ESPN – Dodgers vs. Braves – Box Score – April 19, 2008
The Braves got all their runs in the fifth. After Pena led off with a pinch-hit out, KJ walked, Escobar singled, and Chipper worked a walk. Teixeira singled to the opposite field to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. Chipper came home on a groundout by Francoeur, and Kotsay singled home Teixeira, though McCann was out by a mile trying to score from second when he really had no shot.
For most of the game, both teams were getting baserunners, but the Dodgers couldn’t score any of theirs. Andruw hit a solo homer off of Chuck James in the second, but that was all the Dodgers could get; the Braves turned three double plays to erase some of those runners, and the Dodgers never really had the makings of a rally.
Chuck allowed four hits, walked one, and struck out two. He just went five, which… well, you know, but he threw only 69 pitches (41 strikes) and might have gone longer if necessary, but was hit for trailing 1-0. Campillo went two more scoreless innings, Boyer pitched the eighth, and Acosta got the easy save.
Phillies are rallying thanks to awful Mets defense.
4-2 Mets, Bottom 8 – 1 out
Phillies up with bases loaded..
Heh.
Perhaps we should just call Pena’s appearance today a “pinch-out”?
I gotta say that, between Bennett, Chuckie & the relievers, those were 2 relatively unexpected wins.
Let’s see if ol’ Jair can break out the broom.
Bennett and Campillo have been a pleasant surprise so far.
ububba, thanks for confirming my suspicion that D. Fagen is a jerk. Anyone that acerbic must be.
I wouldn’t exactly describe him as a jerk, because he was relatively pleasant, but he was definitely somebody who was accustomed to having his platinum ass kissed.
A bit better the last couple. I’m now ready for a Diaz/Blanco straight platoon, now after all. And this coming from a “Free Matt Diaz” guy.
I almost agree, though it’s too early to tell. I still miss Diaz and his power as opposed to Blanco, but Blanco has been productive with his at-bats the past couple of days.
Diaz doesn’t hit for power against RHP. That’s sort of the point.
Campillo’s out of nowhere excellance is the kind of thing that good seasons are made of.
Beating the Dodgers with Andruw doing their only hitting is what I call “best case”.
Let’s just hope that Blanco doesn’t turn into Willie Harris 2.0… (though I’ll keep my fingers crossed that he does well).
I wouldn’t give Blanco a platoon job because of the reason Jeff alluded to. Even a half season of decent hitting doesn’t mean you toss to the side a guy like Diaz, let alone a couple weeks. Let’s give him more time.
I would bet Blanco has a better chance to become Willie 2.0 than for Matt Diaz to struggle all year. The big thing these last two nights is that we won both these games with Bennet and James as the starters. Lets get the sweep tomorrow…
Couple of things:
Let’s not forget that James really isn’t a bad starter; he had an awful outing in Colorado (where he always sucks) coming off an injury and shortened spring training, but he was still solid, even last year.
Heck, if anything, today was a pretty standard Chuck James start: pitch pretty well, lots of pop-ups, hurt by the long ball, and an early exit.
Regarding the Blanco thing, let’s not go overboard here. He’s a decent guy to have around, and I do want to see him get some ABs, but I don’t like the idea of a straight platoon.
I think starting him when you’ve got James going (lots of fly balls) is good if there’s a righty going against, and Kotsay will need a day off every now-and-then, but otherwise, I say keep giving Diaz at least 5 of the starts each week in LF.
Nice win for the Braves…
Tommy Hanson had another great night at the Beach:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_04_19_myrafa_kinafa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
I would not be surprised to see him reach AA in May…
Tommy Hanson had another great night:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_04_19_myrafa_kinafa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
His season stats:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Hanson%20%28W%2C%202-0%29&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=462102
22 innings, 5 hits, 6 walks, 32 strikeouts and no earned runs…
I would not be surprised to see him in Atlanta by May…
can you put the blame on Chuck for the early exit? Bobby is putting the toll on our bullpen by pulling starters after 70 pitches or so. There has to come a time where you can trust a guy like Chuck and let him try to get into the 7th or so. We pulled Hudson after 59 pitches, Smoltz understandably after 75 or so, Bennett in the 5th, and now James after 5. The other three cases I can understand why, but this probably will cause future problems if it continues
With that said, great game all around today. Hope it continues
I still miss Diaz and his power
Diaz’ career SLG vs. RHP is .399; his career OPS vs. RHP is .735. Blanco probably isn’t the answer, but Matt Diaz should be platooned.
Man, I was at the game today. Right at the corner of the visitor dugout. Snitker sent McCann when there was absolutely no chance for him to score. It was a pretty ridiculous idea to send him. Hasn’t Snitker made some pretty bad calls during his time as 3rd base coach?
I know he’s eligible, but is Soriano coming off the DL on Tuesday?
Great call on the terrible decision to send McCann. He was out by a mile.