ESPN – Phillies vs. Braves Box Score, September 4 2007 – MLB
Back to normal! Buddy Carlyle was knocked out in the second inning (down 3-0), having given up a couple of homers, because Bobby wasn’t going to let him face Ryan Howard again with runners on base. Too late. Jo-Jo Reyes did get Howard, and pitched okay in three and a third, allowing one run, though he walked four and threw more balls than strikes.
The Braves got a homer from Chipper in the fourth. In the fifth, they loaded the bases with nobody out only to see Harris and KJ pop up. Chipper walked to score a run, but Teixeira grounded out. Oh, so typical. After that, they didn’t seriously threaten again. Andruw, who went 3-4, had a couple of singles but nobody else did anything against the Phillie bullpen. Which is supposed to be bad, right?
Once again, the Braves outhit their opponent in a loss, 9-8, but Chipper’s homer was their only extra-base hit… With a day game today, I’m gonna let this serve as the game thread. Here are some kittens.
It was the offense again, IMO.
Bases loaded nobody out and the top of the order coming up. It would be nice to get at least one hit. I am sure the Braves were 0-fer again last night with RISP.
It also did not help that Escobar got picked off of 2nd with nobody out.
It seems a lot of our bats are slumping right now. KJ, Harris, Francoeur, maybe even Tex. Andruw’s slump is season long.
Also, shouldn’t Reyes be taking Caryle’s starts? Reyes may have a future in the rotation. Buddy does not.
Agree with you there, Parish. I’m not sure why Buddy is still pitching for us.
Moving on to something that actually matters (unlike the rest of this season), what is everyone’s gut feeling on Andruw this offseason? Does his value take enough of a slump that the Braves are able to make him a competitive offer? Are they so disgusted with his performance that they tell him to hit the road, regardless of price? Does Liberty give us enough payroll that we can make a run at him even if his value is still very high? Does he overcome his agent’s wishes and sign here for less money just because he loves being a Brave so much? What do ya’ll think? I don’t really have a solid prediction on this.
Well, until Bobby shows me that he can still make a good in -game decision, Im going to tag him with responsibilty for these types of losses. Its not fair, but I can do what I want too. Reasons last night
continuing to let Harris play, he’s 0-28 or something like that. When Harris keeps getting runners in position its killing the team. Should have brought in Diaz when we had bases loaded and no outs. He also allowed Orr to hit again for some reason. Yes, we could blame the pitching, but they did great damage control. We gave them 10 walks last night and only gave up 5 runs somehow. A walk by Chipper and a HR by Chipper were our only runs. Offense is terrible right now
Maybe Booby needs to bring in one of those life-size cardboard cutouts of a Hooters girl or one of the Jessica’s, and peel off a different section with each win. This team needs some kind of motivation.
or JS could just cut all the dead weight on the bench and that way, Bobby has no choice
I was going to say I’d rather see Jojo used as a long man/lefty specialist then I looked at his numbers and now I’m not so sure I want to see him pitch at all in the majors right now. His control is pretty terrible.
That umpire had an unusually large strike zone, but the Braves need to stop crying about umpires and just adapt. After an inning or two, it should be pretty clear what that day’s umpire’s strike zone is. There’s no excuse for Chipper to still be bitching and throwing his helmet late in the game. If there’s a wide strike zone, stop taking close pitches and fight them off or hit them the other way!
#4, I highly doubt it will come to that. Teams know Andruw had serious injury problems this year. There’s every reason to expect he will when healthy provide similar production to what he did in ’05-’06 for another 5-6 years. Somebody (Red Sox or Angels?) will make him a significant long term contract offer that the Braves won’t be able to match. I don’t think they will really try to re-sign Andruw given the likely cost anyway. They can still have a very good offense from going with a young outfielder such as a Brandon Jones and spending the $18+ million it would take to sign Andruw on starting pitching.
I don’t think Bobby’s moves are specifically what is killing the team but it does make me wonder when he keeps playing Harris. Ok, he likes speed but the guy has hit something like .200 for, what, six weeks? He can’t play. He was always a journeyman, he had a nice hot streak, now it’s time to face reality. Bobby’s unwillingness to face the fact that Harris isn’t that good is inexplicable. It’s one thing if it’s Andrew or Chipper struggling but Harris has never been much of a player so he should have expected he would come back to earth. Harris is an out machine now.
Oh well, it doesn’t really matter now but I would like to see the Braves just relax and try to win some games. Don’t worry about the playoffs or Chip Carey’s fevered delusions, just go out and play. This is where I think Bobby has failed this year. It’s obvious the team is tight as a drum and the hitters are trying to hit five-run home runs. I don’t know if it’s the way Bobby runs the clubhouse, if this is a different group of players, or what, but he just seems to have never gotten them to relax and just play. I have not been impressed with Bobby’s handling of the team this year. Maybe they need to loosen up the clubhouse with this group. I don’t know, but they play like they have pianos on their backs. I’m convinced that if the Braves had just relaxed and not put so much pressure to win x out of x on this road trip or that home stand, they would have played better. It is clearly a flawed team but it seems to me this is where the manager and the veteran leaders are supposed to make a difference.
@4,
This is not a singular opinion on Andruw Jones.
Most likely scenario:
The Braves will (despite grave concerns) offer arbitration. Then Andruw and Boras will concede that he is better off to take the arbitration award for one year and try to rehabilitate his reputation next year. If that, then he won’t be back with the Braves in 2009.
Next most likely:
Somebody else offers more money and a fixed deal and Andruw jumps to the other team.
Third most likely:
Andruw signs back with the Braves and Boras says that it was Andruw’s idea at something like $10 million for 4. No way the Braves go over that. I am not sure they go to that.
Fourth most likely:
Braves don’t offer arbitration (they are scared they will be stuck with him at a high price and won’t have flexibility to solve centerfield on a long term basis) and he moves on and Braves get no replacemeent draft picks.
Cliff,
I’d say the last scenario there is much more likely than the second-to-last.
I love Chipper’s quote about umpires I saw on Sports Center. Great stuff.
Wow…been a minute, but I see the Braves are still doing what they do best…play with no heart. The vaulted offense is flawed, if not bland. Our nucleus just doesn’t compare to Rollins, Utley and Howard or Reyes, Wright and Beltran. I also believe this is the start of a downward spiral….well at least I get to see the Braves in the new Nationals stadium next year.
yep, our guys looked bored and show no excitement, but how can they when you have people like Harris, Orr, Wooodward getting more playing time than people like Prado, Pena, and Diaz. Im sorry but Bobby’s managing has cost them at least 5-7 wins this year, maybe more.
We cut Wilson, Langy, and Wickman for sucking, but we’ll recall Orr and give Woodward playing time. Our .350 LF is sitting while someone is in a 0-35 slump. Pena cant get an AB to start an inning, but Orr can? Give me a break
Ron,
If the ump’s strike zone was so wide, how did we walk ten?
@9 Marc – good comments on the management of the team this year. That definitely is how I feel. How else is this offense blowing out teams once or twice a week and doing just enough to lose in all the other games?
Relax and just play ball.
Tony – vaulted offense? Perhaps, that is more accurate than “vaunted offense.” Time to open the vault.
By the way, Martin Prado was literally one hit shy of winning the IL batting title.
The thing about hitting is, the harder you try, the less likely you are to hit. Baseball is not like football or basketball where intensity helps. In general, being too intense in baseball hurts performance–except maybe for pitchers. In fact, to the extent that “choking” exists in baseball, that’s probably what it is–that the player is so excited in a particular situation that his mechanics fail. That’s why I hesitate to say it’s a matter of the team having no heart–maybe it’s the opposite, that they care too much and cannot focus their energy appropriately.
You caught that Parish….good. How many times is this recent stretch did the Braves have the bases loaded with no one out with the “heart” of the lineup coming up and got nothing. This is probably the worse managing job in Cox’s career. I think he is letting that player’s manager crap go to his head.
How is Brian McCann tied or leading the team in RBI’s? I thought Francouer would at least be at a 100 by now….man this team is sorry!!
Tony,
McCann is tied for the team lead in RBi’s because he’s been hot in the second half and bats 5th most games.
How many times is this recent stretch did the Braves have the bases loaded with no one out with the “heart” of the lineup coming up and got nothing. This is probably the worse managing job in Cox’s career.
Funny stuff. When a team fails to get runners in it must be the manager’s fault.
Anyway, it’s the fan’s natural reaction to blame the manager when things go wrong so there is certainly nothing new here. The truth is that this team just isn’t good enough to make the playoffs period. There isn’t enough pitching. Think of all the dreck we’ve had on the roster this year. We tried to use Willie Harris as an everyday player. We tried to use a 900 year old man as an everyday player. We tried to use Buddy Carlyle as a regular starting pitcher. Pete Orr, Chris Woodward, Kali Yates, Wickmania… This team has some stars but they have not been adequately supported. When I assign blame for that I don’t start with the manager’s chair.
The stats on Baseball-Reference show:
Francoeur 85
McCann 84
Andruw 84
Chipper 81
#15, that’s easy. Carlyle and Reyes suck.
#20, Batting behind Escobar, Johnson/Diaz, Chipper, and Tex all of whom get on base a lot is why McCann has all those RBI plus Brian’s good second half hitting.
Prado is this year’s Lance Cormier, keeps getting the call-up from the minors despite the fact he ain’t really any good. Yet another reason for Cox not to play Kelly Johnson I guess.
And honestly, I thought we had all finally accepted the reality that Andruw Jones ain’t going to be a Brave in 2008 and beyond (my money is still on the Texas Rangers). Everytime it appears we’ve reached a consensus on Andruw Jones leaving, be it because of the desperate teams in need of a center fielder, the Braves’ needing the freed-up money for starting pitching or that he has been pretty awful this year and we all want a change, someone posts a “think Andruw Jones will be back next season” or a “think Andruw will take a one year deal” screed. Let it go already. He’s gone in less than a month.
I dunno, Dan. I’ve been mentally drafting the Where Do We Go From Here series for a couple of weeks now, and I really do think that there’s a good chance that Andruw accepts arbitration. He will almost certainly make more money in 2008 with an arbitration award than he will in free agency, and the market for CF should be better after next season.
Robert,
Consider me onboard with #22 sentiments.
Way to go, Tim.
Philadelphia is playing well. The Braves are playing … oh, well.
Good to see Matt Diaz is not playing again. Good thing Willie Harris is only 0 for his last 25.
Almost unnoticed Hudson has been average to bad his last 3 starts.
I can see Andruw accepting arbitration to try to have the great year he failed to have this year and make a whole more money next offseason. That’s why I highly doubt Shuerholz will offer it to him and thereby make it impossible for the Braves to add starting pitching.
I think that Boras might employ the same strategy for Andruw that he did for Joshua Fields. Fields the Braves #2 pick had a down year at UGA and so Boras almost certainly convinced him to return for his senior year, raise his market value and then be a first round pick in 2008. If Andruw accepts arbitration and has a better year in 2008, he would also improve his market value.
The real question is whether Liberty Media opens up the pocket book for Teixeria….
Marc,
I’m more apt to believe that. A successful hit usually means a perfectly-done swing, which I assume means concentration and little emotion. Emotion does burn out the body a bit.
Well, anyway, if the Braves lose today, can we still have the puppies and kitties?
Willie almost had that one over the wall.
Stephen,
I thought that Liberty Media had raised the payroll to $90 million, and that the budget situation would be favorable for us to sign Teixeira to a long-term contract by the time the 2008 season ends.
*sigh*…. what has happened with Huddy? 5 runs in the first two innings?! So much for his longshot at the Cy.
Neither Tim nor John are number one starters any longer.
Inadequate starting pitching + inconsistent, untimely hitting + weak bench = lost seasons in 2007 and 2008.
Go Braves.
ladies and gentleman-we officially mail in the remainder of the 2007 season.
signed
your Atlanta Braves
Coop,
Then the solution is to just blow up the team so we KNOW the season is lost before it begins and start from scratch. Would you like that?
Coop,
Then the solution is to just blow up the team so we KNOW the season is lost before it begins and start from scratch. Would you like that?
No, Sam, but I don’t think doing the same things over and over and expecting different results holds much promise, do you?
lost seasons in 2007 and 2008.
There you have it. The all-knowing Coop has declared the 2008 season dead about six months before even one game of it will be played or before we have any idea what the team may look like after whatever John Schuerholz may do to it this upcoming offseason.
Let’s blow it all up like the Marlins! That’s working so well for them now, isn’t it? Oh wait…
Coop,
Exactly. But in this situation, having no expectations is a tad bit better than having expectations shattered to pieces on a daily basis, right?
Dan,
But the Marlins have SO much promise! They’re a free agent or two away from winning at all! *GASP!*
Man, it just hit me. Having expectations that tomorrow will be better IS better than having no expectations at all.
Sheesh, what has this season done to me?
It just hasn’t worked out this year, but with our core players and if we get a number 3 and/or 4 starter in the offseason we could compete next year. Oh well, it’s football season!
There’s no need to blow up this team. Most of its problems are due to injuries. The Braves fell out of the race while James and Renteria were on the DL which is not a coincidence. Bolster the rotation with one more quality starter and this team should be able to compete for the division next year. Smoltz and Hudson won’t win the Cy Young but they absolutely have pitched like #1s this year.
There, see? Next year could easily be better than this year. I mean, so many things have gone wrong in 2006 and 2007 at the worst possible times and those actions made things go wrong in the future. Being unable to have winning and losing streaks longer than four is a mite better than a 10 game losing streak.
In that sense, this season has shown a little progress.
I think I’ll set up shop on this side of the argument fence, thanks.
(Sorry for the comment flood, but I just keep thinking of things to say).
2007 has indeed been disappointing–I will be glad if we stay over .500…
I’ll just be glad to reach .500.
Surely, the .500-O-METER will be 11-11, which is entirely reachable.
The answer to the Alfac Trivia Question is bartolo colon
We’re getting awfully close to, maybe even past, the point at which the team should think about next year. For example, Reyes and Cormier should go every 5th game. Some of the young relivers (Ascanio, Devine) should get regular use. Prado should spell KJ or Chipper. Pena should start at least half the games. Let’s see what these players can do against ML competition in preparation for next season.
Kindred spirits and fellow Braves fanatics, I’m going to pull for the Braves this year and next and for as long as God grants me breath.
But no, Dan, I don’t EXPECT Chipper, Smoltz, Woodward, Orr, and Franco inter alia to get better as they get older. I also don’t think Cormier, James or Carlyle are going to morph into Peavy, Oswalt, Sabathia or Santana. I could be wrong, but I have doubts.
As far as being all-knowing, I am at least borderline ignoramus. I don’t claim to be smarter than Bobby Cox and JS. They might not always please this forum, but even I don’t think every decision they make is flawed. The trade for Renteria doesn’t look so bad in retrospect, does it?
Anyway, I just wanted to stir the pot. Guess I did.
Rose-colored glasses, anyone?
Frank, Where should Pena start at because it certanly isn’t going to be catcher.
Coop,
But you just assume things are automatically going to get worse because you think you have support for your arguement in this current 11 of 15 loss (after today) funk the Braves are in.
Jake,
Left field. He played there at Richmond. 😉
Why wouldn’t Pena start at catcher? Long term he’s McCann’s backup (just as Prado is probably a backup infielder), but he should get some starts and experience this year once the Braves are out of contention. Plus, McCann must be worn out since he’s caught virtually every game since the Salty trade.
But no, Dan, I don’t EXPECT Chipper, Smoltz, Woodward, Orr, and Franco inter alia to get better as they get older.
Who said Woodward, Orr and Franco will be on the 25-man roster next season?
I was just saying that as a joke. I don’t know.
I am so glad Braves’ baseball will not be associated with Chip Caray after this season. He is going to be such an embarrassment to listen to during the playoffs.
What do the puppies pictured in the previous thread and the Braves have in common?
They all roll over and play dead!
I’m with Frank (other than the Pena-starting-instead-of-McCann part)—let the marginal guys play and let’s see what we’ve got for 2008.
Dan,
Imagine being his father.
PTG Orr : Baseball :: Canada : Relevance
Forget the pitching for a second. Part of the current problem is that the Braves are just trying to hit anything and everything they can. They’re getting bats on the ball, but they’re not getting them for hits. Look at what’s happening today. Kendrick has allowed only three hits but has just two strikeouts. This tells me the Braves are putting the balls in play, but not to where there’s open field.
Sam, what I assume is that one, maybe two of our young pitchers will in time be quality big league starters.
I also assume John Smoltz was, past tense, a great pitcher and is still more than serviceable. I wish we had four more like him.
I assume Chipper probably won’t play 140 games in a season too often in the future. When he does play, he’ll hit; but I doubt his nagging injuries let him play more in the next three yeares than he has in the last three.
Bottomline, I assume that if the Braves are to contend for the World Series championship they need better starters.
Despite being all-knowing, I damn sure don’t know how the Braves are going to improve their starters without dealing away beloved veterans, who must say yes to trades, or young position players, who are the nucleus for tomorrow’s success.
We need pitchers. We can develop them, we can trade for them, or we can sign them as free agents. The free agent market looks slim. Reyes is probably the closest thing we have to major league ready in our system. If we’re going to get a good, dependable starter in a trade, we’re going to have to give up one or more good players to get him.
Is this rant illogical? Please explain.
Coop,
If you trade Smoltz or Chipper, it seems to me you’re taking 2 steps back for 1 step forward.
We need dependable starters. Therefore, I agree about trading Smoltz. Chipper would have to agree to be traded, which I admit is unlikely. He’s a great hitter, but he’s a part-time player.
The offense remains vaulted.
That’s not true. He plays at least 2/3 of the year. When he plays, he gets on base around 40% of the time and hits for power. We can’t replace Chipper, and I don’t think swapping his salary for a SP who makes equal money and replacing Chipper at 3B with, say, Yunel Escobar, would be a net benefit to the team.
No f-ing way.
What I can gather is that you think we need better backup options in case our best starters go down, and that’s not a bad thing.
I actually think that Chipper is on the upswing in availability. He had his yearly stint on the DL, and he’s doing fine now. This has been his healthiest season in years. Surely, there can be some serviceable bench player out there besides Orr or Woodward that can play third.
In the starters dilemma, I do know that the Braves can easily trade for a good one, even if they have to downgrade a position. I can live with trading, say, Kelly Johnson, Edgar Renteria or even Matt Diaz or Yunel Escobar if it gets us a good starter. We can live with Martin Prado at second base for a while. Yes, there’s something not quite right with James and Reyes and Carlyle certainly aren’t good right now, but all that’s no reason to throw away the 2008 season.
I’m assuming that Francouer, McCann and Chipper are off-limits and Andruw isn’t going to be around for a trade, which is fine by me.
Yes f-ing way, it appears. Willie Harris is 2-3 with a homer today. How ironic.
Can we dispense with the notion of trading Smoltz or Chipper? They are Braves & they will retire as Braves.
The reality is this: We’re going to try to win next year. It’s the last round-up, so if we fail, we fail. But we’re damn-sure gonna try.
Better late than never, I suppose. If this is mailing it in, I’d love to see what happens when they get serious. 😉
ububba,
I’m not in favor of trading Smoltz or Chipper; don’t lump me in with that. ;P
Can we dispense with the notion of trading Smoltz or Chipper? They are Braves & they will retire as Braves.
Amen! Praise and testify brother ububba!
Murphy was a Brave and retired as a Rockie.
#73, in theory Willie Aybar can take the place of Woodward and Orr next year. In reality I expect him to find some new person reason not to play.
peculiar not person.. I don’t know where that came from…
Coop,
Murphy actually told the Braves in 1990 that he wasn’t going to re-sign with them and that’s why he was traded that year to Philly.
Sam,
Can you cite a source for that?
Coop,
We had David Justice waiting in the wings when we traded him. We were also a last-place team.
Sam,
I never wrote a word about you.
Stu,
I believe that it was either in Tomahawked!: Inside Story of the Braves’ Tumultulous Season or Scout’s Honor. I can’t remember which one.
Well, we scored two runs, but still managed to go 0-for-3 with RISP this inning.
The first book is where I learned that Bonds was traded to the Braves but Jim Leyland killed the trade.
Parish,
Yep. Stats are some pretty funny things.
McCann, Francoeur and Andruw all have sub-800 OPSes. Pretty disappointing.
Is that about Murphy saying he wouldn’t re-sign common knowledge? I’d never heard it.
Sam, I don’t think there is anything funny about those stats. They clearly indicate that we did not get nearly as much out of that inning as we should have, a flaw in our game which has plagued us frequently, of late.
There’s no excuse for Andruw to have a sub-.800 OPS, but I think we’re going to have to live with McCann and Francoeur because we put all our eggs in one basket with them.
Parish,
Sheesh. I was saying that in a general sense.
Stu,
I don’t know if it’s common knowledge or not, but I read it in one of those books; I’m almost certain it was the first one, which talked about the Braves’ 1992 season. Granted, that doesn’t make it gospel, and it was probably a bad idea for me to say that, but that’s where I think I read it from.
Sam, I know you have heard the story. I’m asking whether others have–hence the phrase “common knowledge”.
Also, we have to live with Andruw, too, because he’s on this team, just like the young guys. That doesn’t mean we can’t point out the deficiencies in their production.
I was on the side of Chipper/Smoltz never leaving recently, but then I remembered Glavine–if he can leave, anyone can. Not saying they will or won’t, but I would have put Glavine in that category before he became a traitor…er, left in free agency.
I really hope Villarreal is traded this offseason. The Braves supposedly almost traded him in spring training this year.
Dan, some people on here want Villareal to be a STARTER. Tells you how far we’ve fallen, huh.
Dan,
Do you remember who we’d have traded him to? And what we’d have gotten in return, according to the rumor?
Today’s winner of the Chris Woodward award for least valuable player goes to…..*drumroll*….Oscar Villareal.
I think I’m the only one who advocated trading Chipper and/or Smoltz. I’ll take that heat. Please don’t trade Woodward though.
Ha ha ha.
Trading Villareal for anything, including nothing, looks good right now.
Wow. Burrell just took six straight pitches. Not one swing.
No, the rumors were never specific. Ken Rosenthal just said the Braves were “shopping him” and David O’Brien said the Braves were close to trading him but stopped short because they thought his “versatility” (ability to start, pitch long relief, single innings, etc.) was too valuable or something close to that. It should be in the archives on David O’Brien’s blog.
#89 and others, McCann has the 4th best OPS among catchers in MLB. What more do you want from him? He’ll probably finish with 20 homers and 100 RBI. There aren’t many better offensive catchers and that’s in spite of being hampered by hand injuries for several months.
Francoeur yes he needs to develop more power pretty quickly to retain value as an outfielder who plays 162 games a year with no speed (plus terrible baserunning) and middling on base skills.
In the aftermath, now that reality has set in with us all, I’d like to thank John Schuerholz for acquiring the immense collection of dead weight that he did this year. How we’re going to finish near .500 is a miracle, considering that in crucial moments, we have had Redmond, Villareal, Paronto, Woodward, Orr, Thorman, Wilson, Ledezma, Julio, Harris, Carlyle, and Corky Miller. That’s 12 wasted roster spots out of 25.
I’m pretty sure all those guys were never on the roster at the same time.
‘Braves’ over .500 watch’ (after today):
22 games.
12-10 to finish over .500 for the season.
11-11 to finish .500 for the season.
Well, those 12 were never on the team at one time. Paronto was fine, Carlyle was valuable for a stretch, and Harris is still valuable, though he shouldn’t be starting. And very few thought the Wilson experiment would fail. And it’s R-e-d-m-a-n and V-i-l-l-a-r-r-e-a-l.
Ok, you’re right. They weren’t. That means they should have been on the roster of a team in a pennant race.
I’ll say it another way–half of our roster, at any given time this year, was wasted. One of those would leave and was replaced with someone worse.
Sorry for the spelling. I try and forget the names of bad players.
Some of those guys shouldn’t be on the list because they did something good in the past that sort of absolves them from being total wastes. Harris and Carlyle helped the Braves to some wins and have recently fallen back to earth, so they weren’t entirely wastes. I will never consider Julio Franco a waste of anything no matter what he does, so that’s just 9 of 25 TOTAL wastes of space.
“What more do you want from him?”
I would prefer that my #5 hitter not post a sub-800 OPS. I like McCann a lot, too, but he has taken a step back this year.
Think about it — our 5, 6 and 7 hitters are all sub-800. Is it any surprise we go through long stretches where the offense stinks?
I have mentioned before that I hate this team. I also hate having to recap it. What the hell can I say?
Dan,
Hey, the .500-O-Meter is my job! 🙁
Another leadoff runner in scoring position, followed by another three quick outs, none of which even advanced the runner.
What kind of 0-fer streak do we have with RISP?
Well, they were 1-9 and left 8 people on base total today so… yeah, that is a problem.
Mac,
Not that many of them would be relevant at this point, but whatever happened to the questions we submitted to DOB?
I never heard back from him. I’ll write back sometime but right now I’m too depressed.
Understandable. Just wondering.
Well, that breaks the 0-fer streak with runners in scoring position. Now for another at-bat of the same thing.
Oh, sure, NOW the badly-hit balls are going for hits. Go figure.
That run at second must be really important. Speedster Woodward in to replace McCann. Could just make this a 4-run game.
Why not just write an Obit on the 07 season, Mac? Get it out of the way, so we can just mentally put this craptastic season to bed. If we make the playoffs now, its because someone else sucked for a few weeks, not because we deserved it.
I am watching on Gameday, so I am curious as to why our pinch runner did not score from 2nd on that single. Can’t McCann go from station to station?
This game would be interested if the vulture didn’t leave his droppings all over this game.
And now Scott Thorman hits a single. I’m laughing here.
It was a bloop single. The guy at second had to wait and make sure it wasn’t caught.
Thorman actually didn’t strike out that time. Apparently he even singled.
Who knew?
Parish,
Well, the only reason i can think of is that the ball looked like it was going to be caught.
Ahaha, the Phillies are actually scared enough to bring in Myers right now.
Not that it matters too much, but why was Andruw taken out?
Tom L,
That, I have no idea. Probably because the game was out of reach at the time and there was no sense to leave him in there.
Another run for us. 🙂
I actually like this team. I think we were done in by a bullpen where every move we tried, that kind of made sense at the time, went in the toilet. Wickman seemed like a good idea-he just didn’t have it any more. Gonzalez blew out his elbow. Dotel blew out his shoulder. Soriano just blew (nice start, and then WTF happened). It was that mid-season run of sub .500 where we couldn’t hold a lead for weeks, and would win one by 10-2, and lose the next 2 by a run, that kind of cooked our goose.
I didn’t hear Chip say anything about it. It was as if Thorman had been in the entire game. Can’t really complain with Thor’s at-bat though I guess, as lucky as it was though.
I certainly wasn’t paying attention to this game, but the boxscore on ESPN.com says that McCann left because of a leg injury.
Mac,
Well, if that’s the case, I guess Pena will get some starts.
He stubbed his toe on his way to second after stopping to make sure the ball wasn’t caught. Didn’t look to be too bad.
And another run on a soft single! Willie, just hit another homer and end this, PLEASE. *laughs*
I just realized, this isn’t a 2007 Braves game. It’s a 2006 Braves game. We did this all the time last year.
One sad by-product of the collapse is that as a play-off contender I think Chipper gets some MVP consideration; he has had an amazing year.
You’re missing a hell of an attempt at a comeback, Mac.
And another run on a walk!
What’s the difference between a 2007 Braves game and a 2006 Braves game? I’m not sure I see it. Both teams underachieved due to a bad bullpen; this year’s team just seemed like it would do better but didn’t.
What were you thinking of when you said that, Mac?
No, he’s not. We’ve seen this before. We’ll battle back and either come up a run short, or we’ll tie it and the bullpen will blow it after the offense shuts down.
Hmmm…Andruw sits, putting Harris and Diaz in at the same time and the Braves rally…
Could pave the way for the 2008 outfield.
We’ll battle back and either come up a run short, or we’ll tie it
Damn, you were right.
Dammit. After four runs in, we make two straight outs with the bases loaded, no one scoring.
Just can never get the big hit.
Well, 2-4 with 3 RBIs with the bases loaded is a step in the right direction. Just need a double or two mixed in there.
So now Chipper and McCann are out of the lineup in a game that could go into extras just so Booby could pull off the old double switch? Brilliant
I should point out that of the four runs in that inning, only one scored on a hit to the outfield.
Rafael Soriano just plunked Chase Utley, and I have no problems with that. Utley is the root of all evil.
“It’s always tease, tease, tease…”
(I’m not saying I actively dislike him as a person, as I do with Tony La Russa — but he slaughters us like Bogdan Chmielnicki.)
The infield popup strikes again.
McCann left with an injury, and I’m guessing Chipper tweaked something as well. There is no point in risking major injury at this stage.
The shift is stupid, and only works because baseball players are stupid too. Down two runs, Teixeira has no reason to play for anything but getting on base, and he could have bunted for a hit without even trying.
Well, what do you know? Pena’s pinch-hitting.
Hey, look! A hit to the outfield!
Prado’s up. If he reaches, Escobar. Anyone like our chances?
How could anyone like our chances?
What the hell is this? It’s almost as if the Phillies don’t want to win.
Well, I have a bit of hope. The Phillies want to give the Braves the game, obviously. I’ll take it.
The tease just keeps on coming.
I’m sure you would, Sam, but the point is that the Braves won’t.
Braves win!
Okay, now this is just getting silly.
BE A HERO DIAZ
Matt Diaz !!!!!!!!!
Holy crap.
Ha! I don’t care if we ‘re out of it–that was fun to watch.
Matt Diaz!
Suddenly, Brett Myers tears off his jersey… to show the Mets uniform underneath!
*laughs* Okay, that was the weirdest two innings I’ve ever read about (Gamecast) in my life.
Well, whaddayaknow? I do like hurting the Phillies. The worse we play, though, the higher our draft picks next year…
My God….that was awesome.
You’re welcome, Mets.
Where was this fire and excitement when the Mets were in town?!
And Bill Simmons leaps in from stage left doing a Jim Ross impression, saying, “OH MY GOD!!”
OK guys who doesn’t have any heart ?
disgruntledfan, that was called luck! Did you see all the bloop hits and breaks that went the braves way in the 8th and 9th. And i’ll take it every time!!!
Speaking as a Mets fan, I’ve never in my life been so happy to see the Braves win. That was just a glorious comeback. 🙂
Hey, unknown, any news on how Brian McCann’s leg is doing?
Guess so. Just wish some of that luck had happened last weekend.
disgruntledfan,
This is precisely why I don’t like that argument. Nothing went the Braves’ way in that series and if I was a Braves player, I wouldn’t exactly be wanting to tear the pitcher’s head off either. But a few things go their way in a row, and bang, you get fire. It’s human nature.
Maybe Brett Myers would be better as a starter.
JoeyT,
HAHAHA, that’s a good one.
What a crusher.
That might’ve taken the Phight out the Phillies.
But a few things go their way in a row, and bang, you get fire. It’s human nature.
Spontaneous combustion = human nature?
I guess I was thinking the “fire” (which is probably overrated anyway) would be there regardless, when you have the team you’re chasing coming to your place, fresh off a 4-game sweep and the chance to get within 1.5 games.
That’s just the spark we need to go on a 25-game win streak.
But off-days take away spark and fire! *GASP!*
An industry collegue, a Met fan, just called me to ask, “What the hell just happened? Thank you!”
My response: “You owe me a beer.”
I don’t smoke, but I feel like I should ask for a cigarette.