ESPN – Cardinals vs. Braves Box Score, July 21 2007 – MLB
So that’s baseball. One day you score two runs, the next day you score 14. One day you’re a bum, the next day you go 6-6 with six RBI and four runs scored. That’s what Willie Harris did, pretty remarkable for any player, but especially for one without home run power. Triples are almost as good as homers, and more interesting, and he had two of those, driving in five of his runs. I really should have called him out before this.
Harris scored on a McCann single in the first, then in the second drove in Thorman and came around to score one of two driven in by Chipper’s single. The Cards came but with a run in the third, but the Braves put up three more in the bottom of the inning, two on the first of Harris’ triples. The Cards cut it to 7-3 in the fourth, but the Braves answered with a touchdown, pushing it to 14-3.
Buddy Carlyle didn’t have his best game, but it was still a quality start, six innings, three runs, striking out two and walking one. I think we all would have accepted that coming into the Carlyle Era. (The Braves have, I believe, gotten seven quality starts and one blown quality start in their nine games since the break.) Carlyle also had two hits and scored three runs.
National League batting leader Chipper Jones had three hits in four ABs, including a homer, and drove in four. Renteria was 3-3, drove in two and scored once.
Fredo Ledezma, who is pretty awful, gave up three runs in the seventh. Macay McBride, meanwhile, has a 2.25 ERA and four holds for the Tigers. Villarreal and Yates finished the game.

Well, good for McBride. Maybe he needed a change of scenery.
It’s funny as hell that Chipper’s leading the league in batting average. 🙂
A batting title wouldn’t hurt Chipper’s HOF chances.
Maybe Chipper Jones can finally improve his black ink test?
Beckham’s finally in.. at the 77th minute or so.
Anyway, great to see we picked up a game on the Mets today and fantastic to see Willie feeling good at the plate.
Wade Boggs had many strange superstitions predicated on the hope that he would go 7 for 7 one day. Willie almost did it!
Willie needs to eat chicken before every game. 😀
I always liked McKay McBride. I know he struggled this season with us, but I was sad to see him traded. Maybe he really did need a change of scenery, but I still kindof wish JS hadn’t done that deal.
Mark Bowman put this info in his latest “Notes” article on the Brvaes MLB website. I thought it was really bizarre:
Over the past couple of weeks, Tim Hudson has said that he knew he’d surrendered an unusually high number of hits to opponents batting in the ninth spot of the lineup. Still, when he was shown the numbers on Saturday, he couldn’t help but blurt out a surprising laugh.
He’s allowed a .304 (14-for-46) batting average to those hitting in the final spot of the order. The only higher mark is the .321 average he’s surrendered to those batting in the sixth spot. Leadoff hitters are hitting .200 and cleanup hitters just .175 against him this year.
Pitchers are hitting .300 against Hudson, and pinch-hitters batting in the ninth spot have collected four hits in 13 at-bats.
“It’s only going to get better,” a smiling Hudson said. “That just can’t happen all of the time.”
@7
It’s all right. It’s not a pennant race breaker. After all, McBride would be part of the tired Atlanta if he was never traded.
Of all the deals that the Braves have been rumored to have been interested in, I haven’t heard anything about a lefty reliever. But I also don’t know of any (worthwhile) that would be available.
Once the Braves make the post season (it’s easy to be optimistic after 14 runs) they’re going to need Soriano to be lights out, Yates and/or Moylan needs to be solid, Wickman needs to be solid, and Ledezma has to be able to get out any lefty he’s asked to. I’m not sure that he can do that.
Any lefties out there that JS might have his eye on?
tired Atlanta bullpen*
The only pitching rumor I know of is that the Braves are interested in Zack Greinke.
wonder who was the last player to have back to back triples in back to back innings? Also did anyone comment on how much ground Thorman tries to cover on ground balls? There was one rountine ground ball to Kelly and Thorman basically dove into Kelly’s feet. The man needs to stay and cover 1st more
Rangers’ lefty CJ Wilson is a name often linked to the Braves in trade rumors.
Braves have been in some rumors for CJ Wilson a lefty specialist
good call Aram
I also wouldnt mind getting Greinke. He wont help too much this year, but he has a real good arm
Ledezma trade is looking horrible, however he did have some bad defense behind him tonight
From Peanut Bowman:
Barring an unforeseen megadeal that would blow Schuerholz’s socks off, there isn’t a possibility of both of these prospects being included in the same deal. One National League scout says he’s gained the impression the Braves are much more willing to include Saltalamacchia in a trade than Escobar.
With shortstop Edgar Renteria eligible for free agency at the end of the 2008 season and 18-year-old phenom Elvis Andrus seemingly at least a few years away from being Major League-ready, the Braves may see more of a need to keep Escobar than Saltalamacchia, whose greatest value on the trade market is as a catcher.
Take it easy, guys. McBride has pitched 7.2 innings for Detroit. Ledezma has pitching 9 innings for the Braves. I’d say it’s a bit too soon to be talking about who won that particular trade. There were/are plenty of scouts & analysts that thought/think Ledezma is the better arm.
Post 10 — We can’t rely on Yates or Moylan in a postseason situation…same for Ledezma. These guys, sadly, are not clutch or consistent, and I always feel as though they’re bound to be touched up each outing.
Also, now that we have won so convincingly, I suppose it’ll be time for a 5 to 1 loss in Sunday’s finale.
Sorry to be so negative, it’s just been too much of an up and down season. I miss the 90s.
I woulnd’t mind trading Saltalamacchia or Escobar for Dontrelle Willis
Dontrelle Willis is not very good.
Thanks for the info… I hadn’t heard about CJ Wilson.
I had heard about Grienke rumors and I think he could be a great arm to add IF he’s through his personal issues. He seems to have moved past them this year, but it’s still a big IF. Dayton Moore knows he’s got a good arm too… can’t believe he’d come cheap unless the Royals organization considers him damaged goods. I don’t think he’d help a ton this year. But who knows?
I’d like to see JS deal Escobar for useful pitching. His minor league stats weren’t *that* great. He’s done well in the bigs for a few weeks… but he appears to be a guy who can play a few positions and hit ok (without power). He could be something special, but I think the Braves have a number of guys like that in the system.
Saltalamacchia had one great year at Myrtle Beach and hit well when he first came up. He seems to have enough promise to hold onto him though. I am still very interested in seeing how he adjusts to his first skid here (if Bobby will still give him consistent at-bats).
Knowing Schuerholz, we’ll make a trade that nobody saw coming.
That’s always fun to have revealed. Heh.
Greinke is from Orlando, FL — I can’t imagine that being closer to home (Atlanta vs. KC) would hurt anything re: his personal issues. Perhaps he’d even do better overall being closer to home — he wouldn’t be the first player for whom we’ve seen that happen in Atlanta…
I’m still waiting for when he calls up Jonathon Schuerholz. Heh heh. I saw him play last year in Richmond and he didn’t do anything in one game to make me think he’s terrible. But…
Plus I think Greinke is cheap for a couple of more years… another reason why he’d be a great addition. I just can’t figure that the Royals would give him up unless they got a number of good prospects back. Nobody wants to give up good, cheap, young pitching.
Knock it off, Murphy. I’m sick of this nepotism crap. JS, Jr. has hit the proverbial glass ceiling.
i never said call him up. notice the laugh in the post.
Oh. 😛 I take a lot of things seriously.
Also, he’s not “JS, Jr.” He’s Jonathan, son of John.
We have 3 starters in the top 15 in ERA in the NL.
Smoltz is 5th, Hudson is 9th, and James is 15th.
Chipper’s 2nd in the league in OPS, behind Bonds.
McCann is second among NL catchers in OPS. KJ is second among NL second basemen in OPS. Edgar is second among NL SS in OPS. Basically, Teixeira would make this the best offensive infield in MLB.
You don’t see a lot of 6-4-6-6 lines in the boxscores, that’s for sure.
Ledezma hasn’t pitched well, but I don’t understand pining for McBride. The guy hasn’t thrown a strike since 2004, and I don’t miss him a bit. So he’s managed not to walk a bunch of guys for all of the last 8 innings he’s pitched, big deal. The streets are littered with ex-pitchers who just needed to work on their control to be successful. Littered with ’em, I tell ya!
Hey Braves Journal folk,
Been in China for the past two weeks and I’ll be here for another week. As you might expect, Braves baseball does not come on the regular television line-up, and what I’m doing leaves me very little internet access. Can anyone give me a decent little rundown on what’s been going on lately. I don’t have time to go through all the game recaps, box scores, new stats, and all that good stuff. Anybody wanna hook a brother up?
Go Braves.
Rob,
We’ve won a few, lost a few. Andruw got hot, Willie cooled down. Smoltz went on the DL, and struck out 11 his next start and we lost. The bullpen has been flat the last few games, however, we are still just a few games back….thats kinda it in a nutshell…
rob,
good to have you back. how were the hamburgers?
It’s good to have Ledezma around because without LaRoche, the team was missing its designated space cadet.
Between the passport incident and trying to jog into the dugout last night as everyone was (I assume) screaming “ONLY TWO OUTS!” at him, he’s earned it.
I don’t necessarily think Ledezma is the best, but I was at the game last night, and I don’t think he was awful. It’s hard to excuse a lead-off walk, but the hardest hit ball in the inning was the one hit directly to Woodward that he booted.
I watched Ledezma’s whole inning, and it was the leadoff walk and singles that seemed to kill him. He seems to get pretty flustered when he’s in trouble.
… darn those “seems”. Yes, Ledezma looks like he gets flustered if he gets in trouble.
Rob,
Nee-how!
Same story, 2.5 games out. I think we’ve won 14 of 21 games, but that includes an embarrassing 3-game home sweep to the Reds.
For ESPN haters (like me):
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07222007/sports/self_loving_espn_is_no_longer_in_the_now_sports_phil_mushnick.htm
Ledezma didn’t get any help from his fielders.
Great stuff, ububba 😀
yeah that was pretty good
I haven’t seriously watched ESPN in years. It’s probably because I get all my sports news from their website so I don’t have to watch the show.
re: McBride vs. Ledezma: The Braves still have a chance to come out on top in this thing if ‘Fredo becomes a starter next year. But barring that, I think McBride will be better in the long run, especially against lefties. And I really wish we’d have kept him on the staff as a LOOGY and night tried to leave him out vs. RHPs.
Anyhow, ‘Fredo is not a LOOGY (righties hit him as hard if not harder than lefties), and with Gonzo coming back next year… I really don’t see what Fredo will bring to the ‘pen other than a lefty long man. But like I say, if he becomes a decent #5 starter, we may be okay.
Of course, we don’t know if he’d be a good starter if he doesn’t actually start.
Mushnick is easily the best and (to my mind the only) thing worth reading in the NY Post. He did get off a few good one-liners there.
SportsCenter = SelfCenter. Classic.
thanks for the link ububba
Is Gonzo coming back next year? I thought it was TJ, which usually takes 12-18 months…
Can someone update me?