ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Phillies at Braves
That got a little too close there for awhile, but the Braves got enough hitting and one of their better pitching performances of the season.
The Braves don’t hit lefties well, and Cole Hamels is pretty good, so a lot was up to Tim Hudson, who had his best start since May, going seven shutout innings. He allowed six hits, all but one of which was a single, and on which Howard tried to stretch a triple into a triple and was thrown out by Giles on the relay from Francoeur. Hudson walked only two while striking out eight. That’s what we’re paying for.
He even drove in the first run of the game. Diaz hit a triple to lead off the fifth. Thorman couldn’t get him home, but Hudson took a 2-1 pitch (up around his shoulders and outside, it was probably ball three) and laid down a perfect squeeze bunt. In the seventh, the Braves “broke it open” with two runs when the Phillies brought in a righty. Francoeur was hit by a pitch, then McCann doubled over the centerfielder. Diaz drove Francoeur home and McCann to third with a deep flyout to right, and Thorman doubled home McCann. Bobby hit L’il Tony for Hudson for some reason (even with a lefty now in the game, Orr or Langerhans would have been a better choice, not to mention Smoltz) and he lined out.
Baez struck out his first man but then went Kolbous, walking the bases loaded. Wayne Franklin, not McBride, came in to pitch to the lefty, and I don’t think we’ll see that again soon but the park barely held the sac fly RBI. Yates, for some reason, was brought in to face the righty and actually struck him out. Wickman allowed a single but that was it.
Well goodnight everyone…see ya tomorrow morning.
Good Game.
Good Game… Great to get a W again!
…Dan Smith started tonight for Mississippi
3 -Hits 12-Ks 0 -BBs 1 -R 0 -ER
for him that’s like 71 K’s in 44 innings
To say that Pena’s at bat resulted in a line out is generous. That was more like a weak infield pop-up that didn’t even have height.
I’m sure that the announcers will soon again mention Tony Pena, Sr.’s comments stating that his son can absolutely hit at the major league level, as if that means anything at all. Schuerholz probably says that his kid can absolutely hit at the AAA level.
Well, Hudson got his ERA below 5.00 tonight; let’s see if Chucky can do it tomorrow.
It’s a 1:05 start, so it’ll be nice to dial up the MLB.com radio in the office.
Boy, Tim Hudson pitched like…..well….Tim Hudson. And it was a sight for sore eyes. Bobby says he is goin with Cormier on Sat, but hasn’t made up his mind for Tuesday, I heard it would probably be Kevin Barry or Anthony Lerew, Hope it works out cause we are gonna need innings with Ramirez gone
Nice to see aliens finally returned Tim Hudson and took back their doppleganger.
I saw on ESPNNews earlier that the Braves are expected to put Horacio on the DL with a ligament tear in his finger. So… who are our new 4th and 5th starters until Davies is ready? Cormier and Schiell?
i have been really impressed at how great a hitter Brian Mccann is! Amazing thing is he’s so young, i believe we have a bright future ahead of us. How did Francoer get all the hype? I hope he will be moved to first one day, less wear and tear then catching. Great win tonight – let’s take the series tomorrow
Davies has made 2 rehab starts… scheduled again (I believe) for Friday
Bobby said he wanted 3/4 I think …might’ve been 4/5
Anyways… Kyle said 4/5 in an interview the other day
His first was 2 innings and second was 3 innings… so he’s still gotta get some innings in.
I’m watching the White Sox-Yanks, who always seem to have outstanding games, and was again struck by some of the unconventional things that Guillen does that seem to work out.
It’s 5-4 Yanks, top of the 9th, one out, a Yankee on third. Ozzie brings in his closer, Jenks. He saws off 2 bats & gets out of the inning. The Sox get Rivera in the 9th, but it’s the heart of the order.
Most managers wouldn’t bring in their closer in that spot during a regular season game. If a manager is supposed to do things that give his team the best chance to win, he just did it.
Funny. I hit send & Konerko homers off Rivera. Tie game.
There have been a lot of comments about our poor pitching prospects for this year and next year. To be honest, the Braves have staked their future on Hudson being an Ace, Smoltz holding out for another year or two as a top starter, Hampton coming back, and developing two starters from several contenders. If Hudson is really on the downhill slope – like some have said, we are doomed. Personally, I think he’ll turn it around next year and may finish out the year in good fashion. If we can hold on to even the slightest hope of the wildcard, it will begin and end with Hudson. Ramirez possibly being out for the year makes our chances look really dim!
The irony, ububba, is that Bobby Cox will do it during the playoffs but won’t even consider it during the regular season.
Yeah, HoRam was pitching well too
Brian,
Sure. But, of course, until this season, we haven’t been in a situation where that kind of move might’ve made a difference in a regular season. The Sox are good, but their situation is a little more desperate these days.
I missed the game today, I just got back from D.C. Sounds like Huddy pitched a gem. HoRam going on the DL is going to hurt (I can’t believe I just typed that). I think the Vulture or Franklin should get a shot on starting. I would be surprised if Davies comes back and pitches “effective” this year.
Whaat do you mean, ububba? In ’91 we won the division by one game, in ’93 by one game, in 2000 by one, in 2001 by two, last year by two. We’ve repeatedly been in such situations and Bobby just won’t do it.
Miranda–I was just noticing Smith’s performance tonight as well. I guess he now has 5 starts and his ERA would be a lot lower, but he got rocked when he got to AA.
I cannot help but wonder why the Braves are only now thinking of making him a starter. He has pitched well at virtually every level of the minors and has had great K ratios–something not enjoyed by so many other Brave pitching prospects.
Does anybody know Dan Smith has labored in relative obscurity?
Brian,
Good thing he didn’t, in my view.
We won in ’91. We won in ’93. We won in ’00. We won in ’01. We won in ’05. You can’t finish higher than first place, so if Bobby didn’t make those types of moves, it’s fine with me. Maybe he knew something we didn’t.
But I was really referring more to the many other seasons where making the post-season was rarely in doubt—’95 thru ’00, then ’02 thru ’04. In ’99 and ’00, there was no reason to believe we wouldn’t be playing in October, even if the Mets were close.
BTW, White Sox win in extras. Jenks goes 2.2 & gets the win.
I shouldn’t watch Baseball Tonight. Kruk is trying to make a controversy about Andruw’s screwup that caused the automatic double play, claiming that he could have “buckled” Ace Chutley’s knee.
And Wilson Betemit just hit another HR to tie up the game 2-2 vs. Colorado, that’s 3 HRs for the Dodgers since the trade. For what it’s worth …. Maddux pitched pretty strongly for the LA Former Braves. There were a total of five in the lineup for the Dodgers tonight (Lofton, Drew, Betemit, Furcal and Maddux), watched the entire game, pretty weird. Maddux just looks weird in a Dodger uni. Furcal was swinging for the fences again, so he hit one and then Betemit, just a strange game to watch for a Braves fan. Anyway, afternoon baseball tomorrow, so hopefully work will go by quicker !!
Actually take id Tim Hudsons bat over TJs
Whaat do you mean, ububba? In ‘91 we won the division by one game, in ‘93 by one game, in 2000 by one, in 2001 by two, last year by two. We’ve repeatedly been in such situations and Bobby just won’t do it.
Since Smoltz went to the bullpen a few years ago, Cox has used his closer more in the post-Eckersley formula: only in save situations and almost only for the 9th inning.
But for years, Cox was one of the holdouts for the 1970s and early 80s style of using multiple relief aces in rotating roles that often exceeded an inning and not infrequently exceeding one inning pitched. Look, for example, at ’92 where eight different Braves recorded a save. Or look at Mark Wohlers who, during his three years as a closer, had almost as many games finished without a save as he did games with. (Example, 1996 Wohlers saved 39, but closed 64 games — that was his year with the most “regular” use as closer.) Kerry Ligtenberg and John Rocker had similar usages being brought into non-save situations much more frequently than the post-Eckersley closers’ norm.
ububba, what Guillen did was retro. Before the age of LaRussa and the ‘closer’ there was the ‘fireman’ the guy that came in during a high leverage situation and shut the other team down. Usually it was the best guy out of the bullpen. Guys like Sutter, Gossage (especially him) even Quisenberry did just that.
Dan Smith, it’s no wonder he has worked in obscurity. How are you supposed to stick out of the crowd with a generic name like Dan Smith. Might as well call himself John Doe.
Can we all just admit that Bobby drives us mad sometimes? We are very lucky that Franklin didn’t blow it up in the eighth. I don’t claim to understand (if you are trying to win) why you would put a kid you just called up in that type of situation right away. Seems suicidal to me.
But you do find out what he’s made of by putting him in that situation.
why you would put a kid you just called up in that type of situation right away.
He is a 32 year old with over 300 major league innings. This isn’t like throwing Joey Devine into the fray with half a year of minor league ball.
Of course having Wayne Franklin on the roster itself is a real problem. He is a proven mediocrity (being generous) who will have no value to the next playoff contending Braves team.