Hey, it’s the third game of the series, I have to tie this stuff together somehow.
Hey, it’s the third game of the series, I have to tie this stuff together somehow.
To remind everyone how early it is, check out these records:
Baltimore 11-7
Oakland 11-8
Florida 10-7
Cleveland 7-11
Detroit 6-12
NY Yankees 9-10
Atlanta 8-9
This Braves’ team biggest challenge, as some others yesterday suggested, is to preserve the bullpen. I wonder how many innings starters have averaged in these first 17 games: it’s got to be among the lowest in the league. Hudson needs to pitch 220 IP, Smoltz needs to stay healthy, and both Jurrjens and James need to contribute 160-180 IP–at least. That will tell the story this Fall.
As bad as we’ve played/been injured, its at least a good sign that we’ve managed to be close to .500 and in reach of the Muts/Phullies.
We’ve got to stabilize this pitching staff somehow, I wouldn’t mind a trade for a league average or slightly below avg innings eater, SP because you just cannot count on Hampton for anything and Chuck James will be decent for 2 starts and horrible for two and rinse and repeat.
Oh yes, some David Byrne goodness
Why on Earth do people keep asking for more starters? It stuns me! Glavine’s going to be back in a week or whenever, and then what do we do? I know it’s popular to joke about how Hampton will never pitch again, but they ARE going to throw him out there at least a couple times if his body doesn’t fall apart more in his next rehab assignment. We’ve currently got 6 legitimate ML pitchers on our staff… and we’ve also got Hampton sitting around. We can give Carlyle 2 or 3 emegency starts this year (not 10 or 20 like last year) and the sky won’t fall.
So why go out and trade for a Kyle Lohse, who’ll just eat payroll and prospects and, oh yeah, force us to DL or option to Richmond a pitcher we’ve already got?
At least the calls for us to trade for a Bedard or a Haren this off-season would have netted us an improvement in some regard rather than just leave us treading water like getting “some innings eater” would.
mraver,
There are people that have been wanting to platoon Diaz with Blanco after Blanco has had 13 good ABs. People wanted/want to platoon or replace KJ with Gotay, and Gotay’s had 10 ABs all season. All this with just two weeks into the season. Some people forget this is a long season…
Those who were around when Torre was with the Braves should remember the Dodger hatred.
Forgive me if the option of having Buddy Carlyle make even 1 start or depending on Hampton for anything other than BP isn’t tantalizing.
What we need is one more SP that is reliable for 7 IP nearly every time out. We have exactly 1 SP that can do that in Hudson and the rest are either on Social Security and their arms and bodies are being held together with Duck tape, or they have never shown they can get past the 5th inning in James. With a bullpen this shaky, we need an innings eater.
This board tends to overrate our fringe players. Our fringe players and pitchers stink worse than many other teams do and they are unreliable, even relatively so.
Jurrjens is the wild card and I like what I see so far.
Agree with mraver. We do have quite some options for starting pitchers. With two starters injured to have someone available of the caliber like Chuck James to fill in is a luxury, I think.
Let’s take the brooms out.
I don’t know if you guys in the US know this website. You can basically watch any sports live, including MLB. So when you have your blackouts, you can still watch it via MyP2P.eu. Quality isn’t great but hey…
http://www3.myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=baseball
Corky… Ugh.
Are you kidding me…my tv says “Program is not available in your area” right at 1:30 after Major League. I can’t believe I have to miss another game…
a pitchout when Jair can’t find the strikezone? good call…
maybe mcann doesn’t like the red jerseys.
See the 2 babes eating hot dogs in the front row at Turner Filed , I love day games.
nice pitch
saw them, oldtimer 🙂
Nice catch Tex!
Jair is looking good and wild at the same time. Effectively wild maybe??
Tex got some ups there.
Jair is quite impressive. I don’t think he’s too wild except the first AB against Furcal. His fastball is moving…
Does anyone know where I could get a list of all of the songs that the Braves players are introduced by at Turner Field? I can’t find anything…
If you’re outside the SportsSouth viewing area, try TBS, which is supposedly showing this game. It’s blacked out here.
Have I said I really like Blanco recently.
LF may soon be a platoon situation if it’s not already.
Yeah, TBS is carrying the game.
Got exactly what I was expecting from Corky there.
That’s why I’m a bit upset. My TBS is blacked out…and we don’t get SportsSouth here in the dorms. TBS is currently the only channel that says “Program is not available in your area”…when TBS was on at 1:29 for Major League
Exactly the kind of two-out hitting we need more of from Tex.
You suck, Jeff.
To me, that’s two good ABs from Francoeur. He may have grounded out weakly there, but he is making the pitcher work.
They need to put brighter lights in at Turner so that Tex thinks he’s always playing during the day.
How many Ks is that for Andruw this series?
I thought only Smoltzie did these in-game interviews.
He was ahead in the count 2-0 and swung at two pitches way out of the zone. I don’t think that qualifies as making the pitcher work, even for Captain Numbnuts.
Dang. That wasn’t out by much.
Blue Jays release Frank Thomas.
http://sports.myway.com/news/04202008/v9745.html
Blue Jays release Frank Thomas:
http://sports.myway.com/news/04202008/v9745.html
KJ!
Chipper, you just made my heart completely stop. Don’t be hurt.
Chipper is just ridiculous right now.
Frick frick frickity frick frick. Chipper out of the game. Hopefully he’s ok. He’s on my fantasy team too.
I stepped out for a minute. What happened to Chipper?
My heart hath stopped. Exchanging Chipper for Prado in the lineup is like replacing Vince Lombardi with Marion Campbell.
i hate hamstrings.
Chipper was hobbling as he turned from first and headed for second on a double in the bottom of the 5th. He stayed in for the rest of the inning, but headed for the clubhouse before the team re-took the field for the sixth.
3 K’s for Andruw. Yikes. Jurrjens is definitely winning the Cuaracio battle.
They say Chipper might have hurt his quad while sliding into second.
Thanks, Brick.
He’s got 5 for the series. 3 today, 2 Friday plus 3 walks. He currently has a 5 game hitting streak that is in serious jeopardy.
He got the hat trick today and is working on the golden sombrero, which would put him at the number of K’s predicted for the series.
I love Jair Jurrjens.
The announcers were saying earlier in the game how Corky Miller was setting up a BIG target in an effort to get Jurrjens to pitch inside more. That has been the key to this game for him. He’s tied up quite a few Dodgers with that approach.
I’m really impressed with Jair. He looks really good. Hopefully the league won’t catch up with him. Andruw, on the other hand, looks like a hitter whose faults the league has really exploited.
I want to jump on the Jair bandwagon, because I like the poise and control he’s shown thus far. But after Jorge Sosa in ’05 and Chuck James in ’06 started so well and then faded into inconsistency, I’m going to reserve judgment on J.J. for now. But I want to believe in him … I truly do.
C’mon Yunel, you’re due for something here.
Chipper out? Who’s next???
Oh Lord, here comes Prado.
Pete just confirmed that it’s Chipper’s right quad that’s bothering him.
Let’s see…
– Hampton out
– Soriano out
– Moylan out
– Glavine out
– Chipper out
That’s our best player, two of our starters, our best setup man and our closer. All of that two weeks into the season. It’s just rediculous. Wait for Smoltzie to go down later this month.
Hopefully he just needs a couple of days’ rest.
Prado did his best Chipper impersonation. Hats off to the Dodgers RF, that was a good catch.
Hopefully.
Brick,
Just my opinion, but Jair is a much better pitcher already than Chuck or Jorge Sosa.
Alfonso Soriano injured his quad in early August last year. It took him more than three weeks to come back. And Chipper is not Soriano by any means.
I hope so … I just want to see how he does once he starts facing opponents a second time first.
I just noticed that Furcal’s stance is much different than what it was when he came up with Atlanta. He used to be really crouched and most of his weight was on his back leg, now he’s more up right and balanced. Hmm…
Nice play by KJ! So much for trouble with balls going to his right…
Just as nice a play by Tex to get that.
Jair is really dealing today—7 IP, 1 Run, buncha Ks. Gotta win this one.
The Renteria trade is looking better every day. And it looks like Tex’s bat is finally coming around. Now if Chipper and Smoltz can just stay healthy . . . .
It looks like the same injury Chipper had a few days ago. He played through that.
Stupid Diaz.
Matt Diaz can’t hit RHP.
In other news, the ocean is deep.
The lefty-righty-thing has to go out the window when the guy being removed from the lineup is 5-for-his-last-9. I still get upset when Bobby does this, even though I know it’s coming, even though I know his M.O. will never change.
Mac, he didn’t leave the game then.
Stupid Diaz.
What the hell, Yunel?
The LF platoon certainly does sound good to me now.
Ha! The hidden ball trick. Almost worked.
He did indeed leave games early with the injury. April 12, against the Nats, Prado relieved him in the fourth. And Jurrjens ran for him in the ninth the next game.
That’s the second time Pierre’s stolen third in this series. What gives?
Watch, now Pierre will steal home.
yes mac, i’m sure theres a few of us that remember that Joe was a brave. i remember being happy when he was traded for Orlando Cepeda even tho he went on to be a monster hitter in St. Louis……….the other thing i remember is that there were very few tears shed in Bravesland after he sat on his hands and watched his henchman. Bob”surly bastard” Gibson ruin a promising young pitching staff by insisting that they pitch Gibson-style. most people were glad to see Joe go even though it led to the horrors of the Chuck”hey, i love Omar Moreno” Tanner era.
Who pitches the ninth? Does Bobby use Acosta for the fourth consecutive day?
Hu’s on second?
Well, Resop is well-rested.
Joe Torre is baseball’s answer to George Seifert or K.C. Jones. Give them talented teams, and they’ll win. Give them lousy teams, and they’ll remain lousy. Torre was what the Yankees needed personality-wise for much of his tenure there … but when he was in St. Louis for five-plus seasons immediately preceding his time in New York, the Redbirds were a blah team, and he didn’t do much to make them better. That is the difference between Torre and managers like LaRussa, Cox, Leyland, etc.
I had a big brunch. I don’t think my stomach can take a Resop ninth.
About this Hu thing…
http://tinyurl.com/2dmr7y
Why don’t we just score 3(or more) and forget about anyone getting a save?
Amen, CHill.
even 4 runs might not be safe for Resop
Prado!
Insurance!
Another chance for Prado.
It’s been like three innings and we already really miss Chipper.
Hey, Prado with the big hit…
I should point out that the reason we wanted to kill Prado earlier this year was defense, not that he wasn’t hitting the ball well.
I’m not a Prado fan, but he deserved that one after the near-miss earlier.
..and that’s why I’m on the Martin Prado bandwagon!
I knew if i typed that, Prado would deliver.
That should be enough for Resop. 🙂
One more run and it’s officially a Resop situation.
Maybe the 3 spot has magical powers?
85–what else does your crystal ball say? 🙂
Tex!
There’s one. Let’s get at least one more.
Frank,
I’m with you. I wouldn’t trust Resop with a 4 run lead(or more):)
Tex is starting to cook.
Ball game.
Crap! They added runs while I was trying to figure out what to type. I still wouldn’t trust Resop.
a 14-run lead isn’t Resop-proof
A couple of days ago someone posted Tex’s numbers during the day and at night. That trend has continued.
The lead needs to be double digits before I trust Resop.
I think we’re Resop Safe now.
Y’know, let’s not forget that we’ve only given up 3 runs in this series. The pitching has been terrific.
With Resop waiting in the wings, I have no problem with the Braves running up the score.
Well, the Braves are starting to hit. We just need a few more to reach so Yunel can extend his hitting streak.
Yeah. Good shape now. Is this our first sweep?
And there’s two outs, I might add. Another good sign.
Of a full series. We beat the Mets 2 of 2.
Also, with Kotsay’s single, the Braves have hit for the cycle this inning.
The pitching has been splendid, but LA is a cold team at the plate … big names, small production, Furcal excepted.
I’m on the Kotsay bandwagon. I know…I’m crazy.
ububba………we’re not Resop-proof yet……..only Resop resistant.
Diaz doing his best Frenchy ’06 impression …
I think Jeff had some real good ABs today.
I don’t care if the Dodgers are stepping up to the plate with tree bark—3 runs is 3 runs. It’s been awhile since we’ve pitched like that.
This is what I called an “Atlanta Save” in 2006. Ohman seems well-suited for this.
I think 4 of the 5 Frenchy at bats were quality.
Now, Hu’s on first.
Wow–some throw by Frenchy.
Am I correct that Soriano is back tomorrow?
Tuesday.
Agree, Parish. Jeff was very patient and selective.
Eligible Tuesday, but not coming off then, and won’t be throwing off the mound until the end of the week:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080420&content_id=2559328&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Oh man…
Hey, we’re .500—yippee!
FRank, DOB wrote that Soriano hasn’t even thrown off a mount so far and doesn’t expect him to be back befor ethe end of the week at the earliest.
Excellent series. Fantastic pitching, good hitting. This was fun! Go Braves!!
“thrown off a mount”
Care to explain?
Just kidding!
Ohman has a 1.17 ERA.
He must have allowed quite a few Gryboski’s this year, because i know he has not been that good.
Remy, wow, my english is great today. Time for me to go to bed obviously…
You’re good, Timo. I just thought we might have discovered a reason for Soriano’s injury.
Recap is up.