ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Braves at Cubs
With Chipper on the DL, Yunel Escobar played third base and was the hero of the hour, though it was only the Cubs. Escobar was in the middle of a three-run fourth inning and later drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth, and also played nice defense. He went 2-4, getting a hit in his first major league AB, and probably should have been 2-3 but they called a sac bunt an out and an error instead.
The game was scoreless through three, Escobar the only Braves baserunner and erased on a double play. Prado, in the lineup because KJ has a cold and Bobby treats him like a porcelain figurine, singled walked. Escobar bunted, the pitcher fielded it and threw to second instead of first, hitting Prado in the face, everyone was safe and Prado relatively unscathed. Renteria doubled him home, then Andruw brought in the next run with a groundout. Francoeur struck out, but Diaz singled Renteria home to make it 3-0.
Alfonso Soriano homered to make it 3-1 in the fifth. James gave up a two-out double to the pitcher in the sixth to make it 3-2, but the pitcher was thrown out at third. Unfortunately, Kali was the first reliever and he screwed up. With two out and a runner on first, ahead in the count 1-2, he for some reason tried a pickoff, throwing the ball into right field to put the runner in scoring position. Prado botched a grounder to bring the tying run home.
Thorman walked to lead off the eighth, and Woodward pinch-bunted him to second. Prado popped out, but Escobar doubled him home to make it 4-3. The Cubs got a leadoff double off of Soriano in the bottom of the inning, but the baserunner tried to get to third on a ball that didn’t roll nearly far enough away from Saltalamacchia and was out by a mile. Piniella went Wellman on the umpire and was ejected, then those wonderful, adorable, huggable Cubs fans threw trash on the field and the game was delayed as the Braves had to go to the clubhouse. Soriano got the next two guys.
Andruw homered to lead off the ninth to make it 5-3. The Cubs got a one-out single from Soriano but Wickman got Derrek Lee on a grounder to end it.
The Cubs outhit the Braves 9-6 and drew four walks to the Braves’ two. But they played poorly defensively, again, and made several boneheaded plays I described above. That’s no excuse for endangering players or acting like an imbecile… Kali got a completely undeserved win out of his blown save.
I’ll take the win over the one of the best young pitchers in the game (Hill). But we really need to look at getting some pop off of our bench – we have absolutely none. Anyone else think that Salty looks alot better when he bats lefty than righty (although he did strike out from the left side today) – he just looks like he has more control of his swing from the left side.
It was “Cubs’ travel mug day” at Wrigley, which you can tell by looking at what the fans threw onto the field.
The 2007 Cubs are proving that Dusty Baker was a scapegoat.
Please tell me the 6% (total votes: 34) that voted for Chip Caray as the best announcer on the poll did so in jest.
I think Prado walked in the 4th, instead of singling.
Small thing, yes, but let’s not give him too much credit.
Dan,
I wouild really hope so. Because any Braves fans who think Chip is the best Braves announcer, must officially turn in their tomahawks and walk away in shame.
Maybe they’re visiting Cubs fans.
I’m surprised Sciambi only has 3%, he’s done a great job so far adapting to the Braves and he’s a welcomed relief after one year of Torborg/Rathburn
It sounds like I had the exact same headcold thing as KJ has, and I will soften my stance a little bit, because it did lay me out for a couple days, especially the ear infection part. But in general, the better Escobar does the better, so that when Chipper comes back, Escobar can be kind of a roving reserve middle infielder so that whenever Bobby gets the urge to rest Kelly, which will be three times a goddam week, we’ll at least have Escobar and not Prado, Woodward or Orr.
And as far as I’m concerned, the problem of who to send down for Cormier has been solved. Prado should have been immediately pulled from the game after letting that ball get through. He was actually scared for that freaking thing. How is it possible that a major-league 2B is scared of the baseball? Absolutely disgraceful.
skip & pete are and forever will be braves baseball in my small, twisted mind.
as far as the poll goes, i went with my “favorite” skip, who embraces his inner assholeness and wears it like the medal of honor that it is. but i think pete is best at what he’s doing and jon has been good the few times i’ve heard him.
Skip, Pete and Joe and thats it for me. I hated Sutton and now he’s gone, but Sutton was better then this awful nitwit Chip. What happened, did Skip’s wife drink too much during her pregnancy with Chip?
Why is he so obnoxious and self righteous to a point you just want to bitch slap him everytime he opens his mouth.
I wonder if Frenchy is going for Ripken’s record? I hope so.
I think that back when he worked for Fox, he at some point decided it was a good idea to subscribe to the Joe Buck school of announcing. Hell, maybe he’s required to, because pretty much every play-by-play announcer that has ever been with Fox, save one that I can think of (Thom Brenneman, who I actually don’t mind, but to offset the fact that he’s a decent announcer [since Fox can’t have that] they always pair him with a complete nitwit), has been Joe Buck Jr.
So anyway, when Chip left Fox, he never dropped the whole Joe Buck “I am the only reason anyone is watching the game” schtick, for some reason. And that’s why he’s a complete asshole. That’s my opinion as to how it happened, anyway.
Oh, and Pete is far and away the best Braves announcer, in my opinion. He always knows exactly what’s going on and makes a point to mention it. When you’re listening to/watching a game that’s being called by Pete, you always know exactly what’s going on. Don’t get me wrong, I like Skip, but sometimes he’s too busy trying to think of his next pun. And Pete can actually be pretty funny too, especially when he’s annoyed by something (e.g. heat index).
Pete Van Wieren may actually be one of the top five announcers that I have heard in any sport. In my opinion, he doesn’t get near enough credit for what he does.
And yes, Jon Sciambi does have a little of that annoying, smarmy Joe Buck/Chip Caray in him, but overall, I think he’s pretty good, and he’s miles better than Bob Rathbun was. I’m not sure he’s getting enough credit, either. In fact, I know he’s not getting enough credit when Chip Caray is ahead of him in the poll.
I didn’t vote, but I would have voted for Pete. But both he and Skip should get a lot of credit for keeping Joe more or less under control the last few seasons.
As for Chip, I think Nick is more or less right. I also think that the networks either encourage PBP men to act this way or they figure out on their own that this is the way to get attention. It’s the equivalent of annoying used car commercials — that’s the only way PBP men get attention. The ordinary ones are much better to listen to but most people don’t know their names, while everyone has heard Joe Buck.
I’ll have to say that I was really happy with James today. With him being a fly ball pitcher, I was really concerned playing at Wrigley. He may not have had his best stuff, but I think he pitched a smart game.
You look at the Cubs starting pitching and their hitting and it doesn’t make sense at first glance that their record is so poor. After you watch them play defense and see the mental errors, it makes a lot more sense. There’s no excuse for throwing garbage on the field like they did today, but I can understand the frustration of the Cubbies’ fans.
I voted for Pete, I’ve always felt the most comfortable with him and Skip. But Pete is my favorite announcer.
How have Escobar’s power numbers been in minor league career? Does anyone know? Thought it was great seeing Lou melt down, even though I was worse after the Phillies sweep.
Wellman should be the frontrunner for the Atlanta Braves’ manager job when Bobby Cox retires. Aren’t the Mississippi Braves in first place by a good distance?
First Inning : Yunel Escobar
Escobar doesn’t have much power at all — he’s at that Orr/Prado level. But if he can maintain a .300 batting average he’ll be a lot more useful than those guys.
Mac, what high average low power guy would you compare him to? Agree, Orr/Prado/Woodward all merger into one big suckmonster. Thorman has been looking really bad at the plate as well. thank god for Rent.
He’s not dissimilar to the young Renteria, but when Renteria was 24 (assuming that Escobar is 24) Renteria was in his fifth year in the majors and had started to develop power. Edgar’s minor league slugging percentage was .321. Delino Deshields, maybe?
Yeah, I’d have to say that would be the case, Mac.
The Worst Sportscaster Ever (McCarver) just said what a great idea to have Mussina pitch to Varitek after Lowell had just homered to cut the NY lead to 5-4. 1 pitch, HR Varitek. Fun on so many levels.
But can Escobar steal bases?
sure, he just has to do it when no one is looking.
Anyone think the Braves should make a run at Dimitri Young? This guy can rake although he is an atrocious first baseman and the Nats are likely to trade him at some point for more pieces. (I was at the Nats-Padres game last night and he crushed a home run.) I like Thorman for the future but they really need more pop in the lineup, especially with Chipper out. I would not trade Salty, of course, but they might have others the Nats would take.
hopefully salty and mccann are the first basemen of the future.