As was mentioned in comments last night, Matt Diaz has been put on the DL with what is at minimum a knee sprain and may be a torn posterior cruciate ligament. Mark Kotsay may also go on the DL with his back problems. As of this writing (9 AM) it’s not clear who would come up. If Kotsay doesn’t go on the DL yet, they might just bring up Josh Anderson. If both go on the DL, it seems likely that it will be either Anderson or Brandon Jones, plus Rafael Soriano. Because while the Braves have seven relievers already, Bobby will only use three of them.
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I think Soriano’s replacing Diaz, and if Kotsay has to go on the DL then Anderson would replace him. Bobby wants to go with a 13 man staff temporarily. (Hopefully temporary, anyway)
So, tonight we get to see Reyes again? I hope our offense wakes up.
Nothing about a DL move for Kotsay in the pre-game notes.
http://presspass.mlb.com/pp_viewer.asp?d=39765
Why Anderson instead of Jones?
Anderson is a righty like Diaz, it would make sense to call up Jones and have him split time with Blanco since their both lefties. If Kotsay goes down, then both should get the call while putting Jones in LF and letting Anderson/Blanco control center
Anderson throws right, but he bats left. Without Diaz, we really don’t have any appealing options. Depending on how long Matt’s supposed to be out, this might be a good time to try Brandon Jones as the everyday LF for the big club.
*Any appealing right-handed options, that is.
Anderson throws right, but bats left!
any word on if Soriano is going straight into being the closer now that he’s back?
Can we go out and buy and real corner outfielder yet?
Brandon also bats left, throws right. Without Diaz, looks like Infante and Norton are the right-handed hitter options for the outfield other than JF.
‘a’ real corner outfielder… – obviously.
Brandon also bats left, throws right.
I’m aware. But he’s the only of one of our Diaz replacement options who could be considered an everyday corner OF in the long run. Without a lefty masher to platoon with Blanco, I’d rather scrap the platoon idea altogether—no thanks, Messrs. Infante and Norton—and just go with the best player full-time. And I think that’s probably Jones, not Blanco.
Only if Diaz is out for an extended period, of course.
Did anyone ever question Fonzie plowing through half of Milwaukee’s teenagers at the time? I mean really, no one questioned this?
It appears that they’re only going to call up an outfielder if Kotsay also goes on the DL. That means Blanco will play every day, or close to it, in center.
sorry thought Anderson was a righty. Anyways an outfield of Anderson, Jones, Blanco, Norton, Infante, Frenchy sucks any way you look at it
Robert,
Reggie Sanders is available.
B-Ref informs that Reggie’s middle name is “Laverne.”
I’d have guessed “Shirley.”
That video, BTW, represents the record that almost single-handedly transformed my musical taste back in 7th grade. That video makes me happy.
(Been a while since I’ve triple-posted.)
It seems to be official that Soriano has been activated in Diaz’s spot. Hey, at least Stockman’s drawing a major league salary.
I’m old enough to have watched the real “Happy Days,” not to mention “American Grafitti,” the great film that inspired it.
Most people point to the double-episode where Fonzie “jumps the shark” on a motorcycle as the moment most people checked out of the show. Sheer ridiculousness.
For me, it was about Year 3 or 4 when all these supposed ’50s teens on the show began to look like grad students with longish ’70s hair. I mean, by the end of that series Potsie & Ralph Malph looked like they were refugees from The Knack. They looked about as ’50s as Vinny Barbarino or a pet rock.
FWIW, Rosenthal talks swap…
http://tinyurl.com/6ly6sq
There could be an Anderson/Infante platoon in center. It would be fun!
Hurrght.
no kotsay tonight – they show Infante in LF
Escobar
Johnson
Jones
Tex
McCann
Frenchy
Blanco – CF
Infante – LF
Reyes
probably should look like
Blanco
Escobar
Jones
McCann
Tex
Frenchy
KJ
Infante
Reyes
Rogers says that Kotsay is feeling better, so we don’t have to worry about him going on the DL.
Is it Barry Bonds time?
New milk carton…
Anderson is useless, regardless of which hand he hits with and which hand he throws with. Jones isn’t too hot, but he’s a prospect.
Neither is great option so hopefully Kotsay is well enough to play.
lol…let’s be fair…Stockman threw almost 50 pitches Saturday, he needed a couple of days rest
Yeah, but when Bobby goes out and tells the media that he didn’t go to the bullpen because he wanted to limit Acosta to no more than an inning and wouldn’t use Boyer, so he just had Bennett and the two lefties, what does that say?
At least they don’t have Infantile batting leadoff.
Stockman has more IP than Soriano and is halfway to Royce Ring’s mark. 🙂
I have to say, with Diaz going down, I think Wren could make a name for himself doing something very unpopular: signing Barry Bonds. Given Wren’s past and incredibly inside-the-system background, I take this to be something he would never do, but it would be difficult to avoid winning the division if he did it.
Diaz and Blanco can PH and caddy for Bonds as appropriate, and the rest of the time, Bonds can hit fourth behind Chipper and give us a truly historic heart of the order.
This would also be a great test for Liberty; Wren has a great story to tell here about a little extra money, just for this year, to put us over the top.
There is no chance that Hank Aaron’s organization would ever sign and thereby endorse Barry Bonds.
I feel pretty dirty for even warming to the idea, as I’ve started to do.
that’s an improvement–esco swung at the 2nd pitch!
New poll.
Well, at least he threw 20 pitches.
It looks like a pretty small strike zone—I fear what Jo-Jo will do.
I fear what the Brewers will do to JoJo. They are killing lefties this year.
Weren’t we going to ditch these blue jerseys?
Infante’s career ops vs rhp = .689
Norton’s = .787
Norton hasn’t–to put it mildly–looked great in Atl but career numbers suggest he should be in the lineup instead of Infante.
BTW, what’d we give up for Norton?
Nice start by Reyes.
Not to be topped by Escobar, Frenchy also swings at the 2nd pitch he saw.
you make the call–an error or a Prado?
I saw error
BUNT TIME!
nope Reyes hasn’t learned to bunt
Joe Simpson, done hating on Kelly Johnson, is now shilling for Gregor Blanco to leadoff. I fully expect Blanco to be leading off now considering that Kelly Johnson lost the leadoff spot the day after Simpson spent an inning or so throwing a tantrum about Johnson leading off.
I really hate Chip Caray. Here’s his call from the last play:
“And Reyes lays down a BEAUTIFUL bunt! Kendall grabs it GOES TO THIRD! for one, Hall on to first for the DOUBLE PLAY!”
What a moron. How can a bunt that ends up a DP be described as beautiful?!
I’m on line — how the heck did they pull off a 2-5-4 double play?
I would have to say that this is by far the worst bunting team I have seen in my years of watching baseball, AT ANY LEVEL.
It was the same with Scambi. He said “it’s a good bunt”…then the Brewers turned the double play.
Weak bunt in the dirt. Hall stayed at 3B. Kendall went swooping in, barehanded throw to third, and Hall threw back to first.
Okay. Gameday said that Infante was out, and I couldn’t figure out how they could have done that.
JoJo clearly learned little from his pinch-bunt appearance the other day.
Can the Braves announcers please quit trying to manufacture a crisis about the broken bats? Bats have always broken. How many times has anyone been injured by them?
MLB’s Enemy #1: Maple bats
Coldplay commercials delenda est.
So, Yunel apparently sucks right now.
FWIW #1: I agree that Blanco should be leading off.
FWIW #2: The bunt wasn’t that bad. Kendall just made a great play.
Another two-pitch out for Escobar. Is he depressed?
Coldplay < Genesis.
Esco keeps his head up his a$$; maybe he is pissed about the Pena dfa. Maybe he’s just having a couple of crummy games.
Chipperometer: .421.
What’s with the anti-Coldplay sentiment? Their recent stuff is pretty blah, sure, but I thought their first two records were pretty darn amazing.
And I think Infante’s in there over Norton largely for defensive reasons.
Braun plays lf like a Met–he runs hard to the vicinity of the ball then lets it drop.
Come on, B-Mac! Come through!
No way that should be a hit for Chipper.
Chipper’s hit was a Prado by Weeks.
Brewers have awful defence.
Come on Brian time to make them pay
Escobar is depressed about Brayan Pena.
We really need to start getting the hits when they count.
Sigh
Ah, back to normal. Last night, we hardly had any baserunners. Tonight, five stranded already in three innings, plus a bunt DP. That’s the road Braves I’m accustomed to.
Reyes looks pretty good so far against a Brewers team that’s nasty on lefties.
I’m kinda indifferent towards Coldplay. They’re mostly non-irritating but not inspiring.
Yeah, Cameron’s liner to Infante has been the only hard-hit ball off him so far, right? And, of course, 4 Ks in 3 innings ain’t too shabby. If only we could do something.
41 pitches through 3 innings for Reyes.
Why would we do something offensively? Do we really need any runs?
Mussina?
McCann by himself has 4 men LOB.
Was Francoeur just out on one pitch? Gameday is screwed up.
Braun caught that before he dove…reminds me of some guys I played Dizzy Dean with.
Wow. Ryan Braun is making brilliant defensive plays against us. This is just silly.
“Was Francoeur just out on one pitch?”
What do you think?
I guess Chipper and Teixiera are the only batters who came to play tonight.
At least Reyes leads off the next inning (hopefully). It would seem very unlikely that he would be asked to bunt.
That was hardly brilliant. He ran over and caught it, then leapt.
I just realized that with Kotsay unavailable and with a 13 man staff, the Braves only have 3 bench players available. Including Corky.
Does Reyes remind anyone else of Andy Pettitte? Similar repertoire, similar windup – comes right over the top. He doesn’t have Andy’s disgustingly fat ass, however.
“gotta get him (jojo) some runs…”
Cute, Joe.
Did Johnson just bunt with one out?
I really hate bunts.
unbelievable – 1 out runner on 1st, hot hitter at the plate = lets bunt!!!! Yay!!
now 2 outs and you take chippers bat away – YAY!!!!!
To those wondering, KJ—he’s struck out twice—was most definitely bunting for a hit.
Also, Joe might hate KJ.
Nice how that worked. Give ’em an out and take the bat out of Chipper’s hands.
Ducks on the pond
Ducks swimming away
still waiting on Tex to wake up.
Ugh!
Such a stupid series so far
That was a pretty amazing list they were showing with Chipper on it. With a minimum of 200 PAs, he has the 5th highest avg. since 1900. The four ahead of him were all pre-1930.
KJ was not bunting for a hit there. That was 100% sacrifice.
…well that’s even dumber.
Simpson hates Johnson, but does seem to have a thing for speedy singles hitters with little power (Blanco).
Also Chipper Jones leads the NL third basemen in all-star voting thus far. Which surprises me, as I thought that nothing he did would be good enough to get him more votes than David Wright.
http://tinyurl.com/6o8kuw
Chipper’s lead is nearly 100,000 (420,664 votes for him and 321,091 votes for second-place Wright), which is a pretty good-sized margin.
All-Star voting is getting so stupid it’s ridiculous, in a few year the voting will open in the middle of the off-season and everyone can vote up to 750 times.
Douglass, you are incorrect. He dropped the bat down late and was headed for first base before the ball got there. That was most definitely his call, and it was most definitely for a hit.
Most awesomest stat ever just shown on the broadcast:
Highest batting average, season, “modern” history, min. 200 PA:
Hornsby ’24 — .424
Lajoie ’01 — .422
Chipper ’08 — .421
Sisler ’22 — .420
Cobb ’08 — .420
Basically, if someone says they’ve seen before what Chipper is doing, they’re either over 90 years old or a liar.
Chipper’s ahead because Mets fans have been writing in Ray Knight ahead of Wright this year.
check out these splits…
pitching:
home – 265IP 3.12ERA 1.25WHIP
away – 195IP 4.25ERA 1.31WHIP
offense:
home – 993AB .307avg .376obp 25hr 157rbi
away – 791AB .250avg .319obp 23hr 81rbi
sansho, I’m watching the Brewer feed, does that mean through 200 PAs in a season, or does that mean a complete season with a minimum of 200 PAs. I’m a little confused.
BBref has Lajoie at .4265 for 1901. Guess they found a couple more hits….
Probably means a complete season, so it’s a bit of a cheat. I heard the other day Chipper had the highest avg this late in the season in 50 years — don’t know if someone then did better, or if that’s as far back as they looked.
Meanwhile, Joe wants to marry Francoeur.
Franceour walks!!!!!
Nice walk, Frenchy!
Mark DeRosa is third in votes for 2b in All-Star voting. Looking at his stats, it seems like that’s actually sort of deserved, if “deserved” and All-Star game go together.
Leave Frenchy alone !!!
Another Chipism:
“A hot shot hit weakly to third!”
Ted Williams in ’57:
.413 on May 30
.401 on June 5
.393 on Aug 17
.388 for the season
He turned 39 that year….
Another DP. Surprise, surprise. And Suppan is pretending that it’s the ’06 post-season again. He’s killing McCann.
IMO, Coldplay is an act that has gotten the craft of “emotional tunes” down. They have hooks aplenty—and pretty piano hooks are deadly—but I’m just not sure what it means.
A few years ago, I did a weeklong business trip with a guy who played “Warm Rush of Cold Blood to the Headcold” or whatever that record was—the one with “Clocks—and I was definitely humming that stuff for awhile.
But Costello, that guy ain’t. Craft over art, I say. Inoffensive, yes, but worse than Genesis? I can’t go there.
Love that Chipper stat, BTW.
We can beat Johan Santana and Brandon Webb, but not Dave Bush or Jeff Suppan?
Gwynn was hitting .414 on May 14 in 1994, but that was a late-starting season, of course. In 1980, Brett was over .400 much of August, and hitting .400 exactly on Sept. 19, but never got above .407 all year. In 1977, Carew was hitting .411 on July 1, but never got higher than that (unless you count .444 on the second day of the season); he fell below .400 to stay on July 10.
Note that the first two examples were strike years. Not a coincidence.
Man, can you believe Reyes tonight?
Those are just about the only other guys who got close.
Reyes is dealing!
i’m watching the game on mlbtv and if i hear victor martinez say, “Hi! This is Victor Martinez” one more time, i will vomit on my keyboard.
Way to fall down there. Made me miss Andruw for a second.
It’s been 13 innings since we scored our last run…offense—wake up!
Larry Walker was hitting .435 on May 21, 1999.
OK I’m done
Actually, make that 14 innings now.
That was an obscenely quick inning.
For those not switching between the game and the eastern conference finals, KG just hit a top of the arc, fade away three pointer as the shot clock espired that banked in. absurd. of course rasheed answered with his own three. celtics are up 52-46.
The longer this game stays scoreless, the worse I’m gonna feel. But Reyes is in a zone right now.
Suppan’s at 97 pitches; Reyes came into this one at 81.
Could someone let the Braves know it’s Jeff Effing Suppan on the mound?
Man, if Reyes keeps throwing 94 on the corners, he has a little potential.
reyes just made prince fielder look like a fat turd. wait a minute…..
Walker doesn’t count.
There’s a pretty great story on Josh Hamilton in this week’s SI. I’m a fan.
Look, Jo-Jo, you’re just going to have to hit a home run, that’s all.
#119 – I concur wholeheartedly . It is the most meek and annoying “Hi my name is (blank)” ever imaginable.
To have this much trouble with Suppan is embarrassing.
“Could someone let the Braves know it’s Jeff Effing Suppan on the mound?”
apparently he turns into jeff effing Superman at milwaukee.
KJ, Chipper & Tex. Time to wake up, boys.
BTW, Reyes 94 pitches & 9 Ks already. Crazy.
And Coldplay still sucks. Thank God for the mute button.
Maybe we think he’s Ben Sheets by mistake.
Does Ned bring in the lefty to face the switch hitters?
Well even if or when we lose this game by one run, Reyes performance is really a good sign for the rest of the season.
Not that he will be dominant like this but he should give us chances to win which is a lot better than I had feared.
Kelly walks….bunt him to 2nd, Chipper!
Man, Tex sucks.
that was a terrible third strike call on tex. i just started watching the 7th. has reyes been getting those calls?
That was baffling to me not bringing in Shouse to turn Chipper and Tex around, but hey I guess it worked. I think Ned has about zero confidence in any of his relievers.
This ump is late for something.
Strike two to McCann.
“oh you got to be shittin me”
What is this crap? Can MLB fire some umpires again? They’re totally out of control.
way l0w and outside
wtf
come on Brian
the first pitch to mccann was almost as bad.
Wow, I certainly have never seen Mac get that hot during an AB.
McCann didn’t like the low strike the ump called, a pitch identical to the one that struck out Teixeira.
Here comes Bobby.
good to see that umps can cost you a game
I havent seen anyone mention this but how about signing lofton this year? He batted 296 last year and can clearly still play…
Uecker said that both pitches were below the knee.
instant poll–will Cox be tossed when we return from commercial?
I’ll guess yes
how can an ump allow a pitcher to throw a pitch when the player isnt in the box??? and then have the nerve to call it a strike against the hitter??? why didnt Bobby come out and get tossed???
That was the worst series of strike calls I’ve seen in a while.
The last 2 to Tex & the first one to McCann were not that close. And then the ump gets bitchy. He should be tarred & fined.
Kenny Lofton will never play for the Braves again, at least not while Bobby Cox is managing. He’s one of the few players that I have ever seen him rip after he was gone.
This umpire is about 5’4. Of course he is going to call the low strike.
Reyes should just bounce it off the plate this inning for 3 strikeouts
We are going to get screwed in this game.
I’m late to the game, but has Reyes been getting the low strike called?
I think MLB has to special order this ump his gear. I think that mask and helmet is a youth large.
not that low and that outside imo
I say Bobby gets tossed during commercial.
Joseph clearly deserved better in this game. Here comes Boyer, again.
so Reyes gets 14 straight, then walks 1, still under 100 pitches, and then gets yanked
great game jo-jo!
Very good outing from Reyes.
The last thing the Braves need is an ump with a Napoleon complex.
And he’s one gapper away from a loss. Sure, now Bobby goes to the bullpen.
It’s Boyer!
not tossed–Cox has been pretty mellow this season
“I think MLB has to special order this ump his gear. I think that mask and helmet is a youth large.”
Maybe a stepladder too.
Mac, yeah, JoJo should’ve been taken out in the 6th, I mean he pitched like shit all day.
Okay, i am 2nd guessing now.
Why do you bring in the new pitcher in the obvious bunt situation? Wouldn’t it have been better to let Reyes get the out and then go to the pen when you know who the pinch hitter will be?
I was rather obviously talking about last night.
I dont care about the ump making some bad calls, I more pissed that he told Brian to get back in the box and when he didnt he told Suppan to go ahead and throw the next pitch. thats just someone with an ego problem.
Game over.
I can’t stand this anymore.
This is completely unfair.
Switching to basketball.
We might not score another run this series.
That’s… silly.
That really, really stinks.
Plunk the umpire!
Motherf…..
This game never ceases to amaze me. Francouer is going to save us in the 9th… 8)
And the Braves’ pitchers have only given up three hits . . . .
starters two games – 3 er 15IP and the team is about to go 0-2
I know that was hit hard, but shouldn’t Chipper be playing almost on top of the foul line to prevent doubles/triples?
Looks like another one-run road loss.
They can beat Johan Santana, Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb…but not Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan.
Where is Gagne when we need him?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Something’s not working, Bobby. Or Wren.
Fix it.
…save us from being up past our bedtimes.
Show some more of that power Greg
@191
the rule of thumb is you play on the line to prevent a lead-off double. with risp, you try to take away the single in the SS hole
and !@#$, another 1 run road loss? F— this
This one-run, road-loss thing has passed beyond the realm of rational excuses to where there has to be something mystical at work. Either that, or every Brave believes subconsciously that the team is doomed to fail in close road games.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Something’s not working, Bobby. Or Wren.
Fix it.”
call the panic police again.
I’m not even gonna ask what you mean, Ryan. I’ll just assume you think everything’s ok with the team, on the road, with the offense, etc.
And you’ll be on a very lonely island with that mentality.
No one’s panicking. Just concerned.
I’m gonna go vomit now.
This is beyond frustrating.
???
what an absolutely terrible way to lose
This is friggin insane. It just has to stop. It makes no sense.
This offense sucks so bad.
count it – “Bobby will say that Reyes pitched great, but give their team credit. We hit a lot of balls hard, but they were just right at people.”
oh and yes, this one is on the offense
I’m not panicking. I’m just disgusted. So very disgusted.
I say the Braves should stay in a Motel 6 until they can sort this road streak out.
“Paging: Braves offense, Paging: Braves offense.”
Hmm. That’s odd. No one is answering my page.
i hate watching this team on the road
Or KOA campgrounds.
I blame the ump. And the offense. 16 straight scoreless innings.
18 straight 1-run losses on the road (going back to last August). The Brewers have scored 3 runs this series and won both games… This is mind-boggling. The guys must have the 1-run games thing in their head.
That’s now 18 straight one run losses on the road (dating back to last year).
no, just the fact that after almost every loss, you seem to think the worlds gonna implode. i dont assume everything’s ok with the team, but there’s not a team out there without flaws. i probably should just start ignoring your “sky is falling” posts. the pitching was great for both sides, we got unlucky with some calls that took us out of an inning. it’s baseball and i disagree with the mentality that “something’s wrong with the team” after every defeat. if you go back and look, there have been many transactions to try and fix a flawed team. what else do you want wren to do? he’s had 4 of his 5 starters hurt, one reliever to have season ending elbow surgery, his closer on the dl, his starting left fielder to the dl, and his “promising right fielder” to suck. and, we’re still above .500. you tell me what wren should do differently? cox, on the other hand, did nothing wrong tonight except not getting tossed.
Honestly, I’m willing to give odds that we hang a 10-spot tomorrow and end up with a 1-2 series where we out-scored the opponents by 6 runs.
“Maybe the problem is — we’re coddling these guys too much. Yeah!”
Recap is up. Personally, I’m disgusted.
The onus is on Tex. In order to score runs, this offense needs Chipper and Tex to play great. I’m all for giving a guy the benefit of the doubt, but while he’s finding himself the Braves are barely holding their heads above water. If he and Chipper could just get hot at the same time, this team has a big time run in them.
It’s clearly psychological at this point. They are obviously pressing on the road. At some point, you just have to wonder if the Bobby Cox approach still works with this particular group; maybe the team needs someone to get pissed and throw something and maybe hurt their precious feelings rather than trying to raise their self-esteem. I’ve never been a fan of the Lou Pinella way but this is just crazy.
@218
refer to 208