in July…
…it can’t be more obvious and it’s not rocket science, the bullpen is more than a closer short. Now, our brilliant GM please continues to work on the problem which should have solved in the off-season. Once again, poor market condition should never be an excuse in my dictionary. Nobody and no job on earth can blame poor market condition for not executing and managing properly.
I didn’t see the game..but if Smoltz had thrown 117 pitches up to that point, I agree with Bobby taking him out.
What are you guys blaming Bobby for? He pinch-hit for the worst hitter in the line-up late in the game and then put is most reliable reliver to try and get 3 outs.
There will not be anything down the stretch to save Smoltz for if we keep going to the bullpen. If Smoltz asked out, that’s a different story. At least let him try the 8th and see what happens. We all know what’s going to happen when we go the bullpen. RUNS will be scored.
117 pitches Doug….Bobby will never be Dusty Baker, and I don’t want him to become one either.
I don’t when it was decided that pitchers are done after 100 pitches. Somewhere around the late 1990’s this mentality came into the mainstream. Not so long ago pitchers used to actually complete a game! What a concept.
Smoltz might have had an easy 8th. If he said he was done, then let him come out. It wasn’t like he had already thrown 140 pitches. The alternative is most certainly a loss and the playoffs will be lost as well. Something must be done. The bullpen is a wreck.
The difference here is that we’re talking about Smoltz, who is nearing 40, blowing his arm out, which he is bound to do soon anyway. Baker blows out young arms, like (Balsa) Wood and Prior (to 2004, he was good).
@ Doug
And we haven’t even gotten a chance to see if Wickman can make it worse. 😛
If the bullpen does not turn around the season is over. Can Wickman be any worse than what we have? Let’s hope not.
Maybe Joe Borowski could make a decent set-up man. His salary is only 400,000.
We still need more help in the bullpen. Ray has made a good contribution this season, but it would not surprise me to see him become a bit less effective against the league.
The problem with the Wickman trade (which I like) is that we had to make it in July. We should have pursued Wickman during the offseason (when apparently he was considering retirement) and made use of the money which Chipper freed up to do so.
Obviously, Wickman would have been a useful asset during the first half of the season. By waiting we have missed his services and Second Bass’s observation is well made: we had to give up a very promising player.
My gut feeling is that JS is not finished dealing this month and I hope that we do not have to give up anybody good to `rent’ a player.
It would be great to win the Wild Card, but I would hate to see the Braves mortage their future and then fall short.
It would be very disappointing to win fewer than 3 games against the Phillies after the great start to the road trip. Hopefully Chuck James can recapture some of that magic he had vs Tampa Bay and the offense can make it safe to go to the bullpen late.
If Bob Wickman pitches good for the Braves, and doesn’t retire at the end of the season, what are the chances the Braves resign him?
Chances are probably zero considering JS wouldn’t spend the money needed to get a closer last year. Plus Reitsma should be healthy for next year so you have to figure the Braves will give him yet another undeserved shot at the job.
Has it already been mentioned that Kevin Barry was demoted to make room for Wickman? If it has, sorry, but if not, here’s what they said on the Braves MLB site:
When Kevin Barry burst on the scene with three scoreless appearances, it looked like he might be a solid addition to the Braves’ bullpen for the seasons final three months. But needing a roster spot for Wickman, Atlanta announced on Friday afternoon that Barry had been sent back to Triple-A Richmond. During his first three career Major League appearances, Barry completed nine scoreless innings, allowed just four hits and registered eight strikeouts. But after recording just one out and allowing four earned runs against the Cardinals, the Braves had seen enough of his downward trend. In his past three appearances, Barry completed just 1 2/3 innings, allowed seven earned runs and didn’t register a strikeout.
Food for thought. If the Braves get swept in Philly, do they become instant sellers? The team is really on a fine line between being in/out of the WC.
If the Braves get swept and end up 7 or 8 games out in the wild card after this weekend, then yes I’d have to think they’d take a hard look at trading some expensive players such as Giles and if somebody blowed them over with prospects maybe Smoltz and/or Hudson. With so many teams ahead of them, they simply can’t afford a 5 game losing streak. That would be the end of their playoff hopes.
the Braves need to take the next three from Philly or its basically over. If so. dump Hudson and Giles, lose their salaries and get some pieces fpr next year. I still say dump Giles for more pitching now, like today, we dont have time to screw around.
So Barry got the boot? He wasn’t deserving, but Jorge Sosa is still less deserving. If Sosa keeps (if he isn’t already) Stockman from coming back I’m going to be sick.
Wonder how much of this Wickman will be doing here.
http://wickmanswarriors.com/balk/balk.htm
@ Ron
So what if it’s the end of their playoff hopes? Sure, I want the Braves to get there; getting in the wild card would be an easy ticket to the NLCS because of the Mets. But have you ever heard of the saying “All good things must come to an end”? For God’s sake, I’ve never known the meaning of the word “pessimism” until I came here. Some is it is warranted, but some of it isn’t.
Sammy me boy! If the Braves by some miracle win the wild card, the soonest they could play the Mets would be the NLCS. They’d likely wind up playing the Cards in the division series.
OK, here’s some pessimism for you: Not only will the Braves not win three straight against Philly, they won’t even win two straight. They certainly won’t win today against Brett “I Drag My Baby By The Hair To Show I Love Her” Myers. The thing that has always benefitted the Braves–that it’s a long season, and the cream rises and the sludge drops over time–is working against them this year.
And like any pessimist, I want nothing more than to be wrong about this (what is a pessimist, after all, besides a severely wounded optimist?). In fact, there’s some irrational part of me that believes that because I’m saying publicly the Braves are done, they’ll defy me in spite.
Why not be pessimistic? We don’t have Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Avery to lead us to the playoffs from way back like we had in ’93. I still expect the Braves to win at least 2/4 from Philly. The Braves have a lot of forward momentum. The Phillies are just waiting around to see who gets traded away in their upcoming rebuilding process. If somehow the Braves lose 3 or 4 games in this series vs a team that has pretty much already packed it in, then there’s every reason to worry that their performance the last 3 weeks was a fluke and the terrible playing in June represented their real ability. We shall see.
U tell them Sam! This team is STILL one to be proud of even if they don’t make it to the playoffs. They NEVER gave up and if a Bobby Cox team were to give up it would be a first.
Hey we’re not supposed to win anything this year! The pressure is all on the Mets to prove that they are atleast the best team in the NL(b/c that’s what everybody keeps referring to them as). If the Mets don’t make it to the World Series atleast, then they choked!
— Bravesfan1
Doesn’t look too good.