ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Brewers at Braves
They should have brought in Kolb.
John Smoltz was tremendous tonight. After allowing a first-inning double, then a leadoff single in the second, he retired eighteen Brewers in a row. But the Braves couldn’t do much more than the Brewers, except for a solo homer from Andruw leading off the second. Eventually, Smoltz made a mistake, allowing a leadoff double in the eighth, then a single; after a popup, a long sac fly scored the tying run.
Finally, in the ninth, Marcus drew a leadoff walk against failed closer Derrick Turnbow, who is supposed to be behind Kolb in the bullpen. Bobby had Renteria try to bunt, the equivalent of hanging a “Walk Me” sign on Andruw, but (a) Edgar couldn’t get the bunt down, and (b) Andruw drew a walk anyway. Francoeur then hit a ball off the wall to end it. (The play-by-play calls it a double but it should be scored a single.)
Smoltz finished the CG with eight strikeouts, no walks, and 99 pitches. Francoeur had two hits, forty percent of the Braves’ total. The others were by McCann (.352) and LaRoche off lefthanded starter Capuano. Yeah, the platooning thing makes a lot of sense… Aybar left the game in the sixth with, I guess, an injury. L’il Tony Pena took his place, with expected results, then Orr wound up finishing the game after Thorman pinch-hit for Pena.
Francoeur just keeps coming through.
Well, I’m leaving for Atlanta tomorrow morning. I’m not sure where my tickets are for Sunday’s game, they never really said in the e-mail. My dad’s having us go visit Athens after the game so we can see everything.
How many times have we tried to have Renteria lay down a clutch bunt and he couldn’t do it? I remember the Francoeur walk-off slam with Edgar failed as well.
Also, heard a Frenchy interview on the Braves’ wrap-up show. They asked Francoeur if he had faced Turnbow in Milwaukee earlier in the year, and Francoeur, on the spot (deep in the interview, so sounded like it wasn’t prepped) recounted each at-bat. The guy has a knowledge of the game. For a youngster, that’s a rare commodity.
I will weep like a baby when Smoltz retires. He is tremendous.
Maybe Renteria agrees with me that bunting high in the order is stupid and leads to intentional walks of your best hitters.
I really enjoyed this game. For a few minutes, I forgot how bad this season has been. Oh, and Francoeur is so freaking clutch. Many have criticized him on here, and rightfully so, because he has a lot of developing to do as a player. But…he really seems to have superstar potential. I am excited about the future.
rob,i feel your pain. i was going to post the same thing. when smoltzie goes braves baseball just won’t be the same, no matter how good the team is.
I have to admit, as much as I want to see Francoeur have a little more seasoning at Richmond, he has performed pretty damn well for someone who was thrust into the majors like him.
Smoltz really led by example today.
In the pregame show, he said that the team neaded a heroic effort tonight..and he delivered.
Smoltz is the man! Wouldn’t you love it if one of our terribleplayers was name Turnbrow. I could root against that name
From the previous thread:
“What did Huck do this game? Ohhh yeah that’s right. NOTHING!”
How about get one of only five Braves’ hits in the game?
Now what did Thorman do?
I meant what did he do to help us win Dan….. Yeah, nothing.
As for Thorman… WTF are you talking about? LOL I was talking about Huck and Frenchy. Are you bringing up some conversation you had with someone else?
Smoltz is my hero. I mean he basically IS the atlanta braves. Tonight was a step in the right direction. Maybe we can peel off a few W’s in a row here and make this thing a little interesting.
John Smoltz may Roger Clemens it for a few more years.
He looked awesome today, that slider had guys check swinging and going around all night.
Tony Pena can’t hit.
Larouche got a hit, was aptient for the msot part.
Jeff got lucky this game. Sure Jeff has been “clutch” occasuinally.
In late game situations he doing okay, but not great.
“As for Thorman… WTF are you talking about?”
You’re love for him. Isn’t that obvious?
“You’re love for him. Isn’t that obvious?”
Opps.
You’reYour love…..Went to Yankee Stadium & got another bucketful of A-Rod hate. He couldn’t stop a ball hit down the line that led to the 2 back-breaking runs, then he hits a HR once they’re down 7-3. It never ends. He can’t win. He oughta play for Toronto or something…
“Tony Pena can’t hit.”
Baghdad Tony Pena Sr. says he can/will.
Chipper looked good tonight IMO… He hit two to the track… the first I knew was close and going to be caught… the second was to the deepest part of the field and I don’t know how it didn’t go out. ..but it didn’t! Made some good plays… He looked good.
It was great to see him back on the field… I plan to go back tomorrow night!
I’ve seen Jeffy Franchise fail too many times to call him clutch. He’s not quite the broken clock that is right twice a day but it takes a certain amount of cognitive dissonance to forget all the times he has whiffed or popped up in crucial situations. Give me B-Mac any day of the week.
Elizabeth, enjoy your trip to the “Little Easy” after the game. It’s one of the best towns in America, IMHO, and I’ve been to most of them. Too bad you are going to be here on a Sunday, it’s usually pretty dead. Farm 255 on Washington St. is a great place to eat. All locally grown food in a great atmosphere. The Five and Ten in Five Points is also killer, fyi. Be sure and check out the double-barrel cannon and the Tree That Owns Itself. They are the two things that any first time visitor to Athens should see.
/used to live three houses down the hill from the Tree That Owns Itself…
Judging by my last post, I’m a handicapped firstgrader.
I need to proof read my posts, or this will get uglier.
Baghdad Tony Pena Sr. needs to go back to KGB school and learn to lie better.
Great day .097???
How does that happen?
His explanation was, “My son can’t hit in the minors, which of course through this tortured logic/horse manure I will throw your way means he can hit in the Majors”.
I’ve heard of a weak bat but, this is insane.
Has JS signed McCann up for a few years?
We should do the same for LaRouche.
Jeffy and Langy need some work.
Mark DeRosa is absolutely freaking out in Texas these days — just had his second 6-RBI game in three days, and he’s batting .333. I don’t really have a point to make, just thought I’d bring it up.
NO he hasn’t 4 Seam. As I mentioned earlier with McCann that would be a big mistake b/c you don’t want to have to go into arbitration with him, he would command quite a bit. His arbitration starts after next year.
As I can recall we have only had two shut out games this year. Is that a real low number, have we ever had a season with 1 or 0 shut out games?
noone has mentioned this so I thought I should give it some airtime..
Bobby let Smoltz hit for himself and pinch hit for TPJr.
think about that for a min..
its cause Bobby knows TP JR cant hit. I love his dad’s reasoning. “My son sucks in the minors because he tries to hard, but believe me he’ll be good at this level. The boy can hit if you give him time.” ??????????????????
Well then give me a few AB’s and Im sure I can find a hit too. I’ll give him credit though, he’s probably as good defensively as anyone in our infield if not better.
its going to be interesting to watch the Kevin Barry/Ben Sheets matchup today. Sheets left after one inning in his last start. I think he’s still injured, but with the team struggling so bad he’s going to give it a try. He’s killed us in the past. Hopefully, Barry will pitch like he did in his 1st few relief appearances…
I was always a big DeRosa fan and was disappointed when he played really badly after given a chance to play everyday. I love looking at his stats now and rooting for him from afar, even as I am thankful he plays in the American League and can only hurt us once every three years.
It does make me wonder though. Did we give up on him too early, or did he need a change of scenery to start playing like this?
From the AJC:
“He’s [McDowell’s] been dynamite,” Cox said. “He’s really, really good. … Roger’s one of the brightest baseball people I’ve ever met in my life, and I’m not sugarcoating it. The guy is brilliant.
“He’s as good about pitching and the overall game as anybody I’ve ever met. Pitchers love him, and he brings a lot to the table.”
The injury-plagued Braves have used a patchwork pitching staff, and Cox said the team’s 52-61 record was no fault of McDowell’s.
“Let me tell you what,” he said. “We wouldn’t even have the wins we have if it wasn’t for Roger.”
So, there you have it.
I think DeRosa just had the Betemit problem; with Chipper, Furcal (now Renteria) and Giles, who was DeRosa going to replace?
Couple of things I didnt see in the recap and would like some others thoughts on this. I didn’t watch the game, but I was able to listen to 90% of it.
1) The announcers were amazed w/ our infield defense. I think Renteria and Giles made two great plays or it seemed like they did. I think Renteria made a diving stop and threw someone out from his knees. I didn’t know he had that kind of an arm anymore.
2) On Frenchy’s double, the announcers said that Giles wasn’t hustling. Is that true? Was the play at the plate a lot closer than it needed to be? If Giles wasn’t hustling and it was very obvious, will Bobby bench him for it? Or was it nothing?
just wanting some thoughts from those who were able to watch the game….
Yeah, the Giles thing at the end was really, really weird. He was jogging all the way, paying no attention, while relay throws were being made and it was almost close enough to call it a play at the plate. I think maybe he saw Jenkins initially give up on the ball when it was clearly going over his head…but Brady Clark didn’t, and Giles lollygagged anyway. Very weird.
As for Renteria’s arm…let’s remember that Damian Miller was the runner on that play.
And urlhix, my wife and I just tried Farm 255 for the first time last night (lived here 2 years). Delicious. Very cool atmosphere.
csg… I was wondering the same thing too…
I was listening on the radio and by the sound of the announcers, I was thinking that Giles was going to be thrown out.
“Giles is lollygagging”..I clearly remember hearing that
Thanks guys, I wonder if Bobby benches Giles for that today? I bet Smoltz would’ve gone nuts if Giles was thrown out for lollygagging around the bases.
Stu, I didn’t know who the runner was, but I’m glad to hear that Renteria actually dove for a ball. Thats rare!
The guys on 790 The Zone are also talking about Giles not running hard on that hit by Jeffrey…
“there’s no need to NOT run hard on the game winning play..”
If Bobby thinks he was loafing I bet he’s benched today. We will know Bobby’s thoughts on it when the lineup comes out. What’s the deal w/ Aybar?
As for DeRosa…he has been doomed from the same pattern all of the braves backup infielders are having. There just isn’t anywhere to put them. DeRosa, Nick Green, Betemit. I predict that if we hang on to Giles at the end of the season then the same thing will happen to Aybar. All of these people are or were too good to be a bench player and thus wanted by other teams.
DeRosa sucked playing everyday. We sat him on the bench, moved Chipper back to third, and brought up Charles Thomas and won the division. I like DeRo and hope he does well
It’s somewhat ironic that DeRosa had another 6 rbi night last night while the combination of Aybar, Pena Jr and Orr were busy not contributing offensively again
I haven’t been on here awhile… but has anyone noted recently LaRoche’s split on the road vs. at home? It’s ridiculous. On the road he has hit 18 of 23 homers, and actually has a 1047 OPS. At home his OPS is 693. Has there ever been a home-road platoon before? It’s too bad this guy is s sensitive – I bet he could be getting quite a bit more out of his peak seasons.
WASHINGTON – The Mets have asked about Arizona’s Shawn Green, a baseball official confirmed Friday night, but any deal could be held up by the fact that the outfielder has a no-trade clause that includes New York.
Green can be dealt to only three teams – the Padres, Angels or Dodgers – but he used that clause as a bargaining chip for a contract extension when he approved a trade from the Dodgers to Arizona before the 2005 season. Green has cleared waivers, thereby making him eligible to be traded to any team.
if giles wasnt hustling, it was a brain slip and not a passion slip. he is not like laroche and andruw who can be seemingly lazy often. if giles is ever benched for anything, i dont think it would be lack of hustle. that would be mad.
I saw the video, its on the Atlanta Braves website. He definitely wasnt running hard for some reason. I dont know what he was doing, maybe he was thinking there was 2 outs and it was going to be caught. Not sure though, he never really rushed it after making the turn around third. I would like to hear from him on that play.
Saw the Giles play. I just think that there was never a chance that they were going to throw him out—although the way he was running looked like he had a pebble in his shoe.
urlhix,
So you lived on or near Finley Street on the big hill?
As Athens restaurants go, I’m still a big fan of The Grit on Prince Ave., and, of course, when nearly broke, in doubt or indecision, there’s always the Taco Stand on Milledge Ave.
Dan, you are one strange little man…
Barry is going to shine tonight. MIlwaukee has lost 6 straight, lets make it 8
Hey Lando…what happened to Garza last night?
I didn’t see the game but 2.2 IP and 7 ER doesn’t sound that well..
From the AJC’s game recap:
There was some drama when Giles ran easily between third and home believing that Francoeur had hit a home run. He scored a step ahead of the throw.
“Gilly was just making sure I got an extra-base knock [hit],” Francoeur joked.
Yeah, doesn’t look good Davey. Hopefully it was just neverousness and he bounces back in his next game.
Hmmm…ok.
He’s a young kid, making his debut so that’s very understandable.
If you’re staying the night in Athens, you gotta go to the Bluebird Cafe for breakfast — mmmm, Powerhouse Eggs….
Eh, the Grit is ok. But the whole no-meat thing means it can only get so high in my book. I like meat way too much for anywhere like the Grit or the Bluebird to ever be a favorite.
Now, the real Bluebird Cafe, the one in Nashville where music legends are made, is top-notch.
So JS hasn’t signed McCann up, that makes sense.
I mean who wants to have good players on their team, the Yankees? Yea look at them, losers. /sarc