ESPN – Braves vs. Pirates – Box Score – May 09, 2008
Grr.
The Braves should have won this game. Pirate pitchers were all over the place, walking seven, and if Brave batters had been a little more patient it might have reached double digits. But they couldn’t get a hit in those situations, and Bobby didn’t do them any favors with his managing. Most egregiously, he ran for Brian McCann, who was 3-3, with two out in the eighth and a tie game. Second most egregiously, he had Kelly Johnson bunt with runners first and second, nobody out, in the ninth, in a tie game. Now, that’s not too bad of a bunt situation — the math says that if you’re going to bunt that’s the time — except that KJ isn’t a good bunter, and offered at a couple of pitches out of the strike zone, then took a pitch that appeared to be ball four for strike three. Third-most egregiously, he twice used his lefty specialists to pitch to leadoff batters and nobody else, hence using two pitchers (the day after he ran through most of his staff) for two hitters, both of whom came up in non-RBI situations.
Tom Glavine, meanwhile, will never ever win another game, or at least not until Greg Maddux wins another one, and looking at the Padres the last three days that might be some time. Tom was outstanding for six innings… but unfortunately, had trouble in the seventh, loading the bases on a double and two walks. He got the second out of the inning on a strikeout (after the Pirates successfully executed the first-and-second bunt) but then gave up a double to score two runs; the Braves made a good play to get the third baserunner at the plate to end the inning.
The Braves got a run in the eighth on a single by Francoeur (who drove in the team’s other run with a bases-loaded groundout in the sixth) but couldn’t get a run in the ninth after getting the first two out. After Ohman got the leadoff man in the bottom of the inning, Bennett came in and gave up a single, got an out, then gave up another single. The next batter hit this terrible little grounder Bennett couldn’t get his glove on, and neither Escobar nor Johnson was in any position to stop it from trickling into the outfield to end the game. I blame Miller.
bring back the collins, i guess. This was painful.
The way I saw it, Glavine was outstanding for five innings. He struggled but got lucky in the sixth. Cox should have taken him out after that inning. The other criticisms of Cox that you make, I agree with. I also didn’t see the point in having Norton attempt to bunt. As Sciambi and Gant said, if he wanted a bunt in that position, why didn’t he pinch hit with Infante?
No more Collins. If it becomes necessary, I will use some other punishment artist.
You’re probably right, ChuckO. And I should have mentioned the Norton thing. Heck, why not use Hudson to bunt?
Tough loss. Gotta shake it off & go get ’em Braves tomorrow night.
At least the Phils are losing so far. (Never figured the Giants could score 4 runs off Hamels.)
Mets rained out, playing a day-night DH tomorrow vs. Cincy.
And at some point I’ll start paying attention to the division leaders.
The Norton bunting thing was a mindfark move on Yates that totally worked.
Unlucky Glavine today. Whereas conspicuous Kelly. I’ve missed games and many things about the Braves. So maybe I’m wrong. But I must say…Why does he staying at around .250~.260 on every seasons? Bobby’is giving him too much credit as a leadoff , isn’t he?
No more Collins. If it becomes necessary, I will use some other punishment artist.
Punsihment artist? Hahahaha why?????
I often love to sing below song. I am not a musician but Natalie and I have much similarities. I hum her song to myself.
I’m out of faith this is how I feel~~~
check this out
…what?
Mac, I have never seen you being so consistently critical on Bobby’s in game management as you have been this season.
Well, it has been particularly terrible this year, it seems.
For some reasons, I have been seeing the same terrible in-game management from Bobby since 1990…at least from my personal perspective.
I think it’s worse this year because this team is very weirdly constructed, so his margin for error is less than usual. We have a leadoff hitter that doesn’t hit well or get on base and isn’t particularly fast, a cleanup hitter hitting .250 with 4 HR’s, the Francoeur saga, 3 catchers, one of whom never plays, and a revolving door in the bullpen with no closer, set up man, or reliable left-hander. He’s trying to manage the team as if we don’t have any of those problems, and it’s failing more often than not.
Don’t know what the solution is, other than mixing the lineup up and getting some more pitching.
Some random Chipper stuff the last part hard me rollin lol!!
I just have to chime in on the Chipper Jones argument because I’m disappointed at the limited arguments of the other Chipper Jones supporters from the Sounding Board. I’m glad you finally got Chipper up to 33rd, but I would even put him a little higher. I target Chipper Jones in every league and I’m well aware of the injury risks – the 134 games he played last year were the most since 2004. However, despite missing 28 games last year, he still ranked 11th in the Yahoo! game. The only two 3B who finished ahead of him are the two five-cat contributors in NY. Even if you count on him missing 30 games this year, he should be higher than the 6th 3B on your board. – Bronn, Douglasville, GA
Funston response: Bronn, I decided to throw caution to the wind and pumped Jones up to No. 15 this week. It’s where he belongs if you knew he’d miss no more than 10-15 games. If I’m Chipper, I’m thinking that an MVP award at age 36 would cement a place in Cooperstown. It just might be the impetus for playing 150 games for the first time since ’03.
Funston, Funston Funston! I would tell you to take your head out of your keister, but judging from the look on your face in your pic, it would seem you recently have done so. This hasn’t helped you come to your senses, however. Let me get this right. Chipper doesn’t get his rightful spot on your board simply because he “might” miss some games this year. Big deal! He’ll still beat the hell out of most players’ year long stats even if he does miss 30. If he doesn’t miss 30 games he’ll probably be ranked in the top 10. Do the right thing, Funston, and put Larry in the top 20 – even though I hate him and the Braves. – Scott, Denver, CO
i suppose that makes sense on some level that i’m not aware of.
Chalk that win up to Bobby’s old trick of leaving a starter in the game an inning or batter too long. Anybody watching the game could see it was time for Glavine to come out after the 6th. Certainly he should never have pitched to Freddy Sanchez.
Leaving Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltzie in the game for way too long has always been Bobby’s biggest problem.
I think #12 was clipped from a Yahoo fantasy baseball discussion.
Trying to remember if Bobby was this incoherent in his pitching decisions when Leo was here …
And the offense continues to underperform, especially in clutch situations.
Just about the time the offense comes around the pitching will give out – which is bound to happen when you go through five or six pitchers every game.
#18 – very true – I dont see us continuing to lead the league in ERA for the entire season. When we hit, we win – its plain and simple. Gorzelanny is avg less than 5 IP per start, we’ll probably allow 7IP because we’ll swing at everything. Its going to be interesting to see how Bobby uses Kelly over the next 8-9 games, were facing 7 lefties according to our website.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez pitched an extended spring training game yesterday. Threw 9 pitches in the inning, 8 were strikes
ok………here i am defending Bobby again. i can imagine him sitting there with his look of severe indigestion wondering if half of Glavine is better than whatever he could summon up out of the bullpen. so he sends the old pro out there clinging to a lead. (exactly what i would have done) its not like we have a bunch of all-stars out there bitching about not getting enough work. so Glavine goes out there and gets into a bases loaded, one-out jam and STRIKES OUT the pinch hitter ! so why take him out then? Freddy Sanchez is a decent hitter, but hes batting all of .250. i’ll take Glavine in that match-up every time.
I am in Portland, OR all week so I have been neglect in saying I was relieved to see us FINALLY win a 1 run game the other day. I am sure many on here already shared similar relief a few days ago.
That being said, I hate losing to the Frakking Pirates – especially after 6 straight wins against similarly mediocre competition in the Pads and Reds – it would have been nice to continue to take care of business against another bad team with still so many pitching injuries going on.
Last night’s loss was disappointing, but after 6 straight wins, it hard to be upset. Still, if we can’t play better against the Pirates….
Glad to hear that Gonzo pitched well in extended spring training. Once he and Soriano returns and mighty Tex hits like he should, the Braves should be alright.
Marlins sign Ramirez for 6 years, $70 million
Pretty good deal for the Marlins. Without looking at salary comps for someone of his stature (there aren’t many), I’m guessing this will save them $6-$8 million over the course of the contract. Perhaps more importantly (this being the Marlins), if they’re out of contention in a few years he’ll bring a king’s ransom at that salary.
people are talking about Furcal getting a deal around 16-18 per. If they are getting Hanley for 6 years at that price its definitely a bargain.
Game thread is up.