This was supposed to be the video yesterday. The plan was that I was going by alphabetical order by band, ABC etc. But I and H just got flipped. Oh, well.
Anyway, it’s really bad.
This was supposed to be the video yesterday. The plan was that I was going by alphabetical order by band, ABC etc. But I and H just got flipped. Oh, well.
Anyway, it’s really bad.
Go Braves!
Anybody else playing the MLB “Beat The Streak” contest? I had me a 7 game hitting streak going until last night.
I blame the pitcher friendly confines of Coors Field. And the humidor.
Good news:
Mets lost, again.
Sure did. A positively Bravesian performance by their bullpen in that one.
I was just checking my fantasy league’s stats and noticed Andruw’s current stats. What happened to him? Do burgers deteriorate vision???
Thanks, Lando. There are few things funnier than the comments section of Metsblog after their beloved ‘Politans eat one. If anyone here thinks we gnash too many teeth after a loss, go have a look.
Rollins had to leave the game with a sprained ankle in the 8th
I’m actually more hyped about this team now that I was at the beginning of the year. Our starters have been great, and our lineup is taking care of business (still need work on the situational hitting though). The one bleak spot has been the bullpen, but I truly believe they will get better as the season wears on (most are really young). Give it time, this could be a REALLY good team.
…but I truly believe they will get better as the season wears on (most are really young).
Seems like, at the pace we’ve seen so far, tired arm will have kicked in well before any improvements could be made…
LOL, too true Stu.
Not to beat a dead horse, but part of the ‘dead arm/bullpen sucks’ problem is exacerbated by Bobby’s matchup fetish in blowout games. Too many guys used in our 8-run wins, then when we have a close one, they’re fried. Gotta do better than that.
Question for you, Brad: How do you feel about Bobby’s bullpen usage?
Not good. How do you feel about being an ass?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNspCoZrFuM
The mets got ROLLED today in the 8th, thanks to the us, the people of the internet.
Aren’t you against cursing?
Douglass,
I especially enjoyed the poll results displayed in that YouTube clip.
😉 Indeed.
Generally. Mainly the overuse of it when it’s unwarranted, not for carefully-crafted incidents when it’s needed. There’s no need to pick on me–there were 200+ posts last night about our bullpen, about 1000 on ajc.com, and one from your glorious self six posts ago. So why can’t I add to the discussion?
take it to the emo board kidz.
I’m playing ‘Beat the Streak’ — but I think Andruw Jones has a better shot than me at putting a hitting streak together. I haven’t gotten past 3 games (of course neither has Andruw!).
The Mets blog has some serious hilarity going on. You would think people are jumping off the top of Shea Stadium or something. They’ve abandoned the season and want Willie Randolph’s head on a platter along with half the players and the GM too. Plus, they keep alluding to flashbacks of September and the fact they’ve lost 9 straight to thePhillies. They need some serious counseling.
You acknowledged yourself that you were beating a dead horse. I wasn’t picking on you; I was only continuing in the vein in which I thought you’d begun.
Also, FWIW, I wasn’t complaining about Bobby @ #7.
Ok. I assumed the ‘dead arms’ problem was more referencing Bobby removing starters early, or using 3 relievers in an inning, not an indictment against the starters (or bullpen arms) themselves.
Sounded to me more like a commentary on the current state of affairs. If we keep playing 1 run games and can only count on one starter to go beyond the 6th, then we’re going to have to deal with tired arms.
I don’t think Bobby has removed the starters early. I just meant that the starters, so far, haven’t gone very deep, which has required uber-usage of the ‘pen arms.
Re: Trouble in Metland
The off-season Willie talk was, “He better get off to a good start,” but many also believed that getting Santana also meant being handed the NL crown.
Yep, that’s 9 Met losses in a row to Philly. Meet your new boss, kids.
I always say this but I haven’t found a thing wrong with the way Bobby has used the bullpen. I have found a lot wrong with the out-getting prowess of the guys employed in our bullpen. I expect both of these evaluations to remain relatively unchanged throughout the year. This team has a lot of talent but little of it resides in the bullpen.
Of course, it’s early in the season and we can’t be expecting complete games from our starters. I’ve been impressed with the starters thus far. Bobby was going to have to get some innings from the bullpen early as it was since it’s early April.
I think Boyer will be good for us, health permitting. Soriano and Moylan are both good, right? Ohman and Ring are both very good LOOGYs. Bennett—who knows? I don’t have confidence in him, really, but I haven’t seen him pitch much. The organization sure loves him. Acosta has great stuff but is young—I think he’s one candidate who, as Joshua alludes to, is very likely to improve as the season wears on. Resop sucks.
Robert, I’m guessing you disagree on Boyer and the LOOGYs and are less optimistic about Bennett and Acosta. Am I right? Do you expect Gonzalez to help when he comes back?
Robert,
I don’t really disagree with you about an overall lack of talent in our bullpens. But, I do think that Bobby’s well documented proficiency at getting the most out of his players does not extend to the bullpen. Whether that is because of the nature of bullpens in general or because Bobby misuses the pitchers is a mystery. I think it’s a little bit of both. Bobby doesn’t always do what common sense would indicate, and that has led to a lot of applause because he has gotten great results from his players. I think though the in handling the bullpen it is more important to follow along with common sense.
Starting a Kieth Lockhart every Sunday afternoon, while annoying to us, wouldn’t cost us as many games as repeatedly using the wrong pitchers in frequently occurring game situations.
Pretty much Stu. I think it’s Moylan, Soriano, and some guys. I haven’t been keeping up on Gonzalez, I don’t know what to expect of him. Since nobody does CGs or even goes eight innings anymore it will be tough to get a winning streak going because eventually the ‘guys’ will have to be trusted and bad things will happen.
Dix, I think if you look at Bobby’s history you will find some fine bullpens. These last few years, not so much. So either you believe Bobby has lost his touch or you believe that he hasn’t been given anything to work with. I believe the later is true, sounds like you on board with the former. It’s a hard argument to settle.
I’m so glad I’m graduating from college soon. I really can’t stand that I only get the Braves here about once a week now.
maybe we should carry a couple extra arms for the bullpen……………..i dont see much use in those outs disguised as pinch hitters……….j/k and throwing a little gas on the fire.
Since nobody does CGs or even goes eight innings anymore it will be tough to get a winning streak going because eventually the ‘guys’ will have to be trusted and bad things will happen.
Are our “guys” really any worse than what other teams have, though?
I just looked at Mets Blog and it’s amazing to see how discontent they are.
A stream:
so whats the bullpens exuse now? they tired from all the days off and rain delays? oh i know, they just suck.
so when does omar say enough is enough????
Its April 8th.
As Opposed to September 30th? Same (sensor) story all over again!
Sooo, you just ignore last year?
Think how bad we’ll be on May 8th!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are our “guys†really any worse than what other teams have, though?
It seems like it. Doesn’t it to you? The jury is still out on this group I guess but when we were sending out the Reitsmas and Gryboskis and Parontos and the ghost of Mike Remlinger, yeah it seemed like our guys were worse. And we paid the appropriate price.
Just posted this on CnC, and took it from a tip I got last night listening to our guys on the radio.
IP
ER
H
HR
ERA
WHIP
Peter Moylan
4 2/3
1
5
1
1.93
1.30
Will Ohman
3 2/3
0
3
0
0
0.80
Rafael Soriano
4
1
2
0
2.25
1.30
12 1/3
2
10
1
1.46
1.10
Chris Resop
2
2
2
0
9.00
2.50
Blaine Boyer
5 2/3
5
4
2
7.94
0.90
Manny Acosta
3
4
3
2
12.00
1.70
Royce Ring
2
2
2
0
9.00
1.00
12 2/3
13
11
4
9.24
1.30
Damn… it stripped the HTML. Well, just go over to Chop-n-Change. In short:
Soriano, Ohman, and Moylan: 12 1/3 IP, 1.46 ERA
Resop, Boyer, Acosta, and Ring: 12 2/3 IP, 9.24 ERA
Ohman’s two runs are both “unearned” which I guess let’s him setup shop in the “good” reliever catagory. For now anyway.
Jordan Schafer suspended 50 games for HGH use. Nice job. What an idiot.
wow, thats terrible news. So I guess he shouldnt walk around with that swagger anymore. He’s an idiot and I wonder if this will affect the Braves viewpoint on him
what a putz.
#37……..then we’ll change his name to will “bad” ohman.
$#@$
Am I the only one to note that that is perhaps the worst video ever? Here I’m trying to scratch my eyes out with a rusty nail while everyone else is debating the bullpen?
BTW, unless you are willing to ascribe an incredible amount of power to St. Leo, Bobby’s bullpen management has been solidly above average, the same as everything else about Bobby. Not “Brilliant” or “Exceptional,” (that would be Mike Sciosia or Moises Alou) but above average.
Schafer…why?!?
The real kicker here is that his impressive performance last year will no doubt be attributed to his use of the substance, which will lead more people to use it in the vain hope that it will give them something besides a placebo effect.
Also of interest, how on Earth did MLB find out he was using it? I mean, there’s no blood test or anything, so I guess they must have intercepted a shipment of it to him or something? Weird.
Robert,
I was specifically talking about our guys this year, although I don’t know if that makes any difference. I agree about the general craptasticity of Remlinger 2.0 et al.
Man, terrible news about Schafer. Shoulda traded him for Bedard. 😉
Like I said a few times in the thread yesterday there are very few teams, if any at all, who have a bullpen with more than 2-3 guys who can pitch day and day out without it resulting in losses.
Bobby can do very little about this. It’s just a fact that the large majority of bullpen pitchers just are not very good. Else they wouldn’t be in the bullpen in the first place.
If Gonzalez is still around what he used to be when he comes back then we actually have one of the best bullpens around BUT all that matters very little if the current situation continues where they have to pitch everyday following the 6th.
No bullpen can handle that and it has little to do with anything Bobby does.
Starting pitching is so key when it comes to the bullpen and though it’s better than last year, lack of innings is still our biggest weakness. Not the bullpen.
Hopefully our offense can carry us and I have a dream that a 100 percent healthy Chuck James can carry a lot more than he did last year.
Unfortunately even if that happens, if Smoltz can’t, we’re still in trouble.
Why has Bobby been batting Diaz in the 8 hole below Kotsay lately?
Lot of law school guys on the forum, so open question:
Any recommendations for 1L oral argument? I’m up tomorrow
That really sucks about Schafer. I wonder how this will play out.
Schafer link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ao.GgGs1UmFOCohh7YY5mNQR0bYF?slug=ap-bravesminorleaguersuspended&prov=ap&type=lgns
Oh and being from Ohio, I have to say the consensus this morning among Indians fans is as follows:
Blaine Boyer > Joe Borowski
Why the Indians came into this season relying on Borowski is beyond me. At least they have Betancourt.
“The mets got ROLLED today in the 8th, thanks to the us, the people of the internet.”
It’s things like “Rick Roll” that make me sincerely wonder if the internet has actually been a benefit to humans. There is nothing special about that song.
Good for the Mets for not letting people on the internet who’ve never paid attention to a Mets’ game in their life determine the song, and insead let people who really show up at Shea stadium decide.
Jimenez looked like he was about to cry.
But just 1-0
Once again
What happened? The wife wanted to watch Idol.
I know, I know.
I’m really liking Jair. What is this kids potential, considering he’s only 22?
A decent throw gets him there.
Does McCann ever catch those throws cleanly? Seems like I see him drop a lot of those.
Holliday is very very good but this is too easy for him.
1st base open again and Atkins following him is overrated.
Like our chances much much better against him than Holliday.
Intentional walks in the first inning is meh. I don’t have a problem with that.
The real shame is Tex’s at-em ball in the first inning; we’d probably have had a 2 or 3 run lead if that had been a couple feet in any direction.
Jimenez will walk more people. We’re just going to have to take advantage.
Let’s go, Jurrjens!
On a warm night that last one is out of there.
The Rockies are getting some good cuts on Jurrjens
Not saying intentional but ahead on the count, that pitch was just too easy but I guess he simply missed like Boyer yesterday.
Just the guy you want to miss against the least.
Jimenez constantly walks a fine line between being unhittable and very wild.
where is the patience? this guy is missing and missing!
come on guys
This ump needs to get his strike zone figured out… Starting to get annoying.
Here we go again. Someone needs to tell these guys that shutting it down after 1 run isn’t getting done.
Wake up, Frenchy!
Francoeur error, 2-1 Rockies. If you’re not gonna hit, you better field, Frenchy.
you gotta be kidding me
LOL@Golden Glove winner
Freaking Frenchy. It’s ok; even Gold Glovers make errors.
And now Diaz. Can’t get out of Coors fast enough.
It’s never too soon to run out of Coors. 😉
Just tuned in for this innings fun. On the upside, Jurrjens looking more and more like the real deal, no?
@ 54
WHOOOOSH!
that’s the sound of a joke flying at a high velocity over your head.
also, though gold glovers may make errors, Frenchy is not, nor has he ever been a gold glove outfielder.
He may have the best arm of any outfielder, but he’s pretty mediocre in every other way. And the longer his career progresses, both at the plate and in the field, the more I question whether he has a triple digit IQ. But he’s sooooo dreamy and from the Atlanta area so no one cares.
Brad, not going to hit? He’s at .300 how is that not hitting?
Why must our offense always be feast or famine. So infuriating.
And our pitcher is getting on base more than our hitters…. so sad.
Douglass, sounds like you and Brad are of the same ilk. You should start a Delanda est Frenchy club together.
I love how Yunel and Diaz throw the bat after hitting
Douglass, that’s ridiculously harsh. The guy is a flawed outfielder, no one is questioning that. But to say he doesn’t have a triple digit IQ is simply ridiculous. The guy has good wheels (though he sometimes takes bad angles to balls), he rarely makes mistakes like you saw there, and he has an impressively accurate CANNON. There have been tons of guys who have had great arms (Juan Gonzalez, Gary Sheffield, Vlad Guerrero), but there are very few that have as accurate of one as Francouer (and one may be in center field). You have no idea what kind of effect that has on opposing base runners. Not only does he rack up assists, but guys stop trying to take the extra base too. That’s huge.
As I speak, the Braves have a nice rally going with two outs.
Way to kill the rally Rob :p
I thought the Mets getting Rock Roll’d was pretty funny, too. Meme’s are such a weird thing. Everytime I see Gotay I think of another, truly horrific, internet meme.
Well, this isn’t looking good.
KJ should have had that.
Jurrjens getting no help whatsoever from the defence.
Did Frenchy even get an error?
it’s hard to come to this blog during a bad stint because the”negative nancy panties” are on half the posters. i dare you to try and find something positive.
I dare you to find something positive right now ryan…..
Trent, they said he wasn’t charged with an error.
Haha Urlhix, That one I had gladly forgotten about a long time ago…
Rick rolling is awesome ldo!
Positive- Chipper still hitting well, Jurrjens doesn’t look as bad as the score says.
LOL@someone calling people being negative a “nancy” when he’d prefer to blow sunshine up everyone’s butt. The Braves are playing bad baseball, period.
Can we take more than one pitch before we swing? Seriously.
tex sux. jair sux. frenchy sux. bruce bennedict sux. am i fitting in?
Ryan,
Frenchy took the first pitch, that’s promising.
Positive- KOTSAY
How’s that for positive! Whoo!!
kotsay sux.
Kotsay?
Kotsay just means business
thanks urlhix, that means a lot 🙂
Hey look Ryan, something positive.
are the bats wakin up?
sorry to harsh your mellow frenchy brahs.
I guess it was a bit harsh. I love my Braves, and I pull for Frenchy and all. But he’s definitely been pretty damn hard to watch develop (err…not develop) during his brief career. He’s just not a profoundly dumb hitter. There’s no getting around it.
Jordan who?
Jurrjens hasn’t been pitching well the past two innings (despite what Chip Caray just said), so why let him hit for himself here?
err…I meant to say, he IS a profoundly dumb hitter. I dont know where that ‘not’ came from.
the pen must need another resetting.
I’m still a bit concerned about Frenchy’s arm. I haven’t seen every game but the throws I’ve seen don’t look the same.
The Rockies announcers just told me that Jair is the first big leaguer from Curacao.
kotsay? nice.
The Kotsay experiment is working out just fine so far. My wife just said, “it looks like he likes being on his new team.”
I’m a lucky man.
Kotsay has been very impressive so far as a brave.
Somewhere Alex R is in the middle of a quality anti-Andruw rant.
well…we’re down by 1 run
I am disappointed we haven’t seen more of Jamie Kotsay.
i’m watching the gamecast and i just noticed how ugly yunel is.
i mean… not that i’m judging..
Are the Rockies pitchers *this* good? or do they just thrive in sub-45 degree weather?
@110,
The best one’s were in ’05 and, really, ’06. Nowadays it’s just beating a dead horse.
/not that you shouldn’t beat a dead horse, sometimes.
@75:
Do you know what makes an outfielder a gold glove outfielder?
Having a gold glove (like Frenchy).
@113:
I think that MLB picture makes him look more like Shrek than he actually does. Kind of an unfair picture to use.
Speaking of Yunel, nice DP.
Francouer is a fantasy manager’s nightmare tonight
We’ll just rely on a Corky Miller pinch hit homerun in the 9th. No worries.
So, this game makes me feel Deja Vu all over again.
STOP… PITCHING…TO… MATT… HOLLIDAY!
Chip Caray seems to think the Braves’ plan on using Blanco to pinch hit in the ninth.
Where is Brayan Pena? Maybe traded after the game?
Time for the Bravos to get some runners on and then lose without scratching a run in the 9th.
I hate pythagorean.
The old fake bunt for a called strike….Gets ’em every time!
GET THE FREAKING BATS OFF YOUR SHOULDERS, IDIOTS
Does Corpas have an invisible pitch?
I’d rather they lose by 10
Oh, common…
Yes, this has become quite common.
Can this team just play the Mets 162 times a year?
Rockies’ announcers said that the Braves had the worst record in the majors in one-run games, dat right?
I’m seeing now how the Rockies went to the world series last year, and why we sat at home and watched them.
…has to be. We’re 0-5.
I meant in 2007
What a terrible night.
AWESOME, ANOTHER ONE RUN LOST!!!
And I am sicked of Holliday.
Win two, lose two. It’ll all work out in the end.
Nothing like coming home from a meeting with your accountant to see the Braves go belly-up in the 9th.
How did Jurrjens look tonight?
Two positives: Kotsay’s play in the field and at the plate, and Manny Acosta’s pitching performance in the eighth.
As someone said earlier, he was walking the line between untouchable and wild.
I’m ready to vote Blanco off of the island.
On a positive note, anyone else heard that new They Might Be Giants record? Best since Flood, if you ask me.
I am amazed we lost another by one run. This has become a tragic comedy.
Actually, this loss wouldn’t be that bad if it weren’t for last night’s loss.
There are a lot of signs that this will be a very strong team, just not so much the W-L thing.
The top of the order is doing its job by setting the table, and this time the back end of the order got some runs across, so run production, as erratic as it’s been lately, is starting to spread out.
url,
Been awhile since I’ve listened to a TMBG record, but I used to be a big fan. I’ll never forget the time I saw them at the Uptown Lounge in the middle of a freak Athens snowstorm.
@54:
“It’s things like “Rick Roll†that make me sincerely wonder if the internet has actually been a benefit to humans. There is nothing special about that song.”
The “special” part of that song is the dance the guy does in the video. Nobody’s claiming it’s a great song, they’re all laughing at the hilarious dance the singer does.
Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of a “Rickroll”:
Rickroll
All your base are belong to us.
What a terrible day for the Braves. Nevertheless, another impressive performance tonight from Jurrjens. Seven innings at Coors, gotta like that from a rookie pitcher.
I am not too worried about this club. When Tex starts to get hot, so will the offense and the team…but it’s definitely frustrating to watch right now with all those one-run loses.
Five losses, five one-run games. It’s just frustrating. And pathetic. And not a coincidence at all since we already had the worst record in MLB in one-run games last year.
It’s very likely that if we don’t make it to the playoffs, the difference will be less than those five games.
Again, just frustrating. Maybe Joe Morgan IS right after all: Some teams just know how to win and some don’t.
I know it’s very far away…but why is the Braves finishing the season with a series at Houston AGAIN?! I have enough of Houston and that leftfield joke…