ESPN – Braves vs. Mets Box Score, September 11 2007 – MLB
Well, I was right about Carlyle.
The Braves built a 9-0 lead over the first four innings, knocking Hernandez out of the game in the fourth, in which they scored six runs. Teixeira was the big bat, going 3-5, scoring three runs, and drove in three on a fourth-inning homer. Escobar, playing third with Chipper on the shelf, had two hits, including a homer. Francoeur had two hits and two walks, and scored and drove in two. McCann had two doubles and a walk.
Confidence in Carlyle is now so low that Bobby yanked him leading 10-3 with two runners on, one out, and none in in the fifth inning. Moylan did his thing and picked up a win for his trouble. I’m not sure why Soriano pitched with an eight-run lead in the ninth. At this stage, does “getting work in” really matter a whole lot? Wouldn’t “not putting stress on a reconstructed arm” be more important?
Well remember the “Braves save” from last year? Maybe it’s reached the point where Bobby isn’t very confident the other guys in the pen can hold an 8 run lead in the 9th. He may be onto something come to think of it.
I don’t think the old man can handle anymore late inning pressure after last season…
I hate to say this, but Carlyle is the kind of guy that Mazzone used to work wonders with. There is only so much you can expect from a guy like this although he pitched a few good games early. But it doesn’t seem like McDowell really has much positive effect on pitchers. What does it say when you have a 9-0 lead in the fourth and can’t get the win?
Actually, on this one, I agree with the old man. It had been 4 days since Soriano worked in a game. We are off Thursday.
The worst that this appearance could cause is to make him available for 1 inning today rather than 2. I really wouldn’t want him to work 2 anyway. Plus, the chance that his control would be off from not pitching wouldn’t be a chance you want to take then either.
The guy I am scared about (for overwork) is Moylan. I know he SAYS his arm doesn’t hurt and he can throw a lot, etc. etc. However, he needs to start getting off days between appearances. If lightning strikes and we are close in the last week, then add a few extra appearances.
R Braves won last night. Bennett was on. Paronto struggled and Devine finished it off with a struggle. It is hard to figure what they are doing it with. The relief corps is excellent. The starting pitching has to be mediocre even for AAA (think about it, the guys we have been complaining about and are all in Atlant now were their BEST pitchers)and the offense is horrible for the most part (and 2 of its best, yeah that is not a misprint, best, offensive guys, Prado and Brayan Pena, are in ATL as well). Maybe som of those guys have the desire, without the choke, that we need at Mjor League level.
Mazzone hasn’t been all that great with Baltimore. It looks like Mazzone with the Braves was a special combination and neither are quite as well of since they’ve separated.
The Braves are in sort of a nether world right now. Mathematically, they are still in contention for the WC, but realistically, they are a real long shot. But you have to keep playing as if you have a chance. So, that means that some of the guys that need rest probably won’t get it. I don’t have a problem with pitching Soriano in a blowout at this point of the year if he hasn’t pitched in a while. It’s different than pitching in a close game, less stress. And, really, if one extra inning is going to hurt your arm, you are in trouble anyway. You want to bring the hammer down in a game like this; the worst thing is to have the other team score some runs.
Chipper’s injury might be a blessing in disguise because Yunel will get to play everyday and we can see what we really have. I have become increasingly impressed with him–he seems to have more pop than originally thought and is a pretty good fielder although he has made some mistakes. It’s pretty clear that the Braves cannot go into a season without a competent substitute for Chipper. Counting on him to play a full season is just wishful thinking at this point.
As for KJ, I just can’t understand the complaints. The guy has been in the .290s all year, good OBP, has played a decent second base in his first year at the position, and has 15 home runs. So he strikes out a lot; lots of young hitters do that and you would expect him to improve. He’s an All-Star in the making. I think second base is probably the area where the Braves improved the most over last year (ie, Marcus Giles). I’m not crazy about the platoon, but since Escobar seems to hammer lefties, it’s ok as long as it doesn’t involve Pete Orr or Chris Woodward.
New poll.
If Andruw was having one of his normal years, maybe the team wouldn’t have had to trade half the farm system for Mark Teixeira or those prospects could have been traded for starting pitching instead. I have no doubt injuries have hampered him a lot, but he also seems to have become completely into a caveman pull hitter. I seem to remember him hitting with power to the opposite field when he was young. I don’t know why he went away from that.
Mac,
Why couldn’t you do the 1-10 scale for Andruw? Clearly there is only one logical answer, thus making the result meaningless beyond having a count on the magnitude of disgust that will cause whatever percentage of people to say he is ALL to blame.
#3 & #5 McDowell was great because he had Smoltz, Glavine, and Maddux. They would make anyone look brilliant. Mazzone had his failures also. Remember Reitsma, Kolb, Ramirez. A pitching coach is only as good as their pitchers
Even if Andruw was having a “normal” year, the Braves would still have had a black hole at first base and, given the pitching, they would still have needed to upgrade the offense. Their only real shot, given the dearth of available pitching, was to try to outscore everyone. Obviously, of course, if Andruw hadn’t been so bad, it would have mitigated the need for offense but I don’t think JS could have traded those prospects for anything but marginal starting pitching because it just isn’t available. If it had been, I think he would have done that instead of trading for Tex.
I don’t now. Shuerholz could probably have swung Vazquez or Garland from Chicago or Arroyo from Cincinnati if he had still had Salty, Harrison, and Andrus available instead of using them to get Tex and Mahay.
And we’d still have a sucking hole at firstbase.
I think we can all agree that things would have gone better if Andruw had a normal year. But bad years happen in baseball. Every team has someone who didn’t do what they were “supposed” to do.
Like Reggie Sanders. That was weird.
Yep, I’ve never forgiven Reggie for playing so badly w/ us. And I know it’s not “intentional” or anything, but it just rubs you the wrong way, to see that as a fan.
On another note – I was just looking at standings. Did you realize that it is almost a certainty that no team will lose 100 games this year? The worst teams have all won at least 61 games, meaning they need win only 2 out of ~20 or so remaining games…
#13, probably but it wouldn’t have mattered as much. We could have stuck with some combination of Salty, Franco, and Thorman and still scored enough to win games when Smoltz and Hudson pitched. But in a way it works out well that Andruw has sucked because Tex is a much more productive hitter than Andruw is and Tex + whomever we replace Andruw with in center next year will be better than what we might have had otherwise.
Hey, hey!
As I type, Tropical Depression 9 is at my doorstep. They say it could already be a tropical storm. We’re already getting rain and stuff, off and on. At least it’s realatively cool.
oh, the joys of living on the Gulf Coast!
Johnny Cash also died 4 years ago today.
Gonna have to break out the Live at Folsom Prison album.
Carlyle has been fine while he’s lasted. He provided a couple quality starts here and there, and I hope we keep him around and give him a shot next year (maybe stick him in AAA if he doesn’t make the ML squad). He’s a useful guy to have around and really saved our bacon once or twice in June/July, but it’s unreasonable to expect we could rely on him for a whole season.
I mean, let’s face it. He’s no John Burkett! 😀
Now TD #9 is officially a tropical storm.
Woo hoo!
In other news, Wickman lost the game last night for the Diamondbacks.
New thread is up.